I used autos for most of my employments, but "ran into" revolvers from time to time during my first 25 years, encountering them with increasing frequency after about 1978. I initially found them "amusing."
More revolvers have failed in my use than semi-autos by a large margin.
In '95 I bought two .44 Mag Vaqueros for one of our sons to use in Cowboy Action Shooting. Both experienced dead-stop jams where the hammer could not be cocked until the gun was disassembled. Couldn't see anything wrong and they worked when reassembled - for a while. I sent the first one to Ruger. It came back with a "clean bill of health," but didn't take long to jam up again.
My .45-Colt Vaqueros never missed a beat.
I purchased a Ruger Redhawk new, for one of our sons. I did not look it over. First time he fired it, lead shaved and was spit out from in front of the cylinder. We could see that the forcing cone appeared to have been reamed out with a hacksaw blade. Barrel replaced.
I had purchased two S&W 327 TRR8 revolvers. Each was "stolen" by our Charming Children so I bought a third.
Son #3 found it and I figured it was gone for good. I hadn't even fired it.
He brings it into my office and says "Look at this, Dad." He held the barrel in one hand and the frame in the other and they wiggled. Back to S&W for total replacement.
I purchased a S&W 329PD when they first were available, for backpacking. At the range I was shooting factory 240gr jacketed ammo when I experienced a jam. Getting the cylinder open was very difficult. Then, I could not extract the shells. Even with a brass rod TAPPED, yes, I am SURE, I TAPPED it, the shell was difficult to extract and the crane broke. Back to S&W, fixed no charge.
A few years later I sent it to Cylinder & Slide for an Ashley Outdoors Big Dot Front Sight and their Extreme Duty rear, with tritium tubes. I asked them to look it over and "tune it up" as necessary.
They called to say the lock work was so battered they wouldn't work on it until it was repaired, and suggested sending it back to S&W. I said to do that, and they did. I don't know how many rounds had been through it, but I shot no more than 20 rounds of spec .44 Magnum ammo through it in a year, perhaps another 100 of my Cowboy loads, and each year before I headed for the mountains I fired three, 300-gr Hammerhead rounds to be sure I knew point of aim vs point of impact. These were hunting loads that S&W said the gun would handle.
In the years since I fired it about the same amount, except I stopped using the Hammerheads because they hammered my wrists and hands. No further problems.
I have a vague memory of a Colt double-action that would lock up at about 1/2 of the trigger pull and could not be fired until the trigger was relaxed and pulled again. I sold it as-is to someone. Yes, I told him about it.
I was firing the 386PD with Tulammo when the cylinder jammed for no obvious reason. The shot felt normal. No bullet had slipped forward, the firing pin had retracted, the cylinder bolt had retracted. We could not open the cylinder until we really forced it. I was concerned we might break it, but at that point we had an inoperable gun no gunsmith would touch, so there we were. After we got it open I sent it to S&W for a checkup. They said it was fine, but replaced the hand. That's the last time I EVER used, or will use, Tulammo.
Despite those problems, I have been flat-out amazed at how tolerant they are of corrosion or terrible maintenance. Rusty, pitted bores, rusty pitted chambers, gritty lockwork from lack of lube, cylinders that rattled in the frame, I even remember someone who had a revolver (don't remember the brand) with a slightly bent barrel. Shot just fine. Or so he said.
Saw some with bulged barrels, too. Seemed to shoot just fine.
In Central and South America I saw "repairs" that scared the c$%& out of me, but that worked. One I particularly remember, the trigger did not operate the lockwork so the user turned the cylinder by hand to line up the chamber with the bore. How did he lock it in place? WITH HIS FINGERS! Another had a crack in the mouth (front end) of a chamber. Solution? Load five. Front sight broken off? Paint a stripe on top of the barrel.
I saw a number with the trigger guard cut out at the front, a la "Fitz" Colts. Scary, but they worked. Barrel cut off? With a hacksaw? No problem, even if the muzzle was a little, uhm, angled. And not crowned.
I can't count how many I saw that were painted because the finish had worn off and the shooter didn't like the way it "glinted" in the light. Same for a couple stainless steel models. Krylon from Ace Hardware.
Sooo, sure, they fail. In my personal experience, more revolvers than autos have failed. But I kept mine in excellent repair and none ever failed in the field.
