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

[Bubba2014]

I love 1911's, but it is hard to beat a good revolver. I carried both during my thirty years in law enforcement,

 

[shil]

When I carry, I'm ok with my Model 36 or Model 38.

 

[jurnes]

Kim licensed to carry my Glock 19 and my S & W 640 PRO.

The 640 is much more concealable and comfortable. It took a bit of additional practice to qualify with the Smith stubby. Worth it!

One more allowed on my CCW license. I’m choosing between my 686 plus or my Model 67? Love and shoot both well!

 

[KenTheHunter]

And I cannot predict what my fight might look like, so I'm erring on the side that gives me the edge, which is why I carry in the first place, otherwise, I would just be like the majority of people and not carry and go with the odds that bad **** will never happen to me.

If I'm going to bother to carry, then I'm going to chose a tool that gives me a leg up on a 5 shot revolver.


We all make our choices, and I know why I chose mine.

I keep coming back to carrying revolvers. Currently I carry a S&W 10-7, 2”

 

[walkin' trails]

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

In the late 80s, LE was being confronted with the likes of the cocaine cowboys in Miami who apparently have many problems acquiring selective firepower artillery, and early active shooters who found something with a higher capacity. I remember my first Christmas even on the border, hearing holiday reveler in Tijuana making a full mag with a full auto AK. Of course stuff like that made the young and pumped up among us, including me, wishing we had a semi auto pistol. What we really needed, and we didn’t know it because we were too entrenched in a paradigm, was that we really needed “patrol carbines” with 30-round capacity that we could more accurately aim and fire. When I say “we,” I mean LE in general.

I went thru the Border Patrol academy in 1990 with a re-issued 686. None of our class was issued new revolvers. Still, I don’t recall any stoppages or malfunctions. I carried that 686 through my probationary period and then transitioned to my personal Glock 17 that had been “burning a hole” in the footlocker. Not that I was completely done with wheel gun - qualified with and occasionally carried a personally owned 19-5. With a revolver, I learned that a lot of dust will jame up a Safariland speed loader while HKS seemed impervious. I reverted back to the 19 when I trained for the ATV detail like everyone else. Yet I ended up using a Bianchi military holster with a flap for my Glock when I was assigned to the detail because the Glock handled the dust at least as well as a revolver.

Ive seen S&Ws have problems when ejector rods came unscrewed, and 1992-era GP100s lock up from heat fairly regular 25-30 rounds into a 72-round qualification course with duty loads (Federal.357 Magnum 110 grain SJHP). I’ve had a 940 lock up on me with 147 grain Hydra Shoks (though I was surprised it did fine with lighter +p+). And the firing pin finally wore out on my 640 and it’s not easy to find parts or a gunsmith to work on the older pre locks unless you want to play the UPS/FedX shipping game. (That gun got a lot of +p+ during its abused life).

Documented at least as far back as Wild Bill Hickock, great or infamous revolver fighters carried more than one (usually) and likely would have preferred a Winchester lever gun. The often-referenced NYPD Stakeout Squad usually carried two or three backup guns in addition to their NYPD authorized duty revolver. Jim Cirillo, in his book account, was progressively evaluating shoulder fired arms available during that time, such as the M1 carbine as a better solution. The French GIGN still issues a .357 Magnum revolver in place of a semi auto handgun. But I’ll stop short of saying that one is better served with a revolver. Even though it might be true, I see people who are taking my CCW class shoot the qual course with wheel guns of various flavors. One thing is certain is that very few of them made an educated choice and sought training prior to showing up for CCW classes.

But yeah, in the late 80s, law enforcement was looking looking for and trying to convince commissions and counsels and legislators that they needed more firepower in the form of semi automatic handguns. What they did not factor in was the need for training programs that would build and maintain the shooting skills necessary to avoid the spray and pray” mentality.

 

[nll401]

Lots of people here say they carry revolvers.
Here in Illinois we must recertify every 5 years.
Last two times I was the only one in the entire class with a revolver.

For anyone considering a handgun for self defense for the first time, they are presented with loads of options for SA pistols. And advertising. But very little for a revolver. Add to that the cost differential between a plastic 9mm and a.38 Spec revolver.

 

[nevadacal]

I have, options many. I don't carry as much as I should. I,m 70, never needed a gun, now I,m a soft target to some. So I,m trying to carry more. S&W Air weight. My thought carry what is comfortable or I might not carry. It's always the same, shot placement & the decision to do so. Hopefully that will not be needed, but 5 rounds is plenty. Just what fits for me.

 

[decuerno]

This discussion is taking on the aurora of…
…Are the horseshoes you toss Real? ..or the large, rubber-coated, fake-ones game-makers sell…?

 

[Rocketmedic40]

I do believe that some automatic pistols have a significant advantage in sites when compared to most revolvers. Night sites, true glow, etc. This is not to say that revolver sites are bad or primitive, but in comparison, there is more real estate on most semi automatic pistols.

 

[Rocketmedic40]

On the other hand, I do think revolvers have a very significant advantage in terms of public perception, particularly in certain blue states. It’s a lot harder to ban a revolver with piecemeal features bills than it is to go after a normal, semi automatic pistol.

 

[kennyb]

What you are comfortable with and shoot well.

 

[b737lvr]

On the other hand, I do think revolvers have a very significant advantage in terms of public perception, particularly in certain blue states. It’s a lot harder to ban a revolver with piecemeal features bills than it is to go after a normal, semi automatic pistol.

This is an argument I’ve made about carry before. Imagine for a moment that you were in a super rare defensive shooting, say, you were parked in the parking lot of a grocery store while the lady is inside. While parked you become subject to a crime and use your handgun in defense. Nobody saw it and nobody heard anything but the shots.

Now say the DA is one of those and tries to pin you with murder. Say it makes it to a jury trial. Well I can tell you this for sure: when a jury sees a Glock 19 with a light, red dot, extended base plate, and big suppressor sights the very first thing that’s going to come across their mind, whether you agree with them or not, is that your gun is a scary tactical handgun that only cops should have. That is just what’s gonna happen. Now I can almost guarantee a 642 airweight could have done just as good of a job. But how do you think a jury is going to react internally seeing a small J frame revolver? Probably not at all. It’s a small little bitty gun that in their mind fits their preconceptions of what a defensive gun looks like.

 

[Doriangray6]

I shoot both revolvers and pistols and it's not so much which make me feel more secure but which is more comfortable that determines what I carry and for me it's revolvers.
But since I rotate which handgun I have out for "just in case" sometimes it's a pistol though whatever it is it's always single-double action.

 

[luvsmiths]

Squib

 

[fatcat3]

I could carry a 2 shot derringer and not feel the least bit under gunned

And did for years in stupid places, with stupid people doing stupid things. But for the Grace of God go I. 1 Corinthians 15:10

You just expressed how you control enough of the where and when, yet you say "I don’t pick fights or get into trouble. I don’t go to places where people pick fights and start trouble. I don’t go out late at night"

Yet you have had at least two time where you had to "get someone away from me" ,

You are full of contradictions.

I'm done here, I'll continue with my chosen path, and you can do the same.

Maybe just me but I don't see the contradiction. My behavior in the past is vastly different that how I behave today. Things that I have done, and may have had to have done are much less likely today than 40-50 years ago. "I'm done here, I'll continue with my chosen path, and you can do the same." is all anyone is asking, just be kind enough not to tell us we are wrong or act condescending because we walk a different path. What's right and works for you may not be what's right and works for me.
Doesn't make either of us wrong or superior.

 

[Doc TH]

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

Do you have any evidence for this generalization? Experience would indicate you are incorrect.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

In my non-scientific experience and observations...most revolver issues have been user-induced. Much the same can be said for self-loaders...limp wristing, etc. But a properly set up and maintained revolver and self-loader are very reliable.

 

[Chuck Edwards]

Clean, lubed, and properly maintained revolvers and autoloaders are about equally reliable when fed good-quality ammo. What folks who don't shoot a lot ("a lot" being >100 rounds at a range session) don't see is that revolvers need more maintenance. You can put a few hundred rounds in an afternoon through something like a Glock with no issues except for the damage to your bank account. Doing that with a revolver will require periodic brushing out of the chambers and under the extractor star and checking the screws and ejector rod for loosening, and that's assuming that your ammo doesn't cause leading and build up on the face of the cylinder.

And that's experience talking. I just put 50 rounds of High Desert's .357 Mag 158-grain FMJs (~930 fps from a 4" barrel) through my 4" M19-3. Partway through, the cylinder was stiff on opening. I checked, and yup, the ejector rod was loose. I finger-tightened it and finished the range session. When I got home, I dug out the Brownell's tool and tightened it properly.

 

[Yendor357]

^ lol, You need some Loc Tite, Chuck.

 

[stringpicker]

Ill carry either one...but it depends on what I'm doing orcwearing. My semiautos all run like sewing machines. They are also generally easy to diagnose and repair if there is a problem. If the timing is off on a revolver, it takes much more to repair than a semiauto.

Find what you trust the most, and carry what makes you comfortable.