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Thread: The Modern Combat Revolver

  1. #11
    Member Hizzie's Avatar
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    @jetfire wrote something for Shooting Illustrated recently on that exact topic. Might be worth finding the article.

    http://instagram.com/p/CGAprXNpeed/
    Quote Originally Posted by caleb View Post
    Oh man, that's right. I forgot that some people feel like they need light SA triggers in DA guns instead of just learning to shoot the gun better. You can get a Redhawk DA trigger pull down to 10 lbs, and if you can't manage that you suck and should probably just practice more.
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  2. #12
    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JRV View Post
    Wheelguns wear and stretch with long-term, high-volume shooting, so you end up with inevitable timing and endshake issues that, even if addressed early, usually require gunsmith intervention. It’s no different than having a parts replacement schedule on a pistol—it’s just way more involved than “recoil spring at 3,000 rounds, slide stop at 10,000.”
    You're the first person I've seen say that about a GP100.


    Quote Originally Posted by JRV View Post
    If high volume .357 is your thing, go L-frame. The GP100 would be a comparable Ruger.
    There are several threads on this site where the consensus seems to be that this

    https://ruger.com/products/gp100Matc...eets/1755.html

    with a Bowen Rough Country rear sight, possibly a brass bead front sight, and your choice of grips/stocks is the current Glock 17 of revolvers.
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  3. #13
    Site Supporter JRV's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OlongJohnson View Post
    You're the first person I've seen say that about a GP100.

    Rugers are tough. Not indestructible. Metal still wears. They still need service.

    There are several threads on this site where the consensus seems to be that this

    https://ruger.com/products/gp100Matc...eets/1755.html

    with a Bowen Rough Country rear sight, possibly a brass bead front sight, and your choice of grips/stocks is the current Glock 17 of revolvers.
    That’s an awesome setup. Still won’t go Glock-level round counts between cleanings. Probably the closest, though.
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  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by SwampDweller View Post
    I've always been firmly in the semi-auto camp, mostly because that's what I grew up shooting and carry every day. I think I'm pretty squared away in that department. I've always wanted to dabble in revolvers as more than just a range gun though. Given how things might end up in regards to what we're allowed to own, I've often been thinking of getting a revolver just to hedge my bets and have a serious use revolver on par with my HKs and Glocks in terms of reliability and durability. My only experiences with revolvers in any meaningful capacity was a Colt Python I owned for a while and shot a couple of thousand rounds through. It started having breakages when I was about 1000 rounds in with full power 125gr .357 Magnum loads.

    My question is, what is considered a "serious use" revolver these days, analogous to say, a Glock or H&K semi auto? I've been under the impression for a while that revolvers are more likely to encounter reliability/durability issues at lower round counts than a modern high quality semi auto. Can I expect similar long term dependability over high round counts that I have with my semi autos?

    Finally, are there any subject matter experts well regarded in the revolver carrying/shooting community that break down what the most effective and dependable "combat revolvers" are in this day and age? Keep in mind I'm talking revolvers carried as a primary carry piece, not a backup snub nose.
    The closest answer to your main question is Ruger GP-100. Unless you are freakishly large (like NFL Lineman size) the red hawk is going to be too large and slow for serious consideration.


    You need to understand revolvers and autos have different strengths and weaknesses.

    -Revolvers are more tolerant of neglect than autos but FAR less tolerant of abuse or lack of cleaning. Anyone telling you revolvers “never jam” has never run a revolver hard. @JRV s post is spot on, there is no “Glock of revolvers.”

    - Like shotguns revolvers are easier to shoot using the initial loading but more complicated to reload and keep running in a fight. Despite the “all you need is 6” good old days idiots, capacity is a thing. When revolvers were serious use guns, serious people carried 2 or 3 of them at a time.
    Last edited by HCM; 10-31-2020 at 10:27 AM.

  5. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's View Post
    Define "high round count" as that means vastly different things to different people.
    Well, I don’t shoot as much as I’d like, but I have a goal to be shooting 2k rounds a month, with the occasional but consistent class throughout the year. Just to be safe and account for how I hope to be shooting after all this calms down, I’ll say 25k rounds a year. I’m sure that’s not a high round count for many here, but it’s a goal I have that I’d like to get to and it’s what I’d like for a handgun to be able to stand up to.

    For the purpose of the discussion, I’d like to assume that there will be surface cleanings every few hundred rounds, as described earlier in this thread.

  6. #16
    Site Supporter Lon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SwampDweller View Post
    Well, I don’t shoot as much as I’d like, but I have a goal to be shooting 2k rounds a month, with the occasional but consistent class throughout the year. Just to be safe and account for how I hope to be shooting after all this calms down, I’ll say 25k rounds a year. I’m sure that’s not a high round count for many here, but it’s a goal I have that I’d like to get to and it’s what I’d like for a handgun to be able to stand up to.

    For the purpose of the discussion, I’d like to assume that there will be surface cleanings every few hundred rounds, as described earlier in this thread.
    With that round count I’d buy several of whatever spinny gun you decide on and set them up identically.
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  7. #17
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    I got into Law Enforcement in the early 80’s when the revolver was king but semiauto pistols were making inroads. In those days few people shot more than a couple hundred rounds per YEAR. Dedicated shooters might shoot a couple thousand, “25k rounds” was the training allotment for my whole agency per year. There were probably PPC shooters who shot 20K/year but they used extremely light loadings and had a case with multiple guns.

    If you anticipate a round count that high planning on a one in the holster, one in the safe and one in the shop scenario seems plausible.

    I carry a 4” S&W Mountain Gun .44 or 3“ GP100 10mm when I feel revolver inclined. They see around 500 rounds per year Each and about 5x that in dry fire practice. IMHO Asking a revolver to be a Glock is like entering an Amish carriage in NASCAR.

  8. #18
    Site Supporter S Jenks's Avatar
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    Being new to reloading and new to revolvers, a few years ago I ran about 2k soft reloads through a 3” GP100 in a few months’ time.

    After a short break in period the trigger turned into something to behold. It pulled like warm butter, I was improving my 25 yard groupings and I was getting better at my reload times. The new Dillon 650 kept spitting out cheap fodder. My beautiful Tucker HF3 wore in to just the right amount of tension. Every range trip felt like sitting down to a plate of comfort food. Homemade biscuits and ham with family while it snowed outside.

    If it weren’t for the Ruger’s capacity deficit, I longed to safe my PX4CC and start carrying her in all her matte stainless beauty.

    Things were just heaven...before one chamber started to have a sporadic, incredibly hard trigger pull. As in 20+ lbs. heavy.

    I pulled most of the gun apart, inspected every part likely to show wear, scrubbed and scrubbed the carbon off. The trigger components seemed fine. There were no burrs to be found on the ratchet.

    I wept for what we used to have. I’d take her (mostly) apart, clean and lightly oil, sing softly, and gingerly put her back together. But the issue was still there. Honey biscuits on a New England winter’s night had turned into laying naked on the floor of a damp cell, being tossed rancid meat.

    While getting ready to send her back to Ruger in disgust, deflated and betrayed, I decided to do a full strip. On the crane under the cylinder I found a number of specks of unburned Unique.

    A quick wipe down and she was back to her old self.

    So lesson learned. Revolvers require special attention, especially when you’ve grown up on Glocks. And low-power Unique loads can be nasty.

  9. #19
    Site Supporter FrankB's Avatar
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    I have firearms cleaning OCD, and thoroughly clean my guns if they’ve been shot at all. One cylinder through a revolver, and I remove the cylinder for a complete cleaning. I don’t remove the sideplate very often, but I don’t pour cleaning liquids into the internals. The extractor star gets cleaned with a toothbrush, and VERY little oil is used anywhere. Maybe 1 1/2 drops total.

  10. #20
    The first handgun I bought was a Ruger Redhawk .44 mag. I bought that when I was 14 and I am 52 now. I still have that gun and shoot it often. That gun worked so well that I bought a GP100 in the early 90's and have alway kept one or two around since then. If there is a revolver that equates to the MCR, I feel it would be the GP100.

    I shoot them a lot, use them to teach beginners and like to take them camping when I am in the mountains. I have no real idea of how many rounds they will handle, but I have shot 1000's of round through mine. I reload, so that makes it affordableish. I have found a nice, towards the heavy end, load using H110 that burns clean and is accurate.

    With this load, and cleaning my revolvers regularly, I have never had a jam or malfunction. I will admit that I probably over-clean my GP's. I like how they are assembled and enjoy taking them down for deep cleaning. A word to the wise, don't pull the trigger with the trigger assembly out of the gun or the cylinder latch plunger will go flying.

    The way this is going it looks like I will be able to give my Rugers to my son and him to his. They are as tight as the day I bought them and don't show any signs of adverse or excessive wear.

    I agree that they are not Glock simple/stupid to keep running, but they are pretty damn tough and durable.

    So my vote for the MCR is the Ruger GP100.

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