Revolver Reliability - a function of size?

[Salamander]

Primary-Secondary's recent podcast on nonstandard weapons discussed the shortcomings of the revolver. Essentially it was felt to be a "get out of trouble" weapon, not a fighting gun, due to various design shortcomings (mainly double action revolvers): delicate, screws backing out, sensitive to primer height, inability to reliably function in sustained fire as the round increases. This is consistent with my experience but a main functionality issue may be related to caliber size in my view.

Actually, I do consider my revolvers "get out of trouble" weapons.

If I ever need a "fighting gun" and "sustained fire as the round [count] increases" than what I probably really need is an infantry division, not a handgun and a case of ammo. But then I try not to hang around in places where that's likely to become a necessity.

That said, I haven't had a lot of issues with revolver reliability. One GP100 that locked up when barely out of the box, one of the the plunger-spring sets at the front of the cylinder apparently hadn't been set just right at the factory; disassemble, clean, reassemble and no more issues over several years (aka always test thoroughly before using anything new for real). A couple of screws on 40-year old well worn K-frames that needed a squirt of blue loktite to always stay put. That's it.

And I'll second what Darryl said, I don't remember a whole lot of problems at the first revolver roundup, have seen more malfunctions at more than a few training events dominated by plastic semi-autos.

[BillSWPA]

Most of my revolver issues that did not involve some part breaking or the gun going out of time were completely ammo related. Inexpensive commercial reloads were the usual culprit. For practice, I was willing to accept that in order to keep ammo costs minimized.


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[jetfire]

Now might be a good time to post a link to that awesome revolver cleaning video you did recently. Not that you asked me, but I say pimp that bitch out while the timing is right.

Good point! For those wondering, this is my "minimum maintenance clean" that I run my guns through every couple of hundred rounds.

[Tom Duffy]

I do, made that did , a lot of revolver shooting at steel challenge matches. One particular time I shared my 986 with a friend while we shot an 8 stage match. After 350 rounds we started getting an occasional misfire. The gun made it through about 450 rounds at end of match before cleaning.
My model 27 will easily make it the 200 rounds at a match without issue.

[JonInWA]

In regard to Ruger DA revolvers, the tiny screw that holds the cylinder release in place is the only screw that can loosen up. My first GP100 had that screw back out far enough one time to prevent the cylinder from opening. My impression at the time was that it didn't seem to bother with light loads, only when shooting a lot of magnums. I solved the issue with a drop of blue Loctite. Currently I only shoot magnum loads, so when I get a new revolver I keep an eye on that screw for a while, and if there is any tendency to loosen up, the Loctite comes out.

Excellent point; I was aware of that too, and hand my gunsmith Locktite it in as an integral part of the action job portion of the customization he did for me back in 1998-1999; I've had zero issues with it since, shooting both ,38 Special +P and .357 magnums.

That screw, and the rear sight retaining pin are pretty much the only things on a GP100 (and Security/Service/Speed Six) that you need to be on the lookout for in terms of backing out; and there are, as discussed, easy and long-lasting fixes for both.

Best, Jon

[Dave T]

I'm getting old and was raised/taught to clean guns often and thoroughly. This was reinforced by some of my competition experiences. Back in the late '70s I shot PPC for two years. Had a bull gun and the whole 9-yards. Those swagged, full wadcutters were pretty dirty and I quickly learned by example from the more senior competitors to clean the extractor star, the face of the cylinder, and the forcing cone between each stage.

Some years later I spent a year shooting what they called Steel Combat matches. Think Steel Challenge but with new and different stages every month. I shot that with two guns, a M25-2 with a 5" barrel and a M24-3 with a 5" barrel as well. Both guns had been customized with action jobs and other refinements in addition to the shortened barrels.

The M25-2 ran like a champ, but remembering my PPC days I always ran a chamber brush into the chambers and cleaned the cylinder front and back, including the ejector. The 44 Special was treated the same way, with same attention paid to the cylinder and ejector. I shot cast bullets in both guns.

With full moon clips the M25 was a delight and never malfunctioned. The M24 however was a problem. If a stage required more than two reloads the cartridges would be hard to get seated fully. After dropping the speed loader I most always had to push a couple round with my thumb to get them fully seated.

I never figured out why the cast bullets used in the 44 Special left so much more gunk in the chambers that the 45 ACP bullets did. They came from the same commercial caster and had the same lube.

After a year of that I gave up the revolvers in favor of my carry guns (Colt 1911s back then). A few years later shot a revolver again in the newly introduced IDPA game. By then I had a 625 which I treated just like I had the old 25-2 and it never failed me. When IDPA in their wisdom decided you couldn't carry a 5" N-frame but a 4" N-frame was "practical" I gave up on that silly game. This was about the time when they started changing the rules every year.

What the (expletive deleted), I clean semi-autos, even Glocks, every time I shoot them. Guess that's getting to be old school thinking. OK with me, I'm old anyway. (smile)

Dave

[Dagga Boy]

One trend you see a lot of is that when many of us carried revolvers we got issued absolutely crap practice ammo for our revolvers that was horrible and would never function a semi auto. Now that many of us are old, gray and retired and buying our own ammo, we don’t have nearly the issues because we lived the hell of low bid lead reloads. Now, FMJ factory new Ammo is like revolver Christmas.

[JonInWA]

One trend you see a lot of is that when many of us carried revolvers we got issued absolutely crap practice ammo for our revolvers that was horrible and would never function a semi auto. Now that many of us are old, gray and retired and buying our own ammo, we don’t have nearly the issues because we lived the hell of low bid lead reloads. Now, FMJ factory new Ammo is like revolver Christmas.

LOL...quality factory FMJ, JHP or SJHP it the only fodder mine get fed...

Best, Jon

[revchuck38]

FWIW, I shot IDPA SSR for several years back when the power factor was 125. I started with an M67 loaded with Zero 158 grain RNLs, and in spite of the swaged lead, I had no issues with leading because the bullet diameter, chamber throats and bore diameter all matched up perfectly. I switched to Rainier plated RNs because it looked like I was shooting black powder with those Zeros. I also switched to a factory-tuned M10-8 and had no problems. I will admit that an Allison Speed Brush was a constant companion at a match, but my handloads were as clean as any factory ammo.

[OlongJohnson]

I take a dry paper towel to the range when I'm shooting the GP. Once all the ammo is put away and the bench is clear, I wipe down the gun while it's still warm. Most of the carbon comes right off of places that would require stinky chemistry and scrubbing if I waited until I got home, or the weekend.