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The Official Utah State Firearm

From yesterday’s Salt Lake Tribune I learned that Utah may get a state gun: the Browning M1911 semiautomatic pistol, designed by Utahn John Browning. Utah would be the first state to get its own gun. While this is an interesting idea, I’m not sure that .45 is the right caliber:

  • The Utah state animal is the Rocky Mountain elk. Shouldn’t the state gun be a good choice for hunting the state animal? Personally I would not take a .45 on an elk hunt. On the other hand, plinking at seagulls (the state bird) with a .45 would work nicely.
  • Sure, the .45 has ample stopping power, but we might hope that the state gun would be suitable for carrying by any adult resident of the state. The .45’s recoil might be on the heavy side for a hundred-pound recent high school graduate. A 9mm or .38 special may offer a better compromise between effectiveness and usability.
  • According to the company web site, Browning’s handgun offerings are all in .22, 9mm, and .40 — they don’t even make a .45 caliber pistol anymore. Let’s support local industry and choose a state firearm that is still manufactured here (if any are).

I also learned from yesterday’s Trib article that the Utah State Cooking Pot is the dutch oven.

regehr

8 responses to “The Official Utah State Firearm”

  2. Browning designed it, but Colt manufactured them for the US army. He didn’t found his own company until 1927, and other than decent shotguns they never really made much of consequence, other than the Browning Hipower pistol in 9mm. There are literally hundreds of copies of the 1911 design, all the way from “military issue” or “milspec” weapons to highly modified competition setups. I went for the Springfield Armory 1911-A1 in 45, which is pretty close to the original Colt, but maybe a little lighter and more modern.

  3. And given the cost of 45 ACP ammo these days, I wouldn’t chose that caliber for plinking 🙁

  4. Yeah, Ben, pistol ammo is pricey, but seagulls are annoying too. I’ve never owned a Browning but have put quite a few rounds through a Buckmark, a Citori, and a 1911 copy. The first two guns were great but the 1911 jammed a lot; may have been a crappy knockoff.

  7. Is this a serious blog post? I expected it to be filed under Humor given the remarks on shooting seagulls and firearms for high school graduates.