What is it that attracts you to semi autos?

[Hokkmike]

I have been hunting and shooting for over 30 years. I must admit to a renaissance of interest in shooting due to a recent love affair with semi auto pistols. What is it that you find so interesting about these pistols?

I have included several choices but try to narrow it down...

Thanks!

 

[Vito_Corleone]

They look cooler.

 

[Hokkmike]

Vito, certainly no one is going to argue with YOU, sir. (LOL)

 

[fletcher]

Weight, concealability, and capacity are the big ones for me.

 

[Whirlwind06]

Other

An autoloader is like a car engine and a revolver is like a swiss watch.
If I take my time a pay attention to what I'm doing I can take apart and put back together either a car engine or a autoloader.

Anytime I tried to take apart a watch other then replacing the battery. It has never worked again. I kind of see revolvers in the same light.

 

[Tyris]

Higher capacity (reloading after 15 or 17 is more fun than 10, way more fun than 6).

Also, you cannot practically put a silencer on a revolver!

-T

 

[steelyblue]

They look nicer and the 1911 allows me too shoot more accurately because of the SA. I have to admit however that my 686 is more fun to shoot. I just can't have it loaded in the house because I have a 5yr old.

 

[curmudgeon and anarchist]

Most of the bugs have been worked out of high end semi-autos and they really don't jam very often. This encourages me to choose the high capacity weapon.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I prefer the quick reloading. I started with and still love the 1911, and with some of the .357 revolver offerings out there having 7 or eight shots, capacity comparison with a classic 1911 is moot. Smoothed actions and trigger jobs in a revolver have also closed the classic 1911 advantage, and a 6" factory revolver barrel will give better energy with a .357 mag and (in my hands) control the revolver's recoil better. BUT, I can start my second batch of slugs downrange faster with a magazine fed semi, so I upgraded and now use a 14 shot Para in .45. Wish I could carry it in the People's Republic of Maryland, aka the TAX ME state.

LD

 

[Rich K]

My favorite autoloader is the 1911A-1 for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that it fits my hand and is the most familiar to me. Having shot one for the past 33 years, it is like an extension of my arm.

 

[EdLaver]

I would definetly have to agree with the majority and say that semi-autos hi cap is my main attraction. (Thats what I voted for) Second, is the ergonomics and ease of handling.There is only one revolver currently on the market that is interesting me...the Smith & Wesson M&P R8 eight shot .357 revolver. Why? Hi-cap wheel gun.

 

[DogBonz]

well, all of the above.... but

I like autos for all of the reasons in your poll, but I also like revolvers for those reasons. If I had to say which one was most important, it would be ergo's. Autos just feel beter in the hand for me, and so I can shoot them faster and more accurately (while shooting fast).

 

[HisSoldier]

I chose # 7.

From an engineering standpoint a mechanism that loads many successive rounds into a single chamber is way more elegant than having six chambers. The auto loader is more advanced in that sense in the same way that a revolver is more advanced than the single shot percussion pistol it replaced. As the single shot pistol was easier to keep reliability factors up over a revolver until the revolver design was finalized the revolver was easier to keep reliability factors higher than the auto. I hate to say it, since I don't like them, but Glock has probably taken auto reliability to a level above a revolver, so design wise the evolution is complete. Next will be some sort of laser gun activated by mental impulses, and it will take 20 years to evolve because computers shorten design time so much. (tongue in cheek)

 

[Glockamania®]

One word: GLOCK.

 

[RevolvingCylinder]

Elegance? Cartridges being slammed in a chamber by a slab of steel and being yanked out with a little claw is elegant? I have yet to personally see a S&W K frame(my favorite variety of revolver and what I use most) choke as frequently as I've seen a Glock(never compared to very rare). But then again, a revolver's malfunctions aren't discounted with the plethora of excuses available(shooters fault, limp wrist, ammo not hot enough, etc.). A revolver will also not become a hand grenade with in-spec ammunition that doesn't have bullets that aren't coated to its liking. To say that the automatic pistol design is more reliable would be like to say that they automatic rifle is more reliable than the bolt action.

Since Glocks don't incorporate anything new or revolutionary in a pistol design(other than that horrible trigger), they are limited in the same aspects as any other automatic. The load spectrum for them is just as narrow and they require much more caution in respect to ammunition than other designs.

What attracts me to automatic pistols is the same that attracts me to modern DA revolvers and that is functionality.

 

[Technosavant]

I have plenty of love for wheelguns, but I prefer semiautos, mainly for the ergonomics and handling of them. I just find them easier to shoot well, and the increased ammo capacity is just icing on the cake.

 

[RevolvingCylinder]

An autoloader is like a car engine and a revolver is like a swiss watch.
If I take my time a pay attention to what I'm doing I can take apart and put back together either a car engine or a autoloader.

It's really not that difficult and with newer designs like the Ruger GP100, it's simple.

I like the ergonomics of a revolver better(less square) and I've never felt as smooth as a trigger on any automatic.

 

[Novus Collectus]

I chose everything including "other". You did not list mechanical curiousity or an admiration of ingenious mechanical design.

 

[mpmarty]

Me too, all of the above. Many years ago I was forced to carry a stupid S&W revolver with 4" barrel and issue 38 spl ammo. After a primer setback and three months later a bullet that "jumped" forward under recoil both of which required a trip to the armorer, I not only quit packing that archaic piece of crap but quit the department and went to one where I could qualify with a 1911a1. Revolvers are great fun for cowboy action reenactments or civil war skirmishers but in todays world, gimme a semi auto, even a Glock if that's all there is available.

 

[KBintheSLC]

Well, I used to only trust my .357 mag wheel gun for years. However, my Glock and my Sig have proven to be every bit as reliable and much more fun to shoot. Not to mention that 6 shots is just the beginning, with plenty more to come. I just think that a revolver (all other things being equal) would be a disadvantage in a modern, urban combat scenario. I do believe that a nice .357 or .44 mag revolver still has its place as a side arm in the wilderness. However, if your target has the capability of shooting back at you, I would rather have the auto. Having a dozen or more rounds with rapid reloading counts for a lot in todays world.

 

[HisSoldier]

"Cartridges being slammed in a chamber by a slab of steel and being yanked out with a little claw is elegant?"
yes, well, not being "slammed", being fed. Compared to ejecting them by hand and inserting fresh ones (Into a slab of steel?) by hand, in the heat of battle, way way yes.
You have to start with an understanding and love for automation, automation is the reason we have firearms at all in meaningful quantities and sold cheaply. If you want to make your revolver with a file, well, unless your hourly wage is pretty low I wouldn't want to pay for it, and it probably would look like it was made that way. No two parts from two guns exchanging, and wait an interminable time for replacement parts of equally poor quality that need to be hand fitted. Automatic machines do things formally done by hand faster and better, what's not to love about that? I know some folks wish we all got around riding horses, that's ok to have an opinion like that, but I don't have to agree. If you don't prefer automation there may be something else wrong somewhere else. This argument really centers about the superiority or inferiority of doing things with machines compared to doing them by antiquated methods. It's pretty likely that in the 1830's people were having similar arguments about those new fangled revolvers, and how inferior they are to the good old single shot pistol.

But I think I'd be a rude fellow to come into a revolver forum and say all that.

 

[Youngster]

Other, I think autoloaders are more suited for current manufacturing methods and have seen a lot more innovation than revolvers in recent years.

 

[Autolycus]

Lots of reasons. You nailed most of them in your list.

 

[hexidismal]

Tough to say. I'm no more attracted to autoloaders than I am to revolvers. I like both. The advantages I like most in regards to autos though, I would have to say are capacity and repeating single action shots. That's why I don't, and will never own any DAO autos.

 

[10-Ring]

Increased cool factor (Even tho there are few semi autos that are as cool or cooler than my '68 blue Python!)