Are We In The Middle Of A Revolver Renaissance?

[Nightvisionary]

Eh.….as someone who thinks most people in this thread are just participating in a circle jerk and coming up with reasons to justify carrying an objectively less capable gun simple because they like them, I think it's fair to say that this isn't a good criticism for revolvers.

My vintage S&W Combat Magnums have fantastic sights on them, just as good as any semi-auto. If in a vacuum where my only concern whatsoever was placing an accurate shot on a problem and I could choose any gun from my safe, it would 100% be one of my 2.5" Combat Magnums.

Life not being a vacuum, and my worldview on how I might have to use my pistol, I opt for a double stack semi-auto instead. I own my revolvers for pleasure, but I've carried them without complaints when the need arises.

@BehindBlueI's, as for good guys running out of ammunition, I vaguely remember an individual (off-duty police officer) who found himself at the feet of a bank robber shooting people, drew his j-frame and put all 5 rounds into as respectable hits as we could expect for an individual, and the shooter was undeterred and killed him with an execution shot after the "good guy" was injured and unable to easily reload his gun. I'm not sure if that sounds familiar to you. We could also extrapolate the same from the NCIS Special Agent at the Navy Yard active shooter who had a P239 and no reload, and ran out of ammo.

The fact they're off-duty or plainclothes LEOs shouldn't be used as a strawman that it's somehow less applicable to a private citizen. The situations were identical to what a private citizen could find themselves in....but private citizens tend to make up a lot less engagements given the amount of guns carried in public by good guys used in shootings are overwhelmingly carried by cops.

Shhhhhhh, you will upset the 1911 guys.

[RevolverRob]

Hmmm. How many of you guys in this thread carrying revolvers are carrying it with the threat of random crime being your motivator?

By “random crime” in this context, for sake of discussion can we define that as relatively petty, common street crime (armed mugging, carjacking, etc) as opposed to “sentinel events” such as an active shooter or terrorism?

Me.

I've been on a university campus when an active shooter event occurred and I didn't have a handgun on my person then. Response was so swift and rapid, that unless I had been where the shooting occurred, on the spot, armed, I could not have done anything, anyways. Given that most active shooters tend to commit suicide when faced with an armed attacker, I'm not actually too worried about having a double-stack handgun on my person in those scenarios either.

I stay away from major crowds and events in general, because I do not enjoy them as a person, thus as a result I do not worry much about the idea that suddenly a terrorist incident is going to break out where I am.

Also, one of the real benefits of our increasingly digital society is that I have not been inside an actual, factual, bank in probably 3 years, since I can deposit checks up to $5,000 using my cellphone. I shop a Whole Foods and Costco, not exactly places frequented by gang bangers and drug dealers. At the end of the day, the most dangerous places I go are restaurants, the dog park, and the occasional 7-11.

Even if I count the fact that there is a real threat situation where I work, it is a hard NPE that would cost me my career if I were caught carrying a firearm. So, you're certainly not going to find my packing a full-size handgun.

[Trooper224]

Me.

I've been on a university campus when an active shooter event occurred and I didn't have a handgun on my person then. Response was so swift and rapid, that unless I had been where the shooting occurred, on the spot, armed, I could not have done anything, anyways. Given that most active shooters tend to commit suicide when faced with an armed attacker, I'm not actually too worried about having a double-stack handgun on my person in those scenarios either.

I stay away from major crowds and events in general, because I do not enjoy them as a person, thus as a result I do not worry much about the idea that suddenly a terrorist incident is going to break out where I am.

Also, one of the real benefits of our increasingly digital society is that I have not been inside an actual, factual, bank in probably 3 years, since I can deposit checks up to $5,000 using my cellphone. I shop a Whole Foods and Costco, not exactly places frequented by gang bangers and drug dealers. At the end of the day, the most dangerous places I go are restaurants, the dog park, and the occasional 7-11.

Even if I count the fact that there is a real threat situation where I work, it is a hard NPE that would cost me my career if I were caught carrying a firearm. So, you're certainly not going to find my packing a full-size handgun.

Damn bro, I wasn't worried for you until I read that.

[BehindBlueI's]

Hmmm. How many of you guys in this thread carrying revolvers are carrying it with the threat of random crime being your motivator?

By “random crime” in this context, for sake of discussion can we define that as relatively petty, common street crime (armed mugging, carjacking, etc) as opposed to “sentinel events” such as an active shooter or terrorism?

I seldom go places that would be tempting targets for terrorists or active shooters during my daily life. I'm probably most at risk when traveling, especially abroad, and I can't be equipped with a firearm of any type there. If I were realistically concerned with terrorism during my daily life, I'd probably be wearing concealable body armor and have an AR broken down in a backpack and I'd stay home more. That's more then I care to do. So, regardless of what I'm carrying it's more about random crime.

That said, I do have an idea of my capability with various guns. I don't treat going to the mall the same as I do going jogging on a trail that I can count the other users during the hours I'm there on one hand.

[BehindBlueI's]

Shhhhhhh, you will upset the 1911 guys.

They aren't up this late.

[Rex G]

Shhhhhhh, you will upset the 1911 guys.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

Oh, wait, is this the sixgun forum, or the 1911 forum. Let me scroll to the top real quick, and see...

[RevolverRob]

I'll be honest - what gun to carry threads are pretty much summed up best by asking, "What is your threat profile?"

Until a person makes an honest and deep assessment of their threat profile, they are unlikely to provide articulate answers for their choices.

If your job and/or threat profile makes you have the potential where you might encounter terrorists, active shooters, people seeking revenge on you, or being the target for a significant armed robbery, yea man, don't walk around with a J-Frame and hopes and dreams.

If the closest you've come to a violent encounter in the last decade is arguing with a hippy over whether or not the carrots are "Free Range" at Whole Foods - you can probably get by with the J.

[03RN]

Hmmm. How many of you guys in this thread carrying revolvers are carrying it with the threat of random crime being your motivator?

By “random crime” in this context, for sake of discussion can we define that as relatively petty, common street crime (armed mugging, carjacking, etc) as opposed to “sentinel events” such as an active shooter or terrorism?

I am in the camp who carries a revolver because i like them. I do find that DA guns do have some benefits but a beretta would have the same +s.

I also carry for those sentinel events.

Even with my world view as a former SAWgunner and used my m9 in fallujah(ie im someone who appreciates overwhelming firepower) i feel perfectly comfortable with a 6 shooter to deal with those sentinel events.

There are times i do carry 1911s or double stack 9mms but not often.

[PNWTO]

I'll be honest - what gun to carry threads are pretty much summed up best by asking, "What is your threat profile?"

...

+1

It took me a good deal of time, and money, to actually begin practicing that. The "J Frame Lifestyle" is simply the best fit for my life. Like you, I would in a very hard NPE where an issue with a firearm would result in me starting my professional life from scratch... or joining the French Foreign Legion. So even the snubby hoodrat style gets modified five to six days a week. It is much, much more realistic for me to focus on combatives, pointy things, medical capability, and emergency E&E stuff; plus lots of burpees and kettlebell swings.

To keep my thoughts above relevant I'm happy to see the revolver market diversify but I'm not sure if any new offering can do what the 442 or LCR does for me. Throwing a snub in the pocket of the dog-walking coat or using a holster with the Sayoc clips in board shorts and flip flops is pretty painless.

I do need to try out a K6 or Cobra, however.

Lastly, I fully realize that my day job is most likely to expose me to a "sentinel event" while I am unarmed and high-profile. Not the warmest and fuzziest but it is the reality of things and at least I'll be likely to have a TQ, or two, and a fixed blade to work the problem with.

[Salamander]

My threat profile tends to vary and to run in cycles, thus I need to periodically re-evaluate. Worst I've had recently was a three-year interval on a project site that, at the beginning had an estimated homeless population of about 100 people on 750 acres of woods, dunes, and near abandoned streets in a failed coastal subdivision. Most had substance abuse issues (finding discarded needles was a weekly occurrence) and there were three or four loose pit bulls for every human. Even though it got better when the big yellow construction machines showed up and the contractor strarted work, you better believe I carried a semi-auto and spare mags on days out on that site. My team was also under orders to never be alone. We had no issues, although we were present on two occasions when LE chased armed scumbags into our site, which is a great place to hide, after other incidents, we saw one of them and called it in.

Last summer included time on a remote 3,200 acre site, 45 minutes from the nearest retail cup of coffee, sometimes staying on site for days at a time. We were inside locked gates and on dirt roads in 4x4 trucks and saw no one except the rancher who has the grazing lease. Biggest risk was wildlife, we worked a lot at night, lots of black bear, two mountain lion sightings, one feral pig. There are illicit grows on nearby properties (Google Earth is your recon friend), those aren't often tended by very many people in these parts and they don't wander far from their operation. I alternated a semi-auto with xtreme penetrators and a big bore revolver on this one, depending what I felt like that day. Might have been scary to someone with no backcountry experience, but in this case our threat assessment was that falls or turned ankles on steep rugged terrain were a far higher risk than anything that may have required a firearm, closely followed by stepping on a skunk at night (came very close at least three times without getting sprayed). Again no one was alone, the team worked in pairs and everyone had a radio. I did shoot three bullfrogs, but only because our permits required removing invasives and they aren't native here (kept a .22LR with a red dot in the pack for that).

Now... I'm mostly sitting in an office in California managing a project in Florida. Closest I'll get to there is Baton Rouge for a meeting, in an office in the good part of town. Almost all office work for the next 90 days at least. We have the stray tweaker in the neighborhood but a J-frame is actually an advantage because I can have my hand on it in a pocket while assessing some guy who is having an animated discussion with an imaginary friend in the middle of the street.

Today was actually the highest risk day of the month so far. Meeting in the Sacramento suburbs, a few hours drive each way, then a 15-minute stop at the wife's request end of day in a super Walmart that seemed the size of six city blocks. If there had been an active shooter in there, chances are it would have been a five minute walk away from where I was.

I did the whole day with just an M&P340 with wadcutters and a speed strip in my pocket. On the way back I picked up the S&W 15-4 that I bought one 10-day waiting period ago, and kept that locked up in the trunk all the way back. I did stop quickly at a Turner's Outdoors for a sec to get something the smaller LGS didn't have in stock, and of course browsed their guns while there. Probably one third revolvers which was impressive. The downside... almost half of the Smith's had clocked barrels, most just a little off, a few a lot. And that's just what I could see through the glass. The QC issues continue. Why I keep buying old pre-lock ones, wouldn't consider a new one without a careful inspection first.

And finally... I just like revolvers. The J-frame is more about convenience in NPE office settings, but I do enjoy K and N frames and like to carry them in the woods.