Sorry. He's behind Browning, Garand, and Kalashnikov IMHO. Also, the worst gun designer of all time is Eugene Stoner.

If I were to own a handgun, I'd probably buy a Walther. But I am loathe to have guns in my house.

Walther? WALTHER!?!? Loathe to have guns? LOATHE TO HAVE GUNS!?!?

Dude, 1911 forever!

Walther because I'm a 007 fan and loathe because I carried a rifle in the Corps and have seen my share of killing.

A Walter ppk? Yikes! Tiny little .380 with a 7 round mag.

Back to Sam colt though. No one would argue Browning as the top. And I think Mr. AK is a solid choice for second. But Grand ahead of colt ... I have to disagree. You could make a case for the M1 as a firearm sure. It had an incredibly long service history and us still an awesome rifle. But that was pretty much all Grand did. Sam Colt was to the mid 19th century what Browning and Kalishnakof were to the 20th century. Innovative like Browning, we owe our modern revolvers to the Colt navy and later the "gun that won the west", the iconic Colt .45 SA Army, aka "The Peacemaker".

And like Kalishnakof, revolutionized the manufacturing of handguns with interchangeable parts and the first to be produced by an assembly line.

Colt is arguably 2nd, but inarguably top 3

I like the newer P9 he carries in the Raymond Benson novels.

*P99

And like the M16 family, it's a very cool-looking piece of shit. 9mm is weak.

@ philcore

Kalashnikov and Garand are both one-hit wonders; I'll concede that. But both the AK-47 and the M1 Garand changed warfare forever, arguably more so than old Sam Colt. Hell, Garand's final masterpiece (the M14) is *still* the best all-around rifle in the entire world, even though it is well over 50 years old and derived from an 80-year-old design. I place more emphasis on longevity of service/technology than relatively minor technological advancement. The revolver has advanced so far beyond Colt's original designs that it isn't really fair to give him all of the credit for that entire family of firearms.

The same cannot be said of Browning. Hell, I could run straight into a modern shootout with a BAR or an M1897 Trench and I could hold my own against any modern small arm. His masterpiece, the M1911, is still the best handgun in the entire world. Almost every modern firearm uses at least one original Browning principle. I could make a sound argument that the M1919 machine gun and the M1897 are *still* the best guns in their respective categories despite the fact that both have been around for 100 years (give or take). If I were to charge into a modern shootout with a shotgun of my choice, it would be either an M1897 Trench or an Auto-5.

No argument about Browning. He deserves the top spot by long shot. Hell the 1911 alone would be an impressive achievement. Interestingly, he worked for Colt at the time. But then the BAR, and all of its decendants ... He is the Isaac Newton of firearms. But Colt was Galileo. And while revolvers have come a long way, there is no doubt that he revolutionized them. And at the time, they were the highest tech handguns out there.

Not trying to take away from Browning, just from that French Canadian, Garand ;-)

We'll have to agree to disagree. Just saying, the M1 Garand was by far the most combat-effective rifle in the greatest armed conflict in human history. Furthermore, the M14 (Garand's magnum opus) is *still* the best rifle in the entire world, even though it's over 55 years old.

http://www.yonicoo.com/ oil painting

Wat?

Oh thanks dog I been looking for an oil painting on this site for like a year and a half.

@gun, I'm fine with agreeing to disagree, but as a compromise, might we agree that colt and garand tie for 3rd?

If you can't accept these terms, then I will be forced to put Gaston Glock at the number 4 spot relegating garand to 5th place. I know how you feel about glocks, so I would suggest you accept my compromise ;-)

Good God that art sucks! Who painted/drew that shit? I preschooler with fingerpaints?

That's a bit harsh, Draugner. My brother is hockey player who has got lots of awards. Now he won again. So I was hesitated with choosing a special present to him. I delighted with Yonicoo oils painting.

LOL! Good, subtle mockery Jamie.

@ philcore

I agree to that compromise. I wasn't trying to take anything away from Colt; I just think that Garand regularly gets shafted whenever anyone talks about the best gun designers. Like Kalashnikov, he's a one-hit wonder who borrowed principles first developed by other designers (namely Browning) but the longevity and combat effectiveness of his rifles alone warrants his place at number 3 (tied with Colt and with Stoner nowhere in the top 100)

Whew, I'm glad we could agree to that draw. I was ready to throw the solo.

Never heard of stoner, judging by the way you talk about him, there's probably a good reason for that.

Stoner designed the M16, one of the most overrated and low-quality rifles of all time.