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Originally Posted by Wyo
I'd say that depends on who you ask and what you're using it for. First, what is a "hobby" gun anyway? I'd would suggest that is a gun that is used for playtime only. Take it to the range, fiddle with it at the bench, etc., but don't use it for serious purposes. If that's the definition, I would personally say revolvers have not become hobby guns, even the new ones, because I use them often for serious carry, primarily when I am in the mountains. They make perfect sense in that environment for many reasons I won't go into here. Some autos work well too - the Glock 20 and the Colt Delta come to mind - but I prefer the revolvers and the autos don't offer any real advantages in any likely scenario. On the other hand, if you ask the guys who teach handgun defensive courses for a living, most will tell you that they believe the revolver is "obsolete." Most of them see no advantage in the revolver as a weapon carried specifically for defensive use, especially in an urban environment. I taught with John Farnam for years and I know that in the last 10 years I worked with him we didn't see a single revolver in a single class that I helped with. That would probably have encompassed around 300 students including cops, US Marshals, military and civilians. Had a revolver shooter showed up he would have had a hard time keeping up with the class. And reliability with quality autos these days is pretty much a non-issue. They all work about as well as can be reasonably expected and at least as well as most revolvers. So, I would say that among those who view the handgun as reserved largely for serious social use (a very narrow limit) the revolver is, indeed, a "hobby" gun. That's my thinking. Others may disagree.
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The defensive shooting perspective is certainly a valid perspective, but it's only one perspective.
There are different horses for different courses.
Here's an example, not related to firearms. Way back in the day (1930s) when the Aresti scoring system was developed for aerobatic competition, the Bucker Jungmeister was the aircraft to beat. Consequently, what it did well, or rather what was easy to do in it, was scored low, while the things it did not do well or were hard to do with it were scored high.
However, when the next generation of aerobatic aircraft came along the Jungmeister was no longer competitive. Aircraft like the Pitts Special were designed to do those high scoring maneuvers really well.
In turn a generation later, the competition aircraft that replaced the Pitts were better at maneuvers will long vertical lines and those that required lots of power and gyroscopic precession.
However, both the Jungmeister and the Pitts are still superb aerobatic aircraft.
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Taking this back to your defensive handgun course example, those courses seldom reflect the reality of an armed citizen or law enforcement officer involved self defense shoot where it is over and done with in 5 rounds or less in 5 seconds or less, usually at 5 yards or less.
The FBI found that in 75% of its agent involved shoots, they were done in 3 shots or less in 3 seconds or less.
In those most frequent shoots the higher capacity of a the average issued semi-auto plays no role at all.
A DA/SA pistol will have an edge over a revolver or DAO pistol in double taps and controlled pairs, but an SA pistol will beat a DA/SA pistol at that same game.
Which one works best for a particular course of fire, depends entirely on the course of fire and what it is biased toward.
However, people also lose sight of the fact that the shooter also matters. For example I can shoot both the current (2019) and prior (2014) FBI Q courses - courses designed for high capacity semi-autos - and score 59/60 and 98/100 respectively on them with a six shot, 3" Model 13, a 2 1/2" six shot Model 66, or a 7 shot 3" 686+. Where I drop the points is the last shot here (the same in both Q courses):
From the 7 yards line;
- From the Ready, fire 4 rounds, conduct an empty gun reload, and fire 4 more rounds, all in 8 seconds.
I need about 8 1/2 seconds with the slower DA trigger pull combined with the slightly longer speed loader reload.
However, that 59/60 is far above the 48/60 needed for a passing score on the 2014 course, and the 98/100 on the 2019 course is way above the 90 points needed for an *instructor* to pass. And that's with an "obsolete" revolver.
Interestingly I can shoot the courses cleanly about 50% of the time with a Ruger Speed 6 in 9mm. The full moon clips load just enough faster that I can beat the target turning at the 8 second mark about half the time.
Short of no knock raids on crack houses or similar situations where you roll up with a lot of people and more firepower than a service pistol, the revolver will still get it done.
But that's not how defensive pistol courses are conducted. They inevitably focus on things that are well outside the norm and they play to a large capacity semi-auto's strengths.
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For armed citizen concealed carry - where you won't being doing no knock dynamic entries or getting yourself into situations with multiple armed assailants, I'll argue the revolver is still a good choice.
Consider my mother, who called me at age 85 stating she was getting a concealed carry permit and wanted to know what she should get for a handgun. Given her hand strength, low probability of doing anything more than basic firearms training and how she planned to carry it a 5 shot S&W Model 36 made perfect sense. Not too heavy, not too light, controllable for her in .38 Special, and no issues with racking a slide with arthritic hands.