REVOLVERS vs Autos-fill in the blank.

[Guest Muttling]

I've owned, carried, and like both.

For the smaller weapons, I haven't found anything that even comes close to a .357 J-frame for accuracy, reliability, hitting power, and ease of concealment in one package. Thus, my primary carry weapon.

That said, I really like and have carried the old S&W 4006 often (which is an automatic.) It's nice in winter when I can OWB and stay concealed.

[Guest Muttling]

Spend enough time around other shooters, and you'll see guide rods fail, and tie up the gun, shell casings separate and tie up the gun, various small parts fail and tie up the gun... and in many cases, those failures can't be cleared on the spot.

Sorry, but as with any machine, you never know when either an auto or a revolver is going to have a catastrophe that requires a gunsmith... and neither are any more or less likely than the other to have it, these days. They're just apt to have different ailments is all.

J.

I've also seen auto's with broken firing pins, jammed up trigger mechanisms, and other mechanicals that can't be fixed at the range.

I find it interesting that you say "see......happen" instead of saying "experience it happening." How many people who regulary shoot automatics have never had a weapon of their own jam? Revolvers aren't perfect, but it's quite rare to have a revolver go down and most revolver owners never experience it. You can't say that of jams with autos, everyone who regularly shoots an auto will be clearing jams.

It's not a different set of ailments, it's a different frequency of them.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Muttling

[Guest Bluemax]

Everyone that has posted on this thred has made excellant points both for the revolver and the semi-auto. Personaly, a Sig 229 is my primary carry but I have taken the time to practice with it and understand how to handle it as safely as possible. By this I mean that going to a range and shooting paper teaches the basics but doesn't replicate the adrenaline rush one has when dealing with a life or death situation. I don't know how many people on here enjoy shooting pool, but an analogy I like to use is taking a person who shoots pool frequently and fancies himself a "shark". Shoot the guy for a beer and he may run the table on you, put a hundred dollar bill on the side of the table and he can't make a shot. Thats why when asked I always recommend a revolver to someone new to the sport. Simplicity, safety and less chance of a simple mistake causing a bad situation

[Guest Caveman]

I love revolvers. To me, semi's will always have the tactical advantage, but there is just somethng about a revolver. I love the way they look and feel. I have more fun shooting them and as others have mentioned I love the simplicity of them. I always have a higher sense of ease when I carry one of my revolvers.

[kwe45919]

Mmmmmmmm.....revolvers.

Though I have always carried an "Auto", my wife and I perfer my 19-3 as the nightstand go to gun for home defense...

[1gewehr]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the most important advatage a revolver has over an auto; versatility.

A .22 revolver will easily digest all types of .22 ammunition, shorts, longs, long rifle, Colibri caps, etc. A 4-6" .357 revolver can be shot with very light .38 loads that are inexpensive and pleasant for recoil-sensitive folks and children. Or, you can use the same pistol with powerful .357 loads that are capable of taking deer, wild pigs, coyotes, and other medium-sized game. A .44mag revolver ups the ante to being capable of killing anything on the North American continent. Granted, it wouldn't be my first choice for a Brown Bear (.50 BMG!), but it's been done. A light .44Spl load can be a nice, inexpensive plinker with cast-bullet reloads.

No automatic pistol has ever had the versatility of a well-made revolver.

[fastbs]

reliability. no failure to feed with a revolver. No worries on will this ammo feed right or did i chamber one.

[Guest Caveman]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the most important advatage a revolver has over an auto; versatility.

A .22 revolver will easily digest all types of .22 ammunition, shorts, longs, long rifle, Colibri caps, etc. A 4-6" .357 revolver can be shot with very light .38 loads that are inexpensive and pleasant for recoil-sensitive folks and children. Or, you can use the same pistol with powerful .357 loads that are capable of taking deer, wild pigs, coyotes, and other medium-sized game. A .44mag revolver ups the ante to being capable of killing anything on the North American continent. Granted, it wouldn't be my first choice for a Brown Bear (.50 BMG!), but it's been done. A light .44Spl load can be a nice, inexpensive plinker with cast-bullet reloads.

No automatic pistol has ever had the versatility of a well-made revolver.

Good point.

[JAB]

Revolvers typically 'fit' me better. Even if the factory grips don't work, there is a wide range of aftermarket grips that can fix the problem. With semiautos, about the best that can be done, to my knowledge, would be grip panels for those so equipped. With most of the polymer semiautos, even that limited option isn't available and the shooter is pretty much limited to slip-on grip sleeves.

I am generally more accurate with revolvers, even in DA mode. I am much more accurate with smaller (snubbie) revolvers than with small semiautos - again, even in DA mode.

No slide to worry about - revolver will fire and not jam even if pressed up close and personal to an assailant. Semiauto may not.

No limpwristing to worry about. If I have to fire my revolver in a stressful situation with a less than optimal, one-handed grip it isn't going to become a single-shot just because my wrist isn't properly 'locked'.

No accidentally hitting the mag release when firing under stress.

No ejecting, spent shell casing to jam up the works. If I need to fire my revolver from the ground, it doesn't matter if it is oriented right side up, sideways or upside down - the spent casing isn't going to end up in the action, jamming things up.

Sure, a revolver can jam. As someone else mentioned, however, the difference is frequency. Sure, the jams in a semiauto might be easier to clear while you are standing at the range, shooting paper. I can clear such jams as easily as anyone. Under stress, however, I am not all that sure that even a simple jam would be easy enough to clear that I could be 'back in the fight' before, for example, the BG shoved that eight inch blade somewhere I don't want it. In other words, a revolver can jam while a semiauto will jam and the stress of an actual confrontation would probably increase the likelihood of a jam (due to shooter error or less than optimal grip or angle) as well as making it more difficult to use fingers suddenly transformed into thumbs by stress to clear said jam quickly enough not to be dead.

All this leads to what I have come to realize is the reason I prefer revolvers slightly more than semiautos - my level of confidence in each platform and my level of confidence in my ability to adequately use each platform under stress. I believe that confidence level - more than any other factor seperating the two platforms - would possibly impact the outcome of an unpleasant situation. In other words, it would be one less thing for my mind to worry about if I wound up where none of us wants to be - with my firearm as the only thing between me and mine and an assailant looking to do serious harm.

You will notice that some of the aforementioned points have as much to do with the shooter as with the firearm. For example, my mom prefers semiautos - especially with smaller frame handguns - because the grips fit her hands better.

I do see some possible advantages that semiautos have. Reloading is faster. I sometimes carry a speed strip for my five-shot .38 snubbie but realize that changing magazines in a semiauto would be faster. However, how likely is it that I, as a private citizen, will need a reload anyway? Besides, neither platform reloads as fast as presenting another weapon. That is why my 'reloads' are generally carried wrapped in a BUG.

Some semiautos have a possible ammo capacity advantage (although the smaller autos may not have that great an advantage in that regard, at all.) Again, though, am I really going to be dumping fifteen rounds at an assailant as a private citizen or would the situation be resolved - one way or another - even before my five shot revolver runs empty? Of course, there are times when that increased capacity might bring comfort.

I don hate semiautos and I do carry semiautos, sometimes. Generally speaking, though, given a choice I will also have a revolver of some type on me, too.

Edited January 21, 2010 by JAB