Preacher, meet choir, choir meet preacher.
I like to shoot and I like all types of firearms. I also have the utmost confidence in my semi autos but..........
You Know I Really Am Becoming A Revolver Guy At Heart......
As far as civillian, serious social, handguns are concerned I find myself gravitating more and more to revolvers. Now I am a gun guy and find myself proficient with just about anything that goes bang, thats proficient not perfect. I know how to use just about anything.
I have never held a bias against revolvers and have always thought that with every release of some new tiny, tiny wunder-auto that someone was trying to answer a question that had been more then adequately answered many moons ago with the J-Frame sized revolver
Now as far as why I find myself gravitating even more towards revolvers.
1)Super easy to load, unload, inspect etc. No bullet setback issues, no decocking, applying of safeties etc. Easy to wipe down due to ease of unloading and reloading.
2)In my experience super reliable, more so then automatics, especially itty bitty autos. Now all of my autos have been super reliable as well and most have never malfunctioned but the fact remains that in my life I have experienced at least one malfunction with every semi auto brand out there. I have NEVER personally had a malfunction with a revolver. Now I do understand the trade off is that a semi auto malfunction is usually quickly cleared vs. an revo likely being put out of action.
3)Easier for me to carry especially pocket carry and give me more confidence with the long double action pull as far as safety is concerned.
4)The ability to load any kind of ammo under the son from mild to wild from round nosed, to flat nose, to HP, SWC, lead, jacketed, crazy, buttstomping, buffalo killin', cruise missiles etc. I find that my test period is smaller when breaking in a new revolver because of their general lack of ammo sensitivity. Now I realize that there are rare occassions that certain revolvers are sensitive to ammo such as super light guns with super light bullet weights but in general they will just about literally feed rocks.
5)The single action trigger pull on a decent well broken in revolver is absolutely spectacular. I have never shot a semi auto pistol with a better trigger pull. Rifles with set triggers are better but as a rule the single action pull on a revolver is just about the best you are going to get in a normal production, no competition gun.
6)Not held back by the need of an external feeding device. Most semi auto malfunctions stem from either the magazine or the extractor in my experience. Revolvers have numerous charging methods including speed strips, speed loaders, moon clips and loose round feeding. I think this is a very strong point. Now of course this strength is balanced or outweighed by the slower reloading speed. When I say slower reloading speed I am talking about us normal folks not the Jerry Miculeks of the world.
7)In my experience the great majority of modern revolvers made by reputable companies are strong like bull. As in they would make a hell of a hammer or impact weapon. This is not really a huge strength since a good quality auto is also a very strong weapon but revolvers can typically be built to handle much higher pressures.
8)They are easy to learn and teach others to shoot. Full size .357 magnums allow anybody to shoot them due to the fact that they can be loaded with such a variety of ammo. Have a small framed friend who is recoil shy, no problem load up some .38 special. Want to go hunt the great white buffalo no problem load up some of them thar afore mentioned crazy butt stomping rounds. I think this versatility allows for a nice platform to gradually teach new shooters while ramping up slowly over time.
9)NO BRASS TO CLEAN UP. For all of you folks who don't worry about policing your brass......SHAME ON YOU. Clean your brass up and leave the place as clean or cleaner then you left it. For all you reloaders the advantage is obvious.
Now these are just a few of the big advantages I see to practical use of revolvers. As with any tool there are just as many disadvantages to the platform that need to be weighed upon and I have only touched on a couple in the above. Like most tools a personal decision needs to be made as to whether the pros outweight the cons for you personally. For me, average, suburbanite, white, married male, who carries little cash, doesn't do drugs, doesn't sleep with other folks wives etc. the revolver makes alot of sense in an EDC firearm. Were I to be going into harms way my choice would likely change to semi-automatic...............preferably one in a rifle or guage caliber but I digress.
Anyway that is my two cents and anyone reading this should take it for what it is worth, after taxes about .4 cents or not much at all. I am not a gunfighter, cop, "operator", or some kind of high speed low drag ninja. I am a regular low speed high drag guy who knows a little about guns, a little about shooting and am trying to pass along my personal experience to other folks in case they are trying to make a decision for themselves. Maybe my little diatrobe will help them go one way or the other. I have several, ok read that as a buttload of firearms of all types so I do have some practical experience with many different platforms but I am no means an expert, heck I ain't even that edumacated on the subject.
Take care, shoot safe and have fun.
Chris
