Monday, November 28, 2005

Boomsticks: Gratuitous Gun Pr0n No. 13

1953 Smith & Wesson Military & Police, with Spyderco Shabaria.


(A note to the marketing department at S&W: The above pistol is a Smith M&P. You have built this pistol for over a century. It has settled a lot of dirty business in all fifty States and in every corner of the globe. You have built over six million of just this model alone, not counting all of its variations in stainless steel, or with adjustable sights, or chambered in the newer .357 Magnum cartridge. This pistol, on the other hand, is not an M&P, regardless of what it says on the slide. It may be a fine service handgun. It may be the next Great Duty Pistol. It is not an M&P. Tradition and Heritage are two of the strongest things you have going for you; please be aware of the fine line between "paying homage to..." and "peeing all over...". That is all.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Magnificent old Smith, but man, that's an UGLY folder. Is that grip comfortable?

Xavier said...

Beautiful pistol Tam! (yeah yeah yeah, it's one of them revolverating wheel gun pistols too!)

Totally agree with your comments on the new M&P. Metal and Polymer.

Tam said...

nextjoe,


It's more comfortable to grip and easier to cut with than it looks; the Shabaria was designed by Edward Bradichawsky to emulate early Bronze Age daggers found in the Middle East. Is it as natural in the hand as a Spyderco Dodo or Emerson Commander? No, but it's not as awkward as it looks, either.

Xavier,

Figured you'd be on my side on this one. ;)

Carl H said...

The Spyderco Shabaria is a personal favorite. One of the first VG10 knives Spyderco made. I've had mine for years, really like this blade shape, but I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So be holding one of these for a while and suddenly it'll look mighty purty. That funky handle shape gives a ton of excellent grip points and reduces the overall weight of the knife to less than 4 oz. Good engineering, solid lockup, solid knife.

I'd really like to see Spyderco release one of these with a fixed 6 to 8 inch blade in VG10. The Shabaria blade shape cuts like nobody's bidness. (Try holding it in a reverse grip, hand along the hip and spinning so the blade 'scythes' as you spin. Grim reaper, you danged betcha)

I may have to lay my old M&P beside my Shabaria and take a few photos. Looks like all the cool kids are doing it.