Matrix
I just turned 28 and I am just about the only one of my peers and friends that likes revolvers....old revolvers even more. (I like the plain jane look to the Colt Official Police, not a lot of bulk or shrouds or anything extra, just a nice barrel with an ejector rod and a medium sized gun, probably my fav.). I like Python's. They look cool and are powerful. I like Model 19 S&W. I like S&W .38/44. I like a lot of the old blue steel finish revolvers out there. The revolvers I care for the least are the stainless steel ones and that's merely because of looks, not because of quality or anything. Seems to me a stainless steel gun would stick out like a sore thumb in the holster under your coat if the wind was blowing. The only auto that I really like is the 1911 auto. And the only reason I like it (but rarely carry it) is because of the same reason I like the revolver. They have history behind them. The revolver, as one of the earlier posters of this thread noted, has 2 centuries under it's belt. It has more of a story to tell. The SAA was used by military and cowboys alike throughout the latter 19th century and even into the 20th century in more rural areas. The Official Police and S&W Model 10 was used by policemen and government agents for over 100 years (you can probably find a few old policemen out there here and there who still carry theirs). The Python was the "Rolls Royce" of revolvers in it's day and many would say that it still is. (not sure that I wouldn't say that). I grew up on a lot of old movies and the Official Police was as common in movies from the 30s to the 60s as the Glock 9mm is in movies now. I think revolvers are a simpler weapon. I don't like carrying my 1911 because I don't like having to worry about 10 different things while carrying it. Is there a bullet in the chamber, is it ready to fire, is the hammer cocked, is the safety on, is the magazine in the gun, is the magazine loaded? A revolver is just ready to go. Yes it only has 5-9 shots, but so what. How many are you likely to need. Chances are if you need more shots than that than you are probably gonna die anyway, either from being overwhelmed or just being a lousy shot. I don't need to go over the tradeoffs between revolvers and automatics (reliability, jamming, etc.) It's all been covered in this and other threads.
As I mentioned, I am the only one in of all my friends my age who feels this way. I often get frowns whenever they see i have a revolver. "A revolver, those are outdated, they have lighter guns now with more capacity bla bla bla." (the person who specifically said that, to my knowledge, has never fired a gun in his life and if he had, he would know that weight isn't necessarily a bad thing....it cuts down on recoil. Lighter guns have more recoil.). But all my friends who own guns, have 9mm Berrettas, Glock 15s, 9mm Brownings, 9mm Springfields, 9mm Rugers etc. And they love them. Which is fine with me. If they like driving a sports car why should I criticize them because I drive a Ford Explorer.
But I think the reason for all of this is psyhcological. They see weird movies like The Matrix with Keanu Reeves walking into a building and bouncing off the walls firing 1000 rounds from his two 9mm autos dropping everybody in the room I can see how they can look at a revolver and feel it's "uncool" and "outdated."
But one shot from a revolver can easily beat 15 shots from an auto. The former kills. The latter sprays and makes you feel cool...but usually misses. I took my 1911 to the gun range a few weeks ago and sprayed a siluette target as fast as I could only about 7 yards from me.....only 1 and a half shots hit the paper. That's right, 1.5 shots. (meaning half of one shot clipped the edge of the paper. The one shot that completely hit the paper barely winged the siluette figure.)
