Even though my EDC is usually my 9mm Shield, when on vacay I often switch to a revolver. Sometimes I'll even bring both. We often end up doing some rural driving or walking around in the woods. I prefer having a 357 with me when we do that. I also enjoy the simplicity of not having to deal with magazines with so many stops, so much gear and luggage and car clutter. Last time we went somewhere I brought my new Windicator with me. I had 4 speedloaders loaded with 38+p and 4 with 357mag. I also had a box of 50 extra 38+p under the seat = 104 rounds. Even though some nearby states have loosened up a little regarding CC, and my CCL has reciprocity there, there were some stipulations that also fostered a change to revolver. Ohio in particular used to consider a loaded magazine to be essentially a loaded weapon, even if the mag was not in the gun. So traveling in Ohio's enforced "gun-free zones" I wanted the ability to unload quickly and completely.
There was also an incident where I was frolicking in the Lake Erie surf with my family and my Shield fell out of the holster and into the surf. I started feeling around for it feverishly with my foot in the sand and the waves were sucking everything out into the lake. I was starting to get really nervous, worried that'd I'd have to make a report. After close to a minute I found it and holstered it. Back at our hotel I found that the pistol was just loaded with sand (of course!). And there was no way I was going to try to take it apart in that condition and clean it in a hotel room with a live round in the chamber. It was really messed up and didn't seem very reliable that way. The next day back home, I did clean it....and let me tell you it was a beeyotch to even pull the slide back. I really needed to nurse all the sand out carefully and mind that live round. I was so right not to mess with it in a hotel. By the looks of it, if I needed to, I doubt I would have squeezed off more than a shot or two before it totally jammed. If I had had a revolver, unloading it would have been a simple thing, and then I could have washed it out, even taken a part or two off and rinsed it well. We even had a hair-dryer in our room and tools in the car.
So anyway, even though I sometimes I bring both a semi- and a revolver, I'm starting to gravitate to revolver only when I travel and just bring lots of ammo and speedloaders. The simplicity is a load off my mind and I'm sure would make rectifying difficult technicalities much easier.
Before I had my Windicator, I used to bring my Charter Arms Bulldog 357 along on vacation. The Bulldog has a 6" barrel but is lighter. It also only takes 5 rounds and the Windicator takes 6. How I see it, is a 357 with a 3 or 4 inch barrel would be ideal as long as it wasn't too heavy to keep comfortably concealed. The Windicator just barely qualifies as it is around 32oz, I believe. Eventually I might like to look at another Charter Arms revolver for vacations, maybe a Pitbull in 45ACP or an original 44spl Bulldog.
