Quote:
Originally Posted by Model520Fan
I'm old (70) and I'm not ashamed to carry an auto, when I think that it is appropriate. Of course, I back it up with a revolver.
I think that the reliability gap between revolvers and autos has narrowed a bit, which would probably increase the carry of autos slightly, and there are probably more new autos than new revolvers, which influences folks young enough to be wowed by the gun rags.
I feel that the biggest difference between round guns and slab-side guns is still the complexity and relative safety of handling, especially loading and unloading. Some folks have to carry a gun for a while before they realize that it can sometimes be a close call whether animals outside the family are more of a danger than the guy who thinks he's protecting himself by handling a gun every day. Depending on your handling routine, the safety differences between revolver and auto may be enormous. Some people don't realize this until their later years.
I expect to see revolvers in old people's hands for quite some time yet.
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It's funny you say that. I've owned a few snubs. A 642, a 36, and a Ruger SPNY. A friend of mine carries a Chief Special from 1956 and he's not all that great in gun maintenance and I couldn't stand to see the old girl get any worse so I gave it a detailed cleaning and got rid of some rust. As I was doing it I realized how much I missed a J frame so I'm looking for either a 36 or a 60.
But the reason I stopped carrying a revolver was because of the lack of a manual safety. My son was 3 when I had he 36 and he asked to see my 36 as I was putting in in the safe. I'm in the "take the curiosity out of the gun" camp so I unloaded it and gave it to him cylinder open. He took it, closed the cylinder, cocked the hammer, and pulled the trigger. Then he said "I killed the dinosaur".
Now, I never taught him any of that. Probably learned it watching tv or something. But it freaked me out so I sold the gun and switched to a Ruger lc9 and then to an lc9-s. I like the manual safety and may disconnect. I just can't get the feeling that if I had a one second brain fart (I'm fanatical about locking up my guns), that either of my children could too easily operate a revolver. To a competent person, they are generally safer, being able to see the rounds in the cylinder and making the gun safe by opening it. But to a child, they are too intuitive.