Has Anyone Else Gone Full Revolver?

[03RN]

Ive never really gone away from revolvers. The one example of modern plastic pistol I have was more in the "seems practical, probably should own one" category, but has never held a significant position in my use. If it disappeared somehow my first thought would probably be what i could get for the ammo I had left, or "i wonder what a P08 would cost?"

Ive never been able to shoot any self loading pistol as well as revolvers regardless of how much I shot them and tried, (mostly 1911s in this category). Self loaders also seem to me to require much more effort to achieve even acceptable levels of ability than revolvers. The reload speed seems the primary advantage in that class, but it occurred to me if i didnt shoot the gun as well I was more likely to NEED to reload. Shooting running rabbits, squirrels way up in a tree, or things thrown in the air with revolvers never seemed like a huge deal, I never was able to do most of that with self loaders, though target grade 22 pistols are OK for the squirrels in trees aspect or sitting prairie dogs at 75 or more yards.

I've recently done some drills and was able to compare reload speed.

Draw, shoot, reload, shoot. I'm keeping right around 4.5 seconds with a k frame shooting.357 from a Safariland 6280 and concealment.

I'm right at 3 seconds with a 1911 drawing from aiwb/concealment.

1.5 seconds isn't an earth shattering difference when you factor in movement to cover and threat assessment.

Those drills were at 7 yards and I was getting A zone hits.

[Hizzie]

I still own and occasionally shoot pistols but I cannot remember the last time I carried one.

[FrankB]

I bought one of these for my 3” King Cobra, but it works as well for my 2” Cobra Carry.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jtcarm]

How much time do you have?

BLUF: I never got a Glock 20 (tried three different guns, slow learner) to run reliably with heavy, hardcast, wide meplat loads. Lots of folks who run that combination buy a couple boxes of Buffalo Bore or whatever, shoot one magazine, call it good and carry the rest. Over thousands of such rounds, I ran a 3-4% malfunction rate. With a compromised grip, like one might have while dealing with a wild animal, the gun turns into a giant soup sandwich of failure.

I know carry a GP100 as a woods gun, with 158 grain JSP ammo here in SW Washington, and when we go to places like Montana, with 180 grain hard cast.

I've written about it here on p-f, but my search fu isn't finding the thread. Here's a cliff notes version on the Hill People Gear forum.

For what it's worth, I think the GP100 in 10mm has merit, if you want an L-frame sized gun that starts with "4." The Smith 610 never made sense for me personally, because if I'm going to carry a N-frame sized gun, I'll just get a .44 Mag and handload to whatever power level I want.

If one wants to run an auto-pistol as a field gun, I would suggest a USP .45, as GJM has used in his thread on the field pistol. It will run .45 Super reliably apparently. I've also heard good reports of the M&P .45. It won't run Super, but frankly I'm not sure how important that is.

I haven't been keeping track of results with the new M&P 10mm.

ETA: My HPG forum post was prompted by this thread, where a dude had similar experiences with FIVE different Glock 20 pistols.

Wow, we must’ve been separated at birth!

I too like the 10mm GP because it’s a big bore on a medium frame. I also like big, fat cast bullets, but see no need to push them over 1,000 FPS.

I found a very accurate load with the Accurate mould 40_-224H, but recoil is a little stiff.

I’m about to try this bad boy, as soon as I can get a custom .404 bullet size die.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...ullet=40-181TG

[JWintergreen]

The main things holding me back are a lack of faith in the quality of current production revolvers, few factory configurations interest/suit me, and push style speedloaders (Comp I/II) are only available for a handful of revolvers now.

[JonInWA]

Much as I like my revolvers-all Ruger-GP100, Security Six and Blackhawk-and thoroughly enjoy shooting, competing and carrying them, they'll likely never displace semi-autos for me.

Several reasons: The main one is that in a low or contrasty lighting situation, throw in an adrenaline-charged situation, the efforts and coordinations required for speed reloads are a significant magnitude greater then they are with a magazine-loaded semi auto. And while I'm not a huge capacity champion, I simply prefer to have at least a few more rounds than 6 on hand before having to reload-especially if one is dealing with a multiple assailant situation.

Another one is concealment. While the revolver itself is easy to conceal, speedloaders, not so much-especially with Safariland Comp IIIs and similar. If I'm carrying a revolver, I want to have at least 2 speedloaders on hand. And yes, I've got Speed Strips, and a good Speed Strip case, but Speed Strips to me are a kind of last ditch sort of thing, and manipulating them well takes some practice and continual re-familiarization.

Again, tremendously enjoy my revolvers. I maintain qualification and classifications on them, and have used them for duty, albeit selectively. But for me, and the situations and scenarios that I can see myslef in, a quality semi-auto simply is more efficient and requires less work-arounds or compromises.

Best, Jon

[JTMcC]

If a big bore revolver isn't on me or within reach then somethings gone awfully sideways.
But I can't/won't abandon 1911's and they make a splendid 2nd gun considering that's what my Wife/Chic has and loves.


There is calm, happiness, and a sense of goodness when reloading a revolver with snap caps at every commercial during Gunsmoke, Rawhide, I Dream of Genie, Batman, Svengoolie.... or whatever you watch. And then "shooting" the people in those commercials. Or reloading one to clock a coyote making tracks away.

Add in: the ease of swapping to shot shells during snake season, reliability with the biggest blunt nose bullets, etc.

There I am and there I live.
I'll most likely be slaughtered by gangbangers in rural AZ with 30 round glock mags but at least they'll know I tried and went down with a smoking .44 in hand

[03RN]

How hard is it to get 1200fps from a 220gr bullet in a 10mm gp100?

That seems to be about top end but barely on the bottom rung of large bore cartridges but if it's easy peasy it might be ok.

I'm still lusting for a mountain gun though.

[03RN]

The main things holding me back are a lack of faith in the quality of current production revolvers, few factory configurations interest/suit me, and push style speedloaders (Comp I/II) are only available for a handful of revolvers now.

If my m66-8 exploded or was stolen I would replace it asap. Even with Stephanie's tribulations in mind. That's actually why I picked up the m65 recently. So I can keep the 66 for carry and train/compete with other k frames. It's a pity because it has the best trigger/action.

[Michpatriot]

5 years ago, I had over 30 pistols. Most of them were semiautomatics, with maybe one J frame. There were other small revolvers that came and went, but were never really carried. Now I have several revolvers that are carried 98% of the time. My current carry is a 642 and a Colt King Cobra Carry. I usually don’t carry a speedloader, but a speed strip is often on my belt. I carry larger revolvers in a shoulder holster when the weather is cool, but that will be ending in a few weeks. My massive semiauto collection is now down to a Glock 19, a Ruger 1911 (I had nearly 10 1911’s at one point), a Sig P938, and a couple of P365’s. At this point in my life, I just like revolvers. Has anyone else made the switch?

Couldn't find a reliable (by my standard) pocket carry pistol\semi, started with a J frame 20 yrs ago some how got semiitis that took me down more than a dozen roads to disappointment, I finally was cured coming back full circle to a Jframe. Little did I know I just needed scandium and titanium, wish I had taken the frugal route at the beginning. The only autos now are a couple 22s and tupperware26.. Everything I stake my life on revolves around a centerpin. Out in the woods a 329PD in a chest rig with the aforementioned pocket carry. When I find myself headed to the more interesting areas of southeast lower Michigan, the upside down armpit mode gets added with a second Jframe. Daily setup is a single speedloader (comp1) on the belt and a speed strip in the offside front pocket and a 340PD in the strong side front pocket. Obviously to most others this is completely unacceptable...and absolutely not safe. For the last few years my tactical training involves every couple months when I'm walking in the woods all of a sudden I remember this j frame handicap thing and I'll stop, take something like maybe a tobacco chew can, toss it about 20-25 yards and dump a cylinder at it fast, so far this has kept me satisfied. Perfect cold grab accuracy with a fast draw from a unassuming stance with reliability goes a long way for this old fart. It took a bunch of putzing with sights and grips and holsters, but these three I will carry into the sunset.