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    Gun Digest’s Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers eShort: Revolvers vs. semi-autos & how to choose the best concealed carry revolver.
    Gun Digest’s Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers eShort: Revolvers vs. semi-autos & how to choose the best concealed carry revolver.
    Gun Digest’s Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers eShort: Revolvers vs. semi-autos & how to choose the best concealed carry revolver.
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    Gun Digest’s Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers eShort: Revolvers vs. semi-autos & how to choose the best concealed carry revolver.

    By Grant Cunningham

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    About this ebook

    In this excerpt from the Gun Digest Book of the Revolver, Grant Cunningham compares revolvers with semi-autos, details the pros and cons of each and helps you choose the best revolver for CCW.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGun Digest Books
    Release dateJul 1, 2012
    ISBN9781440233890
    Gun Digest’s Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers eShort: Revolvers vs. semi-autos & how to choose the best concealed carry revolver.
    Author

    Grant Cunningham

    Grant Cunningham is a renowned self-defense author, teacher, and internationally known gunsmith (retired). He's the author of The Gun Digest Book of the Revolver, Shooter's Guide to Handguns, Defensive Pistol Fundamentals, and Handgun Training: Practice Drills for Defensive Shooting, and has written articles on shooting, self-defense, training and teaching for many magazines, shooting websites and his blog at grantcunningham.com.

    Read more from Grant Cunningham

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      Book preview

      Gun Digest’s Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers eShort - Grant Cunningham

      Contents

      Cover

      Choosing Concealed Carry Revolvers

      Copyright

      The revolver is still a viable choice for many kinds of shooting: recreation, hunting, or self defense.

      Why the Revolver?

      Not that long ago the preferred handgun of both police and private citizens was the double action revolver. They were carried on duty, used to protect the home, shot in competition, and held their own as plinkers and fun guns. Their operation was well known, and learning how to properly handle their long, heavy triggers was a point of pride for many firearms instructors.

      In the 1970s that started to change. The autoloading pistol was migrating from military service to law enforcement, and as it gained acceptance in those arenas the general public came to see the revolver as old-fashioned. By the end of the century the autoloader had almost completely replaced the revolver in police service -- and for a large percentage of private citizens as well.

      Today it’s rare to see a revolver in a police duty holster. On occasion you’ll find a veteran officer carrying one, and in sparsely populated areas some cops prefer them for their ability to fire powerful, flat-shooting Magnum cartridges. Other than that the revolver has been relegated to the status of the backup: an arm used to supplant the primary arm should it become inoperable or lost.

      Still, nearly forty percent of all handgun sales in the U.S. are revolvers. That’s because the revolver still has some advantages - some obvious, some not - over the ubiquitous autoloader.

      Common malfunctions like this don’t occur with a revolver.

      The revolver is generally more reliable than an autoloader of similar quality. This isn’t to say that malfunctions can’t occur with a revolver, only that they’re less common. What malfunctions do occur are almost always a function of improper reloading technique (which I’ll cover in a later chapter) or poor quality ammunition.

      A malfunction that needs clearing is quite rare. The most common problem, a failure to fire, is usually solved by stroking the trigger again and using better ammo. Another common malfunction is a case caught under the extractor, which renders the gun inoperative until fixed. It is prevented by proper reloading technique.

      There is a malfunction clearing process for the very rare instances not covered above, and I’ll show you that, but needing to perform the drill is quite rare. Because of this inherent reliability, less training time is expended in malfunction drills which means more time for learning the important task of shooting!

      A revolver doesn’t need just the right grip to keep it running; there is no limp wrist malfunction with a wheelgun. Shooting from disadvantaged positions or while injured won’t stop the gun from operating.

      During an actual defensive encounter, the revolver is more resistant to induced failures. The revolver isn’t jammed by clothing or incompletely ejected casings. With an autoloader, slight contact can actually slow the slide enough to induce a malfunction. That’s not an issue with the revolver, making it ideal for close-quarters defensive duties. The shrouded or concealed hammer models are about as immune to such problems as can be imagined.

      Some defensive schools teach shooting while in contact with an adversary. Whether that’s an appropriate response is beyond the scope of this book, but in such cases the revolver works perfectly where the auto can be jammed at the first shot.

      Because of this it’s also possible to fire a revolver from inside a pocket without fear of malfunction. Shooting the revolver from inside a purse holster is also doable (and perhaps even necessary in the event of a purse grab.) An autoloader wouldn’t be as reliable under those circumstances.

      (It’s important to understand that both autos and revolvers can be deliberately rendered inoperable by a very determined assailant. It’s the inadvertent failures, those that are situationally caused, that aren’t a problem for the revolver.)

      A revolver is easier to fit to the hand. An autoloader, even one of the few that feature interchangeable backstraps, is still limited by the dimensions of its magazine well. A revolver’s grip can be easily changed to be longer, shorter, deeper, shallower, wider, or thinner. The angle at which the gun sits in the hand can even be altered on some models. In most cases it’s a cinch to make the revolver fit the hand perfectly.

      The revolver is self contained, and doesn’t need expensive magazines to operate.

      One overlooked feature of the revolver is that it operates without ammunition. While I’m not a big proponent of extensive dry fire, the fact that the revolver is fully functional without ammo means that dry fire training is more useful than it is with an autoloader. There’s no interruption in the firing cycle, so trigger control is learned faster than if you had to stop to constantly rack a slide. I don’t know about you, but my brain learns best when it can experience a complete cycle of an event, and this is more easily done with the revolver.

      The revolver is not only less expensive to purchase, it’s less expensive to operate as well. The gun itself tends to be less expensive than an auto of equal quality, but that’s just the start!

      If you have a defensive autoloader, it’s imperative that you test its function with the ammunition that you plan to carry. Recommendations vary, but the most common is that you shoot 200 rounds of that ammunition through the gun. If you’ve priced ammunition lately, you know how much that can cost!

      With a revolver, you need to test your ammunition primarily to adjust the sights, or to verify that the bullet impact matches your non-adjustable sights. A couple of cylinders is all that takes, and you can then substitute cheaper practice or range ammo.

      Of course there are no expensive magazines to buy. If you shoot your autoloader a lot, most authorities recommend that you have a half-dozen magazines for that gun. That’s a lot of money, and magazines are disposable parts: they wear out or can be damaged relatively easily. That’s an expense the revolver doesn’t have.

      Speaking of magazines, one of my favorite revolver attributes is that there aren’t any. Sometimes I go to the range with several guns, and when I’m dealing with autoloaders more than once I’ve forgotten to bring a magazine. The revolver doesn’t have that problem because the magazine is part and parcel of the gun. Even many years from now a revolver bought today will still be operational, while I’ve run into many autoloaders over the years that are missing their magazines.

      I know I’m picking on the magazine issue, but another point is that it’s impossible to load rounds into a revolver backwards. I’ve seen more than one person load a round into a magazine backwards, and that causes a heck of a jam. Admittedly the incidence goes down with familiarization, but I remember one match I shot where a seasoned competitor loaded a round backwards in the middle of his magazine. Boy, was his face red!

      I’m not a fan of the word tactical, but there is one revolver advantage that fits the term: should you need to pick your gun up from a table (or even the ground), the protruding cylinder makes a small gap between the gun and the surface on which it’s resting. This makes it a bit easier to retrieve than an autoloader which rests flat on the surface. A small difference, to be sure, but one which could prove valuable in the event that you need to pick yours up in a hurry!

      A revolver has a simple manual of arms, meaning that it is easier to handle and operate. Many people say they pick a revolver because it’s easier to manipulate: no confusing buttons or levers, and a direct and unambiguous loading and unloading procedure. This makes it a superb choice for a home defense gun in those cases where one person is an enthusiast but his or her partner may not be. Anyone can pick up a revolver and shoot it.

      This manual of arms is generally consistent across all revolver makes and models.

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