My choice to carry a revolver CONFIRMED in a big way...

J

JSMidd

New member
I attended a two-day course on Friday and Saturday in Basic Pistol, Defensive Handgun 1 and Defensive Handgun 2.

I was one of 38 students. There were four of us with revolvers.

At the beginning of the course weekend, we all had to check our firearms in with the staff for a safety and function check, as the "basic" course included folks who were borrowing firearms from others to see if this "gun thing" is for them.

So, as I checked in my revolver, a few of the students were looking on and gave me a hard time (in good fun, not being snooty) for only having six shots in my Ruger Redhawk .45 Colt. I just smiled, and continued on, but the lead instructor addressed the whole room and said...

"From this moment on, we're going to keep a tally. There are 34 students here with semi-automatic pistols of all brands, sizes, calibers, and build. I guarantee you that over the course of the weekend, all 34 students will experience a malfunction while going through our drills".

Everyone laughed, but I didn't. I just nodded my head at the instructor, who nodded back at me.

So, we kept a tally - 72 malfunctions, and all 34 semi-auto students had at least one major breakdown. It was windy, and I live in the desert of Washington State, and so it was DIRTY.

There was only one guy who was getting a little nasty citing the reliability of his Glock, and how it would never go down. In the last training run, he had just gone indoors to strip and clean his G19, and then he came back out on the range with a pristine pistol. On his second run through the barrier course, his weapon jammed SEVEN times. The barrier course only required five shots.... so the trainer asked me to take him my revolver, and I did. Of course, it worked.

The trainer then said to the class in our final moments, "Some of you want to consider which is best - having 15+ rounds that MIGHT work, OR.... having six shots that always will.

I was beaming the entire time.

Carry on, ya'll.
 
Did the instructor include techniques on how to clear auto loaders in the class?
Most problems with them kind of fall into the stoppage category, rather than jams.
With practice, clearing auto loaders is no big deal.
But, naturally, ya' gotta know how.
To add to the confusion, there's many ways for revolvers to jam up tight and be of no further use, too.
P.S.
What was the instructor using, revolver or auto?
 
Yes - the entire Hangdun 1 course was learning how to quickly deal with jams and other malfunctions.

And yes, revolver can go down too, but the revolvers in this weekend of courses had zero down time.
 
Hee Hee Hee !!!

Take THAT, you bottom-feeder, brass tosser, semi-auto guys ! :D






I carry a revolver.....and only have revolvers now.....simply because I shoot them better and more consistently than anything else. I am more comfortable with them, in all ways. I also prefer loading for them.

An old fart I am.....and proud of it !!!
 
Yep, my choice is a revolver....but I have 6 shot ones, 7 shots ones, and about to get an 8 shot one. Capacity isn't an issue in a revolver, IMHO.
 
SlimJim...

Yes, I did. The training staff was very specific about the course setup... "Come dressed in clothes you normally wear, with only the weapons, holsters, magazines, speedloaders, lights, etc... that you normally carry in their normal fashion." If you carry IWB, then that's how you ran the class.

It was very informative, because other classes I've taken have you carry OWB with a shirt tucked in, with four or five spare mags on your body that you'll never carry in a normal work day.
 
An old fart I am.....and proud of it !!!
Click to expand...
That might very much have to do with who prefers what.
Older folks generally grew up more with revolvers.
And as we age, revolvers are definitely less confusing to operate sometimes.
I know quite a few folks who have parked their auto loaders in favor of revolvers as they get into their seventies and eighties.
Probably not a bad idea when the ice maker wakes you out of a sound sleep in the early am and sounds like someone breaking into the house.
 
First of all...good on you for training the way you carry, and the Redhawk is a tank:D

But ive got to say, i taught at Front Sight for a BUNCH of years, both in Bakersfield Ca and Vegas. I even taught a summer in Alaska.

In the literally tens of thousands of students i saw come thru that school, i NEVER saw a malfunction rate anywhere near that high.

We would see a gun break and be out of service occasionally, thats why students are encourged to bring a second gun to the course.

You mention sand...having spent the 10 years post my FS days as a Govt Contractor working in some pretty sandy places:eek:, again ive never seen the number of failures you indicate.

I would hazard a guess that the ratio of actual malfunctions (not ones set up for training) is on the order of 1 in 5000 rounds. If you include malfunctions that occured because the shooter did something goofy (had the side of the slide pressed against a barracade or some such) it might be as high as 1 in 2/3000.

To have a gun malfunction 7 times over a 5 round course of fire, tells me there is something MAJORLY wrong with the gun or the shooter...maybe both.

Im not doubting your reporting if the events...we are just missing some data on WHY the guns didnt work.
 
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I have sold my last auto, a Glock 26, and now am auto free with the exception of a Walther P22. I daily carry a S&W 642. It rarely leaves my IWB. I still have a boatload of 9mm ammo so I am now contemplating getting an LCR 9mm revolver.

Joe
 
While I have to confess I am keeping my Browning Hi Power, I too have relinquished all my autos above .22 cal.

When I must fire .45 ACP I use this:

45_revo.jpg


;)
 
I usually take six guns to the range - three revolvers and three semi-autos. Which ones I bring varies a lot. It isn't that unusual for one of the semi-autos to have a minor malfunction. It is always random range ammo, cheap stuff and/or reloads. My daughter or I might occasionally limp wrist a shot. Yesterday she managed to have a piece of empty brass stuck in a 22 auto in a way that I would have sworn was physically impossible. Even an excellent semi-auto can malfunction if something weird happens.

But the revolvers never malfunction. Never. My daughter mentioned it yesterday. We have probably gone shooting 20 times or so in the past two years and she has yet to see a revolver malfunction in any way.

I know it's a small sample size, but my own experiences in the past 35 years shooting regularly have been along the same lines.
 
That is so awesome! I would be beaming too!

I am a revolver man myself. I've got a S&W Model 64 DAO security trade in sitting next to me as I type this, and carry a S&W 642 for CCW.

Oh, and by the way, I'm 24.

You don't have to be an "old man" to a "revolver man"!! :D
 
SharkBite,

I know that you're not questioning the veracity of my account of the weekend, nor do I take it that way.

The lead instructor commented that he had NEVER seen such a thing with that last Glock run, and the man running it was former city PD, who knew his way around the department issue Glock.

I would guess to say that the majority of the malfunctions we witnessed were user error, including mag drops, limp-wristing and such.
 
I have sold my last auto, a Glock 26, and now am auto free with the exception of a Walther P22.
Click to expand...

Time for a change of username? :D

In the literally tens of thousands of students i saw come thru that school, i NEVER saw a malfunction rate anywhere near that high.
Click to expand...

Did the OPs school ask the semi-auto students to do a tactical reload without dropping the magazine? If the ground/soil is muddy, sandy, and rocky the semi-auto students may have picked up grit and rocks in their magazines.
 
I've had a G22 drop a mag...for some reason it started developing that issue and after replacing the mag release it was fine. It's a little embarrassing when you are at the range and you fire the gun once and the mag hits the ground. The one thing about Glocks is that they are easy to work on when something does go wrong.

I no longer own any semi autos and went totally to revolvers. The only real reason is that I prefer shooting them...reliability really wasn't a huge issue with all the autos I owned over the years, although I seem to be one of the persons who have owned glocks that choked a lot....I don't like glocks anymore. I carried a sig P232 for several years and never once had an issue with that gun...good carry piece.

I bought a 686+ recently to be one of my carry guns...I don't see it having reliability issues.
 
I personally find revolvers to be much more satisfying and enjoyable to shoot. They just work for me.

Couple that with high reliability, and factor in good reloading techniques with speedloaders and the good effectiveness of round like the .357 magnum, and you have a recipe for a very effective gun and you don't need a bucket of bullets to do the job.
 
I'm curious to know how those carrying IWB compared to those carrying OWB did in the course, if there was a discernable difference.
 
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