“The 1911 handgun is still widely used and adored”
My favorite handgun is 106 years old. Having taken it apart and put it back together a couple of times (thank God for a video!), I can’t really come up with how that design could be improved. You could go bigger for more punch or smaller for more easier concealment, but I’m not sure what technological advancement would be had apart from accessories.
There’s a difference between antiquated technology and mature technology.
Firearms have been around for hundreds of years. The best designs have risen to the top. The only reason to change existing, proven designs is to incorporate newer materials (if better), try to shave a few cents off the production cost, or comply with government regulations (like the automotive industry has had to do for the better part of 100 years).
I welcome innovation in supressors, but a heckuva lot more would occur if our ridiculous federal laws were changed to allow regular guys and gals to easily own and build them and innovate on their own without having to jump through hoops and/or risk prosecution.
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I really despise this mindset that everything new is better than everything old. Maybe that’s why I’ve always been a conservative - I believe our ancestors weren’t idiots and things are they way they are for pretty darned good reasons that we probably haven’t considered or may not even comprehend. In my experience, “newer” is most likely to mean cheaper (in a bad way), less reliable, and made in China with slave labor. None of which translates into “better”.
Sorry. I think I veered into a rant there. I work in IT so it’s not like I think everything new is crap, but I also have enough experience to know that neither is everything old.