Police chief says revolvers o.k. for duty carry.

[AABEN]

I've read the comments about revolvers posted above, and decided to enter a more serious post.

Any firearm is no better than the person shooting it, period. When I retired in 2007 I was carrying a revolver, by my choice because that was what I felt best fit the situation. Revolvers have advantages over autos and autos have advantages over revolvers and it depends on the individual which one he should be choosing, not that he will get it right. I could shoot and reload my revovlers faster than anyone on my dept. with autos, and some of them went out and bought revolvers from watching me shoot, but that was a mistake because I could shoot an auto better than they could too, it wasn't the gun.

Most officers choose autos because they are told they are better than revolvers, even though they have never fired a revolver in their lives. The "advantage" of more ammo is a crutch that will get them killed in a real hurry, especially after learning how to shoot from competition shooters.

Very well said. THANK

 

[Smith_68]

My wife carried a 686 for a little over 20 years and never had any problems with it not one hiccup.When the dept authorized and encouraged officers to change she said she wouldn't and never did.Later when she was working felony courts in civilian attire the 686 was too big to conceal.She replaced it with a snubby mod 36 and still qualified on the same range with other officers.She loves her wheel guns.

 

[18DAI]

Around three years ago revolvers were "prohibited" as primary duty guns. Those of us who were grandfathered in were told "Oh so sorry. Get a shell shucker."

So I went to S&W 3rd generation 45's. Nice pistols. Only held two or three more rounds than my revolvers. No more accurate than my revolvers. More maintenance intensive - springs, lube, grease, ect - than a revolver. Heavier than a revolver too.

When NC changed a few General Statutes this past December, revolvers and 1911's were.....inadvertantly perhaps, put back on the "approved list".

So this past December I qualified with a 4" 66 and a 2.5" 66 as well as a 640-1 for BUG/Off duty. They just work, for me.

Carry whatever fits your hand and you can get fast accurate hits with. Be it semi auto or revolver. The first shot in an armed confrontation is the most important and you will be out of time long before you are out of ammunition. Regards 18DAI

 

[StatesRightist]

Whatever the reason , I see an alarmingly high number of shots fired with relatively few hits in police shootings in the news , when the officers are using high capacity autoloaders. Training and familiarity with ones weapon is the key. I doubt many academys or departments can afford the kind of realistic , stress induced training used by US military special forces , or as offered by these 'combat ranches' like Gunsite.

You would be amazed how few officers show up for voluntary combat training, a significant percentage of the group does not shoot other than qualifying. A few stories from the head of the range where I shoot, one walked around for a YEAR with a loaded magazine, but nothing chambered, he thought he had one in it, but did not. One road LT took 3 tries to get 70% in the black on a B-27, another had left his gun in the holster so long part of the holster came off when he pulled the gun out. Finally, one guy had not cleaned his gun from last time's qualifying. These are all stories from this year, not over the years.

Those are the types who usually sneer at revolvers and have idea how to shoot accurately, the pray and sprayers.

 

[Faulkner]

"The M1 rifle is the best battle implement ever devised." General George Patton. If that is the case, why aren't our troops still carrying a M1 rifle into battle? For the same reason most cops don't still carry revolvers.

I'm not anti-revolver, and in fact still qualify with and carry my 3 inch M65 on occasion. As an LE instructor, though, my experiance has been that most of the officers who still carry revolvers as a primary uniform carry weapon do so for one of two reasons; 1) nostalgia and/or 2) unwilling or unable to make the transition to something new. Not saying this is all encompassing and that's how it is in the entire universe, but that's what I see on a consistent basis. Not saying that makes 'em ineffective officers or bad people either.

 

[Mphstiger1981]

You would be amazed how few officers show up for voluntary combat training, a significant percentage of the group does not shoot other than qualifying. A few stories from the head of the range where I shoot, one walked around for a YEAR with a loaded magazine, but nothing chambered, he thought he had one in it, but did not. One road LT took 3 tries to get 70% in the black on a B-27, another had left his gun in the holster so long part of the holster came off when he pulled the gun out. Finally, one guy had not cleaned his gun from last time's qualifying. These are all stories from this year, not over the years.

Those are the types who usually sneer at revolvers and have idea how to shoot accurately, the pray and sprayers.

True. From my own personal experience as a former LEO, few of the guys I worked with could have been described as "gun guys". The gun was simply a required part of the uniform. The best shooters during quals were the same guys who also practiced on their own, at their own expense. These were the same guys who were smart enough to carry a BUG. My brother is a patrol officer in a small suburb of Memphis, and he doesn't bother to carry off-duty. Despite my numerous invitations, he has seldom gone with me to the range to shoot. It's just not his thing.

 

[sheepdawg]

nuff' said.

 

[mkk41]

"The M1 rifle is the best battle implement ever devised." General George Patton. If that is the case, why aren't our troops still carrying a M1 rifle into battle? For the same reason most cops don't still carry revolvers.

Because like police departments , the military has to worry about the 'least common denominator' , who can't do push-ups , pull-ups , run 5mi , climb a 25ft rope , or carry , handle , shoot and qualify with a real rifle. The last real battle rifle , the M-14 and it's ammo was too big , heavy , and kicked too much for many smaller weaker draftees , and dare I say it , WOMEN!

 

[mkk41]

True. From my own personal experience as a former LEO, few of the guys I worked with could have been described as "gun guys". The gun was simply a required part of the uniform. The best shooters during quals were the same guys who also practiced on their own, at their own expense. These were the same guys who were smart enough to carry a BUG. My brother is a patrol officer in a small suburb of Memphis, and he doesn't bother to carry off-duty. Despite my numerous invitations, he has seldom gone with me to the range to shoot. It's just not his thing.

Unfortunately , many of these type of LEOs also feel that civillians shouldn't carry , or even own handguns.

Several years ago , a friend and I were discussing metallic sillouette shooting and a state trooper over heard us and scoffed at hitting anything at the ranges we mentioned with a handgun. I countered that I could probably get a better score on a B-27 target at 50yds than he could at 25 , and invited him to my range. He brought a 686 .357 (can't recall bbl length) 7 1/2in .41 magnum Redhawk. Well , it was close , and he did have a smaller group. But he was amazed at my 5oyd group. He said he'd never even considered shooting a handgun at that range. I even placed one at 100yds and got all 6 hits on the body . He was speechless.

 

[thomasinaz]

Jellybean said it better than I can....
My sometimes carry, dress-up rig and duty 627 8 shot. The main carry rig is ballistic nylon. Not as pretty but easier to maintain.

 

[Jellybean]

"The M1 rifle is the best battle implement ever devised." General George Patton. If that is the case, why aren't our troops still carrying a M1 rifle into battle? For the same reason most cops don't still carry revolvers.

I'm not anti-revolver, and in fact still qualify with and carry my 3 inch M65 on occasion. As an LE instructor, though, my experiance has been that most of the officers who still carry revolvers as a primary uniform carry weapon do so for one of two reasons; 1) nostalgia and/or 2) unwilling or unable to make the transition to something new. Not saying this is all encompassing and that's how it is in the entire universe, but that's what I see on a consistent basis. Not saying that makes 'em ineffective officers or bad people either.

The reason that our troops aren't still carrying M1s is because General Patton didn't make that statement last week. At the time he said it the M1 was a great advancement and dominated the individual combat rifle field, even though it did have some drawbacks. Other rifles were made that adressed it's shortcomings and surpassed it. But new innovations aren't always an improvement. And there are even times in the military when an old war horse is a better choice than the latest and greatest, such as the M14. It is no different with handguns for police, choose what fits the best. Most of the police officers I knew at my last dept. had no real knowledge
of firearms. They chose autos because that's what they were told to get and the main reason was because they held more ammunition.

I was my departments requalification officer and I also requaled some smaller agencies. There were two reasons I heard from guys that still carried revolvers too. One was that they didn't want to have to go through the hassle of retraining because they were comfortable with a revolver. And Two was that they knew enough about handguns that they could make their own decisions and didn't fall for the magazine articles telling them they "needed" an auto.

 

[Kavinsky]

Here is a picture of Charlie Sherrill a few years and pounds ago.
He has a Model 58 as his sidearm.
Yes that is a full auto.

Officer Tackleberry I presume? lol

anyways nice to know that theres still some places a cop can carry a revolver if he wishes to.

 

[sipowicz]

If it's good enough for Barney....

BTW, he carried a DS in plainclothes....

 

[jimmyj]

Real Cops Carry Revolvers, and patrol the streets, wear wellington boots, and stetson hats

[/QUOTE]

 

[Oldiron]

Back in '71 we went on a medavac 100 miles down the Baja coast. The guy had a heart attack and was supposed to be on a boat off shore. Got to the location and no boat just a bunch of folks on the beach waving. False info from an American that was living down there to avoid taxes. Anyhow we start loading the guy up and a Federale rolled up. He gets out of the car and he had 2 45s, crossed bandoliers and reached in the seat and got a Thompson. As he started heading our way the guys wife asked if she could go so I literally chunked her up the ladder into the chopper as I was making a one bounce entrance and told the pilot in no uncertain terms Let's go. Now!!! The pilot got a reprimand a couple of months later for landing but we figured we got lucky. Mexico had been know to impound CG aircraft and personnel even when proper permissions were obtained. Only folks I have seen with more "duty" arms has been on movies.
Larry

 

[JJEH]

Revolvers look nice, shoot nice and get a lot of respect.

But if you need firepower, there's nothing better than a semi-auto!

 

[paladin42]

"A weapon that you don't know how to use belongs to your enemy." -- Terry Pratchett

 

[Jellybean]

Revolvers look nice, shoot nice and get a lot of respect.

But if you need firepower, there's nothing better than a semi-auto!

Revolvers get a lot of respect because they've earned it.

"Firepower" is not a constant in any conflict, it might be a large capacity magazine or a single shot T/C Encore. Autos have peculiarities that requires more training to overcome and understand and the amount and quality of training most police officers I've seen are getting isn't even close to what they require.

We are neglecting the lessons learned from real gunfighters like Delf Bryce and Walter Walsh, and a whole host of others, that used both autos and revolvers to their maximum effectiveness against real targets. The idols now got their experience from shooting at baloons and paper and make rules for their games that show nothing but ignorance and bias about the reality of gunfighting. Which is a "MAJOR" mistake.

 

[JJEH]

Revolvers get a lot of respect because they've earned it.

Word.

But I still prefer semi-autos.

I have Military background and I would even complain about the 20rd mag. in the H&K G3.

There is no "general rules which applies to all" on this topic. It's like I ask people which engine oil they prefer in their vehicles and why. We would never come to an end.

I do believe that if I need firepower for more than one intruder (or whatever threat) I have more chances to survive and rescue others with an semi-auto than a revolver.

No offense, just my opinion

 

[Evil Dog]

I do believe that if I need firepower for more than one intruder (or whatever threat) I have more chances to survive and rescue others with an semi-auto than a revolver.

Spray and Pray is no substitute for aimed fire.