Revolver vs. Semi-Auto

Which do you believe is a better weapon? I personally believe the revolver is. Due to the fact that it is more reliable, and it can take more powerful rounds.

It is not to me the correct question or format you have presented it in ...trekkie.
Revolvers may do what you say ..take such powerful cartridges..but it is a moot point if you cannot afford to feed them these expensive ...powerful cartridges. These things cost moneys. Lots of it to feed them.

Furthermore...and more important..for all this power..can one satisfactorily handle a gun like this...semi or revolver. All the power in the world is meaningless if you cannot dicipline it satisfactorily.

I own two firearms in .35 Remington caliber. A Marlin336 rifle..and a Thompson Contender pistol. The Contender is a single shot pistol with a 14 inch barrel. Talk about power. I dont make it a habit to shoot this tool without a glove on as the recoil is so rough it will numb my wrist by pinching the nerve when it recoils. The .35 Remington is a powerful short r to medium range cartridge. I know people with Contenders and Encores in larger calibers. This one is enough for me. Power is often overated. If I want that much raw power and punishment in something I can afford.I will buy a single shot..10 gauge shotgun. Lol lol..no thanks ..I've almost outdone myself with my Contender.

The point again ..power is not good or sufficient if you cannot handle it in any caliber.
Get what you can afford and learn to use it ..learn to be proficient with what you have. Revolver or semi auto. No substitute for proficiency...in any caliber or style firearm.

Thanks ,
Orangetom

I agree power in itself is useless, there are many more variables.

Do you know when the mayor of NYC signed the directive to issue Glocks to the police? The day after an off duty police officer confronted robbers in a local bodega. She fired all the shot in her revolver, killing 2 or 3 of the assailants, but then she was out of ammo (only 6 in the cylinder, you know). Thankfully, she overpowered the one remaining robber.

However, this was a lesson we learned.

I think revolvers are good just because they don't jam, but the semi's today are pretty good too. Revolvers also don't leave shell casings if thats important to you

yup warpboost..I like revolvers myself. I dont use them professionally but they seem to be reliable. The reliability factor in semi autos has significantly improved too.
Carried my .45 ACP Colt Government concealed today...while conducting buisness about town. I sometimes switch it out with a 357 revolver.
The difference in overall weight is noticable.

Thanks ,
Orangetom

I think it's simply an issue of taste. I've seen speed-loader guys with revolvers that are faster than 99% of automatic shooters. It's all about practice and accuracy. The end of the movie "Unforgiven" is a good example. The point is to be accurate when you pull the trigger. If you panic, you'll die.

Revolver Guy says: Automatics have too many moving parts and they jam too easily. Revolvers are reliable and simple, with a hammer that I can see working. I want my gun to be simple and effective.

Auto Guy says: Revolvers are heavy hunks of metal and if you happen to have an empty chamber, you have to cycle the gun to get to your next bullet. Automatics like the Glock are just as reliable as any revolver. Also, autos are much faster to reload.

...In the end, if you get a gun, your first priority should be safety. Never point the weapon at anything you don't want destroyed, regardless of if it's loaded or not. Always assume every gun is loaded. Second rule should be practice. If you ever have to fire your gun under duress, you want to be sure you can hit your target before they hit you. Any gun will do, so long as you know how to use it.

Well revolvers are a lot more reliable, however I think that semi-autos today are reliable enough to get the job done without much hassle. Anyhow the semi-auto is nice because they do have carrying capacity and speed. The other crucial advantage is that revolvers can't be silenced. So I'm thinking that semi-autos are overall better.

The revolver is a superior self defense weapon for a variety fo reasons beyond the conventional wisdom that "semi autos jam".

You can keep a revolver loaded indefinately. Keeping a magazing fully loaded is detrimental to the magazine's condition as it compresses the springs and creates feed problems.

A revolver can be a very innocent seeming weapon. It's not designed to kill a bunch of people without having to reload, it can't be silenced, they can be quite compact, and they just don't have the menacing aesthetic or reputation of semi-autos. If you ever had to defend yourself with a weapon, and quite possibly answer for it in court, you'd be better off if you'd done it with a small calliber revolver.

A revolver is more conducive to responsible firing. You don't spray and pray with a revolver. You are really forced to master the weapon and make your shots count.

There's less danger of leaving a round chambered unintentionally in a revolver. When you unload your weapon it's unloaded- no danger of forgetting that you've got one in the spout and getting yourself in trouble.


Last but not least... "So you gotta ask yourself... do you feel lucky. Do ya, punk?"

About ten years ago, when I was looking for handguns for my family, my wife tried my Ruger P85 autoloader and did not like it at all. She had difficulty pulling the slide to chamber a round and cock the pistol in broad daylight under no pressure at all; I could imagine how hard it would be for her to do it alone at night with the possibility of a Bad Guy being in the house with her.

A friend loaned us her Smith .357 double-action revolver with a four-inch barrel (which was loaded with .38 wadcutters). My wife fell in love with it. Everything made sense; she could see exactly what was happening, and she knew that she could pick up the revolver, point it at a Bad Guy, cock it, and fire it. If she, under pressure, forgot to cock it, that was okay, too.

I ended up selling the P85 and we bought two Taurus (Brazilian build, Smith design) revolvers. To keep the logistics tail short, we try to limit the number of cartridges so we don't have to buy a bunch of dies, etc. These are the only handguns we have, and we're quite happy with them.

I thin an autoloader is, with the proper training, a superior weapon (assuming you keep the magazine out of the pistol and unloaded to avoid deforming the spring), but a slower weapon that someone will use is a lot better than a high-tech weapon that will not be used.

cyberdude says:

Well revolvers are a lot more reliable, however I think that semi-autos today are reliable enough to get the job done without much hassle. Anyhow the semi-auto is nice because they do have carrying capacity and speed. The other crucial advantage is that revolvers can't be silenced. So I'm thinking that semi-autos are overall better.

Are you planning on suppressing a handgun? If so, why?

Originally posted by Off_The_Street
cyberdude says:

The other crucial advantage is that revolvers can't be silenced. So I'm thinking that semi-autos are overall better.

Are you planning on suppressing a handgun? If so, why?

I hope against hope that he only wants that so that he can target-shoot in unauthorized area without alerting the Bureau of Land Management or whatever relevant authority take notice of him. In the back of my mind I find that a tad unlkely though.

I myself own three Tarus revolvers and I am very satisfied with all of them. Two of them are six shot .38/357 caliber. One with 4" barrel and one with 6" inch barrels. Agree with Off the Street...in the assessment that for women they are ready to go...not complex. Also with wadcutter loads...very managable. Myself ,I like the semi wadcutter but it is a matter of choice just as is the gun itself.
The third Tarus is a Tracker in .45 ACP caliber. Six inch plus barrel. It is a very accurate shooter..not that the others are not but this one is made for target shooting and very accurate. It uses five shot clips to hold the ammunition in place. It is a pleasure to shoot this revolver.
The other plus for me is that I reload. Semi autos ..while ok with me ...eject the brass cases ..all over the range. This is not a problem with revolvers..just open and dump them conveniently into a box. Yes ..I am lazy ..in this ..I like convenience of revolvers.!! LOL LOL!!
Off the street ..is correct...about magazine springs. I keep a pump .22 loaded around the house ..pump shotgun too..I empty them two to three times a year and relax the springs. I never worry about this with my revolvers. Same with my Colt .45 auto..I empty the magazines several times a year for a couple of days before refilling them. Not a difficult thing to do if you remember to do it ..most people dont.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Interesting, I never even considdered that firearms with magazines or clips had problem with their springs.

I ofcourse never owned one my self, I just handled a few now and then and owned some inexpensive airsoft guns and CO2 pistols, I now own a Air Rifle which I keep loaded at all times, I am not allowed to own any firearms, so a loaded air rifle is all I have and my trusty baseball bat

As for having a weapon silenced, I see little reason to do so, I personally like the Bang when I pull the trigger, and I quite enjoy the brass being ejected, but that's a personal thing.

I prefer Auto pistols, if i'd pick a pistol for my self, i'd probably go for the 1911 clones out there or a Sig Sauer P226, for my wife i'd probably pick a lighter auto in atleast .40cal like a Glock or USP 40 if we could afford that.

Agree ground Zero.
Not much use for a silencer..though they are more easily made than most people can imagine.
for a thorough machine fit ..basic machinery skills help alot.

Thanks,
Orangetom

I like my glock auto-loader for home self defense. I like it because it holds 15 rounds and I can shoot faster with it than a revolver. I have shot thousands of rounds through the glock and have yet to experience a jam.

I do love the smith and wesson model 19 k frame. She feels good and target aquisition is fast. I like the smith and wesson for taking into the woods because I am more accurate at longer ranges.

It all depends on what you are using the firearm for and what you can shoot with. I have not practiced enough to feel confident with spped loaders that is the main reason I like the glock for home defense.

Ugggh...I have mixed feelings about the Glock. On one hand, it's not a bad gun. It's reliable, cheaper than a decent firearm (RE: Fabrique Nationale) and it's light. On the other hand, I don't trust that 'internal safety'. There are far too many stories of officers having 'negligent discharges' despite having the firearms holstered. The trigger pull is FAR too light.

For a self defence gun, there simply is no better option than a .357/.38 DA revolver. As for Taurus, I prefer the SW686, hell even a Model 10. The Model 10 is 100% reliable, police issue weapon.

DE

Which do you believe is a better weapon?

For what? Hunting, then only one answer will do.

I am a pistol hunter. Many folks are in the west. These guns are not for
plinking. Most will give you a great blister between thumb and forefinger
clear thru gel recoil pads after two cylinder loads. Practice a bit with a
.44 magnum before taking on one of these. If you are not comfortable with
monumental recoil, wear a helmet as well. Note that there are NO Semi-Autos
in the hunter's armory. Those are the plinkers, for fun, not serious business.
These handguns have muzzle energy equal to or better than a .30-06 rifle.
They are also heavy. Dont wear them on the hip. For long hunts (hikes) these
are most comfortable in a cross-chest holster. The recoil is very unkind to
scopes, but they shoot well with open sights to about 50 Yds.

.480 Ruger
www.handloads.com...

.500 Smith and Wesson
www.gunblast.com...

The classic, from the 1960's, the gun they all compare to
www.freedomarms.com...

Guess :

couple of things i noticed here:

#1 there is a huge MISCONCEPTION that leaving a semi auto magizine loaded over a long duration will damage it in some way. Well . . . . that MIGHT be true in the case of some CHEAP knock off like a Tarus or something.

Even being an engineer and knowing about things like elasticity and plasticity- i too had that misconception but my uncle (a retired SWAT from LA) pointed out how incorrect that viewpoint was and it was like a big "DUH i know this"

If you load up a magazine past the elastic region of the spring- it will damage it anyway right then right there and every reloading of it will kill it faster. Gun makers make sure to keep the spring design within the elastic region. No ammount of time being loaded will damage a spring that remains in the elastic region.

to test this out i actually left a pre-ban glock 17 magazine loaded with 15 rounds for 10 years and fired it off just last week. Know what? Zero malfunctions. that very same magizine handled ~50 more rounds (got to limit how much i shoot cause it is expensive) with no problems- zero malfunctions.




#2 there seems to be a misconception that silencers are illegal or have no useful and legal purpose. let me be one of the first to point out how terriblly wrong this is.

you can LEGALLY own a silencer in almost all 50 states. i don't remember which ones don't except maybe new york- California does allow silencer ownership - belive it or not the last time i was there- owning a silencer will require a special permit and you had better have a legit reason when you apply for one.

a quick search produced the following: and is exactly why i seldom post anything on this site anymore. too many people shooting from the hip with absolutly nothing to go on.


www.advanced-armament.com...
guns.connect.fi...
guns.connect.fi...



as to which is best.

well for myself i like a Glock semi auto and own several. nothing can compare for functionality vs price and if you are not an idiot you won't be shooting yourself as i saw someone else on this thread mention- such people should never be allowed around guns in the first place.

for a lady- well go with a revolver because they typically have limp wrists (i guess you better and the not so straight guys as well to this catagory) having a limp wrist steals the recoil power from the slide and the gun will often stovepipe- or fail to chamber a new round in the chamber. even with training it seems difficult for girls to over come the limpwrist. the current girlfriend has gone through box after box of shells and still has problems- though she is getting very proficient at clearing the gun

one of the best ideas out there concerning revolvers is the MEDUSA- i believe there is a thread on this board about it- i even think i kicked it off- the gun can chamber over 138 different rounds in the 9mm range. ie 9mm luger, 9mm long, 38 special, 380, 357, etc just grab a handfull and feed them into the six chambers. problem is most gun dealers are unaware of this gun and it is difficult (and costly) to obtain ($875 ++ usd)

www.kitsune.addr.com...

note that this article says 25 becuase they left all the "other" rare rounds out. in any event even if it ONLY had a limit of 25 different rounds WOW.

THIS is the gun for the girlfriend.

If you want something that will instantly make a criminal regret coming near you nothing quite works like a six shooter chambered in 44-40. I know its an old caliber and single actions are outdated but when you see that person pull back the hammer it says you mean business. That or you can get real good and use the gunslinger draw.

T end to agree somewhat . Anyone who does not respect the look of a Gun or any well used tool needs the "education.

Your post makes me think of the olde double barreled coach guns with hammers. However ..I do know that,improperly respected, they are as dangerous out in the field to the user as well as on the buisness end. Exposed Hammers can get caught in thick brush.

This is not a issue with most semi autos.

Thanks,
Orangetom