Revolvers, are they still relevant?

[JHC]

Yeah, but I'm not even talking about the '90s; 2007/8 was, like, yesterday!

(Back in the '90s, during the glut of K-frame po-po trade-ins, when I was working at Forsyth Co. Pawn, I used to put together packages of a police trade-in K-frame, a box of JHP, a box of FMJ, a cleaning kit, eyes, ears, and a used Uncle Mike's sausage sack for like two bills. Anybody who bought a Hi-Point in those days must have been dropped on their head as a child, and I say that as someone who bought a new Hi-Point in '93 because I was too cool for a revolver...)

I have flashbacks to that era at gun shows with tables with piles of trade in K frames just dumped onto the table.

[shooter220]

I'll just start hating you now and avoid the rush. :p

Then I guess that makes me the rush. Holy cow that was a find!

-shooter

[Joe in PNG]

Another potential relevant use for a revolver- living in a 3rd world country with very heavy restrictions on the ownership of both guns and ammunition. A .357 mag makes a lot of sense if you don't know whether or not the nation's one gun shop can get any ammo at all, much less hollowpoints of any effectiveness... but they just might have .38 spec LWC in stock.

[45dotACP]

Well you could always start collecting Taurus revolvers ;) Though I will greatly miss cheap K frames. There goes the idea of using a cheap model 10 as a base for a PPC gun

[NEPAKevin]

What's a Korth run these days?



Unfired 6" Stainless Steel Korth .357 Magnum 357 (http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=381724598)

[Tamara]

Unfired 6" Stainless Steel Korth .357 Magnum 357 (http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=381724598)

Heh. Those are made of ordnance steel.

[jetfire]

Heh. Those are made of ordnance steel.

And you'll be threatened with a good thrashing if you fail to acknowledge their greatness.

[Tamara]

Very tangentially related:
During an interview with Carroll Shelby back in the '80s, the Porsche 959 came up. Ol' Shel said something to the effect of "Porsche is losing how much money a car on each of those? Does anyone think the engineering department at Toyota or GM couldn't come up with a car like that if they were told to?"

If I'm gonna lay out that kind of long green for a revolver, it's going to have a Reg. number stamped on the frame under the crane. If I'm paying for scarcity, it's going to come with historicity.

[BLR]

At that time, I'll disagree with Shelby. Porsche engineers were the best. By far.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

[Totem Polar]

At that time, I'll disagree with Shelby. Porsche engineers were the best. By far.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

Yeah, I gotta say that most Porsche's kept in great shape from the mid-late 80's are still the effing kitten. I'm not sure the same can be said of cars from many other marques sold during the Ferris Bueller-Top Gun-9 1/2 weeks-Crocodile Dundee era.

But maybe that opinion's only because my emotional development is stunted, and fixed in the era of grey market 930 turbo whale tails and high school triumphs.
:D

Revolvers? I wish I had the means and taste to seriously collect OTK* wheelies...


(*other than Korth)

[Tamara]

Yeah, I gotta say that most Porsche's kept in great shape from the mid-late 80's are still the effing kitten.

My late-'80s Porsche was definitely better than my late '70s one, although not without its foibles. To this day one of my favorite cars I've owned but, seriously, Porsche? A rubber-isolated clutch?

[NickA]

I'ma have to ask you guys to stop this thread, lest I go dig out my Python and see if I could actually convert it into a decent AR, a P226, and a scattergun.

[SGT_Calle]

I'ma have to ask you guys to stop this thread, lest I go dig out my Python...

Phrasing.

[NickA]

Phrasing.

LOL.. Having a Sheriff Bart moment, "Excuuuse me while I whip this out."

[Rex G]

Being one of only two officers on my department that even shoots the wheel gun, I find myself asking - are revolvers still relevant?

There are two officers in my division, on my (night) shift, working for a big-city PD, that still pack 4" S&W sixguns as primary duty handguns. One, a nearly-30-year veteran, my academy classmate, still works the streets in the same district as I, and owns at least two, a 586 and a 686. The other one works the armored information booth in the front lobby; I am thinking he carries a Model 19. There are others in my division who carry revolvers on day shift, and possibly as many as a few hundred working all divisions and shifts who still carry revolvers. ( We number about 5000 sworn personnel. )

My revolver use has been curtailed by arthritis in my formerly-stronger right wrist and hand. Largely ambidextrous, with a bias toward my left hand for single-action triggers, and right hand for double-action, it is probable that all those .44 and .41 Mags I fired in the 1980s are a primary reason that a G17 is about my recoil tolerance for right-hand shooting these days. (This means qual time, with .40, is painful.)

An Airweight J-snub is, of course, indispensable as a pocketable hide-out weapon. Mine is a 642-derived Performance Center variant given the "M460" designation when S&W was giving new model names to just about everything coming out of the PC.

My beloved SP101 snubbies are probably in their twilight as carry guns for me. If I am going to carry an SP101 chambered in .357 Mag, yet load it with .38, I may as well carry the S&W, instead. .357 recoil is just too much these days. With my recently-acquired G19 and PPK/s-1 undergoing function-testing, I think the SP101 snubbies and 3" near-snubby will be displaced, and relegated to bedside HD duty, or may become carry guns for other family members.

My 4" S&W Model 19-5 is still relevant. It is an HD option, a good carry gun for walking about in rural areas, and if I ever become a plain-clothed investigator, can "qual" with it as a duty handgun. (While in uniform, I have to carry a .40 or .45 autoloader, as I did not "grandfather" any duty sixguns in 1997.)

If/when I walk among large bears, my Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan .454/45 Colt will be relevant enough, perhaps paired with my Ruger Bisley .45 Colt.

Part of me regrets that I cannot wear a sixgun as a duty handgun, but OTOH, lack of real estate on my duty belt would compel me to carry all spare ammo, except perhaps one speed-loader, in my pockets, rather than on the belt.
Moreover, there may be a time, in the twilight of my career, when I will be glad to have 14+1 in the duty handgun, before needing to reload, or reach for a secondary. So many hijackers (armed hold-up robbers) in my area are operating in teams of three or more, plus a get-away driver.

[Fon1961]

Yep, I'm aware that there are cons too...just thought this was a good read based on the title of the thread
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/18/5-advantages-of-the-revolver/

[Hizzie]

Yep, I'm aware that there are cons too...just thought this was a good read based on the title of the thread
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/18/5-advantages-of-the-revolver/

5? Pfft! Twenty-five right here! http://www.snubtraining.com/pdfs/WhyRevolversBeatAutos.pdf

[Fon1961]

Like it, thx for posting

[jetfire]

How is that someone can write an article where I functionally agree with them, but disagree on principle because of the way the article is written?

[JHC]

It took a good bit of stretching to get all the way to 25.

[zeleny]

Being one of only two officers on my department that even shoots the wheel gun, I find myself asking - are revolvers still relevant?Thierry Prungnaud of GIGN took out three out of four terrorists as a point man rescuing the hostages in the Christmas 1994 Air France Flight 8969 hijacking. I occasionally carry the sidearm that he chose for that mission, a 5¼" Manurhin MR73 in .357 Magnum. What made sense to him makes more sense to me. Admittedly, patrol duty has different priorities.