Newbie question: does a 9mm revolver exist?

G

groverdill

New member
I really like revolvers, and I know that 9mm ammo is less expensive than .38 special. So why don't you ever hear about a 9mm revolver? I did a little poking around online, and it seems it's got something to do with 9mm being rimless and wouldn't work in a revolver. If that's incorrect, feel free to educate me. Also, what's the price difference, in general, between the two calibers? Thanks.

Mike
 
Taurus and Charter Arms currently make 9mm revolvers. S&W and others have made them in the past.
Usually, they use what is called a "moon clip" to facilitate extraction.
 
Ruger also makes a single action revolver in .357 Magnum with an auxiliary cylinder in 9mm. That revolver has no extraction problems with 9mm, since it uses a rod ejector.

S&W and (IIRC) Charter Arms also made 9mm revolvers that used a type of extractor that did not require clips of any kind, but the mechanism was a bit complex and never gained popularity.

Jim
 
I have a Taurus model 405 revolver in .40S&W, (another semi auto round).
It uses something called moon clips to hold the rounds, so it is kind of like a speed loader, (all 5 rounds go in, or come out, at the same time)

The problem being if one or more of the rounds is not sitting correctly in the holder, the cylinder can jam up and not rotate. So it is more of a novelty gun that a reliable one. Maybe with aftermarket moon clips, the problem would resolve, but I just have what came with the gun, and I had to deburr these when I got them.

A 38Spl+p bullet comes close to a 9mm for power, or you can get a .357 revolver and shoot weak loads and still have more ballistic energy than a 9mm. The .357 revolver can also shoot the 38 Spl rounds.
 
9mm revolvers have generally been used by police who prefer (and are allowed) to carry a revolver for backup, but who must use department issue 9mm ammunition. For civilians who have a choice and can carry whatever ammo they want, a 9mm revolver makes little sense, since it confers few benefits over .38 Special and certainly none over .357 Magnum.

Jim
 
Two in the:

"If you have to ask how much they cost, don't bother since you can't afford one"

category...

Korth (Germany) and Manurhinm (France)

IIRC - Ruger made one of their "Six" series revolvers in 9mm Luger.

The Security Six maybe?
I get the Security and Speed mixed up.....
 
Hal, Security is adjustable sights, Speed is fixed sights. Actually kind of makes sense when you think about it... of course, the naming of the "Six" series was a long time before the idiocy of Vaquero/New Vaquero for two otherwise different guns.

If Ruger made a "six" series revolver in 9mm, I don't remember it, so it was either a very short production life or not a main catalogue item. (now, in a few minutes, somebody will pop up with a pic, and catalogue #, dates of production and numbers, just to prove me wrong...again...;))

The main thing is that 9mm Luger is considered a personal defense round, as its primary utility. There are much better rounds for hunting, and even better ones for target use.

SO that means to have any real market it has to be a DA revolver. And rimless rounds in DA revolvers are..complicated. Various DA guns have been made in 9mm, but never seem to stay in production. In terms of numbers, the most common 9mm revolver you will find is the Ruger Blackhawk .357 convertible. But its not sold as a defense gun, nor as a 9mm, its a single action .357, with an extra cylinder for 9mm Luger.

The only real practical advantage (or use) for a 9mm revolver is if you can only get (or use) 9mm ammo.

Now that I think back on it (without looking anything up) I do seem to vaguely recall there was a "Six" in 9mm. I think most of them were sold outside the US, or intended to be. Certainly not often seen today...
 
S&W Model 547, 9mm

S&W made these in the early to mid 80's, 3" round butt and 4" square butt versions.
Here is my 3" 547 below the model 65 in holster.
 
Ruger made the SP101, Speed Six, and Service Six in 9mm. Also, the Blackhawk Convertible.
S&W made the 547 and 940.
Taurus makes the 905
Charter Arms makes the Pitbull.
There's also a couple of foreign jobs out there.
 
Ruger also makes Single-Action revolvers in 45Colt/45ACP.

S&W makes the 625, which is chambered in .45ACP

And if you have a bunch of money you don't need, some custom shops (Gemini, for isntance) will turn your plain jane GP100 into a 10mm wheel gun with lots of pretty extras.
 
In terms of numbers, the most common 9mm revolver you will find is the Ruger Blackhawk .357 convertible. .
Click to expand...
Maybe ten years ago but it would surprise me if that is still true. I think Taurus and charter have sold a surprising number of their 9mm pistol. If I buy another centerfire revolver in a production round it will probably be in 9mm(BUG) or 45acp(C&R).

I looked for an SP101 for a while. One popped up on gun broker and sold for far more than a new sp101 in 357. I decided to abandon that venture.
 
i carried 9mm moon clips for my smith and wesson model 940 in a watch pocket of my dungarees for years. none ever failed to work and the cylinder never jammed. moon clips are much faster to use to reload than a speed loader and speed strips, a definite advantage of a 9mm revolver that takes moon clips over a 38 or 357 that doesnt. my 9mm revolver was used for work as well as off duty and can in no way be described accurately as a novelty
 
Not only revolvers...

As noted, several US manufacturers (Ruger and Smith & Wesson, primarily) made double action revolvers chambered for 9mm Luger. As I recall, the main intent was for non - US contracts to supply revolvers to military and police units in countries with 'limited training' programs. (This was prior to Glock, by the way.)

They were sold and used as indicated. Both Ruger and S&W didn't make them very long. I'm sure the reasons were all financial.

Somewhere along the line, Federal started manufacturing the 9mm Federal round. It was a rimmed version of the standard 9mm Luger round, and was made to function as a revolver round in a revolver without moon clips or other tricks. It was introduced to work with the original Charter Arms revolver so chambered. Then the original Charter Arms folded and Federal quit making them.

Just a bit of trivia on the subject.
 
44 AMP-
Here's what Ruger has listed on their site under the serial number range

"Security Six, Speed Six, Service Six Revolver
(Manufactured from 1972 to 1988)
Calibers: 357 Mag, 38 Spl, 9mm"

IIRC , the main reason for the 9mm chambering was simply for compatibility with semi autos.
 
FWIW the 9mm Charter Arms Pitbull is supposedly in production, but my local Charter dealer reports that they're basically unobtainable; for some reason, he can get them easily in .40S&W, but they're evidently not making enough of them in 9mm.
Archie said:
Somewhere along the line, Federal started manufacturing the 9mm Federal round. It was a rimmed version of the standard 9mm Luger round, and was made to function as a revolver round in a revolver without moon clips or other tricks. It was introduced to work with the original Charter Arms revolver so chambered. Then the original Charter Arms folded and Federal quit making them.
Click to expand...
Just so there's no confusion... the new Pitbull is set up for standard 9mm Luger. Only the original Pitbull was set up for 9mm Federal, which is basically a 9mm Luger cartridge with a slightly fattened rim added.

IIRC the previous iteration of the Charter Arms company went bankrupt and halted production almost immediately after the original Pitbull and the 9mm Federal round came out, and very few of the guns were sold; today, the ammo is much easier to find than an original Pitbull to fire it in. (AFAIK 9mm Federal won't work in a standard 9mm revolver or autoloader, so most of this ammo has spent the last 20 years gathering dust.)
 
My 9mm Rugers (both long out of production but can be found on the used market).

Speed Six
RSpd6pkg.jpg


SP-101
RugerSP101-9_zpse4cb6dbb.jpg
 
Probably showing my age here, but the Israelis had a 9mm revolver around 1949~1950 or so as I recall.

The gun was a close copy of the S&W Model 10 and looked like a minature S&W M1917 revolver.

Bob Wright
 
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