Revolver realities - Living with the revolver as a duty sidearm

[LSP972]

A lot also has to do with era's. We had proper screw drivers on the range and specialized cleaning equipment for our revolvers. Cops understood more about "maintenance". Our cars did not have fuel injection or computer controlled electronic ignitions and drum brakes. We could drive a manual transmission. We could change our oil and rotate tires. We could maintain our revolvers and understood the maintenance needs. We shot far less rounds with far higher standards for what a hit was. We kept score. We didn't have "firepower". We controlled people via how much force you could generate with a fist or impact weapon (and everything was an impact weapon). Today's officer is far better served with the disposable service pistol, and being tough involves pushing a button on your electronic fighting device.

Legacy information, right there. "Today's officer is far better served with the disposable service pistol…" and LOTS of burrets. We had a big-time shoot-out here a few weeks ago. Two city officers against one hood rat with a heavy barrel AR he'd stolen. The officers used pretty good tactics, despite one being grazed, and both emptied their pistols… 18 rounds out of a G17 and 16 rounds out of a G22. The distance was 15 feet. They got two… TWO… hits. One happened to nick the carotid artery, and said hoodrat bled out.

The other day, I called an old friend who is retired LAPD. In 20 years on the street, he let the air out of five miscreants in six separate gunfights, all with the same 6" K-38. Granted, they were all one-on one, but they had the drop on him (drew first, and on two occasions fired first) every time. He never had to reload until after it was over.

Now, one can twist the above facts any way they choose to make a point good or bad… but what DB wrote is 100% spot-on. It was a different era, with a different breed of cop. Yes, today there are some young lions out there just as capable. But I can tell you one thing for sure, since I interact with a lot of cops from all agencies around here… most of the young ones are more interested in the proper payroll code for court overtime than learning/practicing survival skills.

Make of that what you will.

And, most of these guys, if they even know what a revolver is, consider them "useless" like our resident expert a few posts up. Nonsense like that is why I quit trying to convince folks a long time ago; of anything. If they come with a question, and seem genuinely interested, I'll do my best to help them. Otherwise, I just nod and smile a lot.

Sorry for the novella… DB's post hit a nerve.

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[BehindBlueI's]

I keep a towel in my range bag, too. I use it to wipe out under the extractor star on my Wiley Clapp, which does not tolerate crud under there very well at all. The tolerances are pretty tight on that one. My Match Champion will run pretty dirty.

[SLG]

Still have dudes running revolvers on duty. 357 6 inch and 4 inch guns, some even 38spl.

To me its the equivalent of wearing ceremonial battle armor, looks fantastic but useless.

Semi autos have some serious advantages, but it has never been the gun that matters, just the man.

[Sherman A. House DDS]

I wrote a piece on my blog about this recently.

https://revolverscience.com/2016/04/...-revolver-kit/

Revolvers are an entirely different creature. I have trained with Tom extensively over the years, including his revolver curriculum. And, as his algorithm for the different FTF with revolvers above listed, go to another gun. In class, Tom said something to the effect of, "If you must carry a revolver, carry two."

I shoot revolvers probably more than I should, and I'd say one range trip out of three gives me something that I want to rip the remnants of my hair out about. Interestingly, the Ruger revolvers I have (Service Six, Security Six, LCR and GP100's) seem relatively free of the common issues that plague Smiths.

I think Darryl said something about GP100's being the, "Glocks of the revolver world," and I think that's pretty spot on.


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[Dagga Boy]

Legacy information, right there. "Today's officer is far better served with the disposable service pistol…" and LOTS of burrets. We had a big-time shoot-out here a few weeks ago. Two city officers against one hood rat with a heavy barrel AR he'd stolen. The officers used pretty good tactics, despite one being grazed, and both emptied their pistols… 18 rounds out of a G17 and 16 rounds out of a G22. The distance was 15 feet. They got two… TWO… hits. One happened to nick the carotid artery, and said hoodrat bled out.

The other day, I called an old friend who is retired LAPD. In 20 years on the street, he let the air out of five miscreants in six separate gunfights, all with the same 6" K-38. Granted, they were all one-on one, but they had the drop on him (drew first, and on two occasions fired first) every time. He never had to reload until after it was over.

Now, one can twist the above facts any way they choose to make a point good or bad… but what DB wrote is 100% spot-on. It was a different era, with a different breed of cop. Yes, today there are some young lions out there just as capable. But I can tell you one thing for sure, since I interact with a lot of cops from all agencies around here… most of the young ones are more interested in the proper payroll code for court overtime than learning/practicing survival skills.

Make of that what you will.

And, most of these guys, if they even know what a revolver is, consider them "useless" like our resident expert a few posts up. Nonsense like that is why I quit trying to convince folks a long time ago; of anything. If they come with a question, and seem genuinely interested, I'll do my best to help them. Otherwise, I just nod and smile a lot.

Sorry for the novella… DB's post hit a nerve.

.

Glad for the ride. Reality....going back to my old places revolver days. Lots of shootings with the .45 Colt's....which usually ended with a single hit. Now we had some that were messes, but they tended to be low round count messes. The entire emphasis was on hits and you had it HAMMERED into your head.....finish it within six. That was the philosophy. Also, this was an era where you were not getting off of training until you had not only been in some fights, but you were expected to be able to win without anyone or your FTO helping you (I got released four weeks early.....). We qualified every month. You were expected to practice on your own regularly. Things have changed and where the emphasis is.
All is not lost, just different. I just went to an LE Steel Challenge shoot in SoCal. I was impressed, and many here would have been with the skill. There were a bunch of all female teams. One female officer in particular gave everyone a very hard run..including a majority of the males. With that said, unlike in the revolver era, these are sort of a minority now instead of normal. The minority used to be those who weren't firearms oriented. Things change.

Also, similar era LAPD guy who is one of the most prolific gun fighters in that agencies history opined that revolvers were unsuitable for those tasked with actively hunting armed criminals as their primary job. I would agree. That is also not what most folks do in LE. With that said, he usually carried two semi autos and two revolvers along with doing a ton of work with a shotgun as his preferred gun of choice. There is a place for all of it.

[coldcase1984]

Was at IALEFI Annual Training Conference last week in Mobile. There was a squared away, fairly young little fireplug of a Mobile PD officer, who ran a six-shot, 6-in. Smith 686 for a four-hour course run by an Outfit called Tadpole Tactics.

The instructors were Italian fellows and were peeved he was running a wheelgun, but it's what he carries at work every day and he was wearing his Safariland duty belt as he trained.

I didst grin and felt jealous using my work G23.

[45dotACP]

A lot of REALLY good info here.

[LSP972]

I shoot revolvers probably more than I should, and I'd say one range trip out of three gives me something that I want to rip the remnants of my hair out about.

Like what? The only problem I have is the colossal PITA it is to properly clean the damn things.

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[Sherman A. House DDS]

Like what? The only problem I have is the colossal PITA it is to properly clean the damn things.

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Ejector rods backing out, I burnt powder underneath the ejector star, screws coming loose. You know, the usual. I have an old fleet. Some days it's more compliant than others!

[SMD]

Ejector rods backing out, I burnt powder underneath the ejector star, screws coming loose.

Ruger DA revolvers bring their own baggage, but they do eliminate the first and third maladies.