Are revolvers relevant in the 21st century ?

They are bulky, low capacity, expensive, non-concealable toys for the old boys like me.
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In short, low capacity boat-anchors ...

That's only partially true of the J-frames, but for the K-, L-, and N-frame size wheelguns, yes indeedy.

For EDC, a 12+1 Glock 26 has those all-steel dogs beat in the capacity & weight departments. That set-up helps old guys step light & easy into the local Starbucks.
At some point even collectors will give them up, just like the they did on barbie dolls and vynil records.
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Ha, ha. Nope. A collector's niche will always be a collector's niche.

A pristine 6" S&W M29-2 will always be someone's snugly Safe Queen somewhere. :rolleyes:
 
JustJake said:
In short, low capacity boat-anchors ...

That's only partially true of the J-frames, but for the K-, L-, and N-frame size wheelguns, yes indeedy.

For EDC, a 12+1 Glock 26 has those all-steel dogs beat in the capacity & weight departments. That set-up helps old guys step light & easy into the local Starbucks.

Ha, ha. Nope. A collector's niche will always be a collector's niche.

A pristine 6" S&W M29-2 will always be someone's snugly Safe Queen somewhere. :rolleyes:
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Most of the people who say that are typically people that just cannot shoot them well. If you are depending on the 11th or 12 rd to save your life, you might want to get to the range more often. Spray and shoot works best with a rifle.

The fast draw is underrated. The most crucial shot fired is the first one. You maybe a real lucky guy and be the one that fires the second shot. But do press your luck.
 
Mike Irwin said:
Back in 1993/1994 I was associate editor of American Rifleman magazine.

We were still firmly entrenched in the Wonder9 era. Pretty much every other day, and twice on Sundays, one or more of the gun companies was introducing the "NEWEST, GREATEST, HIGHEST CAPACITY 9MM/10MM/.45ACP (insert caliber here)" handgun to market to great fanfare and more speculation that this gun or that gun was the final nail in the coffin of the tired old anachronistic revolver...

...
So, I decided to start talking to the various manufacturers and put together an article on revolvers....

As I talked to reps for the various companies, some interesting trends began to emerge...

.....

Not only were ALL revolvers selling well, the concealed carry revolvers were, by and large, selling better and faster than anyone had any reason to believe possible (if you listened to Buns & Whammo or the other mags.)

None of the companies were interested in letting me print actual production and sales numbers, but the numbers that they did share with me were eye opening and certainly proved that far fewer people were drinking the gun press kool-aide than most people believed.
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When one's been around for a while, one tends to get a bit cynical about the hype. Doesn't ATF publish stats like that too?

For what it's worth, last 3 guns I've bought (since September last year, which is a huge number for me) have been 5 shot revolvers.
 
Given the difficulty I've had trying to find a Charter Arms Bulldog in 44spl I'd say at least a few folks still find them relevant. The ammunition for them as well.
 
Another advantage of revolvers for me is - they are made of steel. In semi autos plastics are aggressively replacing steel models. In compact concealed carry category I think there is one pistol left in 100% steel (not stainless steel) - CZ 75 COMPACT.
 
Kurbsky said:
Another advantage of revolvers for me is - they are made of steel. In semi autos plastics are aggressively replacing steel models. In compact concealed carry category I think there is one pistol left in 100% steel (not stainless steel) - CZ 75 COMPACT.
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Sometimes not much steel.

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"Another advantage of revolvers for me is - they are made of steel. "

My daily carry is a Smith & Wesson 042 Centennial Airweight.

Alloy, not steel, frame.
 
lee n. field said:
When one's been around for a while, one tends to get a bit cynical about the hype. Doesn't ATF publish stats like that too?

For what it's worth, last 3 guns I've bought (since September last year, which is a huge number for me) have been 5 shot revolvers.
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2019 Is the most recent Annual Firearms Manufacturing Report available on their website. It shows 580K revolvers versus 3 Million Pistols. Revolvers still make up about 20% of the handguns being made. I'm not sure whether to consider that a high or low percent but it's enough that manufacturers continue to bring out more models on a regular basis. FWIW there were only 480K shotguns made and just under 2 million rifles. There were also 946K Misc. Firearms reported.
 
A ratio of manufacturing of 1 to 5 is still a very good figure for the revolvers. Consider that there are less models than for pistols, and not many factories have wheel guns in their production lines.
 
Primer out. Locks up the cylinder tight. Locked mine up. GP100.

Additionally in a 686, a misaligned cylinder locked the cylinder on one chamber.

Ever gone to shoot a revolver where the cylinder doesn't rotate? Ever go to push in a cylinder and it won't push in? Ever have an extractor star back out and not seat? Shot out of time? A cylinder misaligned so

A revolver has significantly more parts that need 100% function...to function.

Auto the chamber too tight for the AOL of a round, a bad recoil or mag spring. About it. Even the main spring on the revolver is more complicated in location than that of an auto.


Speaking on pocket revolvers, bullet crimp jump on those 357 rounds.
 
as more and more stupid people buy guns, id say the revolver has a niche for those who cant figure out the mechanics of a semi auto w/o shooting themselves or someone else by mistake.
 
or those who cant figure out the mechanics of a semi auto w/o shooting themselves or someone else by mistake.
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And semi's are for those people who can't manage to learn how to shoot a snub nose DA properly!:D
Sorta like people that can't drive shift with a clutch and steer at the same time.:eek:
 
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I can't get 44mag power in a package better to carry than the alloy SW329pd. I don't own any other revolvers anymore.
 
Are golf clubs irrelevant when you can just walk over and put the ball in the hole with your hand?

Are fly rods irrelevant when you can just buy fish at the market?

Is a red sports car convertible irrelevant when you can just call an Uber?

I think lots of people are missing the point- I believe this is a sport website. The number of professionals that actually fire handguns against bother human beings are vanishingly small here. Navy Seals don’t have long discussions about stuff like this online.
 
"Ruger only" loads isn't about power.

It's about the AOL and the cylinder size.
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The "Ruger only" ,45 Colt that I am referring to are loads were developed in the 70s for use ONLY in the large frame Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt. They are the standard .45 Colt OAL, 1.600" (or slightly shorter, depending on bullet nose profile).

they got the name "Ruger only" because at the time, there were no other revolvers (including no other Rugers) in .45 Colt that would safely handle the above factory standard pressures.

So, yes they ARE about POWER.

And, yes, its the cylinder and frame size that allows them, the large frame Blackhawk has the same frame and cylinder size as their .44 Magnum, and will handle .45 Colt loads that rival .44 Magnums.

As far as listing things that can go wrong with revolvers and semi autos, there are a number of things that can go wrong with both designs, and listing most of them for revolvers and only some for semis isn't a fair comparison.

Auto the chamber too tight for the AOL of a round, a bad recoil or mag spring. About it.
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that is just 3 things, and FAR from being "about it".
 
Yes, this is a sport website and I like it that way. I don't go to the military guns websites where I noticed people tend to be rude. And I agree that shooting revolvers is a pleasant sport. I really don't want it to become more outdated or rare kind of sport like shooting black powder guns, for example. I wish someone would come up with new interesting revolver models that look different. I think Kimber is moving in the right direction.
 
I think so. Granted I'll admit that I no longer carry one so I might be of the opinion that they don't make the best carry guns these days, but I absolutely love revolvers. When seemingly everyone is trying to be uber tactical it's good sometimes to just take a step back and enjoy a revolver, it's hard to explain but most here already understand it.
 
Until the advent of personal force fields which can defeat fast moving projectiles, I would consider it a little silly to deem them anything other than relevant toward self defense. Of course they are relevant, it doesnt matter what year it is. A club is relevant and you dont get much more primitive than that.
 
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