Carrying a gun you like.

21H40 said:

How do you decide which is "the best" for your shooting? I've got a 22 revolver that I shoot a little better than my CCW, so I should switch?

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Yeah, I'm just gonna presume that you're being purposely facetious here.

Carry what ever you like as long as you have a gun on you when you need one! I carry light plastic semiautos because I ALWAYS have one on me WHEN EVER I LEAVE THE HOUSE! Most of my friends that carry larger heavier guns pretty much never actually have the gun on them.

Oh and by the way, how about a picture of your rig

The advice to "try the gun in realistic scenarios" is excellent, but probably not in the way that @Kleanbore meant. He most likely envisions training scenarios including multiple rounds at multiple attackers, tactical reloads, and all the other things that go into modern pistol training.

The facts, of course, show that those scenarios are incredibly unrealistic, to the degree that they almost don't exist at all.

Truly realistic training - scenarios where the overwhelming majority of incidents are resolved by the mere presence of a gun in the hands of a good guy, and the overwhelming majority of the remaining incidents solved with just a few rounds - would demonstrate that the single action revolver is just fine.

Kleanbore said:

Try your gun in realistic defensive training drills and then decide.

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Once again, we have here the dreamy realm of possibilities vs. the
real world of probabilities.

And for others who cite Ayoob and others like him remember their
bread is buttered on both sides and edges to gain industry support.
It's how they make their livings.

In the real world any time the odds go much beyond one-on-one,
you're screwed if the bad guys are determined.

It seems the gun industry and the gun trainers all prep their
potential customers to the possibility they'll be in sustained
firefights and face totally hardened don't-give-a-ding multiple
attackers.

Bazoo said:

This is my understanding.

The fact that some people needed 15+ rounds or extensive training to sir one doesn’t make it the norm. If this happens to be my case I’ll likely not survive.

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I currently undergo "realistic" defensive training using modified Glocks, lasers, and movie screens. Occasionally there will be a scenario involving a few gang bangers demanding my wallet or somesuch, but mostly it is highly trained terrorists or dedicated military units or maybe a hostage scenario involving a SEAL team gone bad.

Now, I'm exaggerating a bit, but it's a rare training run that involves less than three magazing changes, and it's honestly kind of silly - but it also is the sort of thing that encourages people to disparage revolvers as inadequate for personal defense.

Bazoo said:

The fact that some people needed 15+ rounds or extensive training to sir one doesn’t make it the norm. If this happens to be my case I’ll likely not survive.

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15+ rounds is likely unnecessary. But having such a capacity goes a long way to ensuring you don't run dry when your life hangs in the balance.

As far as "extensive training" goes, I've been to exactly one pistol course, and that was as only to get a certificate so that I could get a CCW permit. All my other training has been by reading and then practicing what I have read.

Here, try this: Imagine an enraged stranger is at 25 yards distance, and begins running at you with a hammer/machete/axe/katana/tomahawk/rock/etc I tending to kill you. What do you think you and your single action revolver have time for here? If your first shot doesn't stop him, how long til you can make a second shot? What about a third?

Having a single action revolver instead of a semi-auto just makes this kind of situation so much harder.

Bazoo said:

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Here’s how I carry. I also carry a reload in that pouch forward of the holster. I do practice my draw from concealment and getting on target. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

If the test was to quickdraw against a bad guy, and get a round on target faster than him, I’d have a good chance. If the object was to Quickdraw against 4 badguys, since I’m not a gunfighter, I’ll likely get killed no matter the gun I have. This is my thinking atleast.

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Look back on THR 3-4 years and you'll see that I made very similar posts. Then reality hit. Those people telling you your SA revolver carry is foolish or ill advised, are trying to help you make a more pragmatic choice, that might just save your life.

Bazoo said:

Thanks.

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You're welcome.

As some members have probably seen me state repeatedly, I spent a lot of time and effort learning to like and shoot Glocks. I thought they were ugly, they felt weird, the trigger was terrible, and I just didn't like them much at all. But they worked! And worked really well, for a lot of people. So why not for me? Dedicated practice was all it took. Now those ugly gun fit my hands like gloves, and the terrible trigger is unnoticeable because I pull straight through it too fast to perceiver any creep or inconsistency. They'll never make me feel like a smooth revolver does, but they now make me feel very comfortable, because I know I can make fast accurate hits with them at common self defense distances. With either hand or both hands, and I "recalibrated" myself so they point naturally too.

No reason you can't pick a brand of semi-auto and do the same.

Let's be clear, not arguing against hi-cap autos.
But in every realistic situation someone is likely
to face and have the ability to survive,
the revolver will do fine.

This whole "debate" started when cops started
claiming they were outgunned and they needed as
much and more firepower than the bad guys.

And it all occurred against the backdrop of the
military going from the 1911 to the Beretta 92.

The gun industry was only too happy to feed this
attitude as it introduced an Auto-of-the-Month that
people absolutely needed.

Bazoo said:

The problem is desire. Forcing myself to shoot a gun I don’t care for. I tried that. I found myself neglecting to shoot my carry gun for months, sometimes 6 months. It was just a tool. I did however shoot it dry and filthy sometimes to prove it, as that’s the condition it normally was in since I didn’t do much with it.

So my thinking is, carrying a gun I shoot and am proficient with gives me a better chance than a gun I won’t hardly use.

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Shooting a gun you don't like, certainly is the hard road. It's like going to work out at the gym. It's work, and it's not much fun. I spent at least a year shooting a minimum of 50 rounds a week, every week, out of whatever Glock I was carrying on my dominant side. That was a minimum, sometimes it was 150 rounds over two or more trips a week. I made myself go, I made myself shoot, and I got better. Now I don't have to shoot every week, because I'm maintaining skill not building.

That way is not for everyone though. You make your choice, and you go with it. Though I'd suggest you consider a nice double action revolver like a 686(+) or GP100 rather than a single action. I think that would serve as a reasonable balance between enjoyment and pragmatism. That way you can practice things like controlled pairs, the Mozambique drill, and emergency reloads. Seriously, give it some consideration. Perhaps read No Second Place Winner by Bill Jordan.

Bazoo said:

Mentioning ayoob and others is ironic, as part of what helped me form my opinions is reading sixguns by Keith. He talks about using guns for defensive purposes and suggests a double action revolver, and a single action if one is more comfortable or familiar with them. It’s a different school of thought but into the 50s and 60s, it was still acceptable.

He talks about it situational awareness and getting the first shot on target as fast as possible as the important things. He also said misses don’t count. Keith stressed proficiency over fast shooting. And that’s exactly what my common sense tells me.

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Elmer Keith was a lot of things but he was never a defensive shooting expert. He was an outdoorsman, a hunter, a marksman, and a pioneer of sorts in many things shooting related, but he was never a gunfighter. I don't think he was ever even in a gunfight. Aside from the fast draw practice in his youth he never talks about receiving, using, or engineering any kind of warfare or combat training in anything I have read by or about him. I have not read sixguns but I have read his biography "Hell I was there" and "Sixgun cartridges and loads", and I get the impression his knowledge of defensive handgun shooting was from 2nd hand sources and common sense.

Elmer Keith was a revolver guy. That was his thing and I get that, as into the 50's and 60's semi-autos didn't really offer much over the revolver. There just weren't very many different choices and the ones that were available were for the most part low capacity designs that required FMJ's for reliability. Back then soft lead HP's and hard lead SWC's were the most effective stoppers and only revolvers could be reliably loaded with them. They were more effective than the FMJ's that were practically mandatory for semi autos at the time. This is an ongoing theme in "sixgun cartridges and loads", in which he does get into the semi auto cartridges of the day. He says many times that his preference for revolvers is based on their ability to be loaded with lead HP's and SWC's and that the semi auto's are hindered by their FMJ bullets giving very little "shocking" power.

Jim Cirillo is another person who has a lot of good insight into the romanticism of revolvers and the reality of their use. He carried up to three revolvers on his person during stakeouts because reloading a revolver is so problematic under stress. Later in his life he was a big fan of semi autos and improving bullet designs.

I have heard a saying that a snub nose 38 revolver is a beginner's gun and a professional's gun.

For someone new to firearms, it is simple to use. The trigger is the hardest thing to get, but not impossible to become accurate with. There is always single action, which can be useful to a novice shooter. Within 3ft, accuracy is not a problem in double action for new shooters and the ability to make an accurate shot in single action is there, if need be.
There is all kinds of benefits from being proficient with an auto loader. Becoming proficient with both revolvers and auto loaders, you will find that a 5 shot revolver is more than enough.
Now, if you are looking for trouble, you need an auto loader of any kind and plenty of mags.

Gunfu_Blaster.45 said:

Becoming proficient with both revolvers and auto loaders, you will find that a 5 shot revolver is more than enough.

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I agree with everything you said except this and that is because I have the opposite experience. The more I use both revolvers and autoloaders and the more proficient I became with both, the less I want to be holding a revolver if I had to face someone who was even somewhat proficient with an auto loader.

Getting a mag into the magwell is a lot easier than getting a speedloader or even a moonclip into a cylinder. DA revolver trigger pulls are comparitively heavy and long. Bore height is a bigger issue with revolvers. Width of the cylinder works against concealment for revolvers. Bullet jump can be a problem with revolvers. Capacity is always the elephant in the room for revolvers.
The list goes on.

Practice SD drills, think 2 silhouettes side by side at 3 yards. Draw, double tap each, retreat 2 paces, move right 2 paces, repeat double taps. What do you need to accomplish this drill?
The days of a SD encounter of a single assailant armed with a knife or cheap revolver in a darker parking lot are about over. New technology, texting, social media, means you may face a flash mob of 20, or 3-4 youths in a coordinated attack. IMHO 10 rounds of 9mm is the minimum in any urban/suburban assault.

More often than not I carry a S&W 442 and 2 speed strips or speed loaders, depending on my clothing. It’s what I like and I am very confident in my abilities with it.

I also have a couple of Glocks that I also carry, but I carry the 442 most.