Is the wheelgun market soft?

ATLDave said:

In what way is a recessed chamber "better made"? Is there an accuracy advantage conferred? Reliability? Safety? Long-term durability? No, there isn't.

It did require additional manufacturing steps. It was therefore "harder" to make. Does that make it "better"? I suppose that is subjective.

QC issues are something different.

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It keeps crap from getting into the the rear of the cylinder and recoil shield and it also makes a revolver look nicer.

I think the revolver market along with the over all gun market is soft right now. I think(wrongly) that revolvers are especially undervalued because they are not tacticool and lower capacity. There are obvious exceptions like the colt Python but over all I thinks it is a buyers market out there.

Was at the Vegas arms show a few weeks back...QUALITY Colt/S&W revolvers are quite alive and well. If the revolver market is "soft" it is certainly not with collector quality guns.

No doubt about it many younger shooters are not looking for a revolver, they have been weaned on pistols.....many have never even fired a revolver.

But unmolested, COMPLETE revolvers, in box, original stocks, paperwork, etc...they are far from soft.

ATLDave said:

That would take a pretty broad definition of "novelty" to be correct. You'd have to count most handgun hunting as a novelty, for instance, not to mention various gun games that are heavy on revolvers. And woods carry in brown bear country means revolvers for most.

They're no longer the generic "handgun" that they once were. They are more than mere novelties and collectibles, though. They aren't like broomhandle mausers.

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I guess I do paint with a broad brush, handgun hunting? Yeah I got a revolver for that but my state doesn’t mandate type of handgun so if the Glock longslides were available When I bought my Blackhawk I may not have that revolver.

I also consider novelty to cover the guy who buys a revolver for a range toy or owns just one gun in the sock drawer.

TTv2 said:

It keeps crap from getting into the the rear of the cylinder

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And helps hold whatever crap gets in there from falling out.

Is your claim that there is an empirical improvement in reliability of the recessed guns? Seems like a lot of non-recessed guns are quite reliable. I've never had any of mine tie up because of crap infiltrating the rear of the cylinder (or otherwise).

huntsman said:

Yeah I got a revolver for that but my state doesn’t mandate type of handgun so if the Glock longslides were available

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There's pretty serious difference between what you can get out of a Glock (even a 10mm longslide) and a 41 or 44 magnum or a 45 colt in a modern revolver, to say nothing of 460's or 480's or 500's. I own more than one 10mm and love the round, but it's not the same thing as a big-bore revolver cartridge.

huntsman said:

I also consider novelty to cover the guy who buys a revolver for a range toy or owns just one gun in the sock drawer.

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If guns that are used at the range are a novelty, then the majority of guns in America are novelties. That becomes a meaningless term.

I have (non-revolver) guns specifically built, bought, and modified as guns for competition. They aren't "novelties" just because I don't plan to shoot anyone with them.

ATLDave said:

And helps hold whatever crap gets in there from falling out.

Is your claim that there is an empirical improvement in reliability of the recessed guns? Seems like a lot of non-recessed guns are quite reliable. I've never had any of mine tie up because of crap infiltrating the rear of the cylinder (or otherwise).

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Not claiming they're more reliable, but the less openings there are, the less that can get in the gun. I said that recessed cylinders felt better made because they were made at a time when revolver were better made, not that they were more reliable, but generally a better made revolver is more reliable.

ATLDave said:

There's pretty serious difference between what you can get out of a Glock (even a 10mm longslide) and a 41 or 44 magnum or a 45 colt in a modern revolver, to say nothing of 460's or 480's or 500's. I own more than one 10mm and love the round, but it's not the same thing as a big-bore revolver cartridge.



If guns that are used at the range are a novelty, then the majority of guns in America are novelties. That becomes a meaningless term.

I have (non-revolver) guns specifically built, bought, and modified as guns for competition. They aren't "novelties" just because I don't plan to shoot anyone with them.

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Handgun hunting regs in Ohio Allow big bores and .45acp, 10mm.

new gun sales seem to be geared toward CC And SD so I’m confident in saying that gun buyers consider that the main use for a handgun, whether competition guns are essential or not depends on ones view of recreational activities.

The market that really tanked over the past 10 years is side by side shotguns, except for the Winchester 21.

However, good luck finding a pre-model number Smith & Wesson with the original grips at a reasonable price.

I keep an eye open for used revolvers with a slight preference for pinned & recessed Smith & Wesson and look for nice but not perfect shooters. A new model 64 is $650 and a decent used one is maybe $400. The used will still be running when I die and I save $250. Bought a Pre-28 in pretty nice shape for $565 last year. Hope the market stays soft as long as I am buying.
Was in a huge gun shop last week . They have new 642 & 637 J frames on sale for $329.95 . Lowest price I have seen in the past 6-7 years. The sales guy said S&W gave the owner a great deal on a bunch of them this year. That tells me sales are soft

My main interest is Smith and Wesson revolvers made post WWII and 1980. I've noticed that prices have stopped increasing, but I have not noticed any large price pull back. There are some exceptions to that. I currently have a 3" 686 CS-1 for auction at G.B. It's showing a nice price run up.

bushmaster1313 said:

The market that really tanked over the past 10 years is side by side shotguns, except for the Winchester 21.

However, good luck finding a pre-model number Smith & Wesson with the original grips at a reasonable price.

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I was playing in the SXS market back in the 80-90’s and common low-end SXS shotguns in the 80’s were priced reasonable and still thought of as shooters till the whole thing became trendy, LC Smith knock abouts were fetching over 1K and the cheap hardware models followed them right up the ladder.

ATLDave said:

In what way is a recessed chamber "better made"? Is there an accuracy advantage conferred? Reliability? Safety? Long-term durability? No, there isn't.

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I believe the recessed rim cylinder to be a safer one.
With the current solid head case design, I would agree that there is not a lot of difference between the two.

However, one must remember that when the recessed rims cylinder was introduced, balloon head cases were very much in common use.
Those balloon head cases had a tendency to shear the rim off at the junction to the case body when used with even moderate loads in
conjunction with the cases not having been cleaned of the mercuric priming compound.
THAT is the reason the use of the balloon head cases are discouraged today.

Cases in point: Shooting balloon head cases in my .41 Colt SAAs sheared a rim occasionally causing me to abandon them.
The rim (in the un-recessed cylinder) flew out the right side every time, kicking open the loading gate.

Similar experience with .45 AR in a 25 Smith, although the separated rims could not escape the rear of the cylinder completely due to the larger rim diameter.

A recessed cylinder would not allow a rim to become a flying object.

Just sayin',
JT

That is my understanding, too. Once balloon-head cases became obsolete, recessed cylinders was just a matter of taste and extra work.

I generally buy the older vintage S&W or Rugers . Colts are out of my pocketbook range . Much of the newer stuff don't do it for me . I find fit , finish lacking not to mention lawyer triggers . S&W went to a different rifling process that doesn't shoot cast bullets all that well compared to the older cut / broached barrels . I prefer to shoot lead because it's cheaper , isn't as hard on barrels & does everything I could ask a handgun to do .

Smith and Wesson still makes recessed cylinder revolvers as part of regular production.
All of their rimfire revolvers still have recessed cylinders. Older center fire revolvers had recessed cylinders in magnum calibers. .38 special guns never had a recessed cylinder.

Prices for older revolvers are two to three times higher than they were at the beginning of the Obama Administration.
They are not coming down in my area. Used Smiths in very good condition not collector condition sell for as much or more than a comparable new S&W revolver. So someone is buying them. Sometimes even me...

I sure do hope the wheelgun market is softening. In the next decade or so I would like to score a Registered Magnum at about half of what they are bringing wholesale, not even considering the currently well-inflated retail market.

I went to pick up a S&W mod 60 last week from my FFL. He has a pretty good transfer business. For every 30 semi autos he gets, he only sees 1 revolver.

Bushmaster1313: Yes Side by Side shotguns really tanked big time! Is there any hope of a recovery?

I think there are many of us actually moving towards Revolvers. I have been shooting mostly Semi's for decades. However, the Ruger LCR9mm I carry is really changing my preferences. I like the gun a lot. What I do see is, IMO is a ton of newbie owners, first time folks that want cheap, budget or inexpensive semi's. Light triggers seem to be the rage to go along with this. However, I think gun purchases peaked under the Obama years, and like anything else, you are seeing a downturn. The gun manufacturers seem to be churning out Budget guns to get the remainder of the Newbie crowd that has not yet purchased.
Get them a cheap gun now, and get them later when they upgrade. Kind of a form of bait and switch.