Why can't I carry an auto?

[pax]

Oh, for miamitiger ~

If a semi-auto jams, clearing it takes anywhere from 1/2 second up to around 5 seconds depending on what is wrong, if you know what you're doing. Reloads can be done in under 3 1/2 seconds, again if you're well trained & know what you're doing.

If a revolver fails to fire, clearing it takes either:

One more trigger pull (no time at all)

A reload (5 seconds if you're fast & well-practiced, 10 seconds if you're not)

or

A trip to the gunsmith (all day).

The myth that revolvers never jam and never fail to fire is just that, a myth.

Ain't no such thing as a mechanical object that cannot fail.

pax

 

[chipp]

I have a friend thats a plain colthes police officer. all he ever carries on duty and off is a j frame. He was in vietnam and i know he has seen some action as an officer in Phila.We.ve tryed to get him into our gun conversations.
all you get is short answers and he looks like he is falling asleep. Do you carry any xtra ammo? ...no..why not? he just grunts. He is kinda heavey and carries on the back of his hip. We would make jokes to each other about how he can even get it out. Well one time he did and it was like lighting. and let me tell you I never saw him so awake and in a serious take care of business stance.
The point? i'm not sure. But I'll never forget how fast he got that thing out when it was needed. I wouldnt want to be on the other end no matter what i was carrying.

 

[gezzer]

Personal choice, go with what works for you. Only hits count.

 

[mndfusion]

ditto and its usually the 1st one that counts the most,,,you should be finding cover after that!

 

[mndfusion]

60, 85

here r my carry revolvers. a 60-10 and a 85

 

[bdhawk]

i shoot an auto very well, but i shoot a revolver better. i am not sure why. that being said, i still choose to carry an auto. capacity, weight, speed of reload, and easier concealment.

kinda funny, just this past sunday, a friend and i discussed this very issue. he, like you, is old school and carries a revolver. trust me, this guy is just plain awesome with a gun. point shooting, long range, whatever. with his skills, he is very well armed with a revolver.

back twenty-something years ago most everyone carried revolvers, good guys and bad guys. now, i feel i wouldn't be on an even playing field if i were limited to five or six shots when the bad guy had 15-17. now that wouldn't be so bad, if there were only one bad guy. these days, bad guys run in packs, or gangs, an you may have many bad guys wishing to do you harm. in that case, you would be at a disadvantge, no matter what you are toten'. limiting yourself to 5-6 rounds with a slowish reload will stretch your skills to the limit.

realistically and statistically you would probabally be just fine with a revolver. and i feel that you should carry what you fell the most comfortable with.

 

[givo08]

I think a lot of people imagine a self defense scenario where 1 guy approaches you on the street or in a parking lot or 1 guy breaks into your house by himself. For something like this, a revolver should be fine with 5-7 shots.

I see news reports every night though where there were 2-3 armed robbers or muggers or people pull up in a car and 3-4 guys jump out to mug someone. I haven't heard of one where the person defended themselves yet, but I'd hate to have a 5 shot revolver in a situation like that vs. a reliable 15 shot glock or some other auto.

 

[givo08]

I just ran a search for "Robbery" in local news on my local newspaper's website and 8 out of 10 returned articles involved multiple robbers/assailants.

 

[arthurcw]

I am not comfortable with a revolver… I’ll get that out in the open. But who cares? Carry wha’cha’ like. For MOST civilian situations, the 5-7 shots of a revolver are plenty.

There was another thread a few days back where a guy wondered when the .380 round stopped working? When did it go on strike? I think the same thing about revolvers. When did they stop working? When did they just call it quits and say, “Nope, we’re not defending you people anymore?”

My take on bad guys is that once deadly force is used, they want to get the h#ll out of the situation ASAP. They are not gonna stick around to count shots.

Now if someone has targeted you specifically for some reason, dropping one bad guy may not send they rest fleeing. Also, home invasions with multiple goblins may be a different story, but I am not sure. Everything with handguns is a trade off. I rather carry an AR but that would be a tad on the cumbersome side. When you contemplate a handgun you will ALWAYS have some situation that MIGHT arise. So carry what you know will work for you and you can hit with.

But if you want to expand your horizons and tick off the blissninnies with more than 10 rounds, here’s my solution for you. Carry your favorite wheelgun as your primary and carry the PT111 as a NY reload. Then you have the comfort of your revolver while getting acquainted with the autoloader. And if you need the extra fire power, it’s just a draw away.

 

[redneckdan]

I carry my 1911 because my wheel gun is a 6" k-frame

 

[TonyB]

Thanks for the responses....we've had some home invasions in my area recently(which is a surprise given the rural area)so when at home I usually have my PT945 or PT111 with me.But the j frame is ON me at home,and out and about.

 

[PX15]

FWIW:

I feel well armed with my Airweight Bodyguard just as I do with my Sig or Walther...

One factor however that gives me that confidence with the J-frame is that it is equipped with Crimson Trace Lasergrips.. The addition of Lasergrips really make the snubby accurate.

If you feel comfortable with the revolver it I recommend when you can you add a set to your revolver. Crimson Trace makes three different models for the J-frames.. The original boot grip 205's/the larger 305's/and the recently introduced 405's, which are a combination of the best of both early designs.

If I buy another set for my J-frame I will probably buy the new 405's as they have been getting excellent reviews from owners.

Some days I just prefer a semi-auto, other days a revolver...

Carry what you feel confident with as your opinion is the only one that is important.

Best Wishes,

J. Pomeroy

 

[USGuns]

Revolver pants pocket carryability

The thing I like about a revolver, and this is probably very subjective, is some revolver shapes (e.g. J-Frame) just seems more "carryable" in a pants pocket. Sure, the cylinder provides a good lump but the majority of a revolver is the frame/barrel and that is usually actually thinner than a automatic. I guess there are always tradeoffs!

 

[makarovnik]

Get yourself a reliable, pretty auto and you won't be able to help yourself!

 

[Joe the Redneck]

OK, here is a true story about something that can go wrong with a revolver.

My bedside gun is one of those old S&W 45 acp revolvers that was made for Bolivia. On day I decided to give it a good cleaning so I opened the cylinder, dumped the rounds, checked each chamber to insure it was empty. Closed it up, pointed it at the ground, I was intending to cock the hammer and ride it down with my thumb.

It didn't cock. I took off the grip and discovered that the main spring had broken. It was a $7 repair and took all of 5 minutes, but if I had needed it, I would have been in deep dodo.

So, anything can happen. PPPPPP

Joe

 

[Boats]

I own more autos than revolvers.

I carry the revolvers much more often.

Bedside gun is a Ruger GP-100 with Meprolight night sights. It is more reliable than any of my autos, from euro wondernines to warhorse 1911A1s. At $390 when purchased, it's also in the running for my most accurate handgun. Fighting towards a Mossberg 590A1 anyways, so capacity is not foremost on my mind, accuracy is as I have neighbors who'd be pissed to get shot by any spray and pray. Six for sure and a slower reload certainly tightens my focus on making shots count.

Street carry is a Colt DS on the ankle or a Smith Bodyguard in the pocket depending on how deep the concealment needs to be. I am simply not in a position to carry IWB all day without constant removal of the weapon.

So theoreticals about gangs of assailants aside, I carry revolvers because they'll get it done if I do my part.

Yes, something can always go wrong on a revolver, but on each shot there are way fewer variables in play than on an autopistol.

The most amusing autopistol "failure" I have ever seen was only amusing because it wasn't life and death.

A friend of mine was shooting an IDPA course of fire with a Glock 21. At the draw, he reaches for his weapon to bring it to bear on the first target. However, in the grasping, he hit the handle of his weapon just wrong and activated the mag catch. As the weapon cleared the kydex, it puked the mag behind him about four feet and landed cartridge side down and bounced to a rest.

One shot fired, failure drill attempted. Missing magazine discovered. A scramble ensues, like a catcher who can't find a ball, then he remembers to just get another mag, but by then the RO has shut him down for waving the pistol around.

Maybe it has happened to someone, but I have never seen a revolver dump its cylinder.

 

[22LongRifle]

Keep the wheelguns!

Jerry

 

[Rollo Tamasey]

I carry a 357 Tracker in the summer

In the summer and most of the fall I carry a Taurus 7 shot 357 mag with 4 inch barel cross draw in stainless with 357 130 grain hydrashocks. I do not always carry a speed strip or speed loader with it. I always have pepper spray. In the winter & Spring I carry a blue finish CZ -75 DB 9mm with either the ten or 15 round mag + 1 in the chamber loaded with gold dot +P.

I feel comforatable with both. I am acccurate enough with the Tracker that I am not worried that it would be inefective against multiple bad guys. It normally shoots to point of aim at the indoor 40 ft range with 38s or 357.

Like the above poster mentioned if you think you are in an area where a multiple bad guy situation is likley you can both. Or You could sell your auto and carry your snub as a backup and a K frame 357 mag with 4 inch barel like the Traker or a Smith model 66 as your primary. Taurus also makes an 8 shot 357 but it is more bulky. If you had two Trackers you would have 14 on tap. This would be bulky though carring two k frames.

 

[Run&Shoot]

Nothing wrong wit revolvers, enjoy them!

I carry a Keltec P3AT, have carried a 642, and a G23. The first shots are the most important, so whatever you have the most confidence in and shoot well is what you should carry,

For me there are some reasons to carry an auto. The P3At is even thinner and smaller than the SW 642 so it with me 98% of the time instead of 90%. The G23 holds 13 rounds nearly equivalent to a .357 or .45. And I can reload a couple of more mags within seconds.

I remember reading an account of a jewelry store (or coin?) owner who kept getting robbed. He started off with a single revolver. After the first robbery attempt he upgaded to several revolvers. After the next one he added a couple of semi autos, then a couple of shotguns. The gang trying to rob him kept sending more thugs and each time he emptied every gun he had in warding them off.

I imagine what it would be like to be trapped in a Rodney King style riot while driving through a large city. I would much rather have my G23 and 13 ready rounds of .40 than 5-6 ready rounds of .38 or .357. Odds of this are pretty slim, but if I enjoy both autos and revolvers than why not have the most with me? Better to have and not need...

But I would never discourage someone that enjoys just revolvers to not carry them. In the vast majority of cases just being armed and not firing a shot is sufficient to defuse the situation.

By the way I have had a revolver jam on me. It was a GP100 and one of my reloads had a high primer. When that chamber rotated into the frame it jammed. I have also had a not well crimped cartridge have the bullet ease out and jam against the frame as well. Not easy or quick to un-jam.

Also, when you add in the step to empty the chambers and reload then the revolver becomes much more complex. I can much more reliably dump a mag and insert a new one than I can push out all the fired cases (which have swollen out tighter against the chambers) and insert 6 new ones in a revolver. Plenty of opportunity to fumble or jam things up then.