Why do So Many People Shun Revolvers?

I was amazed at the range one day overhearing a guy shooting an expensive looking Colt 1911 to his friend:

"It only jammed 3 times in 2 magazines, that's not bad!"

I'll stick to wheelguns thank you.
 
Lots of feedback

Lots of feedback on this topic.
Releiability, coolness, jamming, are all topics that have been mentioned in various degrees. Current popularity of "popping a cap" gangsta style ceratinly is an element of new culture, much like coyboy movies were popular a generation ago. I haven't met a gangsta dude that knew much about guns, ammunition selection, or really knew anything about the workings of a fine hand gun. Most of the popularity of handguns is driven in the same way as you see shoes marketed to the masses. Autoloaders have also evolved into a style that lends itself into popular culture. Popularity and style being key to marketing, that builds fashion, in again much the same way shoes are sold. As a matter of fact, I saw a woman wearing a pair of shoes that looked like Glocks for feet.

Big hand guns and small all serve a purpose, in much the same way revolvers seem to compete with autoloaders. I am a retired military officer, and no longer anticipate the time I will have to be overly concerned with the stopping power of my "piece". The US Army is relooking it's desision of adopting the Beretta M9 9mm as its sidearm. Seems it doesn't have the stopping power that a combat soldier needs. The special operations guys have long since changed back to other calibers, one being the 45ACP and Kimber 1911s. So it is sertain that tyhe popular caliber of the autoloader really doesn't serve the soldiers needs.

I have revolvers because I like them, and I can shoot them well. I generally make holes in paper, and I like revolvers in with 6 inch barrels The longer barrels create a finer/better sight pictureas well as the improve the acuracy.

With that said, I have a small collection of Smith and Wessons in the K frame combat magnums. It is really nice to have the same balance and feel when changing from a M19 38/357 to the M17 22LR. Shoot cheap with the M17 22LR, and get the balance a weight of the M19.

Another point is that revolvers have a larger selction of grips that will add comfort or reduce recoil for the shooter. Autoloaders generally are more limited in grio selection. Most only have plates on the sides of the grip frame.
 
I am no Smith Scholar but I have bought dozens of them over the past few decades and paid attention....
The original Stainless guns did indeed have stainless hammers and triggers.
My old model 66 is like that.
There was a problem when the guns heated up on firing, so S&W started putting on forged hammers and triggers that had been hard chromed. My first 629 was like that. Good gun.So was my model 686. It was a smooth, smooth gun, but did not stand up well to thousands of magnum rounds and got loose fast. (Never had that problem with the L frame).
Later, they added the internal endurance package and that is when my second 629 came about. Still a good gun. Well made too. Noticably less smooth though as handfitting was phased out for tighter computer numerically controlled machining procesess in manufacturing requiring less fitting.
This was also about the time that the mirror bright finish on blued smiths went the way of common sense in Washington....

Years later, I bought a stainless mountain gun and was dissapointed to notice that it had a case hardend hammer and trigger. To me, this made no sense. Why make a stainless gun for weather and corrossion resistance and leave the hammer and trigger prone to rusting? If you have been around as long as I have, you have encountered nickeled Smiths that have their internals rusted up. I saw a lot of those over the years by folks who thought "it won't rust" not realizing that only the frame, cylinder and barrell were plated. Other than that, it was still a good gun.

My second Mountain gun had whatappeared to be a case hardened hammer and trigger that were indeed investment cast (by the way, no matter what the companies want to call it--- MIM -kimber and smith- or Sintered metal- Colt, it's ALL investment casting or 'lost wax casting' as it was called about 2000 years ago. Ask a machinist or metallurgist. If it involves a mold and heated steel, it is a form of investment casting, no matter what the manufacturer claims to the contrary.
Old timers remember Colt's "sintered metal" claims from the Trooper era. Back then, they claimed that by heating up slivers of steel and pressing it into a mold it was "sintered metal" instead of Investment cast. MIM, Sintered Metal, no matter what you call investment casting, its inferior for some purposes, such as lockwork simply because there is going to be some porosity factors you just won't have with milled or machned forged parts.

Its a manufacturing short cut no matter what terminology the manufacturer prefers, and its to make a part closer to tolerance faster than it can be made by properly forging it and machining it to shape.)
My 'new' gun also had the frame mounted firing pin, which as an old fart, I don't care for on Smiths either.
My 629 snub had those and that ugly frame bolster too.
Shortly after that time, Smith introduced another indignity upon their wheelgun line - the key lock on the frame ---which required them to rescale that shapely scallop between the recoil plate and the grip frame as an ugly hump —and I started shopping around for used models instead of new ones. Better looking, less manufacturing shortcuts and easier on the wallet.
Now they have the two peice barrells and I have lost all interest in owning a "new" S&W.
What if you decide you want a three inch 686 like the one you saw Cylinder and Slide make a few years back in one of the gun magazines?
With the older style barrell, it was no big deal. Now the two peice barrell will be a pain in the butt.
I am wondering if the discontinuance of the K frame 19/66/65 series has to do with the fact that the key lock is prone to failure, not some inherent problem with the gun that nobody ever noticed before?
The only new Smiths I have seen in years I was interested in were the three inch model 66 with high viz sights (always regretted not getting one) and the TR Special .44. and some of the Heritage series guns.
Just because butt head politicians in Massachusets and California have lost their freaking minds with PCMania runnin' wild is no reason us gun fanciers should suffer while companies pander to those sleazebags who are trying to put them out of business. In fact, they should pander to hardworking Americans like you and me who have kept them IN BUSINESS for years when their own stupidity often nearly did them in.
 
In Lethal Weapon, Danny Glover had a model 19 .357 magnum.
He was the real "maverick" as Gibson's Beretta 92 was departmentally approved and a magnum aint.

Shane Douglass, the guy who wrote the script to Lethal Weapon knows about as much about guns as I know about dating Pamela Anderson.
Originally, he had Gibson's character packing a .22 ruger because he thought it looked cool.
Something that the hollywood Wondernine Brigade forgot about was that in real life, people don't just fall over dead when hit one time by a 9mm, .38 or other round. For nearly a century now Tinseltown has shown us examples of one guy firing one round and the bad guy clutching his breast and collapsing...
Shortly before that movie came out, a lot of LE lost it's enthusiasm for the 9mm becuase there was a well documented case where an outlaw biker soaked up 33 rounds of 9mm hollowpoints and kept on coming. Many LE agencies actually switched back to the .357 revolver after that incident.
It was also roughly about that time that Smith and Wessons' 645 auto and the Sig P220 started getting popular in LE circles.
Unfortunately, the gun world is infused with Walter Mitty types who think what they see on the big screen or in print ads is plausible.
But people who don't know anything about gunfighting other than what they see on the silver screen jumped on the High Capacity bandwagon thinking that a 15 round magazine would make them the single handed equal to a dozen armed attackers.
They never thought about the possibility that one of those aggressors might soak up two full clips and keep shooting back. You see this same mentality today among people who get euphoric when they see ads about the latest high tech popgun that can withstand being run over by a tank, by the way. They never stop and consider that if they get run over by the tank too, an indestructible polymer pistol won't be of much help. The thought processes seem to end with "Man, that is cool!".

But this lack of common sense and overfocus on what looks awesome on TV, in movies and in magazine ads has always been with us, to some extent.
It probably explains why the SAA remained in production while technically better guns like the triple lock and the new service fell to the way side.
And in all candor, I have to admit there were a lot of people who ran out and bought anything marked "magnum" on the barrel back in the seventies because they just got through seeing Dirty Harry or Magnum Force. Many of those folks would have been better served by a .38, or .44 special or .45 as they did not plan on practicing enough to learn how to control the recoil.

There is a certain segment of the firearms fraternity that has bought into the "Magic Weapon" school of thought —which is that whatever gun is trendy in hollywood or shooting circles is somehow the "ultimate" self defense peice and everything else is a poor choice fit for only those who are not in the know or Harvey Milqutoast types. They think that by buying whatever is trendy or popular they have automatically somehow become more formidable themselves....Without having to seek training or practice.....
I routinely win betting money from these boys when I shoot circles around their custom combat .45s with my old mil spec 1911 by the way.

I bought into this crap myself back in the early 80s, by the way. I had read some expert who said that only a fool carried anything less than the biggest gun he could conceal and you guessed it - I packed a six inch model 29 for years, thinking it was the "Ultimate Self Defense Weapon."
Oh, I practiced diligently and trained quite a bit and could shoot any PPC course in the land even with reloading times on par with guys shooting .38s. Bit it took a LOT of ammo and a LOT of shooting, and three different six inch N frames and a few visits to the gunsmith for repairs, LOL...
Now, when I see those ads on the covers of say "Harris Publications" magazines touting that whatever plastic .40 or beavertailed .45 is the "Ultimate Self Defense gun" I laugh and ask, "what, they got an article about the three inch model 65 in there, or the Charter Bulldog?"


>>I'm just joining this thread, but Tamara's post on the 19th was right on - the Lethal Weapon movie I think did major damage with ol' Danny G. fumbling around with his "little .38" vs (I think) Mel's "big" Beretta 9. (since when is a 9mm "big" I don't know (big in capacity/firepower I guess is the point), but the mil-spec Beretta sure looks it next to the .38 snubby Danny was wielding! <<<
 
>>>On the other hand revolvers are about the most unergonomic grip to be found and it is much more difficult to load and unload a revolver quickly plus the low round count. <<<

You can change grips on a revolver to any size you want. If your hand is big, you can get grips that cover the backstrap and are wide around. If your hand is small, you can get grips that leave the backstrap open and are flat around, like the Pachmayer professionals.
Not much you can do about that Glock handle is there? Without resorting to a gunsmith that is....
Just about the only high capacity handguns that don't feel awkward in my mitts are High Powers, CZ 75s and Berettas.
"Low Round Count" doesn't bother me for a couple of reasons.
Number one, most of my wheelguns are magnums or big bores and are superior in stopping power to any 9 or .40. In other words, if attacked by two muggers you might only need two rounds to stop the fight.
Number two, except for 1911s, High Powers and Berettas, most auto pistols just are not as accurate as a good wheelgun. In other words six magnum rounds center mass beats 12 misses any day of the week with a typical 9.
I have fired 9s from Ruger and S&W and other makers that would be suitable as combat weapons only if you tied a rope to the trigger guard and used them as a makeshift flail. .40 pistols are even WORSE when it comes to accuracy. i can't help but cry when I think about how accurate the 10mm was and how it never really caught on.
Number three, statistics show that for the past thirty years, most gunfights are over in about three rounds or less fired and at a distance of ten feet and under...Which means that if you have a J frame you are good for two gunfights a week without reloading if you can hit a target at seven yards or less.
It may be faster to reload a semi auto during firing, but for loading and unloading at home the wheelgun has it beat.
Its a lot easier to open the cylinder of a Colt revolver than it is to dump a clip, lock the slide back and grab the round out of the chamber that is ejected and make the peice safe.....Ditto for loading. When loading a DA wheelgun at no time is the hammer poised and cocked over a life primer. Thats just one reason why they are safer....
Spraying and praying, racking the slide excessively for emphasis and such, firing 45 rounds in about a minute, those things look cool on tv and in the movies. But they don't much resemble real life self defense shootings.
 
personally i think, a pure shooter should have both in his armory..revolvers and acp's...plus a sniper rifle, a submachine gun and an assault rifle..hehehe
 
Jack I stand corrected. Seems like in one of the Lethal Weapons Glover was wielding a "little" .38, but I could easily be wrong. Somehow the image stuck with me from somewhere :)
 
Roughly a year before it came out, the theater chains had a mock up poster of Gibson and Glover.
In the poster, Gibson has a 1911 and Glover has a model 15.
But in the movie and it's sequel, Glover had a model 19 combat magnum.
In fact, starting in the second film, Glover also had a compact 59 series pistol in a shoulder rig with spare mags and still wore the combat magnum in a hip holster, whereass the Riggs character just had the 92F in his waistband, and no back up.

Logically speaking this still makes Murtaugh the real Maverick, not Riggs.

>>> Seems like in one of the Lethal Weapons Glover was wielding a "little" .38, but I could easily be wrong. Somehow the image stuck with me from somewhere<<<
 
Some people just haven't been exposed to revolvers. There were some younger guys at the range Saturday shooting semis that had never seen a revolver. They noticed me firing this 686 I just got and they were really enjoying it, asking questions about revolvers, etc.
 
Guns are like movie stars, they get popular and then they fizzle out. The old colt 1911 platform has spawned some sweet guns. I have three Kimbers and they are so accurate and the felt recoil of the 3" 45 is no worse then any 4" 9mm. But wheel guns to me will alway hold a special place in my heart. They are also making a comeback. Todays ammo gives any gun whether wheel or semi so many advantages over the old days. Just face it guys a day at the range with either ain,t bad.
 
What I think it all boils down to with carrying a gun is what are you comfortable with and what you can shoot accurately and carry safely. Mental confidence in the sidearm you carry is the most important . I started 30 years ago at age 18 with a Ruger old Army black powder boomer. At 18 I could not purcase a centerfire handgun but I could buy a blackpowder revolver. I hauled that heavy slow loading Ruger in my backpack(no waistband holster for this one!) hiking,canoeing, and woods bumming. It was a comfort in bear country and I still have it and shoot it occasionaly. Then I got my first centerfire a customize Ruger .45 Colt Blackhawk. I carried that gun all over the West and the east in everything for open carry in the sensible western states to tucked inside my belt for "social" purposes. I carried that gun working as professional bouncer and the gaping hole in the barrel plus large cylinders saved my hide a few times. I just like and am comfortable with revolvers and after literally tens of thousands of rounds believe in them. As a matter of fact my only auto is a little Ruger .22 stainless target pistol. I carry my Smith .44 Mountain gun traipsing about the west and in the east i have a full underlug.mod 60-10 .357 with a 3" barrel and adj sights. I always thought it odd to put a case hardened trigger and hammer on a stainless gun but have had no problems beacuse I am meticulous bordering on obssessed about having a clean well oiled piece. That little 357 has horsepower in the .357 and I actually carry it with .38 plus-p silvertips as that is the most accurate factory load in that gun.
My Father (bless him) is entirely a semi auto guy. He has so many autos I can't keep up. his latest is a matched set of Kimber's for carry. He shoots at the range he belongs to about three times a week. He knows his stuff about autos and has confidence in them as after 50 years plus of shooting and has probably forgotten more about shooting handguns than I know now. He has a load of revolvers from SA to DA customs but his gun of choice is the .45 auto cocked and locked.
I am no expert just a guy who has been shooting for 30 years and cannot speak to a "gunfight" because thank God I have not been in one. I am not saying that carrying has not got me out of a few tight spots over the years but I do have some opinions that boil down strictly to personal choice in guns. My new gun for the wild west is a fixed sight Ruger Vaquero Bisley in .44 mag .That is until i get my Freedom Arms .454 Casull. I like to go into rough country and I want a rugged piece that can take falling due to my clumsiness, snow ,rain dust, and whateve else I get myself into. Having an adjustable rear sight trashed out back of beyond is terminal for the most part.
About carying an unloaded gun well that's just inviting disaster on a grand scale. We call an unloaded gun exactly what it is -a shiny rock. When people ask me what kind of hangun to get i ask them first what the intended purpose of the piece is. forget the movies they are just movies and have nothing to do with reality- that's why they are called movies. Try different handguns and find out what you are comfortable with shooting and carrying and most important what you can hit with. Practice-practice -practice. That's part of the fun of shooting and gaining confidence in case God forbid the day comes that you really have to use that piece to take the ultimate test. I hope I didn't bore anyone or stir up controversy -just the opinions of an aging gun crank.
 
black powder is fun and can become addictive. in my opinion the Ruger Old Army in stainless is the best tho not exactly "historically correct" it is a tough easy to clean accurate piece. I have not shot mine ina few years now being involved in the new fangled cartidge guns and now i have to take the old hogleg out of the safe round up some .457" round balls and caps and powder and shoot it. It was my first handgun .
 
When I got my carry permit, the first gun Icarried extensively was a Ruger Blackhawk in an IWB rig originally made for a HK USP. The gun was comfortable and comforing to wear and I always had supreme confidence in it.
Financial setbacks forced its sale, and yes, I do miss it.
I am glad to see I am not the only guy out there who carried a SA revolver for a self defense peice...Wait, I recall Ross Seyfried is packing a custom Ruger Bisley, too, LOL....
 
On the other hand revolvers are about the most unergonomic grip to be found
Click to expand...

Whoa! You've gotta be kidding there, friend! The Colt Single Action Army REVOLVER feels better in my hand than anything else. :D

StrikeEagle
 
I'm an old wheelie turned auto, that is until I looked for a small auto for summer carry. I couldn't find one I liked, or that worked well enough to be considered reliable.

I ended up with a Taurus 85 Ultra-Lite, .38 Spl. + p, black frame with pearl grips, and gold trigger, hammer, and cylinder release. What a nice little gun. :D

Yesterday I ordered a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan, .454 Casull / .45 Colt. Why? take a look http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12709

Good ergo's, I think... :D Some may say cannon... ;)

CZ P01
CZ 75B
UPS C 9mm
Browning Pro-9
Bersa Thunder
Taurus PT-92
 
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