Pudge
Member
Just to follow up my whimsical photo in my first reply.
First up I can use the slide rule despite having not been born until after they became obsolete. I used it to do all my homework second semester of physic in college to the ridicule and chiding of my classmates and to the delight and humor of my professor. I also carry a revolver more often than a semi-auto for the past few years... My I am a novice with neither.
But... it is my opinion that if a new shooter has X amount of time to spend training/learning, whether X be an hour, a day, or a week of time, that at the end of that time period they will have gotten more out of the training and be more proficient and more effective using a modern double stack semi-auto handgun than a revolver in a self defense situation.
I agree that the manual of arms for a revolver is simpler than a semi-auto in concept but in practice it is immaterial. If you are unwilling to spend enough time training that the conceptually slightly simpler manual of arms of a revolver actually makes a difference to your effectiveness you probably should be looking for other self-defense strategies.
Capacity is King, you can never have too much ammo, unless you are drowning, or on fire.
My response was meant to be equally whimsical. That said, placement is king. And while I have used that exact saying about too much ammo, you can certainly have enough ammo. With training, I have become more proficient with a revolver than I am with a semi. (While that statement is true, it also is meant to be whimsical, I'm well aware my shooting has been revolver heavy and I would probably shoot semis better if I practiced more with them and less with revolvers.)
The guy should get what he likes the most and will be most likely to shoot more. If he isn't going to shoot much regardless of what he acquires, then it really doesn't matter, the firearm won't be very useful regardless of capacity or simplicity or reliability or caliber or... In reality a semi would probably be better in that case, likely cheaper to buy, and certainly easier to leave unloaded (and safer for the household) by dropping the magazine and keeping it separate from the handgun. And with a loaded magazine, even I can have a semi ready to fire more quickly than I can an unloaded revolver.