Some day before we die, we have to find a way to go shooting together. Don’t get me wrong - I like the people at the club I belong to. But 95% of the people there don’t get past the “guns are fun” stage let alone the finer part of semantics.
Right now manufacturing for the panic buying by the “they are going to take our guns” crowd has thrown the stats off somewhat so good science is tough to come by. If we set aside the so-called assault and combat firearms the production and sales of more specialized hunting actions is probably growing slightly in longarms and shrinking slightly in handguns; about the reverse of what it was in say 1980. I would write that off to the normal fluctuations, so to speak, or “glut in the market”. So many (hunting handguns) were made at that time that the secondary market can fill the need for now. But that is just for now. As new ammunition is developed and older guns wear or are retired, that will probably change again.
Looking at just today’s production in these discussions is “seeing the tree but not the forest”. Remember we’re talking something that will last for multiple decades if not centuries. Trends in the secondary market have to be considered and have often been a good predictor of what makers will offer in the future. That needs to be entered into the equation as well. Look for more specialized target and hunting pistols to be the big thing in another 5-10 years; especially in the Republicans win for POTUS the next two cycles. If we Democrats win, say 10-15 years.
The bolding is mine because I’m not really sure what you mean there. And I wonder if you are trying a slight woosh on that TVland thing. I’m hitting it in depth because its one of those things that reads as being “right” until you really break it down.
Television did not invent the lever action pistol; Volcanic Arms really gets the bigger part of that credit along with credit for other developments later duplicated in rifles. In fact, the evidence from Hunt that survives indicates that the pistol came clearly first and the rifle followed. One could argue that the pistol was first because it was easier/smaller to make and still provided a test platform for the concept but you may not win that one since it doesn’t hold true for most other action types. The Volcanic is the most famous of the made-lever action pistols but its far from being the only one.
Now getting to the Steve McQueen TV thing for the more “cut-down-looking” pistols; I’ve heard that claim before but more from writers than people who shoot or collect firearms. Originals/antiques of various kinds of lever action pistols are rare but not unknown. In ones that look like Steve’s, some were actually made as handguns but most were indeed cut down rifles. Were they cut down simply for concealment or was it some throwback to the need Volcanic Arms saw in the first place? Without finding something in writing from a gunsmith who made one or the customer who ordered it we will never know for sure. But the TV show clearly was copying something that existed in some numbers rather than inventing something on its own.
But surely the TV show comes into play with its large following and popularity today, right? Sorry - wrong again. The various forms of Cowboy Action Shooting as a sport and hobby did that. Plus, like short side-by-side shotguns, they just look cool as Hell. Both Steve and the show are forgotten for the most part by the vast majority of the people purchasing the things. Where we do have to give them some small credit, I believe, is in the name “mare’s leg” but even that is hard - but we can at least say they made the name somewhat popular.
The fun part of the argument becomes: just how common were pistols made from shortened lever action rifles prior to the 1968 GCA - way back when that show was being made? Just what would a “census survey” show compared to other purpose-made pistols like the SSA? That we may never know but they were common enough to be a standard offering in some of the firearms catalogs. So while they are considered rare now that doesn’t always seem to have been the case. But one place where everyone does agree; that look has never been as popular or as common as it is today.
Now – this is where your “need to be” confuses me. If I am reading you right (and that is far from a certainty), its not so much that they “need” to be pistols so much as they “are” pistols. Just like any modern-made cartridge-using handgun. So I guess I’m missing your point. What it looks like doesn’t enter into the question, just what it is.
But let me assume its the “started as a rifle” part that you are thinking of. Lets say I am a licensed manufacturer of firearms. Not just a basic gunsmith but a confirmed and certified maker. Maybe not a Remington but something more along the lines of an Interarms or such. I get a fantastic deal on 50,000 identical lever action rifles and I want to turn them into pistols. Those will need the $200 tax and restrictions as a (to use the vernacular) class three weapon, right? Not really. If I have the right licenses in place to manufacture pistols, to create one from scratch, I can argue (and win) that I have the right to use existing firearms from another maker to create those pistols. It usually doesn’t make fiscal sense but its fine from the legal side.
