Popularity of revolvers seems to be increasing lately.

[AveragEd]

I agree. I've never taken a shine to "black guns," whether they be rifles, shotguns or handguns and I think that SOME of the people who buy them possess vivid imaginations. I know that SOME of them also possess inferior shooting skills, if the shot-up ranges at my club are a testament.

Just the other day, I watched two young guys with plastic pistols "shoot" at silhouette targets from the challenging range of seven yards. One of them emptied his gun's umpteen-round magazine in about 10 seconds, putting one bullet into a vital area on the target. Some of the rest missed the target completely; I could see where some went into the target backer framework but where the rest actually went concerned me, so I asked him if he had any idea. As I suspected, he neither knew nor cared, so as a range officer for the club, I asked him to leave and return when he wanted to first learn how to shoot his gun accurately, THEN practice combative shooting.

Okay, rant over...

Ed

 

[BenR]

I'm 35, and I believe that wheelguns are real guns! The feel, weight, history, reliability, and power of the revolver cannot be matched.

I am a revolver man and always will be. I won't say I'll never own a semi-auto (the S&W M&P .40 Compact, for example, is a great gun), but for the time being, I'm quite content with the couple of revolvers I have—and I plan to add more.

The Performance Center 627 was my first ever gun purchase, and I'll never regret it. My carry piece is a Ruger SP 101 DAO. No regrets there, either. The first gun I ever shot was a friend's S&W that he carried off-duty, and it got me hooked on .357 Magnum right away. Now I'm looking into the .44 Magnum too.

 

[Shooting Padre]

Years back, it was the revolver that served us most. Then came the bottom feeders. I have one. I have several revolvers. I just like them. About them making a comeback, well, you know what they say, "What goes around comes around." Sorry for the really bad pun but it just fit so well.

 

[Bud11]

I'm 35, and I believe that wheelguns are real guns! The feel, weight, history, reliability, and power of the revolver cannot be matched

In my opinion, revolvers represent the best of firearm technology. They are simple, reliable, and accurate to a fault when used at ranges appropriate to the barrel length and caliber.

Something along these lines seems to be a popular response. I like it! Bud

 

[Bearcat]

After a few decades of the wonder nines and drastic plastic pieces, people are getting back to basics and appreciating the craftsmanship, and the retained value, of the classic S&W revolvers. Every good revolver I owned served me well, sometimes for years, and I always sold them for more than I paid for them. Not so much with the Glocks, etc..........YMMV.

 

[hs125]

Back to the fold

I am returning to revolvers for recreation (plinking and IDPA) after a bout with the wonder nines. Though a glock works well and is very reliable, a wheel gun is more to my taste.

Grant Cunningham has a great new book out called: The Gun Digest Book of the Revolver.

Enjoy!

 

[CBus660R]

Without reading most of the replies, I'll simply put in my 2 cents as a 36 year old gun fan. I like both semi autos and revolvers, and have a few of each, but my interest in growing my collection leans towards the revolvers. Just ordered the 3rd edition SCSW so I can better understand the world of Smith's various wheel guns and semi autos. Also have to say I'm a fan of metal guns. There are a few "plastic" guns in my collection, but those were inherited from my father who went through a phase where he liked smaller, concealable guns (this includes an early Sigma .380). I'm more of a collector (all do get shot) rather than buying guns to meet specific needs, so my collection, as it expands through the years, will be a bit eclectic. The goal is to buy unique and/or rare guns at a fair price. Threads like the 617 no dash thread are where I hope to participate down the road

 

[cochise]

There are a few advantages of a revolver. You can load a center fire pistol, .38 / .357 or .44 / .44 mag, with different bullets in the cylinder. I do it all the time. Snake shot in the first two chambers and then hard cast. In the boonies there are numerous foot hazards, snakes. And of course alligators, and bears, ( two legged dopers too). The revolver is just more versatile and certainly more practical for a camper, fisherman or seasonal hunter.

Firepower is not their strong point but I never needed more than 4 shots in 63 years.

 

[1 old 0311]

Look at it this way: Have the Colt SAA's dropped in price? The Smith's won't either.

 

[Bat Guano]

I have always liked 1911s and the BHP by extension, because they are classics. Plus they WORK , accept my handloads, and I can hit with them. I have not found that to be the case with the modern high capacity stuff. For the first few years of my LEO career I was able to carry a LW Comander .45 which was one fine gun. Came the day when a management weenie bethought himself that I did not have "proper training" for that particular weapon of mass destruction, and I had to park the best plainclothes weapon ever built.

Those were still revolver days, and I was also designated as the firearms training officer. So I decided that if I was going to be a revolver shooter I might as well get good at it. A few years later the powers that be unbent enough to start allowing Glocks and SIGs. I trained quite a few people on them but by that time I wasn't ready to put the old reliable wheelgun aside in favor of guns that, oddly enough, choked occasionally and mysteriously. On my own I spent a couple of years with both and proved to my own satisfaction that, yes indeed, state of the art semiautos do malfunction too damn often to suit me. You'd never know it by the display cabinets in gun stores, but there's reliability and then there's RELIABILITY.

I guess I'd rather have "six for sure" than 5-6 times that and wonder if they were all going to feed, fire, and extract as programmed time after time. I have about as much faith in the majority of semiautos as I do in politicians. They both deal in promises but leave others to hold the bag.

I'll stick with the wheelgun from here on out, thank you very much.

 

[Babalooie]

I work part time in a gun shop. Lately, it seems like most of the people who come in, know very little about guns. They see what's happening in the world and feel the need to protect themselves.

We generally recommend shotguns for home defense and revolvers for personal protection. We go through the steps required to ready a semi auto and revolver for fire and most choose a revolver.

We also recommend they get a copy of GUNS 101 by David Steier aka Roland Craps. Every person who purchased it (Amazon has it) has come back saying it helped them.

Revolvers aren't dead. Some people are just discovering them, mostly J frames for concealed carry.

As a retired LEO friend says, you can hit with six or miss with fifteen.

 

[Norsky]

My gun shop tells me that they sell one revolver for every fifteen semi-autos.

 

[Dave_n]

Well I am what might be considered a 50:50 man, meaning roughly 50 of each type. My wheel guns are split between Webleys, Enfields and Nagants on the one hand, and pre lock S & Ws on the other. The latter range from 1890 to 1995 with nary a lock amongst them (other than the ones I sometimes put on the trigger). Calibres range from 32 SW to 0.455 in SW, and from 7.62 Nagant to 0.455 in the others. In addition, half my bottom feeders are SWs, so I can have fun. The few combat Tupperware that I own are the trifecta of P99s, in 9, 40 and 45, two German, one of mixed parentage! Dave_n

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

My gun shop tells me that they sell one revolver for every fifteen semi-autos.

I have a feeling that ratio depends greatly on the geographic location of the gunshop.

Mugsy's Pawn shop down on the street where the shops have bars in the windows probably sells more autos. But I was in my LGS a couple months ago and watched 2 wheelguns go out the door in the 1 hour I was there, not including the one I took home that day. (BTW, I'm not saying your shop is Mugsy's! )

 

[Dadsnugun]

I like 'em all, and go in phases with them...single action cowboy for awhile, then I'm digging on semi-auto's for a bit...right now I'm in my "double action revolver" phase. Which, to me, can only mean S&W...those are the handgun styles I phase in and out of, don't know which I'll be infatuated with next...did see a Mauser "broomhandle" in a shop today that caught my attention, cool little weapon.

 

[stantheman86]

As a civilian who's primary need is to carry a gun as a LAST DITCH absolute last resort, no other option method of protecting my family and myself, I feel totally confident in my wheelguns. 6 for sure plus 12 rounds in speed strips should be enough for me. If things are that bad where 6 rounds won't save me, I don't think 15 will either. I have thought about getting an Airweight as a "NY reload" and thus give me a 11 round capacity.

 

[Bud11]

As a civilian who's primary need is to carry a gun as a LAST DITCH absolute last resort, no other option method of protecting my family and myself, I feel totally confident in my wheelguns. 6 for sure plus 12 rounds in speed strips should be enough for me.

Makes a lot of sense. Bud

 

[LeMans]

The recent increase in both price and popularity of revolvers is not linked to a sudden resurgence in their use as defensive weapons as much as it is fueled by economic uncertainty and the devaluation wether real or perceived of our paper currency. If you follow auction sites you will often see bidders with little to no feedback battling over collectible pieces while dozens of listings for either new or well used samples of the very same gun get relisted week after week with no takers. I doubt any of these pieces getting bid into nosebleed territory will ever be taken to the range. On the same note I sold a flat latch in very good condition earlier today and the older gentleman who bought it told me he thought that the value of the paper he put in my hand was headed towards zero and that he would rather hold on to quality firearms.

With gold prices out of reach for the average person, interest rates near zero, real estate on life support, a bipolar stock market and the value of paper money getting eroded people are seeking refuge into hard assets they think will keep their value and that includes classic revolvers.

This is no political or economical analysis or forecast, I am just relaying what I am witnessing. Oh and about plastic guns I have seen several ads touting Gen 2 Glocks as 'classic' and 'collectibles'... One of them in like new condition with the non upgraded black internals listed at $550 or $600(!) There's a lot of money out there looking for safe places to park and right now for some people collectible firearms is just one such place.

 

[gaspipes]

I'm 45 and came of age(handgun buying age) at the time the wonderine pistols were all the rage. My first handgun I ever bought was a Ruger Redhawk revolver. Since then I have owned just about every major brand handgun out there, semi autos and wheel guns and owned them in big quantities at one point having nearly 50 handguns.

I guess it just took me a while to figure out what I like and don't like. I like semi's and I have started to get back to revolvers although I have always owned at least a couple revolvers my entire shooting life. Over the years as semi autos dominated the public consciousness my wheel guns sat in the safe.

I have 5 revolvers currently and just bought a new 617 the other day from Buds. I have 2 Rugers, now 3 S&W and 1 Taurus that came to me by way of a grandfather passing in the last year. I like shooting them without having to chase brass all over the range. I found out as soon as I bought that Redhawk the only way I was going to be able to afford to shoot it was to reload and so I started that almost the same time I bought the gun.

Maybe it is my age or nostalgia, I don't know, but the one thing I have figured out is I like steel and wood, especially in a hand gun. I had all sorts of alloy and plastic pistols at one point and of the ~25 handguns I own now I am down to a Gluck19 and a S&W M&P9. Heck I'm sorry to see 95% of the Smith J frames are some light weight alloy. I'll never own one. An N frame 44 mag scandium? Seriously? No thanks. Why not just fire .44 magnum shells from an Bic ink pen. Feel about the same in your hand.

So currently I am having a love affair with S&W revolvers(steel ones) and 1911 pistols(high end ones). Neither are cheap. I have decided I want quality in my life not quantity.

Both S&W and Ruger have these awful Hogue rubber grips. I actually liked the old style rubber Ruger had with the wood inserts. At least they were kinda attractive. I really wish S&W wood go back to the old wood grips like the Cokes or Targets, Magna etc.

Sorry for the long rant

 

[Bud11]

So currently I am having a love affair with S&W revolvers(steel ones) and 1911 pistols(high end ones). Neither are cheap. I have decided I want quality in my life not quantity.

Sounds good to me. Bud