My guns don't need to be pretty, they just need to work

[ml1209]

Ugly gun, is okay. In fact, it'd be one less thing to worry about.

[Beiruty]

I never like Glock, never owned.
I do not buy beat up firearms too.
You can enjoy yours. My guns are like Man's Jewellery.

[Grundy1133]

my guns just need to be reliable.

[MadMonkey]

I don't think anyone has ever accused most of my guns of being pretty. They start with painted ARs and go downhill from there

I have one gun I'd call pretty, and that's a 1950s Browning takedown 22 that I inherited from my dad, who inherited it from his dad. Only two other guns have sentimental value (and both are ugly), the rest are strictly function over form.

[mrvmax]

I’ve carried many different handguns and reliability, capacity and my ability to shoot them well are the things I consider. I tend to lean toward Glock because of their proven reliability, low cost and availability of parts and accessories.

[MechAg94]

Smooth function and reliability are a beauty all their own. A pretty gun that doesn't work, handles like a brick, and/or has a crappy trigger isn't very pretty.

But that gets into what makes a gun beautiful. If it was just a block of inert metal with a nice finish and machine work, we wouldn't care much for it. It is the functional shape, the good workmanship, elegant design, and smooth function that make a gun beautiful. Even a Glock has some of those features.

[RPBrown]

I like reliable over pretty. However, I have to admit, seeing as I like the 1911 platform, I have a few "pretty" 1911's. The closest thing to a "pretty" rifle or shotgun I have is a Weatherby Mark V Safari in a .340 mag that was my mothers gift to my dad back in the 70's. It is now mine and I have only shot it a handful of times but I keep it pristine. It gets cleaned, along with a very few of my other guns every couple of months just because.

[LeonCarr]

Just about everything I have now is matte finished, non reflective, fiberglass stocked. I gave up bougie bougie for all weather performance long ago. I see firearms as tools, not as ornaments.

I have owned two Weatherby Mark Vs, one in .270 Weatherby Magnum and one in .300 Weatherby Magnum. Both of them had beautiful wood, a blued finish you could read a newspaper off of, and both of them shot sub-MOA out to 300 yards with Weatherby factory ammunition. I also carried them back and forth to the deer blind in hard cases :). I sold them.

If you want to see ugly guns that perform, go shoot a USPSA match sometime and look at a Master Class or Grand Master Class shooter's gun. They are not pretty because they get shot or handled(dry fire, mag changes, holster presentations) literally every day. Shooting in a match against somebody with a purty gun doesn't worry me as much as shooting against somebody with a ugly gun.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

[Soccerdad1995]

I like my guns to be reliable, accurate, ergonomic, and pretty in that order. Sometimes better ergonomics can also make a gun "prettier", as with a 1911's rounded top slide that helps with concealment and just happens to look better (to me) than a blocky gun like a Glock.

That said, I also want all of my guns to be usable. They can't be so pretty that I am afraid of taking them out of the safe and putting them in a holster, or carrying them through underbrush (for hunting rifles).

A while back, I was looking for an SP-101 and found an engraved model for around $10 more than the basic model (both were new). I almost passed on the engraved model just because I might be afraid to use it. I ended up with a compromise. I bought the engraved model and gave it to my wife as a present. Given that she isn't a huge fan of guns (but does want one available "just in case"), it won't be leaving her bedside safe much, if at all. I can tell myself that I'm not carrying it because I want it to always be available to her.

[puma guy]

All my guns are pretty!

[jmorris]

This is where my older brother and I diverge wildly. I choose all my firearms for function, pretty is way down the list*. Every firearm he's ever bought I think has gone to the engraver before the range.

*I do this with vehicles too. Drives the salesmen crazy.

[J.R.@A&M]

Mine are rugged and reliable. I think they're beautiful, too.

[flechero]

No reason a rock solid, accurate and reliable gun can't be pretty... I often carry what I consider to be a very "pretty" STI... although it was already pretty, before it was proven!

On the other hand, a reliable accurate gun is pretty in my eyes. So yes, even a PF9 can be pretty... if it runs like a singer and hits the mark.

[RossA]

Pretty is as pretty does.

[OlBill]

All my guns are pretty!

Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with these other guys.