Kmitch...I think you're getting somewhere...IMHO, the answer to your question is Zen-ish — "
when is a turd, in fact, a turd?" I personally don't care for Glocks...never shot 'em worth a crap...don't like the trigger...don't like the sights...don't like the grip angle. But does that make a Glock a turd, or does it make it just a gun Michael doesn't like? OTOH, I love Walther P-38s, with their Rube Goldberg crappy DA triggers, their pissy little sights and their quirky pointability. Does the fact that I like them make them Not-A-Turd?
I own an expensive 3-inch Kimber 1911 that broke three firing pins in a row,
bing, bing, bing...the only way to get it to stop breaking firing pins was to scrap the firing pin safety, do a complete overhaul (by Wayne Novak) and go to a titanium firing pin to make the gun drop safe. I like the gun just fine, but I wouldn't carry it for personal defense on a bet. Now, does that make all Kimbers turds, or all 3-inch Kimbers turds, or all short 1911s turds, or what exactly?
I have a Belgium Browning Hi-Power, considered one of the finest production handguns ever made. The rear sight shot off. Does that make it a turd? Does the fact that virtually every Colt Gold Cup will eventually snap the roll pin that holds the rear sight in place and launch the sight into the heavens —
something that has been common knowledge for decades — make Colt Gold Cups turds? Does the fact that early Mini 14s could be expected to shoot into 4 inches at 100 yards rather than MOA make them turds? Does it matter that the guns — dirt cheap compared to ARs back then — did exactly what they were designed to do, what Ruger
said they would do and what the majority of users expected them to do? I carry a Para Carry 9 LDA...does the fact that the LDA trigger clicks
twice going back to reset — which makes it damn near impossible for a person trained to "ride" the trigger back to reset to shoot without retraining —
make the LDA system a turd? Lots of people say so. Does it then matter that Rob Leatham, Todd Jarrett and the great Bill Rogers, head of the Rogers Shooting School, say that riding the trigger to reset is a mistake and a competition affectation? Does that make Rob, Todd and Bill Turds-By-Association because they refuse to acknowledge such a glaring "flaw" in a trigger system? I've been called a sell-out because I refused to agree with an "expert" on that very subject.
Is a gun a turd because it is less accurate than another gun? An average AK-47 is substantially less accurate than an average AR-15. Is the AK-47 a turd? Does Michail Kalashnikov know? My Wilson Master Grade competition pistol has more than 200,000 rounds of .45 through it and it still shoots better than me. If I put 200,000 rounds of ball ammo through a Ruger LCP, it would probably fall apart in my hands...does that make the LCP a turd? Most HK battle rifles are notoriously hard on brass, in some cases making the brass either impossible to reload or cutting drastically its working life...are HK rifles turds because of that?
Is a gun a turd because
you can't shoot it well? Is a gun a turd because
you don't like the way it feels in
your hand? Is a S&W 3rd-gen semi a turd because it feels small in your hands? A Desert Eagle a turd because it feels large in your hands? Is a Taurus revolver a turd because it doesn't have the same fit and finish as an S&W revolver, even though it costs half of the Smith? Is a modern S&W revolver a turd because it doesn't have the fit and finish of a pre-War Smith even though it costs twice as much? Is a $400 service pistol a turd because it won't shoot groups like a $3800 Nighthawk Custom? Is a Nighthawk Custom a turd because it took 200 rounds to break it in and your Springfield XD was 100% right out of the box? Are all Springfield XDs turds because your broke an extractor at 500 rounds?
If
one of anything fails, does that make all the copies of that anything a turd? Because if that's the case, every single gun in the world is a
turd.
All machines fail. Humans build them, and we're still struggling on that perfection thing.
I will continue giving you my
opinions, which —
although I am quite fond of them — fall somewhat short of omniscience. I will also do my best to tell you what my biases are, because that's the only way you can use my information to make your own decisions.
And I strongly urge you to remember those stirring words from Cartman on a classic SOUTH PARK:
Vote for Turd Sandwich.
This is the most important election of our lives.
Turd Sandwich brings us hope for change.
A vote for Turd Sandwich is a Vote for Tomorrow!
Michael B