List of Advantages of Revolvers + rant

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1)used revolvers can be had cheap......and still work!
2)people at the range tend to "under estimate" you.....especially in the shooting "games"..
3)if you pcoket carry an auto,lint and dirt may be an issue,not so much w/ a revo.Plus you can generally use less lube ,so your pants won't stain.

I say carry what YOU find reliable and can shoot the best.....I carry a revo 99.9% of the time.But I am broadening my horizons....Today I am actually carrying an auto(Taurus pt111,in front pocket)It feels huge compared to my 642.....but by the end of the day,I'll be used to it.
 
On my hip, as we speak, is a Smith and Wesson Model 686 with a 2.5 inch barrel. It is loaded with .357 hollowpoint ammunition. I am a better shot with a wheel gun than I am with an autoloader for some reason. I shoot VERY well with the 686.

I sometimes carry my PT145, and it has 11 rounds of .45 ACP. I seriously doubt I would ever need more than one or two bullets, but I at least have 6. If I ever get into gang warfare, I'll probably go ahead and buy a 9mm with 16 or 17 rounds. Until then, I feel perfectly safe with a six shot revolver. In fact, I also feel safe with my 5 shot 642 Airweight.

I do not believe that an automatic has to be prone to failure. If you have used your gun extensively at the range, and feel confident in it, by all means carry it. I just happen to SHOOT revolvers better.

It all comes down to "spray and pray" or hit what you are shooting at. I prefer the latter.

Todd
 
foob: I'm not sure what's the point of saying grabbing the cylinder can be overcome but grabbing a slide can't be.
Click to expand...

I didn’t say that. I guess I didn’t make my point clear- I was only demonstrating how the cylinder grab can be defeated- I was not commenting on anything involving autos. I’m sure the ‘grab slide, push out of battery’ trick can be defeated as well.
 
TT is correct! When the BG grabs the cylinder, the GG violently turns the gun, and it goes bang. With an S&W, in the right hand, it is a palm-up twist. With a Colt in the left hand, palm-up. Adjust accordingly for other hands/guns. If the BG is holding tightly enough onto both cylinder and frame, this may not work. Which is why I carry small fixed-blade knives, and also practice other retention stuff. Regarding the larger issue, there are pluses and minuses to both weapon systems. I like and use both, but prefer revolvers and shoot a GP100 or K/L-frame S&W better than anything else out there. My on-duty sidearm, a SIG P229R DAK, is as good as anything at 5 to 10 yards, and the sixgun is better for me at longer range and for close-up point-shooting. Last night, on a felony car stop, I slipped the GP100 from its case, and had it in my hand, while the SIG remained holstered, ready for action if I needed more than six rounds. Life is good. Y'all stay safe.
 
One of my most embarrasing was to fire a 380 round in my 9mm!

Oh, yeah. Went to the range a few years ago with my brother. We shared a lane. He had a Glock 23, I had a Glock 19. I managed to load and fire a 9mm round out of his pistol. Oops.
 
I will not be found without a Centenial revolver for my left hand.

For the right hand it will either be an Auto Loader or a 3inch J-Frame .357. I can conceal the 3 inch revolver much better than the Auto but if I have more than a T-Shirt on it is the Auto I carry for the right hand.

I think the revolver has advantages and the auto has advantages so I always have both.

Ok,

I will explain the reasons now but I can be long winded so forgive me.

After I was involved in my shooting, the department of corrections told me that they guys in jail were saying their buddies were going to get me. Well nothing ever happened but I started becoming extra vigilant.

When I would come home I would have the autoloader in hand (rural area) but as I got close to the house, I would switch to revolver before I past the srubs and got onto the front porch wich has walls on three sides and if something happened it would be close quarters.

The gun I would change over to was a 3 inch .357 J-Frame. My reasoning is this.

Reason No1 for a revolver is use in contact distance activity, if anything contacts the slide of a automatic, a misfeed can occur. This will not happen with a revolver. If you are wrestling arouind with a gun, the gun may have to be shot inverted and limp wristed, this can cause a failure to feed at times.
If I am going to be wrestling with someone while trying to use a handgun, the revolver seems more positive for me. / Reason No2/ Also the bad primer does happen once in awhile, rare but it does happen. With a revolver, it goes to the next cartridge, its hard to clear a a gun if you are wresting around with someone..

Reason No3. This applies to small bobbed and concealed hammer revolvers. Put a small automatic in your front pocket. Ok, now get it out quickly. It's actually hard to do. Now try this with a small revolver, your hand gets around the grip many times easier.

Reason No4. Sometimes an auto is more concealable because it is flatter, but sometimes a revolver is more concealable because it is rounder. Try sticking a small auto in pocket holster in front pocket, often you can tell what it is. Try a Centenial revolver in front pockets of the pants with a proper pocket holster, it does not look like a gun.

Reason No5. Inside the pants works well if you have as little as a blousy shirt, under a T-shirt, thats a different matter. bob the hammer and put a hip grip on it. You can conceal a 3 inch L-frame like that if you wanted to. I would rather carry a J-frame like that but a revolver with hip-grip vanishes under even a fairly tight T-shirt.

Reason No6. Jacket pockets. This is where the Centenial shines. In pants pocket a steel Centenial is fine since the wieght is close to the body. In jacket pockets you want one of the lightweights. I am content with the 442 for this. If you sence trouble, slip your hand into your jacket pocket. If you end up in trouble, the shot from the gun already in hand is much faster than drawing the auto loader from your hip. With the Centenial, you can shoot right through the pocket if you have to. When I was involved in my shooting, a person just before had a gun pointed at him while he had his hands in his pockets. If he had a Centenial he could have been pointing right back without the criminal ever knowing.

Reasn No7. Weak hand backup. most Automatics are not set up for use in the left hand with only one hand available it can be very difficult. The revolver as long as you do not need to reload is more friendly to the left hand if only using one hand. If someone is going to grap you while you have a gun out, it is likely to be the gun arm. If you are having trouble keeping control of the gun arm, you might be able to draw your small lefty revolver and blow the guy off of your gun arm (again wrestling with a gun, this is revolver country). Also when firing from cover the shooting hand can easily get hit meaning you need a gun for the left hand. The left hand gun can also act as a backup for your right handed gun. It is faster to draw your left hand gun, transer to right hand than to reload your main gun.

Ok,,, those are most of my reasons to have both a revolver and an automatic if you do end up needing a gun on the street. The automatic does have some advantages, the revolver has others. Both can deliver accurate fire, both have enough energy against two legged targets but there are different. If you have both, you can play to the advantages they have over each other.

For sometime after my shooting, I carried a auto on the right hip instead of behind the hip like I usually prefer, behind the hip carried a 3-inch .357 J-frame. In the jacket pockets I had airweight Centenials in each jacket pocket. I think .38 special is a little light but still in the ball park. If when paranoid while walking after the shooting, hands were in the pockets. It would have looked bad for me to be fondling the Auto on the Hip if I sensed trouble but none was there. I did consider the full sized auto to be the main gun and would draw if first if I thought I had time to do that unless I was already at contact distance, then I would go for the revolver.

As time went by and nothing happend, I started reducing my load. I always have a Centenial revolver where my left hand can get to it. One is either in a left jacket pocket or left pants pocket. Behind the right him is a full sized auto unless its summer, and I am only wearing a T-shirt. Then I resort the a hip gripped revolver behind the hip.
 
the argument

Pax:

I received your email, and thank you for the reply.

I'm having difficulty percieving where you disagree with me on it being a more certainty to determine the unloaded condition of the revolver versus the semiauto.

Here is what I've encountered Pax. Even in dim light, swinging out the cylinder and examining it for rounds is almost -almost unmistakeable.
You can obviously see if there is a round in one of the chambers. It's right there in front of your face.

While, with the semiauto, you must hold it up or down to get a more direct view of the chamber, while also maintaining draw on the slide. It is a minor struggle not to draw the slide fully to the rear, in many cases -locking it, and then releasing it. It also is a challenge to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction while doing so.

In addition, some chambers are "deep;" where the round is down in there "hiding" from view.

I always made the habit of inserting my pinky in to make sure.

That's my observation Pax.

Perhaps I should have chosen another description than unmistakeable.
 
Hmmm... if the bad guy is close enough to grab the gun it seems like inducing a bit of testicular torsion via. your right foot might be an effective way to render your gun operable. Just a though.

mike
 
Jim ~

Sorry for sounding so abrupt in my previous post. The thing is, this is a major safety issue. It's really a bad idea to be telling people that it's readily obvious whether or not a revolver is loaded, because that kind of thinking leads to deadly complacency.

Despite common myth, you cannot reliably tell whether a revolver is loaded simply by looking at it while the cylinder is closed. The ammunition is not visible in all revolvers when the cylinder is closed; some revolvers obscure the view of every chamber. Nor is all possible ammunition visible in any partly-loaded revolver; the round immediately under the hammer will always be invisible, as will the round in the bottommost chamber in most cases.

Nor is it enough simply to swing out the cylinder and casually glance to confirm what you already know before swinging it closed again.

Photo below. It's unloaded, right?


attachment.php


Quick glance, sure appears unloaded.




But take a closer and more careful look ...

attachment.php


... and there's a live round in it.




The photos do not cheat. The gun is every bit as loaded in the first picture as it is in the second picture, the light is good, and the angle is the same. The only difference is that the gun is slightly closer to the camera, and the cylinder is swung out a bit more.

This really isn't almost unmistakable. It is, in actual fact, a fairly common mistake that people make. Even experienced shooters make this mistake.

Whether you have a semi or a revolver, whether it's in full daylight or obscured shadows, it is not enough to trust your eyeballs and a casual glance. You have to really look, and you have to touch your fingers to the spots where the holes should be (count the chambers of the revolver; probe the chamber and the magwell of the semi-auto). Don't trust eyeballs alone because eyeballs can lie. That's the point.

Checking to see if a gun has a live round in it is deadly serious business. There is no place for casual complacency in it ... no matter what kind of gun you prefer to shoot.

pax

(PS Pretty sure you know all the above, as an experienced shooter. But there are always newcomers here too, and they may not know ...)
 
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I wouldn't even be rattling about in the digital revolver realm here but for several recent purchases and the aid of one Fuff. I’ve found them (revolvers) to be accurate, nice looking, excellent custodians of brass and generally fun.

However, certain of the revolver's advantages stem directly from assertions of disadvantages of semi-autos that might not be the case, such as:

Magazine spring fatigue. A number of us curmudgeons don’t believe there is such a thing or at least have never seen it. Springs wear from cycling, not compression.

Limp wrist: No such thing in a proper semi. Admittedly, this is not a majority view but if my grip is so compromised as to malf my semi, I seriously doubt I could put a revolver round into the desired zip code similarly disabled.

I'm with Pax on the check for loaded issue: I only have one revolver with recessed chambers and it's pretty stealth with the cylinder closed. Although possibly a matter of being more familiar with semis, I can't see swinging out a cylinder being easier than a press check. A press check might bobble a round; swinging out the whole barn door might bobble six rounds.

Not all semis came from the same litter. If a safety distresses you, finding one without is easy. Finding one without plastic is easy; with or without a drop safety - piece of cake. Mine has a manual safety and polymer with no drop safety. My wife would say that's because I like to annoy the maximum number of people with the fewest number of handguns. There is no truth to that charge.

A semi is no more sensitive to orientation than a wheelgun, which is to say, it isn't, or at least shouldn't. If it is, it's broken, fix it.

Whether one is better off with an assailant grabbing a cylinder or a slide I suspect is like debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. If somebody else has hold of your weapon, stuff is sufficiently bagged that your choice of handgun brand and configuration is probably secondary to most other things you might be considering at that moment.
 
peek a boo

Pax:

Your post is a correct one. And the pictures are worth a thousand words.

I think the adjective casual is the key word.

I constantly have to remind myself not to be casual when handling firearms.

Thanks.
Jim
 
But

But in the first photo the cyinder is not (as you state) swung out...do the cylinder often stick?

While I think it is a slam dunk that revovlers are easier to ID if loaded, it is a much bigger problem with the revolver is "is it empty" "How many shots did I fire, in all the excitment I lost count" In my list of pros for autos, that is on of the BIG ones....I know when the auto is empty!

I really enjoy the thread, my appreciation to all responder
 
I own 12 revolvers and 4 semi's. I shoot a couple thousand rounds a month, mostly revolvers (only DA, more accurate for me). I "play games", revolver and semi. I shoot both well, under pressure. I carry a semi. Comparably sized/weighted revolvers (j-frame snubs) are too hard to shoot well.

You guys need to get out more.
 
But in the first photo the cyinder is not (as you state) swung out...do the cylinder often stick?
Click to expand...

Shawn,

It's actually not an uncommon mistake. Two possibilities

1) As shown in the first picture, the cylinder is not actually swung out alllll the way. Maybe the shooter did swing it out, but held the gun so that gravity swung it back in slightly before the shooter looked down. Maybe it just didn't open all the way for whatever reason (fingers in the way? no lube on the crane?)

2) The other common reason for not seeing all the rounds is that the shooter's thumb doesn't always get moved to the backstrap and instead obstructs a clear view of every chamber. If the shooter is not committed to LOOKING -- carefully -- at every single hole, it can and does happen.

3) Most common of all is simply not looking, and assuming that the rounds were all dumped when the ejector rod was struck.

Don't believe me?

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=253509 (post #1, #22, #29)
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=200792 (post #3, #7, #26)

Probably more on similar threads.

pax
 
Though one can certainly just look into the cylinder area FROM EACH SIDE to determine if a revolver is loaded, courtesy (and range rules) demand that the cylinder be opened. If we stay in the habit of opening the action on all our guns when handling them, nothing can go bang. Put another way: nobody is going to get worried if they see you handing a revolver with the cylinder out.
 
my dad can beat up your dad

Ok so I had to read this whole thread just to ask a stupid question (to make sure no one else already brought it up). I do not need to argue revo vs semi, I am carrying a 38 snub today and tomorrow I might be carrying my polymer 9mm semi. I am good with both and trust my life with both. That being said, when something goes bump in the night and I can't get to the shotty fast enough (which are better than semis or wheelguns :neener:) I grab the semi. 12 rounds vs 5 rounds is a big difference.

I would also like to reiterate, in a SD situation you SHOULD NOT empty the mag as fast as you can while running (unless you are very very very good at that). Take the shots that you are more comfortable with to avoid a bunch of dead innocent people and property damage. I think we all understand that but I just wanted to make sure.

Anyway, here's the question I wanted to ask the OP from post #1.
My personal choice is a SW Military and Police 8 shot .357 revovler with a streamlight on the bottom rail. With California high cap ban and practice with moonclips getting faster and faster, I feel pretty good.
Click to expand...
Now maybe I'm a big dumb noob, but I've never seen a 357 setup for moonclips. They always use speed loaders. Maybe I'm just being a terminology nazi but there is a big difference. Of course I was corrected on that same thing here (THR) but that was before I ever had either, not after I practiced a lot with them...

Just wondering how much work that took and if the moonclips are custom made.
 
Take a look at the Smith & Wesson 327 TRR8 and the Registered Magnum.

The Registered Magnum is one sweet piece...only $1200....

But, it comes with a PC trigger, cylinder cut for moonclips, 8x357 magnum capacity, and chamfered cylinders. Oh, and it looks great with that 3.5" barrel and cut lug.

I would also like to reiterate, in a SD situation you SHOULD NOT empty the mag as fast as you can while running (unless you are very very very good at that).
Click to expand...

This is why we practice this skill--learning to run while keeping your hips level isn't hard, but remembering to do it is. It's also why point shooting practice inside 15 feet from any direction is important. If you never practice anything but "stand and deliver" -- guess what? You're going to either stand and deliver and probably take some rounds or you may just miss while running around. Practice sideways, upside down, one handed, two handed, weak hand, strong hand, while walking, crawling, jumping, and running.

For most people, they're adept at the first skill and only so-so with firing with only their weak hand. Usually, I get them trained up there first. This is easy to do at the range....just switch hands every mag/cylinder. After while, you'll notice no difference in your performance.
 
Try a TRR8

In the decision of what to train with as my primary pistol (I like to keep it simple and have only a few firearms) having 8 shots and moon clips on a light revolver that I can shoot really well that has a rail for a light is a pretty great package that IMO takes the best of everything (power, decent capacity, idiot (me) proof simplicity and reliablity, ammo flexability) The moon clips just seem to fall right in the cylinder (in the dark even, and they stay together in my pocket.

If not for getting to shoot the TRR8 and the 686+ I might have been more inclined to get a USP or an XD with the crappy calif 10 shot mag. Most of the younger guys I know (myself included) think a revo is not even on the radar screen for SD
 
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