What's wrong with writing about revolvers

4

4thHorseman

New member
Do you know what's wrong with writing about revolvers?
There is never anything new to say.
Yeah, maybe barrel length , a few questions on grips that have been answered many times before. Lightening the trigger question once in a while, but that about it.
Jams, nah. FTF, nah. Magazines, you kidding? Spring problems, part problems, break in questions, bullet shape. Just not many of those.
I love revolvers, but just can't find a whole lot to write about. :)
 
Revolver jams?

1. Debris under the extractor star

2. Bent crane from hollywood reloads

3. Primer backed out due to loose pocket and jams against the recoil shield

4. Bullet jumps out due to weak crimp and jams against the forcing cone

If you've never experienced any of these... you haven't put enough rounds down range... yet! :D
 
Everyone of those you listed could of been prevented by buying good ammo and cleaning once in a while, which I do. These are expected standard norms, not exceptions.
Glad to say, I never experienced ANY of those problems you listed.
Been shooting revolvers for 45 years now. So I have put a few "down range." :)
 
Plenty of writing material on the aesthetic level - comparing/rating finishes - grip styles, materials, or function - personalization like engraving, stipling, checkering, etc.

Course all Aesthetic functoins are pure personal choice - yer gonna get all kinds of those here...
 
There's what, three brands of popular revolvers sold in the US, and a handful of specialty brands. There just isn't much going on.
 
Too broad a statement

I'll bet there are revolvers you have never heard of, or seen. That could be a subject but they would probably be old items! How about the 1911? Every week a new variation appears with some small change or new style whatchamagigee attached. Big changes include the 50 cal version and whenever a new caliber comes out. What is really really new in 1911 pistols to write about? New finish? different checkering patterns? funky looking new beavertail? yawn. Look at all the gun mags and you will never really see much groundbreaking changes. Maybe every few years. Like the latest version of a 40 year old rifle with a different caliber makes front page. Wow! When they start to make railguns or laser rifles or something more in line with the 21st. century, then you will have subjects to write about besides reading writers whine about how bad the weather was when they test fired the latest humdrum, so their rotten groups really represent 1 M.O.A., crossed fingers.
 
Revolver jams?

1. Debris under the extractor star

2. Bent crane from hollywood reloads

3. Primer backed out due to loose pocket and jams against the recoil shield

4. Bullet jumps out due to weak crimp and jams against the forcing cone

If you've never experienced any of these... you haven't put enough rounds down range... yet!
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Facory ammo and clean...no problems...of course it probably won't work if you throw it off of a 10 story building, but revolvers are too nice for that...only an ugly Glock deserves to be put through such abuse. ;) :D ;)

(hey glockers, I'm just kiddin' man...relax) :)
 
DPris wrote about the S&W M28. I would enjoy more retro articles with sidebars about the original pricing. It would be neat to see a comparison of a 38-44 with period loads versus modern day loads.
 
The most common revolver "jam" I have seen that wasn't ammo or cleanliness related is the ejector rod coming unscrewed.
 
I would argue that there has been more inovation in revolvers in the last fifteen years than there was in the previous thirty. The rise of CCW laws along with the AWB created an interest in heavier caliber revolvers that were still small enough and light enough to carry. So we've seen Smith & Wesson and Taurus come out with all kinds of interesting things in exotic materials. You've got all the titanium and scandium guns. They come in .44 Magnum as well as .32 Magnum. From big to small. And then you have the "new cannons" in .480 Ruger and .500 Smith & Wesson. Not to mention .454's everywhere.

Some calibers that were "dead" have come back with new variations. I'm thinking specifically about .41 Magnum and .44 Special but you also have all of the cowboy rounds. I'm sure the factories are selling a bunch more 38-40 and 44-40 than they would have projected twenty years ago! The cowboy shooters have driven the factories to produce a bunch of brand new "replicas" that are super sweet revolvers. I downloaded the pdf catalog from US Firearms and I could buy nothing but revolvers from them for a couple years! What nice guns. People thought Ruger was crazy to "reintroduce" single-action revolvers and now the darn things are a major force in the market.

And then there all the custom makers. Maybe I must wasn't aware of them twenty years ago but now there seems to be several gunsmiths turning out very, very desirable custom revolvers whose only bad feature is price!

I never seem to have any problem finding new revolvers to buy. Especially when you throw in all the great old guns that people keep foolishly selling to buy plastic autoloaders!

Gregg
 
I could stand to see some articles on revolver methods and techniques. For instance, I have yet to see a good instruction on using a stock revolver in right hand/left hand shooting from a barricade as done in PPC and Bianchi Cup, nor have I figured out a good technique.
 
I hope no one thinks that any of the articles or questions are wasted time....as a newbie to the handgun world every time that I open this site I pick up some tidbit of info. and I'm sure I'm not alone in this statement. You "old timers" (in relation to your knowledge of handguns is imeasurable) and even if you think there is nothing new going on in the info. think again. us "young fella's" are gaining loads.
respectfully Bic
 
I'm happy to say that of all the malf's 9X19 mentioned, plus the one MX5 mentioned, I've experienced them all - except the bent ejector rod.

Nothing teaches like first hand experience / you learn little from something that always works, and lots from things that are "broken". I didn't force any of the malf's, they just sort of happened during the process of working up select handloads, trying different primers/powders/charges, and seeing how long brass can go being reloaded before it wears out.

As far as nothing new under the sun goes - - I couldn't disagree more.

The old wheelgun is at the very front of what I consider the single most important development in handguns in the last 120 years. YMMV, but I feel that within then next decade, we will see a ballistic revolution in handguns.
Or maybe the idea that a true 6 shot .34 to .36 cal snub nose pocket revolver throwing a 125 gr slug @ 2500 fps doesn't get anyone's attention.
 
There are lots of younger, new shooters who perhaps started out with auto loaders and then somehow "discovered" how wonderful revolvers are... those folks have a lot to delve into and discuss.

Those who've been around and heavily involved with revolvers for many years probably don't have much new to discuss, but they can share with those who don't know as much and are eager to learn. Heck, just learning about a lot of the twists and turns in the various models of S&W's over the years can keep you actively busy for a long time. Of course revolver reloading topics add a lot more onto that. Beyond that, getting into action tuning adds even more topics for discussion. Sights. Grips. Holsters.

I think there's plenty to talk about regarding revolvers, except perhaps for the person that's been through it all and is bored with or burned out on revolvers.
 
There's what, three brands of popular revolvers sold in the US, and a handful of specialty brands.
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What?! Ok - not to mention any "specialty brands..."

How about - Colt, Smith and Wesson, Ruger, Taurus, and Dan Wesson for starters. All of who started out with revolvers as thier main line and maintain a good percentage of thier production in that relm toady.

I find articles written on such companies' histories and trends to be enlightening and revealing of where we are going, what actually worked(s), and what might appear tomarrow.
 
Nothing on Revolvers

With revolver shooters were dealing with a product which almost always works. There are two basic systems, single and double action. Those within each group are basicly the same with only a very few different approaches. We're really lucky.

Most of the many writeups on autos is because something doesn't work. Revolvers generally work. If you don't have much to bitch about there's not much to write. I'll take that problem every time.

Revolver shooters are probably a bit more laid back. We recognize and accept 5-6-7 shot limitations and realize we have to do with loading variations and caliber what hicap auto shooters plan on doing by filling the air with lead. If a semi-auto fan is talking about a defense situation they often have a mindset which says "if I can have 15 bullets in the air at one time I'm sure to hit something". Revolver shooters know the odds against running into "The Wild Bunch" and think along the lines of 1-3 antagonists and the whole affair being over in 4-5 shots max.

Revolvers are fun. Shoot 6, dump 6, leisurely load 6 without tearing up your thumb, shoot 6 .......

I't suits me just fine though to use products which work with monotonous regularity.

If I was still involved in active police work I would be looking at autos too. As a private citizen I don't think I'll ever be accosted by a barricaded, armed to the teeth, psycho gunman. A Police Officer just might have that situation.
 
As a private citizen I don't think I'll ever be accosted by a barricaded, armed to the teeth, psycho gunman. A Police Officer just might have that situation.
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That's true enough but I wonder how lawmen like Bill Jordan or Skeeter Skelton managed to get through their shifts without a Glock 17 and 3-4 spare hi cap magazines? Could be they relied on their wits as their primary defense. And I'm willing to bet they didn't draw and aim their revolvers at the slightest sign that "they might need them." Cops today are FAR to ready to draw their guns. FAR too likely. They've all watched too many episodes of COPS and gone to all the same LEO schools that have taught them too many poorly thought out tactics. And don't try to tell me today's bad guys are better armed. Cops in the 20's and 30's had to deal with lots of bad guys with full auto weapons while most cops were carrying a six shooter. And yet many of those cops managed to get through a 20 year career without drawing their weapons. I'm wondering how many cops get through a shift without doing so today?! Unknown person in an unknown situation? Draw that gun and start pointing it at the citizen! Officer safety comes before citizen safety, don't you know?

Gregg
 
I really like reading most of John Taffin's articles on revolvers.
Yeah, he caters a lot to the single action crowd (of which I'm one). But he covers important things:
How does it pack?
How does it balance?
How are the sights shooting in actual field conditions?
How durable is it with monster loads?
How does it shoot with plinking loads?
Review of customizers (sights, fancy grips, what does one look like engraved?)
Is it a sweet shooter, but butt-ugly?
Is it a pretty revolver that will shoot apart after 50 rounds?
How does it compare to comparable pieces?

Sure beats the heck out of the "The new ultra-mega-super-tactical 1911 from ______ uses 11.375 degree angled cocking serrations rather than the normal 11.5 degree cocking serrations. It shoots hardball real well, and only jammed 17 times out of our excruciating 100 round test." type articles.

Heck, if all gun writers would write more like Mr. Taffin, I might start buying gun rags again.
 
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