You can trust the revolver guy...

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When I took my class the instructor asked "who hear shoots more than once or twice a year?" About 5 of us raised our hands. There were about 25 people in the class if I recall correctly. Of the five there were mostly wheel guns and my Colt Combat Elite gov size 1911. We all finished shooting inside of 5 minutes. The remaining 20 shooters took over an hour to finish. It was scary, to say the least. Wheel guns and steel frame single action autos to me give me impression that the user is more concerned with performance vs. how cool they'll look on someone's Facebook pages. My 2 pennies anyways...
 
Have recently introduced 2 friends to shooting by bringing them to the pistol club I belong to an teaching them to shoot. Actually just brought my oldest son to the club yesterday to shoot for the 1st time. All of them said they liked shooting my S&W model 66 better than the M&P 9mm FS and shield.
 
When I took my newly purchased .38/40 New Service to the range, the guys shooting shotgun patterns with their Blocks at the 7 yd line would not believe that a 103 year old gun could shoot 2 to 3" groups at 25 yds. Its fun being a younger guy who likes wheel guns.
 
When I take my S&W model 66 with the 2.5" barrel and my hand loads to my club folks are often surprised at how well My son and I shoot a snub nose revolver at 50 ft and at 25 yards. There are a fair number of revolver shooters at my club most are old guys like me.

There is hope though, My 17 year old son really likes shooting our 1968 highway patrolman, the 66 and our 8 shot 627 PC. Both of us shoot a bit better with the revolvers than with our semi autos.

Recently I watched a new member shoot a S&W 500 that he had just bought. The first three shots were great after that he started shooting the dirt in front of the 25 yard target. I suggested cap and dummy drills to help with his flinch. He did actually try it and it helped a bit. He was considering reloading practice rounds with trail boss until the flinch was under control.
 
Vernon, buying new or used is your decision. There is a sticky about how to check out a revolver to determine if it's in decent condition.

Model depends heavily on your preference as a shooter. For plinking a 617 or model 17 is probably what you'd enjoy most over a smaller gun, unless you have very small hands or strength issues.

I suggest you start a new thread discussing your desires. You will get much more input than posting your question in here.
 
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I slung 400 rounds down range today. After blasting away with my 1911 for awhile, I pulled out one of my 357's and bumped the target back all the way. It's a lame range. 20 yards max.

I was the only one out of ten lanes shooting a revolver. Made me a little sad. People shooting AR's at 7 yards made me even sadder.
 
Driftwood Johnson said:
Howdy

You may not have quite understood what I was saying when I said 'Happens more often if I am shooting Black Powder'. I seldom shoot Cap & Ball revolvers any more. Instead I am usually shooting cartridge guns with the cartridges loaded with Black Powder, pretty much the same way it was done before cartridges started being loaded with Smokeless powder.
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You got that right! Not only that, I had to read your response about three times to figure out what you meant, being a newbie I had no idea that what you describe is even possible. Definitely enjoyed your photos though. :)
 
OLNS, on your request for how well cap & ball guns can shoot I can say that I've got two Italian Colt 1860 replicas that both shoot tidy little groups that are easily a match for what my S&W .38's can manage. And that would be around 1.5" at 15 yards. Which means that both guns are actually better than I am and the 1.5" is due to me.

They may be inexpensive to buy but if they are done right you can get some very good results from them.

The trigger pulls, being single action, vary from excellent to "nice". In fact one of my Uberti Remington clones needed to have the trigger sear very slightly stoned to RAISE the trigger pull. The two or three ounces it was prior was a trifle too much of a hair trigger for the use I put the gun to.

If you get the urge to play with some black powder and if you are already reloading your own ammo by all means load up some 3f or 2f grade black powder in some revolver cases. The great thing about shooting black powder cartridges is that the cylinder and barrel are easy to clean at the end of the day thanks to the thru holes in the cylinder. And the looks you'll get when that humungous cloud of smoke belches forth are worth it. Not to mention the big difference between a black powder "THUMP!" compared to smokeless load "CRACK!" when they go off.

If this has you interested then check out the BP forum here for information on loading up cartridges with BP instead of smokeless. There is a couple of tricks you need to know.
 
Although I like Iggy's reply, I don't trust anybody.
 
this is a fun thread!

I took a Smith&Wesson 10 shot 22 revolver to an instructors course to qualify with.

I was the only one with a revolver. Two of us had 22's.
By the end of the day every student in the class had tried my 22 revolver and most of them wrote down which model it was.

My most popular video on my YouTube channel is the one where I run a SAA Clone in a USPSA style match. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFD2UDXRZGA)
I placed dead last (17th/40 on one stage :evil:), but more people remember me for that match than any other.
At many local matches I attend, people will (still) come by and ask "not running you SAA today?" :)

A lot of old timers I run with use revolvers. I trust em to teach me a thing or two.
 
There is some truth to "trusting the revolver guy". My first bevy of guns were revolvers. I would buy ammo and shoot - no problem. Then later in life, I bought semi-autos. Now I clean brass, reload, and shoot a heck of a lot more. Not sure if it is for the better though. Quality verses quantity is the only remaining conflict. I love them both. Most of us semi-auto guys started as revolver guys and never quit but simply expanded the short arm game. We just adapted to other things as well.
 
BCRider said:
OLNS, on your request for how well cap & ball guns can shoot I can say that I've got two Italian Colt 1860 replicas that both shoot tidy little groups that are easily a match for what my S&W .38's can manage. And that would be around 1.5" at 15 yards. Which means that both guns are actually better than I am and the 1.5" is due to me.

They may be inexpensive to buy but if they are done right you can get some very good results from them.

The trigger pulls, being single action, vary from excellent to "nice". In fact one of my Uberti Remington clones needed to have the trigger sear very slightly stoned to RAISE the trigger pull. The two or three ounces it was prior was a trifle too much of a hair trigger for the use I put the gun to.

If you get the urge to play with some black powder and if you are already reloading your own ammo by all means load up some 3f or 2f grade black powder in some revolver cases. The great thing about shooting black powder cartridges is that the cylinder and barrel are easy to clean at the end of the day thanks to the thru holes in the cylinder. And the looks you'll get when that humungous cloud of smoke belches forth are worth it. Not to mention the big difference between a black powder "THUMP!" compared to smokeless load "CRACK!" when they go off.

If this has you interested then check out the BP forum here for information on loading up cartridges with BP instead of smokeless. There is a couple of tricks you need to know.
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Not reloading and no plans to do so.

Saw some BP revolvers at a gun store awhile back and was totally smitten with the look of them, but I'm not the type to spend money on something just to look at, so I guess I'm fantasizing about whether I could get one that would actually be useful, hence my questions.

Showing my newbie-ness now, OK, single action means first cocking the hammer, I guess that's the weight I should have asked about. Is it more or less difficult than a full-sized 686 and if possible to estimate this, by what percentage?
 
rcmodel said:
It varies.

I joined the local city owned subterranean basement indoor pistol range a few years ago.

My first visit, I took a Model 41 S&W, a .45 Colt SAA, and a .44 Spl S&W 1950 Target.

After shooting the first target, everyone there wanted to look at my guns, etc.

The 20 something Range Safety Natzi ask me if he could shoot the Colt SAA, as he had never seen a real one before!
Sure!

I loaded it with 5 rounds, he picked it up, and proceeded point it straight up while cocking it with his finger on the trigger, then 'throwing lead' like Roy Rogers.

The Negligent Discharge .255 grain 900 FPS Keith hit the concrete web in the ceiling 4' over and in front of us, and splattered us all with lead and concrete dust.

After which he declared my Colt SAA to have an 'Unsafe Hair Trigger', and ask me to leave the range!!

I Never went back again!!

rc
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Not really sure if I should be laughing or crying for the poor damm fool!
 
Ha! Reminds me of an experience at the range many years ago. A petite, and very handsome and shapely young blond showed up at the range one day. She was shooting a Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP, and shooting quite well, I might add.

She suffered a stoppage, a partial double feed, and couldn't clear her pistol. Politely she approached me as I was shooting, passing five or six more men on the firing line. She asked me if I could help her. I did go to her aid, and was able to clear the pistol in short order.

As she thanked me, I asked her why she passed so many others to enlist my help.

"Because you looked like you knew what you were doing," was her reply.

Bob Wright
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I'm sure Mr. Wright stands out at the range do to his shooting and exceptional taste in firearms.

I don't think simply carrying a revolver makes anyone look more skilled than anyone else. I've noticed an increase in people using them simply because they perceive it makes them appear "old school" and therefore some sort of old time gunslinger.

Revolvers and autos are equally reliable. I love a an old revolver. They look good and they still do the job. However these days I just can't justify the sacrifice in capacity.
 
A few years ago my wife and I had gone to the local indoor range to practice, I had just picked up a nice pre-billboard Security Six snubby in .357 Magnum so after we put a few mags through our carry guns I pulled out the Ruger and worked my way up from light .38Spl to some warmish .357 factory loads. I was pretty focused and the partitions are pretty tight at that range so I didn't notice but after I got all our brass picked up and we left she commented that several people from up and down the firing line had come over to see what I was shooting.

Ever since that time I've noticed that there are a lot of shooters who apparently have never seen or heard anyone shooting a service-size or larger revolver. I don't even get that sort of attention when I shoot the five-seven pistol and it has a similar bark and fireball to a magnum snubby.
 
Old Lad New Shooter said:
.....Showing my newbie-ness now, OK, single action means first cocking the hammer, I guess that's the weight I should have asked about. Is it more or less difficult than a full-sized 686 and if possible to estimate this, by what percentage?
Click to expand...

My cap and ball revolvers are a little harder to cock than my single action cartridge guns. The 1873 single action clones are very much in the same area of effort to cock as a 686.
 
BCRider said:
My cap and ball revolvers are a little harder to cock than my single action cartridge guns. The 1873 single action clones are very much in the same area of effort to cock as a 686.
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Thanks for answering. :)

I wish there were somewhere I could get a lesson on one...
 
A number of years ago, I took the NRA's Basic Pistol Class, followed by the Personal Protection Inside the Home.

I was "that revolver guy". I had a S&W Model 10-5.
It dates to 1966-67.
The instructors all wanted to look at it.
And just to show off a bit, when the instructor said "2 to the head", I did 'em in about 1 or 2 seconds.
The instructor that was watching me just kinda smiled & nodded.

So to the OP, no it wasn't just you, they like the revolver guy. :D
 
I have noticed the guys who brag about how they are so good tend to be the ones who cant even hit the paper.
 
Shop I worked at had been sized up a few times.
Everybody had a J frame tucked away (to be polite).
Evidently the thugs are stupid and think if they don't see it, it must not be there.
So I open carried my hunting rigs...........Smith 629 6" or Python 6".
They got noticed ;)

One day a young kid comes in with his creepy dad, evidently kid (24 or 25 maybe) says he's going to the police academy soon. He's checking out Glocks, M&P and Taurus.

Busy as heck (Obama scare period)............he is kinda pushy, loud.........seemingly lost from social norm.

Blurts out "whatcha got there?"

I reply "just an old Colt" (it's a 69 E series).

Big smile and goofy look to go with it.............he pipes up again "So, you any good with it?"

My response (monotone, calm and probably delivered with the ol' Spock eyebrow too)...........

"son, I've been killing stuff with this gun since before you were born".
He just got wide eyed and his goofy dad bobbed his head with a Cheshire cat smile.

Freakin' weirdos.

I eventually started wearing my old Combat Commander daily, got a Fobus paddle and it made all day carry quite comfy.
 
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