Being one of only two officers on my department that even shoots the wheel gun, I find myself asking - are revolvers still relevant?
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Being one of only two officers on my department that even shoots the wheel gun, I find myself asking - are revolvers still relevant?
Caleb over at Gun Nuts had a pretty good post on this recently:
http://www.gunnuts.net/2013/10/11/re...-are-obsolete/
IMO, no, not for duty use. They're heavier, have less capacity, slower to reload, mechanically more complicated, & harder to clear when a malfunction occurs. Many will disagree, but what I posted is indisputable fact, like it or not.
For me, no, they are no longer relevant as a revolver can not fill any role in my self defense needs that a semi auto can't fill even better.
Revolvers can be used very effectively in a defensive role. One must merely accept their limitations. If somebody wants to carry a wheel gun & feels it's the best choice for them, more power to them. Everything I've said is merely my lowly opinion & my views towards carrying a defensive firearm. I do believe the J frame fills the bug niche in a manner no auto can though.
The only real advantage I personally see with a revolver is not having magazine springs go bad with long term storage when kept loaded. Outside of that, everything else seems to be a disadvantage when comparison is made to a modern reliable semi auto. The only other aspect would be need for a large caliber pistol, say running around the wilderness of Alaska, the big bore revolvers would probably offer some advantages, etc.
Relevance would be situational and individual dependent.
$.02
My experience is different, but okay. What is a "good" magazine and what would be a "bad" magazine? When do you find out your carry magazine is bad? I rotate and replace often b/c I've had all types of magazines go bad. I actually just re-springed two of my G 19 mags b/c they were getting soft, could hear the rounds starting to get loose/rattle in the mag. Did they still "work" sure, will I bet my life they would have continued to work? Obviously not...
For use as a duty or primary carry weapon? Not really.
But above and below the service pistol job, when you get into BUGs or large frame magnum revolvers, IMHO the wheelgun does a better job than semi auto pistols you might use for those same jobs.
I have never found a .380 or pocket 9mm as reliable as a J frame, and guns like the Desert Eagle are basically a bad joke compared to a N frame S&W.