Feeling more secure with a revolver vs. a semi-auto?

I have both and have carried both at times for almost 55yrs both on and off duty. I feel that I shoot my semi auto's more accurately and prefer the increased firepower and ease of reloading, not to mention the fact that semi autos are generally easier to conceal, being flatter. Those of you who tout the fact that a revolver goes bang every time, 5-6 for sure etc. are ill informed. If a revolver goes down and it does happen, you have an expensive brick!

I have been a police officer for close to 20 years. In 2024 I ditched my plastic striker-fired pistols in the underwhelming 9mm caliber. Right now my duty weapon is a S&W Model 581. I load it with .357 mag 158gr SJSP.

I watched hour after hour of body cam footage of officers mag dumping at suspects only to hit the suspect twice and, if they're lucky, not hit innocent bystanders. Looking at the subway incident in NYC late last year it is apparent that luck runs out.

Failure to feed/eject. I see it all time at the range. I have experienced it myself at the range and during live fire classes. I've seen malfunctions in officer bodycam videos. Every time I see it my heart sinks into my stomach.

Revolver malfunctions? If you have one it probably means that pistols is done until an armorer or gunsmith takes a look at it. However, revolver malfunctions are a lot like UFO stories - I have heard about them, but never seen one myself.

Capacity is like a young child's blanket. The child covers his head with it to protect him from the monster that lives in the closet. I see officers with 20 round mags sticking out of their pistol and 3 more in the mag pouch on their duty belt. I always ask, "Who are you going to war with?" Both the FBI study in 1987 and the NYPD study in the early 1990s show that in the average OIS the officer hits their target twice. The NYPD study goes on to show that when the officer used a revolver it was done in 3 rounds or less while the officer carrying a Glock fired 8 to 10 rounds with the same outcome.

Why do so many police agencies issue striker-fired plastic guns? The same reason government does anything - 1) They are readily available and 2)they are cheap.

ImDrRich said:

I hope this question is in the right Forum.

I like both and my collection reflects that but I still feel more secure about my revolvers than I do with any semi-auto I own. I carry either depending on my mood but when the SHTF it's the revolver that will go bang every time.

Does anyway agree? Disagree?

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I live somewhere hot on the sea. I carry a j frame every day with a CT grip, as I feel it’s easier to conceal and going to be reliable. I practice A Lot with it so am confident I can get most things done. When I’m in more clothes I’m carrying a CC9 .. if I’m in higher risk a staccato CS.. very high risk a gauge ! I own quite a few guns. These are just my personal choices.

Probably boils down to more of a mental thing than a mechanical thing.
Trying to recall if I ever had a FTF with factory Centerfire ammo in a revolver.
A revolver advantage often mentioned is the ability to easily fire the next round following a FTF.
This rule Probably applies more to Rimfires! Recently I’ve had some 22LR FTF in several different Handguns, several different brands of ammo.
Lately have shot SIGs, Glock and Kahr all in 9mm with Zero failures.

The ONLY SA pistol I’ve ever owned that had a FTF issue was a Walther PDP Pro-X with the factory installed comp. It was very prone to feed and eject issues even with their recommended ammo. It was way too finicky so I returned it to Walther.
I’m buying another PDP but it won’t have a comp on it. P
My Sigs, Glocks, and HKs have never had a FTF so I’m confident in any of them being capable.

In my 50 or so years of gunning I've either owned or currently own quite a variety of firearms. I've also carried concealed for more than 30 of those years and 90% of the time my CCW has been a revolver of some sort. When I was on the job I was privileged to train with and be trained by the best and as a bonus I got to shoot thousands of free rounds in revolvers courtesy of Uncle Sam. I am ridiculously familiar with the care and uses of round guns and for me it would be reckless and foolish to start over with flat guns just because everyone else is doing it. I'd rather lead than follow.

My understanding is that the LEO move to auto's was two fold. Number one was fire power, 15 shot instead of six and number two weight on the belt. I personally carry a revolver. I have never had a revolver stove pipe.
Jeff

Harv 24 said:

I play with revolvers, I stake my life on a Semi Auto pistol.
I don't carry for fashion, I carry for the stakes.
Anyone who relies on a firearm professionally carries a Semi Auto pistol.

That's called a clue where I come from....

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Agreed. But we don't all carry professionally. A lot of us have never been in a profession that requires pistol carry.

Frailer said:

It is indeed a clue. A clue that if you have a job where you are reasonably likely to encounter a bunch of people who might wish to do you permanent harm you should probably carry a firearm that is capable of firing a relatively large number of projectiles quickly.

When I had such a job I carried such a firearm. Now that I don’t, I carry a firearm better suited to my current lifestyle.

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I also look at it through the lens of public perception. A generic black gun may, or may not, be an “AR”, a machine gun, a Glock Fawty, etc. They’re awesome pistols and are quite capable…but people’s opinions matter too, and someone used to seeing a blocky polymer pistol suddenly confronted with a stainless or deep-blued K-frame might get the “elephant gun” reflex. If it stops a fight, I’ll take it!

Gutshot1 said:

My understanding is that the LEO move to auto's was two fold. Number one was fire power, 15 shot instead of six and number two weight on the belt. I personally carry a revolver. I have never had a revolver stove pipe.
Jeff

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I, probably like a lot of others, shoot a semi better; better grip angle and the semi is cocked and in SA already. But if I cock the revolver I shoot it as well as a semi. If I shoot a revolver DA at defensive distances, the perp is definitely gonna feel it. Good enough for me, so I carry a wheelie for reliability and simplicity. At times I will carry a small 380; but that has more to do with ease of concealment especially with summer wear. I am just looking into a .32 to see if maybe they are smaller than a snub, making it easier to carry.

03hemi said:

Revolvers can lock-up or misfire just as easily as a semi-auto.

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In all my years of shooting handguns, over 50 years now, I've only had one revolver lockup on me. It was a 2 1/2" S&W model 19 with Blazer aluminum cases. I could get off one round from a full cylinder and that was it until I got the cylinder open and replaced the fired case...only to repeat itself a handful of times, never shot that stuff from a revolver again.

I've had pistols lock up thousands of times for various reasons...bad feed ramps, bad magazines, bad feed lips, weak rounds...etc.

One single time versus thousands, no way I can agree that lends itself to "just as easily"..

Harv 24 said:

Most shooting statistics from the FBI show the majority of fights are 3-5 yards..

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The study most often sited is police shootings (a different mission than that of John Q public) and flawed at that. Included in the study was officers shot from ambush and never drawing the sidearm and officer suicides where we can assume only one shot was fired. That skews the numbers. Even the methodology of what is a shooting is, is flawed. I.E. Officer and bad guy shoot 3 rounds at each other in the street, bad guy runs into a building, and they trade 2 more shot, bad guy runs out the back into the ally and they trade 4 more shots. 9 shots fired right? NOPE! They counted it as three separate encounters with an average of 3 shots fired.
With the improvements in bullet design, and firearms, the reliability of semi v revolver is so slight as to make this a moot point. Though I still feel there is a slight advantage to revolvers and the slight disadvantage for semi is almost always operator error. I'm old enough, and I'm sure others here are also, when this was not the case with anything but ball. I would also like to add that all the horror stories of what can malfunction a revolver will also malfunction a semi.
Having said all that, I still carry a revolver. I'm old, it is what I'm used to/comfortable with and I'm more likely to get run over by a herd of mike cows than I am to encounter a ninja death squad, zombie biker gang, or meth head tweekers. YMMV.

03hemi said:

Revolvers can lock-up or misfire just as easily as a semi-auto.

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WRONG. On its face it's Wrong.

Part of CCW with an auto is learning how to clear jams. Everyone who carries a semi must learn how. There are drills for it. Failure to feed, failure to eject, stove pipes. Every type of jam has a different way to clear it, so you do all of them when a jam occurs. And, mag floor plates let go and dump all your rounds on the ground ... I've had all of them happen.

It is not a concern when carrying a revolver. Long practice sessions with a revolver are the only times a lock up from fouling or metal expansion from the heat in a very tight cyl gap occurs. I doubt anyone is going to go through 200 rounds in a gunfight.

Failure to fire? Simply pull the the revolver's trigger again.

I've never had jams competing with a revolver. Not enough rounds in a stage are fired to foul a revolver. Between stages I just brushed the forcing cone with a brass wire brush. Gun cools. Good to go. That's prevention.

I've had jams when competing with a semi with hot and cold guns. They happen to everyone.

Semi-autos jam OFTEN. Prepare for it.

BKLooney said:

In all my years of shooting handguns, over 50 years now, I've only had one revolver lockup on me. It was a 2 1/2" S&W model 19 with Blazer aluminum cases. I could get off one round from a full cylinder and that was it until I got the cylinder open and replaced the fired case...only to repeat itself a handful of times, never shot that stuff from a revolver again.

I've had pistols lock up thousands of times for various reasons...bad feed ramps, bad magazines, bad feed lips, weak rounds...etc.

One single time versus thousands, no way I can agree that lends itself to "just as easily"..

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Yes over 50 years but I've had it happen twice. Same gun, same problem. the ejector rod would unscrew itself and lock up the cylinder. A little of the Mrs. nail polish (don't tell her) on the threads fixed that little red wagon.

i too prefer revolvers. intuitive manual of arms. easy to safety-check & make-safe. simple to clean, no bits to remove or lose. customizable with a variety of ammo loads without compromising functionality. ditto with grips. can sleep bedside, secured, loaded and untouched for years yet still function when called upon. in a series of work-mandated moves to anti-gun locales my sole firearm for 25 years was a surreptitious taurus m85 38sp snubbie revolver.

here is an excellent explanation:

Well I’ve gone full circle back to a j frame. I have tried a Shield, 365 and even a 1911 defender. I used to pocket carry my j frame then went to AIWB after trying my sons 66-1 snub that way. Something about the cylinder being below the belt line and the rounded grips just don’t dig into me that a semi auto does. I sold off most of my semi autos to finance my blue 4” adjustable sight wood grip addiction

While I am on the hunt for a nice 19 or 66 snub I carry a 442 no lock that is my constant companion. When carry AIWB I feel much better with a long trigger pull no hammer pointing south in a holster then a striker fired. While it may work for others I just feel more comfortable using a revolver since I’ve been shooting them for the past 35+ years.

I was surprised at how easy it was to conceal that 66 snub some I’m on the hunt for something similar

Another plus is I can shoot that 442 into a palm sized group at 7 yards. I can also shoot onto an 8” plate at 10 yards so I can cover the group with my hand. If I am having a good shooting day then I can hit that plate at 25 yards.

I always make it a habit to put at least 20 rounds of not more from my 442 whenever I go shooting no matter what else I bring.
I have not made any modifications to the stock trigger or even the grips but I am looking at some wood grips to add some extra surface area to hold on to.

At times when I had some hand issues I carried a 36 with tyler’s that shot just as well. I have since gone back to the 442 now that it is all healed up. I even shoot +p without issue.

BKLooney said:

In all my years of shooting handguns, over 50 years now, I've only had one revolver lockup on me. It was a 2 1/2" S&W model 19 with Blazer aluminum cases. I could get off one round from a full cylinder and that was it until I got the cylinder open and replaced the fired case...only to repeat itself a handful of times, never shot that stuff from a revolver again.

I've had pistols lock up thousands of times for various reasons...bad feed ramps, bad magazines, bad feed lips, weak rounds...etc.

One single time versus thousands, no way I can agree that lends itself to "just as easily"..

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You literally just proved my point, revolvers can lock-up.

Fortunately, being a geezer, I've had decades to work with both platforms and multiple models within each---as such I am a "generalist" in terms of competence with both platforms and adept with a few models within each...as such, I adhere to the saying" the best gun is what is readily available when hostilities commence"

In my opinion, there is no “one size fits all” answer. It’s a very personal choice based on many factors.

For me, my lifestyle, manner of dress & risk exposure, I’m comfortable with my five shot model 38 in a pocket holster.

If local circumstances changed dramatically, there’s no doubt I’d up gun and change carry methods.

I’ll use this opportunity to share a tragic story regarding improper carry methods. Happened several years ago.

Guy at our local gym apparently keep a loaded semi-auto loose in his gym bag. One day his girlfriend was rummaging through it looking for some piece of gear. Shoot herself square in the chest. DRT on the gym floor. Beautiful gal lost to a stupid and irresponsible carry choice.

I was there that day.

I had a revolver lock up one time twice.
66-1 (cracked forcing cone) locked up when the cone became distorted and bound up. When it came back from S&W, barrel replacement they also replaced hammer and other internals.

I went to test fire the gun. After just a few rounds it locked up to the point it was a stainless steel rock..

Firing pin tip broke off and was stuck in the back of the round just fired and protruding through the bushing.

With that said, I carry a revo often.