Revolvers comeback?

DJ,
Anyone who thinks that your collection or your feelings about revolvers do not count are just plain wrong. I wouldn't trade in my Colt Python nor my Ruger GP100
for all the Tea in China. Yes I carry my Glocks now but if & when I really need fire power, It's my 357 mag revolvers each & every time.
 
To repeat:

Collections of older revolvers only addresses the past and not the future.
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To repeat: If S&W would get the quality of their revolvers back up where it used to be, I would buy some new ones. The quality is no longer there, just ask me about the canted barrel on the 686-6 that I bought brand-spanky new a couple of years ago. First brand new S&W I have bought in over 40 years. If the quality was there, I would support S&W and buy new revolvers. But it ain't, so I won't.
 
If S&W would get the quality of their revolvers back up where it used to be, I would buy some new ones. The quality is no longer there,....
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You cite a canted barrel which is of course not something you want, but generally what are the quality issues you have?

I asked this partly because I've never seen a brand new S&W, nor an old S&W in this country so I have no frame of reference...
 
I too prefer my older Smiths, but I've also had great results from my one newer one as well. I picked up a lightly used 627 about four years ago and it's an absolutely marvelous gun. Excellent workmanship, dead reliable, as accurate as any handgun I have, and as good a trigger if not better than any handgun I own. The main reason I bought it was the trigger, and that it holds 8 rounds.
 
Over 800,000 revolvers were made in 2015 per the most recent ATF report. This is an increase over the previous year while pistols saw a decline in sales year over year(3.6M to 3.5M).

The revolver market seems pretty strong with both Kimber and Colt entering the double action market recently. Ruger and S&W both have made some impressive new guns in the last couple of years.
 
I'm a fairly young shooter (28) and I like revolvers. I have occasionally CC'd a SP101, but currently have a G30 in the EDC role.

I think revolvers are by far the most intuitive weapon system with far less chance of operator error than with an autoloader. My girlfriend prefers my GP100 match champion over my glocks.

I also think they're much more pleasurable to shoot and handle. I am proud to display my Redhawk, Super Blackhawk, GP100, and SP101 all featuring well figured wood grips. Plastic fantastic tends to stay in the bag when a newby comes shooting with me because the revolvers are just so damn cool. I have a Glock 17 in addition to my 30 and nobody ever prefers the blocks to the revolvers.

I generally see guys practicing with glock,xd,m&p though so I dunno if that curb appeal equals sales.
 
Anyone who has followed me here or elsewhere over the years knows how I feel about revolvers, especially classic blued-steel Smith & Wesson revolvers.

Anyone wants to get rid of those obsolete pieces of junk, just let me know. I'll only charge you a small cartage/removal fee. :D
 
The price of revolvers seem to have significantly dropped since last year. What used to cost $800 or more is now a lot less.

Also, it's hard to beat the revolver's single action trigger pull!

Love those revolvers!
 
I don't know if more people are actually carrying revolvers for CCW, but I do believe there is an increase in interest because of the Internet. Perhaps it's related to nostalgia. In the past few years there have been movies and television shows set in the seventies and eighties and often the characters are using revolvers so that might be feeding an interest as well.

I got into revolvers about fifteen years ago thanks to TFL and THR. I was all about semi-autos, but I kept looking at posts about six shooters and decided I wanted one. I haven't looked back. I carry a Glock 19 as an officer and I have a few 45 autos (S&W 3rd gen and 1911), but my real focus is on wheelguns.
 
I'm a fan of the Ruger revolver. There are no Rugers older than I!

Bob Wright
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Ha!

Me too Bob. No Ruger revolvers older than me. The little 22 Semi-Auto came out the year before I was born, but no Ruger revolvers older than me.

Ruger first brought the Single Six out in 1953. I'm a wee bit older than that.

My oldest Ruger is the Flat Top 44 Mag at the left in this photo. It was made in 1958.

Three%20Screw%20Rugers%2001_zps84sa09ky.jpg
 
After you get so many semi-automatic handguns, you want something different. That's why I've been buying revolvers over the last few years. I'm up to four now and will be buying at least two more in the near future.

I have also noticed that some folks with weak hands, woman and older people mostly but not totally, do better with a small revolver over the small semi auto 9mm's that can be very stiff to operate.

.02
 
I am issued a 9mm SW MP and forced by policy to carry it on duty. Nice gun, accurate too. But, since my Department started using them well over a decade ago, well... lets just say there is a huge focus pertaining to trainings / "tap n' rack", in order to clear jams. Limp wristing, dirty ammo, magazine issues, weather, etc. have all resulted in an ongoing plethora of jams on the range. Seeing this and even experiencing it myself with the SW, and previously issued Beretta 96 have shaken my faith in semi autos. If allowed, I would qualify with and carry my own revolver, either a .44 mag or .357. This is strictly forbidden by Administration and I want my pension, so I follow orders and train with what I am issued. Don't get me wrong, the SW MP is a nice gun, but I just don't trust it or any semi automatic as much as I would a good revolver. I have seen other top brand semi auto pistols like Kimbers, Colts, Springfields and even Glocks jam on occassion over the years. I'm not knocking S&W or the others quality control, but the very finicky nature and reliability of the semi pistol design itself, at least compared to a well built revolver. I like semi pistols, I own several good ones ... some I even love to shoot (like my Beretta M9 and Sig 220), but I don't TRUST them, not 100% anyhow. Pistols are great for small game or tin cans, but for self defense, protection of life and limb, I want a Revolver!! Off duty, and free to carry what I damn well please, I now carry one of my revolvers and a few reloads, with additional ammo in my vehicle. Aside from reliability, Revolvers offer MAGNUM power, and in .357, .41 or .44 Magnum, there are few semi auto pistol rounds that can offer the same level of raw power. Revolvers can shoot low powered wadcutters or hopped up +P power hunting rounds, with ease. A semi cannot do that and function properly without changing springs. Revolvers are simple to operate, look nicer and although they can and do indeed get jammed (1 revolver jam in my life, a backed out ejector rod decades ago. Lock tite fixed that!), I believe jams are far less likely to happen with a well maintained quality brand revolver, than with a semi auto pistol, based upon how MANY semi automatic jams I have personally observed over the course of my 5 decades on this earth. I also feel the heavy, long double action pull on a revolver is SAFER than the hair trigger of a striker fired weapon. Accidental discharges with striker fired weapons happen and quite frequently if one is careless or gets clothing stuck in the triggerguard when reholstering. Ask the LAPD or search Youtube pertaining to striker fire accidental discharges. Another consideration; close quarter combat! Suppose during a self defense situation one finds oneself on the ground or otherwise being overpowered at close range by a vicious assailant(s) trained in MMA or armed with a knife? A semi pistol, if pressed up against a solid object, will have its slide pressed back out of battery, rendering the pistol inoperable and useless, except as a club. Not so with a six shooter (or 5, 7 or 8 shooter!). Something to consider, when one choses a sidearm to defend your life or that of a family member, as many altercations that cannot be avoided begin unexpectedly at VERY close range and end up on the ground. I know... I'm not very "tactical" by not picking a plastic framed, high capacity pistol with a rail / light and I may not win any Mall Ninja awards, but I'm comfortable with my off duty choice of carry.
 
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