Revolver article in MSW.

[Lon]

Spoken like a true, old-school, 11B! (Personally I think a 152mm loaded with nails would be even better, but their carriers are now all out of service, and besides they don't fit in most parking places).

The Sheridan?

[MDS]

I love shooting revolvers. When I get "fun gun" money, I'll spend it on a nice revolver before a nice semiauto. But for practical purposes? I mean, I get that you can shoot people with revolvers. But to prefer a revolver over a semiauto?

My thought experiment is this. Let me clone myself - a perfect copy in terms of skill, ability, knowledge, luck - identical. (It's OK, only one of me will survive.) Now give one of me a revolver, any revolver you like. Give the other me a G19. Tell each of me to kill the other me. Is there any scenario where the revolver would be a benefit? Long-range duels, close-range duels, dark building, sun-dappled forests, ...? I'd have to give the edge to the me with the G19 in every case. Is there anyone for whom this would not be true?

[Dagga Boy]

I like the revolver over the auto when things start getting very physical and for contact shooting.....If I was putting the thing against a skull or the body, revolver-particularly of the magnum variety. As stated earlier, it is also what I like riding under my left leg or between the seats in the car. Also, the ability to place some of them into single action does have a limited use. As most will note who have run them both, it is only after the first five or six rounds that the difference really becomes an issue. Its purely a manipulations game at that point.


I always find it interesting how many people find love for the snub, yet translated to another inch and another round, it is no good.

One set up I am looking at right now is a 3" medium frame in front appendix with the VP-9 and all its support gear in a fanny pack. May or may not work, but it is something I am looking at.

[MDS]

I like the revolver over the auto when things start getting very physical and for contact shooting.....If I was putting the thing against a skull or the body, revolver-particularly of the magnum variety. As stated earlier, it is also what I like riding under my left leg or between the seats in the car. Also, the ability to place some of them into single action does have a limited use.

Makes sense.

As most will note who have run them both, it is only after the first five or six rounds that the difference really becomes an issue. Its purely a manipulations game at that point.

I agree. And to be clear, I feel pretty good with a snubby on the street. I feel better with a G19, though, and since this is America and I can pick, why not pick the glock? It seems like none of us would, in good faith, recommend revolvers over semiautos on practical grounds.

[Malamute]

...Now give one of me a revolver, any revolver you like. Give the other me a G19. Tell each of me to kill the other me. Is there any scenario where the revolver would be a benefit? Long-range duels, close-range duels, dark building, sun-dappled forests, ...? I'd have to give the edge to the me with the G19 in every case. Is there anyone for whom this would not be true?

For me, there is an advantage with a revolver, I simply shoot them better when talking full size guns. Group size (sheer mechanical accuracy, or abilty to utilize the accuracy of the gun), long distance (300 yards being one of the favorite plinking targets), moving targets, faster shooting.

The plate shoots I've done, and shooting bowling pins, I've shot better times and less misses with revolvers, even single action revolvers, than I can with a 1911, so long as there isnt more than 6 targets. I've always done better on moving game shooting with revolvers, and never really been able to shoot stuff in the air with them. I'm sure I could get better with a 1911 or some other self loader, but I think it would take a lot of work, and still not sure I'd shoot better than I can with a revolver if also practicing with them.

I don't always choose a revolver, I carry self loaders in town generally. Capacity and reload speed are the obvious advantages, but I dont feel too bad when I do have a revolver.

Very much agree, the g-19 is is a lot more town gun than a J, but the g-19 takes a bit more effort to carry. J's drop in a pocket and disappear, even with no shirt on.

[Wheeler]

I love shooting revolvers. When I get "fun gun" money, I'll spend it on a nice revolver before a nice semiauto. But for practical purposes? I mean, I get that you can shoot people with revolvers. But to prefer a revolver over a semiauto?

My thought experiment is this. Let me clone myself - a perfect copy in terms of skill, ability, knowledge, luck - identical. (It's OK, only one of me will survive.) Now give one of me a revolver, any revolver you like. Give the other me a G19. Tell each of me to kill the other me. Is there any scenario where the revolver would be a benefit? Long-range duels, close-range duels, dark building, sun-dappled forests, ...? I'd have to give the edge to the me with the G19 in every case. Is there anyone for whom this would not be true?

This falls back to a matter of perception. Trying to explain why some folks prefer a revolver over a semi auto is like trying to explain what it's like to be left handed in a right handed world. Folks think they understand but really don't.

[Malamute]

This falls back to a matter of perception. Trying to explain why some folks prefer a revolver over a semi auto is like trying to explain what it's like to be left handed in a right handed world. Folks think they understand but really don't.

Interesting comment. Revolvers have always "felt natural" to me in the hand, autos never have, even after shooting them quite a lot. Hard to ascribe any particular quantifiable value to that, but its there.

[MDS]

Thanks, guys. It's good to get different takes on this.

[LSP972]

Spoken like a true, old-school, 11B!

Guilty. But that was a bloody looonnnggg time ago.

[LSP972]

Revolvers have always "felt natural" to me in the hand, autos never have, even after shooting them quite a lot. Hard to ascribe any particular quantifiable value to that, but its there.

True. Its the other way 'round for me; probably because I weaned on 1911s. I never even held a revolver until a week before I reported to the academy. We had to buy our own iron; my group was the first-ever cadet class to get state-issued service pistols (one each 4 inch and 2.5 inch M-66s; they belong to me now), but they didn't show up until we were halfway through the program. Anyway, I found out pretty quickly that marksmanship basics are just that… basics. They apply to whatever you happen to be holding. I was highly annoyed that I couldn't tote a 1911, but I hadn't been on the road long before I realized the wisdom of that edict.

Anyway, I had a lot to learn. And I did. Transitioning to the P226 some 12 years later was a no-drama affair. Somewhere in there after we had been operating the bottom feeders for a while, we began using the thumbs-forward grip (late 90s, Ken? IIRC, you were the one who got that ball rolling with SWAT, about the time we got the G35s). Now, THAT feels natural… and holding a revolver feels awkward again, because I did my best wheel-gun work with locked-down thumbs.

Bottom line, all this revolver chit-chat has primed me to start doing some semi-serious wheelgunning again; time to start loading some more .38s.

BTW, a few have mentioned that shooting a DA revolver every now and then is good for one's grouping ability. I heartily concur; if you can hold a group at 25 yards while trigger-cocking a revolver, even the lousiest self-loader trigger will seem pretty good in comparison.

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