It’s funny, the old phrase “They don’t make 'em like they used to” is generally seen as the battle-cry of the Luddite (Guilty as charged 
), but there are some cases when it’s actually true, and the older model is actually better, what “older” items do you prefer?
Here’s a few examples;
Vehicles; too much reliance on automation, modern cars now have more in common with computers than they ever had, case in point, the Toyota “rolling video game” Prius, GM’s “Big Brother Is Listening” OnStar system, Ford’s Microshr3uiwfuh <General Car Fault has occured at address fxa0000101, the vehicle has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down, turn key to restar,Errp, Danger WillRobinson, Danger!..> Sync system…
Give me a simple, mechanical car, and hold the Big Brother-esque Black Box as well please, thanks
Computers; the Unibody MacBook Pro series loses the user-replacable battery and the FireWire port, and the external monitor connection is downgraded from a true DVI port to a Mini-DVI port, the battery isn’t as galling as the loss of the Firewire and the “downsizing” of the DVI port though, now you need an adapter to hook up a conventional DVI monitor to your MBP
Firearms; the “TDMTLTUT” maxim is definitely true here, older firearms are much better than the new ones, many reasons why…
Triggers; newer firearms have horribly gritty, stiff, hard-to-pull “LawyerTriggers” to prevent stupid people from winning Darwin Awards and to protect firearm manufacturers from lawsuits from the stupid’s next-of-kin, one of the worst examples, the Ruger 10/22, trigger pulls can be upwards of 8 or 9 Lbs, with no indication of when the trigger will break (fire the gun) I can pick up a new 10/22, turn off the safety, and actually HANG THE GUN OFF MY TRIGGER FINGER, the full weight of the gun hanging on my trigger finger, and the trigger will not release! (notable exception, the Savage AccuTrigger, it has a great trigger pull, 2.5# and a crisp break)
Plastic…ahem…“Polymer”; no, I’m not talking about the most famous “Plastic Fantastic” pistol, the Glock, although it is a prime contender, because the Glock is, in all actuality, a stellar, amazingly good firearm, partially because it was built from the ground up around those plast…err…polymer parts, no, I’m referring to guns like the Ruger 10/22, the new ones have a plastic trigger group housing on the new guns, the plastic TG has more flex than the aluminum TG, and therefore the gun has a horrible, imprecise, and unrepeatable trigger pull, the older models have a cast aluminum TG housing and a much cleaner and lighter trigger pull, the Marlin Model 60 also has a plastic trigger guard replacing the old metal trigger guard, and the new guns have a horribly spongy, mushy trigger pull
LawyerFeatures; Horrible, stiff, hard-to-pull triggers are the hallmarks of LawyerFeatures, but other Lawyer-influenced features have corrupted otherwise great guns as well, the Ruger “Mark” series, as a prime example…
The Mark III .22LR pistol is a Mark II with the following dubious “Lawyer/nannystate crap” features added to it…
Loaded Chamber Indicator, a little flag on the side of the reciever that tips outward when the gun is loaded, the LCI is one more place for crud to build up, and it has been the cause of many “stovepipe” jams, a jam where the spent shell being extracted hangs up and falls off the extractor, only to jam up the action and prevent the next cartridge from being loaded, and besides, if you’re familiar with Jeff Cooper’s “Four Rules**”, a LCI is irrelavent anyway, as it violates Rule 1, the MkIII owners that have removed the LCI tab, or even the entire LCI have found that stovepipe jams and other feed/eject issues vanish almost completely
Magazine Disconnect, the pistol will not fire unless the magazine is inserted, even if there’s a live round chambered, this feature adds unneeded/unwanted mechanical complexity, especially when disassembling a Mark series for cleaning, as the disassembly procedure is complex enough as it is ;), and it compromises trigger pull and trigger feel
the only nice feature of the MkIII series is that the magazine release has been moved up to the left side of the grip frame, behind the trigger guard, instead of at the heel of the grip, where the MkII, MkI and Standard pistols have had it located
thanks to the above features, I will not purchase any Mark III series pistols, or any future Ruger .22 pistols that have those dubious features
I was looking to replace my probematic old Ruger Mark II Target pistol with a newer one, I had narrowed down the choice to either a new Ruger Mark III Target in 22/45 configuration for $300, or a used (near-mint condition) Mark II 22/45 for $250, I went with the used Mark II 22/45, because I did not want to deal with the LCI and mag disconnect on the new Mark III series, the Mark II series holds more value to me because of the lack of Nannystate crap features, and I’m not the only one who feels this way, many experienced shooters who are looking for a Ruger semiauto .22 are looking on the used market for the Mark II series, and coincidentally, the Mark II’s are getting harder and harder to find, as the owners tend to hold on to them
Internal Locks; Smith and Wesson, Taurus, and Ruger all have internal locking mechanisms that serve to either lock the slide, or otherwise disable the hammer from being cocked, problem is, these locks have a tendency to fail, and once again, add unneeded and unwanted mechanical complexity to an already complicated mechanical device, Smith and Taurus Internal Locks have been known to fail in the “on” position, preventing firearm operation during use, imagine the consequences if the lock were to fail when you had to use the firearm defensively…
Ruger’s lock is the only one that got it right, it’s on their Single Action revolvers, and it’s under the grips, it’s off by default, and if it fails it will not compromise functioning of the revolver, Smith’s ILS is inside the lockwork of the pistol, behind the rear of the cylinder housing, and has been known to fail and cause complete stoppage of the revolver, Taurus’s internal lock is a tad more reliable than Smith, but can fail and lock the firearm up when not expected
So, what older items do you prefer, to the point of not purchasing a newer version, if available?
**Jeff Cooper’s Four Rules of firearm safety
1; Treat EVERY gun as if it’s loaded (even when it’s not)
2; Do Not point the gun at anything you are unwilling to destroy
3; Know your target, and what lies beyond your target
4; Keep your finger OFF the trigger until you’re ready to shoot (more amusingly paraphrased as “keep your booger hook off the bang switch”)
