Back when the first very successful revolver (not the first, just the first successful one) came out in 1835 it was revolutionary. It vastly increased the firepower of handguns without the incredible bulkiness of the pepperbox pistol, it was also easier to reload. It was the king of multi-shot firearms for a long time and really only last popularity in the military during the early to mid 1900's and only lost popularily in police forces until the mid to late 1900's. But today it has been all but totally superceded in the military and mostly superceded in the police force by automatic pistols. Now the only really use I can see for revolvers currently is to have a pistol powerful enough to take down medium-to big game. Probably the most prolific revolver round for most has been the .38 special, a round that, from every source I have checked, is significantly weaker than the .45, .40, and even 9x19mm rounds, and yet it was a standard round for many years even after such guns as the Browning Hi-Power and Colt 1911 came on the market in huge numbers. Many people maintain that snub nose revolvers are the best for self defense, and I can't see where they are coming from, except in .357 magnum, you will almost always be able to fit a more powerful round in a smaller gun with automatics and automatics are much easier to conceal as they do not have the same cylinder bulge revolvers suffer from. Now the biggest reason I hear people say that revolvers are better is reliability. It has been show time and time again that automatics are plenty reliable and is the different in reliability such that you would need to sacrifice quite a bit of firepower, speed of reload (even with a bulky autoloader it's still a bit slower), and concealability to get it. I personally don't see why the .38 special was so popular for so long as it's muzzle energy seems pretty anemic ranking around the same as the below average .380 auto. So I'd love to hear other peoples opinions on the subject about this.

Question:
Are revolvers still useful?

Choices:
Yes, but only for hunting
Yes, but only for self defense
Yes, but for hunting and self defense
Yes, but for hunting, self defense, and the military.
Yes, but their usefullness is only for a handful of cases
No, they are not useful.

 

revolvers or automatics? It all boils down to ones own comfort level in this selection.

Affordability is often a big factor in purchasing a handgun. Automatics cost more. Granted you get more capacity with an automatic, but then again, your paying for it too.

38's are relatively lightweight and easy to carry. For those that have to carry a weapon each and everyday, this is a BIG factor to have to consider.

One of my favorite little pistols is my Walther PPK .380 excellent little pistol to have around.

My latest revolver purchase was a Smith and Wesson Model 500ES with 2 3/4 in barrel. 5, .500 magnum rounds. Its a beast of a gun.

Uh, well maybe I shouldn't admit to "going there", but...

The most useful advantage of a revolver is that no casings can be left behind for evidence.

1. Gunny, good point about cost, definitly a good point but the thing is though .38's are still a good deal more bulky than many small auto's that can be even more powerful, things like the smallest glocks and the ASP.
2. Pataloco though, they WILL see why kind of bullets went into the person and the absense of shell casings will indicate it was done by a revolver, automatically narrowing it down.

Modern .38 spec loads, especially the +P, outrun the 9mm Para in both weight and speed.

Be that as it may, some gun owners don't like spending the 500 rounds of quality time you need with most autos to be comfortable with their reliability.

Revolvers with good ammo deliver ultimate reliability. It WILL go off ~6 times. I've had alot of little mini-autos and alot of them had jamming issues. Even cheapo 38s and 357s will shoot reliably.

P.S. Revolvers can't be silenced(due to the cylinder gap), autos can. Don't worry about the brass, grind off the serial # and drop it at the scene.

Clay I'd like to see where in the bleeding hell you're getting this info because everthing I've ever read shows the 9mm not only to have a faster velocity but a considerably higher muzzle energy as well. Also automatics have become very reliable to the point of nearly close the gap in many cases.

quote:

P.S. Revolvers can't be silenced(due to the cylinder gap), autos can. Don't worry about the brass, grind off the serial # and drop it at the scene.

You must live in Dallas...

bump....

I made my first kill with my Colt .44, so revolvers will always have a special place in my heart!