Quick rant on revolvers

[R.W.Dale]

Ok first off FORGET EVERYTHING that in your experience has happened AFTER that first cylinder or magazine has been expended. In terms of civilians defending themselves the "reload" is a complete fantasy. It simply doesn't and pretty much never has happened in real life (only one example has ever been cited)

Now that just leaves us focusing on the rounds in the gun already the ammo you will live or die with.

Now given that statistics show you will almost always be in physical contact or very nearly so with your adversary that beloved malfunction drill also becomes a luxury you will not be getting.

So that just leaves us with the reliability over a few rounds. Likely with a one handed less than ideal grip where clothes and or body parts may impede operations.


Yes a clean revolver that I inspected when I put it on that morning is absolutely more reliable for SD

 

[BSA1]

Wish I could reply individually.

Why not? You started the discussion?

Yes, many of these issues are maintenance and user error. 100% agreed.

Hummm. Every firearm I know off requires maintenance and knowledge by the shooter on how to properly use it. The revolver is the simplest and most basic handgun to use.

These are my experiences from friends' guns, range guns, and my own

My experience is range guns (i.e. rentals) are not cleaned and lubed/oil until they stop working.

As for you and your friends guns your lack of knowledge and maintenance is not a reflection of a poor or unreliable design.

AHA! In Post 16 the O.P. tips his hand;

As for screws backing out, I'll let you know when I find one on my glock... Any other semi with loose screws maybe the grips will fall off, your your guns won't fail to fire. Pulling the trigger again will NOT repair a loose hammer strain screw

Magazine issues: raised on glock.

Duh! So what does magazines have to do with a discussion about revolvers?

Failure to chamber? Been there too actually! Not all revolvers have generous cylinder chambers and throats as to shoot lead boolits .002 overbore..

Since you complaining about not being able to use oversize bullets in a revolver are we to surmise that you use the same oversize bullets in your semi-auto which appears to be Glock? Or restated another way you are claiming as a reloader that you ignore the reloading manuals on what diameter bullet you should use.

As for not having to chase brass: you absolutely should be chasing it, and I say that as an avid reloader. Dump it and don't look down to see where it lands.

er ok...I'd rather not spend time looking through the grass for my fired brass but whatever gives you fun is ok with me.

If you want to talk round construction, our revolvers are more sensitive to SEVERE malfs with IMPROPERLY roll crimped ammo, or inadequately. .

Bull Hockey! Bullets can set back in Semi-auto due to improper or loose crimp greatly increasing pressure to the point of being dangerous. Not a issue with a revolver. Semi-autos are sensitive to roll crimping and improperly sized brass.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: hammer strain screw. This is 3 years after purchase, many countless rounds and happened after about 150-200 357 magnum rounds fired.
That was enough to wiggle it loose.

Gosh! Three years of use and many countless rounds later you finally checked the mainspring screw and discovered it had become a bit loose. Do you go three years without rotating the tires on your car and checking the lug nuts?

But finally he comes to his point...

this is half rant with no purpose from hearing revolver reliability is infallible, and half wanted to know how others felt about their revolvers.
Personally, I'm annoyed by XYZ gun is absolutely reliable under any adverse condition and it will never fail.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

lol u mad bro?

why attack me personally and throwing around names and labels to devalue my experience and knowledge?
Spend some time reading on cast bullets, and how they work. All cast bullets should be .001 oversize minimum.
You should be more concerned with your target, your environment, and getting to your next reload. Not where your brass lands. (Newhall)

I suggest you reread the part where I shoot my revolvers regularly, even 100-200 magnum rounds at a time switching off with my dad or friends to keep shooting until it gets too hot to handle. They worked then at a range. 1000 rounds is a very loose guess but honestly I'm assuming its somewhere north of 2k based on the fact I bring a full coffee can of 38 specials to the range every 2-4 months, not including magnum rounds.

Or the part where I carry a 442 at home from the moment I wake up until I go to bed.

I know my ammo, and I know MY guns.

If you like I can elaborate in a PM about the finer points of Roll/ Taper crimping. But know that roll crimping is used exclusively in revolvers, and doing so in a semi auto will lead to a kaboom. This is a very obvious and known fact for an ammunition plant or experienced reloader.

Most semi auto rounds are not crimped or at the very least are taper crimed, because they headspace on the case mouth. This is why the rim exists on revolver rounds, or moon clips exist for semi auto rounds, because they are not meant to headspace on the rim.

Bullet setback occurs after repeated full force chamberings, and is indeed a plus for revolvers compared to semi autos.

Please don't equate your ego with a mechanical item, or assume I do.
I'm not spitting in your oatmeal, I'm just stating what happened. I grew up shooting glocks. Am I a worse person for doing so?

I shoot both kinds of guns, and I run them hard. Is it bad that I hold my guns to a very high standard if I expect to carry them?

So thank you to everyone who offered advice, I will check mine every range session, and will be checking my hammer strain screw more often. I've learned about proper revolver maintenance from previous malfunctions, and I'd be glad to know about spring replacement intervals, wear items to be replaced with round count or high wear areas I should be inspecting.


ps. glocks fail too. and anyone who says otherwise has not shot them nearly enough, or run them hard enough.

 

[MrBorland]

ok, folks - some of you are reading too much (or too little) into the OP and taking personal umbrage (OP - it doesn't help, btw, that you call it a "rant", which is a purely emotional and biased outburst that's not interested in discussion. Some seem to have latched onto that word).

I believe that the DrZ's point is that popular perception seems to be that revolvers are dead-nuts reliable, so the DrZ's offering a caution that they can fail in a myriad of ways (via hardware or software issues) when actually pushed. If you agree and already know this, cool. Tell us your experience and how you deal with it. If you disagree, do so respectfully.

 

[MartinS]

I carry a 442. I had another revolver stop revolving because of unburned powder grains, like two or three, getting under the extractor star while firing. So I check that, and I unload and dry fire it as fast as I can 5 or 6 times. I open the cylinder, look at the firing pin, push the cylinder release back and pull the trigger and see and feel the firing pin emerge from it's hideyhole. I make sure the ratchet and cylinder notches are clean and that's about it. Or just shoot it a few times.
If anyone else has a little function check procedure, wheel or flat, I'd be proud to read it.

 

[Malamute]

I had another revolver stop revolving because of unburned powder grains, like two or three, getting under the extractor star while firing.

It doesnt happen when firing, it happens when ejecting empties.

I see people gently using the extractor rod, saving the empties, using it with the gun sideways, etc. If the muzzle is turned straight up, the rod slapped sharply, theres much less that gets under the extractor star.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Use good ammo that burns clean, revolver or semiautomatic.

Test your weapon with your chosen ammo. Not any unburned powder and if any, switch ammo.

With revolvers you can spin the cylinder with loaded ammo to make sure it turns easily (try that with a auto.)

I've owned tons of wheelguns and autos, if a good make and well tested with good ammo, they run and run right.

Deaf

 

[SDGlock23]

The only issues I've experienced with a revolver were ammo related. I had two factory rounds, both different brands at different times, where the powder didn't burn completely and the unburned powder locked up the cylinder where it wouldn't spin and it took a good bit of force to get the cylinder open, it essentially locked the gun up tight.

Is it common? I hope not and I'm sure it isn't but those events lead me to quickly understand that revolvers aren't without fault. Sure it was ammo related but it made the basic functioning of the gun impossible. I do agree that if a revolver has a problem that it's more likely to be out of the fight for good vs. a bottom feeder.

 

[C0untZer0]

I can't count how many times I've heard FTEs in semi-autos chalked up to limp wristing.

Yes - if you hold a semi-auto with just your thumb and index finger and actuate the trigger you'll get a high-percentage of stovepipes but the way some people throw this out there, its like, if they didn't have a 100% firm grip with perfect form on a shot that resulted in a stove-pipe, they just chalk it up to limp wristing and go merrily on their way.

I was at the gun store the other day, looking at the Taurus 905 and the Ruger LCR in 9mm as I often do when the clerk told me that revolvers are 100% reliable - nothing ever goes wrong with them. I didn't even bother to tell him that my Charter Arms PITBULL became completely inoperable when the transfer bar broke.

* If I don't buy one of those revolvers from that store soon they're going to start charging me a fee just to hold them.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

Curious do you guys recommend using a two hand technique where one hand strikes the ejector, or where one hand holds the frame, ejects with thumb and other hand is indexing a reload?

I've used the previous technique where two hands are used to empty brass but I've read it can cause premature stress on the crane and timing issues if done too forcefully so I started practicing both ways.

Thank you to those who understand what I was getting at, despite my wording.

Quick second question: I've read it's an old cop trick to shoot two, raise the ejector, drop it and the fired brass should stick up while loaded rounds fall back down.
I cannot get rounds to stay up with any consistency in a clean or dirty gun, with factory ammo or my reloads.
Is this bunk or as we talking about like +p rounds? Do you guys practice this or just shoot until empty?

 

[MrBorland]

Curious do you guys recommend using a two hand technique where one hand strikes the ejector, or where one hand holds the frame, ejects with thumb and other hand is indexing a reload?

I've used the previous technique where two hands are used to empty brass but I've read it can cause premature stress on the crane and timing issues if done too forcefully so I started practicing both ways.

I don't know about stress on the crane - if you look at how it's done, the weak hand is holding the cylinder/crane when the strong hand hits the ejector.

At any rate, both can be done effectively. I use my thumb, which allows me to get to the speedloader with my other hand while I'm ejecting (see pic). Multi-tasking saves time. OTOH, Craig Buckland, former World Champ, uses the other technique, and it's obviously worked well for him. The advantage to Buckland's reload is that the cases are more positively ejected. Using the thumb, a wimpy ejection stroke can lead to a case dangling. I practice forcefully bottoming out the ejector with my thumb, and I rarely (won't say never) have a problem.

Do you guys practice this or just shoot until empty?

I'm in the shoot-'till-empty crowd. I'm no SD expert, though, so in that scenario, one might (or might not) tell you differently.



Multi-tasking the reload:

 

[mjsdwash]

how about revolvers made by Ruger are the most reliable? not a whole lot that loosens up on them.

 

[BlindJustice]

You want a rant about a specific Revolver?

First handgun in the mid-60s was a Smith & Wesson
Model 18 K-22 .22 Lr 6 shot. It was reliable, no issues
A friend at the time had one of those H&R or Hi-Standard
Top Break 9 shooters which was out of time and would
spit lead - We got used to standing directly behind him

Recent Years

S&W 625-8 5" Bbl. .45 ACP / .45 Auto Rim

I love the gun, but can't trustt it for HD/SD with it's issues.

First time at the gravel pit, forcing the spent
full mooned .45 ACP empties I had to place the
ejector rod again the carpet covered sawhorse

So, called S&W - sent it in - on that trip I also
had the Master Revolver Action Job. S&W's cure
for the hard to eject cylinder was to replace the
cylinder witth one within spec from what I could
tell from the receipt The MRAJ besides polishig
internals it includes chamferinng the mouths of
the chambers.

Tried shooting a .45 ACP ShotShell - firing Pin stuck
to the backed out primer, too light a payload.

So, I go home w/o it working, it went to a gunsmith
for that fix. Same gunsmith madee sure the main spring
screw was tight.

Light primer strikes drove me nuts for a bit, then it
went to the gnsmith - he found the tip of the Firing Pin
(FP) was chipped. He installed the Apex Tactical
Apex XP kit = slightly longer and 'roundy in shape, not
pointy ( they offer a pointy shaped one for targett )

And it is now reliable but only with Federal ( primers )
usually American Eagle or HST/Hydra Shok.

The .45 Auto Rim ammo I have must use hard primers
it's not reliable -also- the .45 AR cases have a thicker
Rim than say the conventional .45 Colt
( it's 0.0905" vs 0.0610" ) and the outer edge is
rounded - sometimes an AR case doesn't get engaged
by the ejector star.

Some of these issues are unique to the .45 ACP/AR
application, but I'm not impressed with S&W's floating FP>
A freind with a 686 has had some light primer strikes issues as well.


Wait there's more!

Some time later, I'm shooting the 625, and go to ejectt
rounds - the thumb latch to release the cylinnder fell off.
I fdound it, part, and my gunsmith was at the range
so offf it went - fixed with a dab of loctite.

I only have one other revolver currentlly.

S&W 60-15 3" Bbl. .357 Mag. W&E rear sight

bone stock and no issues ever. If run ard
meaning a steady diet of .38 special say 70-80
rounds, It's all stainless, frame, cyl. and Bbl
so 24 oz empty, it has some masss, but it gets
pretty darn warm/hot after that round count
shooting at a steady rate.

I also have 3 1911 Variants, and a CZ 75B
& only one needed 400-500 break in, it is a
Full size and was tigghter than the Colt Commander
or Range Officcer Compact both of which have
been flawlesss, and the 75B is just stoopid reliable
I think it only gets cleaned about every 1,000 rounds

Never had a semi-auto go out of commisision and not
being able to fire it going home. This includes the full
size SW1911 which did have a LH Thumb Safety break
taking the plunger with it. but it kept firing - you'd be
forced to carry condition zero, Heh, I wasn't carrying it
that day.

Randall

 

[BlindJustice]

fforgot to add

Drop a semi-auto and a revolver in a puddle of mud - retrieve

which one is going to get back into service sooner?

 

[MartinS]

"It doesnt happen when firing, it happens when ejecting empties."

The cylinder came to a halt while firing. Behave.

 

[Walkalong]

lol u mad bro?

What do you expect when you start a thread on a volatile subject and then second guess everyone's responses.

This one is done.