Do manufacturers intentionally make their firearms look cool, or are aesthetics an unintentional side-effect?
They used to but every modern glockoff looks worse than a glock. And glock want a high bar.
They try. It's just that general aesthetic preferences have changed quite a bit in the past four decades and consequently contrarians, those stuck in the past and geriatrics have less things that conform to their taste. I was with it but then they changed what it was yadda yadda
>>65559324the HK XM8 (RIP) was literally designed to look "like starship troopers"
>>65559324A true craftsman considers both function as well as form.We're not cavemen swinging around crudely carved stone axes.
>>65559324clearly not seeing as most modern guns look like plastic toys
>>65559324Genuinely aesthetics do play a not-insignificant role in gun design. I mean think about it, all goods have a degree of thought put into how they look to make it stand out on a store shelf, why would guns be an exception? Things like the pump on the Benelli Nova which has no functional reason to be shaped like that, but is anyway for style.
>>65559324i believe there is some consideration for the market desired. Glock is utilitarian. Beretta has the Apex series for utility but I believe the 92 series considered civ market if the military trials wouldn't have worked out. much like a S&W 642 has some visual appeal while Charter Arms Undercover looks cheap in any finish.
>>65559755>S&W 642 has some visual appealyeah maybe it appeals to down syndrome retards who see themselves in a retarded ass ugly revolver
Italians have style in mind but americans have autismal obsession over form that they get aesthetics accidentally
>>65559324>G R I P Z O N E>R>I>P>Z>O>N>E
in the hundreds of years old history of firearms, a fine craft element always existedSome of it was expressed, manifested in the metalwork or finishes, and in woodworkMass-produced 20th century and later guns (also World War II firearms manufacturing, designs) fundamentally changed that
>>65559324In the case of beretta; its unintentinonal. They dont make good looking firearms anymore. All their modern designs are lame including 92's. I hate what theyve done to 92's :(
>>65559755I think Glocks are still pretty for striker firearms. Less so FS Gen 5s and Gen 6s but earlier models and the pre-FS Gen 5 are neat
form should follow function.
>>65559324Yes and no. Often times the design is purely functional and acquires a crude beauty in it's rough appearance, if any. On the other hand industrial design is an element of designing anything that is intended to be manufactured, marketed and sold. The way it looks is a factor, which can result in everything from small tweaks because it would look nicer to an entire artistic styling approach from top to bottom.>>65560420Beretta actually does do intentional artistic styling. Guns like the PX4 (pistol and carbine), the 9000S and ARX had an aesthetic industrial design process the same way an iPhone or a car does. I don't think it was very successful because about the same amount of people hate it as love it but it is intentional and they went to great lengths to do it.>>65560415I disagree. I think new materials, manufacturing methods and demands simply created different ways that this can manifest. Beautiful wood/steel styling still exists but even plastic budget pistols/hunting rifles will add aesthetic touches just to differentiate themselves. Just because it's not what you like doesn't mean it doesn't look good to somebody else.
>>65560793>ARX had an aesthetic industrial design process the same way an iPhone or a car does. I don't think it was very successful because about the same amount of people hate it as love itIt came out looking like the XM8's retarded ginger cousin. Fishy in all the wrong ways.What are some of the prettiest Italian weapons instead?
>>65559324accidentally aesthetic guns like Beretta, P226, USP still look timelessguns with intentional aesthetics like all those custom 2011s, anything Taran Tactical, copper barrels and angular slide cuts look like shit
Some companies try very hard, but since they have bad taste, their guns have bad aesthetics.
>>65560844I do not like the slide cuts everywhere, but at least it's pretty consistent design language. The aggressive checkering on the magwell funnel is retarded though. I do not get when companies purposely cut the forward slide serrations in a different style and angle than the rear serration, that just looks ugly and there's no excuse.
>>65560835There are tons. I think Italians have a hard time designing anything truly ugly unless they really try to. I don't know to what extent they go out of their way to style their guns or to what extent it just sort of happens.
Not just Beretta either. They're all like this.
>>65560844Why can't they just be more like >>65561152This?All they have to do with that tacticool abomination is simplify it. Make the grip one piece instead of the weird broken up design. Keep the upper part clear, remove those retarded serrations on the slide but keep the cut. Would look like a sleek design instead. Of course also get rid of all the "space age" patterns underneath the slide, or at least most of them.
>>65559324Can you even get a Beretta 92 with a straight dust cover anymore?
I'm sure aesthetics weren't a factor in its design, but I love the look of the AK. Especially the distinctive curved magazine of 7.62x39.
>>65560844I don't even mind this that much it's just the separated comp that I hate. If it looked like it belonged it would be fine. The Carry Comp looks way better tho
>>65561604wooden furniture AK-47s and AKMs do look good
>>65561143>I think Italians have a hard time designing anything truly ugly unless they really try to.Unironically I believe that the first gen APX looks retarded on purpose. Beretta realized that low IQ people love ugly plastic guns but didn't quite understand what kind of ugly they had to go for.
>>65561879>APX>Beretta realizedconcur
>>65559324EVERY sig handgun ive seen looks visually awful. Yes even the "good" pre cohenbergstein 226's and stuff, they just look like the bog standard glock version of da/sa's, while the strikers they have look equally boring. They just lack zazz
>>65561962I feel the opposite. Growing up in the age of Wundernines, a P226 was peak aesthetics. My first duty gun was a P228 and very pleasing.
>>65562195So bland, so boring, so flat. Even the hammer is dull
>>65559791occasionally, i see something i do not understand the intended purpose and so it is difficult to appreciate the design. i suspect you experience this every time you take a shit.
>>65560440and they are as they are a well designed and executed example of a purpose driven firearm. so much so, they are iconic. my suggestion is that the RAND rattler 1011's in WW2 were pure function though today, we have different variations of that design which cater to various markets. simple/bare function still exists but so do mid-grade and top tier. and then, there is the gold inlay w/artwork market. i have not figured out who is buying that last market.
>>65561152A 19-92-high power?
>>65561879>Beretta>enshittify / Whirlstar-ify the previously-fine appearance for moronsCZ seems to be headed that direction as well with their newest Tactical Sport 3
>>65561523on the previously owned marketWhy even purchase a brand new pistol (esp. of a decades-old design), the U.S. handgun sales market is massively saturated and you can find LNIB or barely-used ones of all subvariants almost anywhere / online
>>65561143The brown goes on the grips, not the slide
>>65562403Bernardelli P018It's completely unremarkable from a design standpoint, but it sure looks nice.>>65562504Hard disagree. I love when gun bluing turns a plumb color. Even though it's technically a screw up.
>>65562448Good God, what's with the orange?
>>65563042CZ has had a series of the Tactical Sport pistols going on years now with different anodized colors, that is the Orange edition (the previous CZ 75 TS in that color looked ok - pic is a blue TS 2)Color's not the problem here however.
>>65562195P220 was designed in the early 1970s, adopted 1975 by the Swiss Army as the Model 75 and sold by Browning as the BDA (Browning Double Action). Original guns had a heel magazine release.
>>65559324The correct answer is "depends on the manufacturer" but aethetics always play a part unless the manufacturer has to focus heavily on budget, like Hi-points, or its a ground breaking design like the AR series. Neither won any beauty contests on release and despite both of them being reliable, it effected their rollouts
>>65566291The original ar15(and m16a1) were kino though the fuck you talkin about. They BECAME gay
>>65559324I think most guns look retarded. By looks:S&W makes the best polymer/aluminum pistols and revolvers.Marlin and big horn make the best looking lever actions.Winchester makes the best looking shotguns.Kimber makes the best looking 1911s.All M4 copycat rifles look gay.Only stainless steel and chrome-plated firearms with wood look good. Blue looks like shit. Synthetic looks like shit.
>>65566299Nah, there was a lot of grumbling because muh wood and muh clubbing utility
>>65566477>pledditspaced nogunz tardationchecked
>>65559324the beretta slant dust cover looks like fucking shit
>>65561086It's because—especially on handguns—they're styling pistols like post-2000 cars are now. Putting bling on just for the sake of bling, trying to attract video game addicted zoomlennials that have watched anime their whole lives. None of it has anything to do with the functionality of the firearm. Guns are tools. They're not fashion accessories. (Same phenom with boutique ARs for years and now is infecting higher-end precision rifles)
>>65559639The face that the Nova's pump completely obscures the open bottom of the shotgun from dirt ingress is huge. It's the only pump gun you can somewhat practically seal from the elements
>>65566590Cry about it, plastic fag.
>>65567373never stop malding, nogunz