Modern Handguns

In an article on how the Weaver Stance originated, the author wrote of Jack Weaver who started it; "Like many of us who appreciate the aesthetics of things, Jack feels modern pistols have lost much of their visual appeal. “To me, a pistol is a thing of beauty,” he tells me. “And you’ve got to really love the thing before you can shoot with it.”

When I read that I thought, "He nailed it!"

Lost! Visual! Appeal!

Example: Looking at these modern pistols many of them appear as if they came out of the same mold.

And if something works well I can understand copying it. However for me, the appeal is not there.

As to material, "Polymer" is not the name of a material. To say "it's made out of polymer." is misleading. The correct way to say it is "It is made of a polymer." which in the case of firearms, is a type of plastic. The gun makers don't like to call their guns "plastic" so they misuse the term "polymer" to keep from doing that.

"A polymer is a chemical compound with molecules bonded together in long, repeating chains. Because of their structure, polymers have unique properties that can be tailored for different uses. Polymers are both man-made and naturally occurring. Rubber, for example, is a natural polymeric material that has been used for thousands of years."
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-polymer-820536

"A polymer (Greek poly-, "many" + -mer, "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer

Plastic polymers can be very strong and hold up well as has been demonstrated by their use in manufacturing for quite some time now. However, no matter how well they work, polymer firearms will never be on the same level of "visual appeal" as those made of steel and wood. Or with elephant's tusk as part of the firearm. Or with engraving and gold inlay. Or a myriad of other things custom smiths like Gary do to make these tools even more attractive.