Pistol Rounds vs. Revolver Rounds

L

lamarw

New member
This is more of a curiosity question than anything. The title may even be a misnomer.

Why is there the desire of some shooters to have revolvers which handle typical pistol rounds? An example is a revolver capable of shooting .45 ACP or even 9mm.

Then I have seen post of others wanting a pistol capable of handling .357 Magnum.

I am sure there are other examples.

I have not shared these desires; although I readily admit I could be missing out. The versatility of a firearm capable of handling both is obvious. Also the versatility of reducing calibers to reload is another possibility.

Are there other more obscure reasons such as ballistics?

There are also similar uses of rifle rounds and handgun rounds, but I will restrict my question to just handguns. I will also steer clear of rim fire rounds.
 
Because we can ! A 45ACP sixgun is a better pistol than any shellshuckin' sumbiscuit ever made and ALL my brass falls directly into my right hand. ALSO, most any 45ACP sixgun will outshoot all but the most expensive 45ACP shellshuckers and my Ruger OMBH 4 5/8" 45Acp will shoot ANY 45 autoloader I've ever run it up against with groups approaching 1/2" at 25 yards. It will literally remove the X from the center of the X-ring with groups about the size of a nickle.
And that does not even bring up the King of ALL 45ACP target sixguns the S*W M25-2 revolver.
Fourty-five shellshuckers....their best groups are usually the brass on the ground...
AND so it goes...
 
Pistol rounds in a revolver...

  • Cheaper factory ammo; 9mm is cheaper than .38Spl, and the difference is even more pronounced for .45 ACP vs. almost all big-bore revolver cartridges
  • The shooter already has a bunch of pistols and ammo for them, and doesn't wish to stock up on an additional caliber for only one gun
  • The shooter is a LEO whose department provides pistol ammo for free or at a substantial discount
  • The shooter wants to use moon clips for speedy reloads; FWIW some revolvers are set up for clipped revolver cartridges, but they typically don't load as smoothly as short and tapered pistol cartridges, and the replacement clips themselves may be hard to come by
  • Collectible or novelty value
  • 9mm outperforms .38Spl but is not as harsh to fire as full-bore .357 Magnum out of a snubby
  • Popular .45 ACP SD loads typically outperform .44Spl and standard-pressure .45 Colt loads, but with substantially lower cost and greater availability, and are not as harsh to fire as .44 Magnum out of a snubby
  • 10mm Auto revolvers can handle .40 S&W for low-cost and low-recoil practice, with no downsides other than the inability to be fired without moon clips
Did I miss anything? :)
 
Last edited:
Whatever they have, people always want something more or something different?

For the 9mm it's not as pronounced, but 45acp is WAY cheaper and easier to find than 44spec, 45LC, or 44magnum.
 
Well, for me it was a few things when I bought my 625 5" in 45 acp..... no crawling around to retrieve my brass, cheaper to shoot and something not seen very often.
 
The shooter wants to use moon clips for speedy reloads; FWIW some revolvers are set up for clipped revolver cartridges, but they typically don't load as smoothly as short and tapered pistol cartridges, and the replacement clips themselves may be hard to come by
Click to expand...
To further this thought, there's really NOTHING common in revolvers that replicates, or really even comes close to the way .45 ACP works when moon-clipped. Because the rounds are FAT, and the holes are huge, and also because the rounds are SHORT and stubby, all of these characteristics inherent in .45 ACP makes for a match made in heaven when it comes to operating revolvers at high speed.

This takes dexterity and a crazy volume of practice, but guys like Jerry Miculek (and many other fine competitors) make it look awfully appealing and there's really no other chambering that is set up to do this nearly so well. And there's the added pluses of a heavy bullet (does a fine job at knocking down steel plates while using less fireworks/recoil/muzzle flip) and the larger bullet also makes larger holes in paper which is often good and, well, NEVER bad.

When it comes to using one kind of ammo in the other platform not originally intended for it, there's .45 ACP clearly way, WAY up at the top, and everything else is so far below that it's not close.
 
I should add my own hands-on experiences.

I owned a Model 625, the N-frame .45cal revolver. It was moon-clip ready. I only owned it for about a month and I ran it twice. It did not trip my trigger and I found that dealing with moon clips was far beyond a minor annoyance. At the range, it was spiffy -- nice quick load, nice quick unload, all the brass bagged up and together. At home, both loading and GRRR, unloading the moon clips was horrendous. I got rid of the revolver before truly giving it a real chance simply because of an opportunity to get something else that coincided with a really strange time in my life, especially with regard to finances. It might have gone differently if my twirl with the 625 were at a different time/place, but I have no regrets and -ZERO- plans to try again.

Funny enough, it was a Coonan Classic that was the OTHER half of that story and of course, it runs the .357 Magnum revolver round. Also no regrets, it's a very cool and fun handgun to own and shoot.

I also have a .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk and it's quite fun in it's own way, but there is no doubt -- none whatsoever that this particular round in a single action revolver is a large array of annoyances, and I've expounded on this greatly in other threads. My .30 Carb B'Hawk is neat & fun in it's own way, but there's a very good (bunch of) reasons why this thing isn't a lot more popular. :o
 
Carguychris summed it up nicely. For me it boils down to convenience, and money.

I mostly shoot 1911s in .45 ACP. I also have a Ruger Blackhawk convertible in .45 Colt with a .45 ACP cylinder. Although I can get hotter loads in .45 Colt, the basic .45 ACP was designed to replicate the ballistics of the old .45 Colt cartridge (not today's "Ruger-only" loads).

I reload for .45 ACP. I have buckets of brass, boxes of bullets, and my press is already set up to do .45 ACP. Sure, I could put in a different turret with a different powder measure set for something else, and load .45 Colt. But I'm not interested in "Ruger-only" loads, so anything I might load up wouldn't be significantly different in ballistics from my .45 ACP reloads. So why not just do one cartridge that shoots in both guns?
 
For the cost savings of 100 bulk of 9mm vs .38 in 33 packs ill save 1k. Makes cents to me...
Click to expand...
But how much would you save if you just reloaded those 38's?
With reasonably priced reloading equipment, and the availability of components improving there is little basis for the money saving claim.
 
I handload more rounds of .45 ACP than all other calibers combined, so when I wanted a big-bore revolver, why WOULDN'T it be in .45 ACP?
Plus, I can use moon-clips, which all modern DA revolvers should.
Also, if you are shooting factory ammo, I think there is probably more variety in available loads for .45 ACP than any big-bore "revolver" cartridge.
For mid-bores, I'm satisfied with traditional revolver rounds, but would still prefer moon-clip loading.
 
But how much would you save if you just reloaded those 38's?
With reasonably priced reloading equipment, and the availability of components improving there is little basis for the money saving claim.
Click to expand...

Sigh, I've covered this a number of times I have neither the time nor space to reload. And it has nothing to do with reloading. Its simply an example of why using popular semi auto calibers in revolvers makes sense. and im pretty sure materials for reloading components for 9mms would still be cheaper then reloading for .38/.357s, supply and demand.
 
I reload both and I can tell you there is very little difference between the cost of a reloaded .38 special and a 9mm. It's so little that I don't even worry about it.

Generally, though, .38 special is better suited to inexpensive lead bullets and those are cheaper than jacketed. I shoot plated because I run the same projectile in .357 and .38 special. Buying in bulk saves a lot of money and I only have to order one projectile for both.

Anyway, I'll add that .38 Super is one of the best auto pistol cartridges when chambered in revolvers...

- When chambered for .38 Super the revolver can also fire 9mm
- .38 Super can be loaded with .357 bullets or .355 bullets
- More power and/or heavier bullets than 9mm
- Cost to reload .38 Super is virtually identical to 9mm
 
I don't really have a deep desire to own all variants of them, but take the Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt/.45 ACP. It's not expensive and for the money is quite possible the best, most versitile revolver manufactured. I have a 4 5/8" version and it can shoot anything from a .45 ACP 230gr @ 800 fps to a .45 Colt 330gr hardcast at 1300 fps, which is more than enough for damned near anything that walks. It also shoots .45 Super as well.

Yet I did own a S&W 610 once and really didn't care for it! Too big of a gun for too small of a cartridge (10mm/.40).

For carbines, I like the concept of revolver chambered leverguns. One in .45 Colt is nearly perfect really.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top