Revolvers are passe - Claude Werner

Sweet! Does this mean they are going to become less expensive and I can give less consideration to the rate at which I hoard them? Yeah, I didn't think so. In my area I've actually seen more revolvers at the range in the past couple years than I have seen in the preceding fifteen years. Maybe it's a regional thing and mag bans are playing a roll.
 
I think everyone should have one or two good quality revolvers.

Why? Some day soon we are all going to be proved wrong, and they will come for the semis > 10 rounds. A bit further, the semis period.

Revolvers will be last, because they are not as ugly to certain folks.
 
Revolvers are not the current fad. For those looking to buy a pistol for self-defense, the semi-autos make sense. Many of them in .380 or 9mm are very easily concealed. Other than the J-frame, few revolvers are really so very easy to conceal. For those who favor target shootings, games, hunting, etc., there are some uses for semi-autos especially the speed type events, but in many cases the revolver has excellent utility. I have a RIA 1911-A1 in .45 ACP that shoots very well on targets out to 25 yds. I often mount a Marvel .22LR Conversion unit on top of the RIA frame. The result is a extremely accurate thoroughly reliable .22 LR pistol that will reliably hit shotgun shell hulls at 25 yds. firing standing w/ two hand hold. I can do exactly the same routine using my beloved 18-2 ... which will at 25 yds. reliably keep six shots under 2 inches about as long as I care to sit and pull the trigger. Firing standing w/ two hand hold, the 18-2 will do the Ga. qualification course of 50 shots with just about every round inside the 10/X rings of a B-27. That includes drawing from the holster, reloads, etc. For just simply hitting stuff at distances beyond say 20-25 yds., the revolver is my first choice because day in and day out I find revolvers easier to shoot accurately at longer distances. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.
 
Ha! Just read the article by this self-proclaimed "professor" Werner. What a joke!

What is "passé" is quality workmanship. The revolver is a product of a time when things were built to last by people who cared about, and took pride, in their work.
In a world where incompetence and apathy are the norm in the workplace and beyond, it's no wonder the "professor's" Top 10 list reads like the inventory of a scrap heap:
To mention a few, we have Jimenez, Hi Point, Taurus, and Cobra.
I guess if my marksmanship endeavors consisted of hitting a trashcan size target at 20 feet, I would be happy with one if these turkeys. Then again, I could accomplish the same level of accuracy with a kid's slingshot.

I'd feel as well armed, or at least have a lot more fun, with a cap and ball revolver stoked with FFFg black powder.

Maybe I'm just dating myself....

Jim
 
If you look at the same report from the ATF for 2007 you'd see that 391,000 revolvers were manufactured in the US that year. Last year 721,000 were made. That's over a 50% increase in 10 years.

The sales figures show that autoloaders are much more popular, but it doesn't make much sense to me to say revolvers are out of date.
 
First off, I'm am always excited to see people are buying any gun. Second the natural progression of modern gun ownership is first timers buy a whiz bang semi auto plastic fantastic go to the range and impress no one. So, after a few trips to the range seeing the old gray beards shooting revolves and the crowd that gathers around them admiring the wheel guns, curiosity starts. Then a neighbor or friend or relative offers a revolver cheap and they say why not. Next thing you know they have a pile of revolvers and they turn up on this site looking for info. Then the cycle starts over, and they end up being the revolver guy.

The next gen of youngsters or newbies is always out there buying plastic fantastic pistols. Then they go to sites like this trying to justify their purchase and convince people whatever current piece of plastic they have is the best gun ever made and the old farts are just too dumb to realize it. It's a constant turn over and sort of a rite of passage.
 
To many new gun owners (calling them new "shooters" would presume too much), a used gun is a blind item. They could buy a used J-frame for around $300+ or a brand new in-the-box LCP for $200. That is literally a no-brainer decision. People want easy, but that choice is a false one. Easier to afford, easier to carry, but I don't see that an LCP is any easier to shoot than a J-frame. The LCP II might have a better trigger than either the first version or a DAO round gun, but the manual of arms will always be more complicated. And that's the irony about the whole thing.
 
I think one thing to consider is how many people actually shoot their guns. I don't have any idea what that number is, but my bet is far, far less than half of gun owners shoot their gun once per year.

When I started shooting more often (I try for once a month) is when I rapidly got sick of semi-auto problems. I've posted about it before, but I had a G26 that gave me nothing but problems, and it greatly influenced a change of mindset that pushed me toward carrying a revolver.

Just recently I bought a couple of new-to-me but very nice semis at a very good price, and sure enough during their first range trip I had some issues with each of them. Not G26 bad, but enough to damage my trust in them quite a bit.

So I'm still carrying my 4" M29. Which is ok because, I love it.
 
The selling thought is to have a gun that is feather light, easiest to hide, that can carry more rounds and is quick to reload. And of course make it inexpensive that anyone can own one. That is why there are way more pistols sold than revolvers.

Many people buy into the gotta have pistols and due to the recoil and failure to function many of them end up in a drawer for years. I imagine many in the drawers even have the first box of ammo that was bought when the gun was bought.

I have to say probably 90% of the handguns at the shooting ranges are probably semi autos. Yep the revolvers are passé at the ranges I guess.

Personally I carry the passé revolver as my choice for protection because of its dependability and safety.
 
I definitely don't spend as much time as I use to when I go to my local shop it's a two minute walk thu. I have interest n less than 10% of what they have there. Saves time and money there was a time when I'd have two or three guns on layaway. O well us old gun guys are dying off and our guns are at auctions that's where I do most my shopping now. The internet is the venue going me today.
 
Great stuff here....good discussion.

What I found interesting was who made how many.

S&W at 113m is #1. Thanks M&P EZ?

Glock at 73m is 2. I'm a bit surprised, I figured them for #1. Glock is the big name and I suspect easy to sell to newbies. (And everyone's heard of Smith & Wesson .sto selling the brand is half the battle and already won.)

Both 1 & 2 are inexpensive guns, comparatively.

But #3 Sig! Ain't nothing cheap about Sig .380s and yet they made 66,000 units last year. That's a surprise to me. Sig markets as an "aspirational" gun...people trade up to it and pay for Sig's reputed quality. It ain't priced as an entry level firearm.

Taurus at 60m is #4 and again, for them, and most of the rest, are simply price point guns.

(Full disclosure: I have an EZ and a touch of arthritis; my other 380 is a Beretta 85F and that's just 'cause I have a small "accumulation" of Berettas and this is part of the collection. And I carry my 642 a lot more than the EZ and my CS9 a bit more than my 642.)
 
In a fairly recent year, a few years ago now, there were over 5 million
handguns produced here in the USA.

Ruger produced more than one out of every four. S&W was
second.

Only about 15% (750,000) of all handguns produced were revolvers.
The majority (4,250,000) were semi-autos. About 40% of the semi-autos
were 9MM.

Teaching the enhanced concealed weapons license classes, up until I
retired a couple of year ago, I observed that the majority of students
were using semi-autos, and 9MM was the most popular caliber.

I realize that I am passe, just like all of my revolvers. So, if you have
any of those old passe revolvers just send them to this old passe guy.
 
I thought one posters comments about the quality of a Walther PPK compared to a plastic Ruger LCP was right on. Except, I have owned a couple of Walthers finest, and they are beautifully made, and feel like a gun should in the hand. They also were not reliable with HP's, and sometimes not ball either, and they tended to cut my hand if I was not careful. My cheap little LCP is smaller, lighter, more concealable, and has been nothing but reliable in about 800 rounds of mixed ammo. The Walthers were the nicer guns. The LCP is the better self defense tool, regardless of price. Just saying..

Revolvers? There will always be a market for wheelguns as long as hunting, reloading, target shooting, and self defense are still around. Revolvers were so popular at one time because the semi-auto market offered slim pickins. That's not the case anymore, and a whole new generation of gun buyers don't have the same sentimental attachment to blued steel and walnut us older folks have. They tend to search out the right "tool" for the job without the emotional baggage we tend to carry. Me? A quick inventory in my head shows my handgun collection is about split between auto's and revolvers.

Larry
 
For every new handgun I have purchased in the past 7 years I have purchased about 6 or 7 used guns both revolvers and all metal semi autos.
That does not show up in the market statistics. If it's a 380, .32ACP/ 7.65mm , .38 special or 38 S&W I have bought many on the past 7 years and not one was new. Just 1 person, but I count as a statistic too.
 
CrazyPhil stat of 5,000,000 new handguns a year is encouraging.
The rush to buy ARs every time ownership of them is threatened is encouraging.
The growth of new concealed carry permit numbers is encouraging.

A lot of new folks around the country want to make sure they have a gun or maybe two ....... most being PC don't talk about it..... and may only own one or two........ not much different than my Grandparents.

My Dad was a Police officer for 39 years...his job needs were met by three handguns( all revolvers) he bought in 1938/39,46 and early 50s..... he didn't retire until 1978. He only bought two other handguns in his life a Model 41 when he shot on the Department' Pistol team in the Police league; and a 640 about 22 years into retirement.

They can only buy what's in the gun case at the LGS or big box store. If they do any research it's on line or U-tube. The single action revolver is still with us after almost 200 years the 1911 is 108 years young..... I think the double action revolver will be around for a long time to come.

Look around whenever a storm is on the horizon ... folks stock up. Don't want to be caught without or short. Not long ago there was a book and movie (didn't do well) set in an apocalyptic future....... where the 'hero" had a revolver and one bullet
 
Narragansett said:
with the exception of 1 glock 36 (45 acp),
Click to expand...

I bought a gen 4 Glock 36 because two of my good friends recommended it, it was my first .45 auto - my first auto period.

I wanted an occasional carry .45 auto.

No matter what I or we did it would jam 5-6 times or more every 50 rounds. Never did care for it much and that's why I never had any interest in a semi-auto handgun.

I ended up trading it for ATV tires and wheels. :D

I love my M&P 45.
 
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