So barring any political reasons, how much life does the revolver have left in it?

It's hard to beat the revolver's simple point and shoot simplicity. Glock probably modeled the functionality of his semi-auto after a hammerless revolver.

Unless you are familiar with the manual of arms required for the proper use of a more ordinary semi-auto, you are at a disadvantage in a high stress situation. With multiple safeties, hammer drops, slide locks, magazine locks etc,etc. The revolver also has the added advantage of being usable while still in your pocket....

If you want to turn off a woman to firearms give her a little feather weight pink .38 revolver that will ring her entire arm. What she really needs is a heavy weight Ruger. That little pink .38 revolver is a man's gun.

I think the revolver has plenty of life still in it.
 
clarity on 7-shot Ruger GP100

Don P, I was trying to list a 7-shot revolver, and I forgot that the GP100 doesnt come in a 7 shot variant. I checked it out and what threw me off was that there is a 6-shot SP101 in .327 Mag, so my recall was wrong... Upon review it's S&W and Taurus that make sevenguns in L-frame type sizes. My bad!
 
I just spent the day shooting my Glock 20 and my GP100...

and for me the revolver is still king. Like the OP I have a few Glocks and will stay that I love shooting them. However at the end of my range session, the GP was consistently shooting 1.5" groups at 25 yards and the 20 was over twice that, even with a KKM barrel. I am getting ready to go hunting in TX and the GP will be going with me. I could see parting ways with most of my Glocks, but will always keep my revolvers. I realize that there are some advantages with capacity and size, but I still love the feel of a good solid revolver.
 
I'm 40, I own a 'few' handguns. 80% of them are wheel guns. From .22 to .45.
No problem with autos, carry one sometimes. But nothing interests me more than a nice revolver.
 
I sure hope alot of people feel that way. In 2003 you could not hardly give revolvers away. I picked up a Smith model 13 3" RB for $250.
 
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The military and police need a bigger capacity weapon, I guess and also one that's easier to reload under stress, but for the rest of us, I vote for a more venerable design...gimme a Smith 5-6 shot every time. YMMV, but I don't care. Rod
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I always heard that, I carried a Smith 686 until the day I could not any longer (1996). The only time in over 3 decades of LE I felt like I needed more was working El Paso, TX with the Border Patrol hunting bandits in the canyons at night. I shot PPC with my duty gun so I had no problems with accuracy. I could shoot and reload faster and more accurate than 90% of the guys carrying Glock 9mm's.

I also think the gun games have given great life to Hi-caps. I shoot and enjoy IDPA with both revolvers and semi auto's.

Military is a whole different beast. I carried a 1911 as a pistol and an M-60, M-16 or 12 gauge.
 
Revolvers and Semiautos are evolving in different directions.

Semi Autos have moved much more in to self defense and CCW.

Revolvers o nthe other hand are generally not gaining much in the number of rounds. What they are gaining is power. Most hunting handguns are now revolvers. I know the desert eagle is out there but even the largest bullets it shots is still pretty small compared to the 500 magnum the 460 or the 454.

Revolvers do work for protection and semi-autos do work for hunting but the evolution is the other direction.
 
One thing that might end the revolver's existence is the revolver manufacturers and their price of production. With new revolvers like the Kimber K6, GP-100 and Redhawk priced at well over $800, most people will cross them off the list quickly. I'd love to own a Ruger Alaskan .44Mag, but I don't have $1200.00 in love to give. Revolver makers will need to find ways to reduce production cost in order to stimulate the market. Ruger has made a great stride with the LCR series, but they've been slow to expand into larger frames. Other manufacturers like S&W and Colt changed production methods in the past to keep prices attainable. It might be time to do so again.
 
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Future looking better, IMO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
According to the ATF:
In 1986 there were 761,414 revolvers manufactured in the USA.
In 2014 there were 744,047 revolvers manufactured in the USA.

Autoloading pistols have taken over the market, but revolvers haven't gone away. There are just a lot more guns around than there used to be.
 
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