What makes revolvers so cool?

[skoro]

I think it's because they require the shooter's mandatory input. Revolvers are powered by your hand, not recoil. Plus, the look of a blued revolver with walnut grips is just... pleasing.

[MrClean]

Stop It! Ya'll are making me want to get one now!

Keep thinking back on my sweet 686 I use to have. This isn't it, but identical. Was a pleasure to shoot. AND.... you don't have to search for your brass if you reload!!! There's another plus!

[Saab1911]

Stop It! Ya'll are making me want to get one now!

Not a chance. MUHAHAHAHAHA

While you're buying a S&W 686 and a S&W 10, you might as well get yourself
one of these ...

[dabigguns357]

it's also the fact that when you are handed a revolver you don't have to fool with pulling the slide back to see if there's a round still in the chamber which may lead to chambering one if there isn't already.Plus the elegant lines of a stainless revolver gleaming on my wifes hip makes me want to show off both her and the gun.Ahhh the smell of burning powder and perfume,makes for wonder summer day at the range.

[Indyjoe]

Great precision lockwork, deep gloss bluing, power, just really cool tools.
Here is my Model 57 S prefix .41 Magnum
Bluing was great back then!

[LightningJoe]

To believe that an automatic pistol works, you have to imagine this mass-spring system cycling faster than you can really see, pulling rounds out of one place and shoving them into another, extracting and throwing brass...


To believe that a revolver works, though, is easy. You can see the rounds in the chambers. The cylinder turns. It's obvious. Primitive cavemen like me are reassured by the obvious functionality of the revolver. (They're really no more reliable that automatics, but my brain doesn't know that).

[WINSTON THE WOLF]

(They're really no more reliable that automatics, but my brain doesn't know that).

My brain knows I am 100% not going to have a feeding problem in my wheel gun

[fiVe]

Originally Posted by Keltyke

A pistol is too mechanical. It does everything for you. Loads the round and ejects the spent casing. You fill the mag. away from the gun, more impersonality. With a revolver, you load each round in the cylinder separately, you're in intimate contact with the gun and the ammo. When it's empty, you have to open the cylinder, eject the shells by hand and reload, feeling the warm barrel in your palm. It's PERSONAL.

My 642 just carries so easily in my Mika round-cut pocket holster.


I'm really enjoying this thread.

[guy8452]

i love the way they feel ,shoot ,and look they are reel mans guns .

[tenusdad]

Simple - beautful - effective - versitile - interesting - reliable - elegant - provides confidence - pride of ownership - man made art - the origional "Perfection" in a handgun - I have some square guns but I love my round guns

[mrghostwalker]

Because they are rugged, dependable and independant- just like there owners.

[stormspotter]

I can't think of a single,





or double reason not to like them.

[Nnobby45]

I'm asking because I personally think revolvers are super cool, but I don't
know why I feel that they're so cool.

Some people also have an attraction to red heads with freckles, think Chihuahua's are cute, like anchovies on pizza, or like old cars with curb feelers. We can't help our afflictions, and, if it makes us feel good to justify them, so be it.

[sandbag]

Bellevance-I read your comment and decided there was nothing to add.One of the best comments I've read here-and there tons of good ones.
I will say that the Browning HP35 has many of the same qualities you extoll in revolvers.The 1911 also.
That said,please spare me testimonials about Glocks and the clones,and basically any firearm made of polymer with some steel.
They'll do the job in many cases,but they just don't have any character.
I carried both revolvers and automatics on the job,and I always trusted revolvers a little more.
An automatic is like a cat-prone to being finicky about doing what it's told and about what it eats.
A revolver is like a dog-always ready to do what's expected and it'll eat whatever is put in the bowl.

[Recon7]

Revolvers are all class. They are stylish simple in operation and have been largely unchanged for quite a while. I also like the the perceived obsolescence of a revolver and how they are seen as less than the latest and greatest. It's an old standby. The revolver has so much personality to it, if you are talking to a friend who isn't a gun guy and show him that you are carrying a Glock, he would think "ooh like a cop" or maybe "ooh like GTA or rap video or other hip hop culture". But if you show your pal a classy 6 shooter with walnut grips, you're John Wayne, you are some crazy cowboy, you're different. That word may be the most important, different; we live in a semiauto world, and carrying a wheel gun is in some way bold and nonconforming.

[MartyG]

Revolver vs semi? Hmmm?
air-cooled V-twin vs 4 cylinder water-cooled motorcycle
stick shift vs automatic
analog (dial) tuning radio vs digital
analog watch vs digital
ordinary-looking, faithful, hard-working wife/mother of your children vs high-maintenance hottie?
LP vs CD
Zippo vs Bic
personal, signed note vs email
oven roast vs microwave dinner
Buck knife vs Leatherman Tool

The list goes on and on. There is NOTHING wrong with the column on the right, but there is a certain charm, magic, and attraction to the column on the left.

[Scott Free]

Personally, I think autos are much cooler than revolvers. I carry a revolver, though. I like small, lightweight guns, and with that criteria in mind, revolvers work 99.99% of the time. I got tired of polishing feed ramps, testing and hoping for reliable ammo, etc.

Autos are cooler. I don't carry a gun because of its coolness factor, and revolvers always work.

(My opinion only.)

[abber]

All the aforementioned stuff! Revolvers are just an old friend. The old comfortable shoe. AND, I don't have to chase the brass. There's just something about dumping the six spent cases in that old familiar sequence of moves, and then reloading it. I love shooting my autos, but I don't like loading the mags. That may be why I have six revolvers, and two autos. My next purchase is going to be another revolver. I just love em......Plus, they are cooler....hehe....

[kevinarmstrong]

LOL.... The old revolver vs. auto argument....

[ewayte]

Revolvers - because I like being called an "old fart" and being asked "are you going to rob a stagecoach with that thing?"

[erikrichard]

I bought a Ruger 9mm about 15 years ago, it was my first handgun. I fired it on 2 occassions, the day I bought it and about 8 years ago at the range one day, both times I shot a box of 50 rounds.
About 6 months ago I suddenly developed an urge to trade it in on a revolver, since then I've bought 4 other revolvers, joined a gun club, bought reloading equipment and load my own .38 sp and .357 magnums. I've shot thousands of rounds since, I can say it's become an interest for me like motorcycling has.
Enough said.

[Jacks]

I own two of both...2 38's; a snubbie and a Taurus 4" model 80 but which is just a copy of the S&W model 10...the old "M&P". The latter is the best shooter by far of the bunch. The semi's, a S&W 659...(stainless steel version of the 459) famous in the Mattock and Platt FBI shoot out in FL...and a Ruger P-85...really a rugged gun, but be careful of the safety!

I like the wheel guns...simplicity and reliability says it all...and beauty of lines.

I feel the wheel guns as something personal...if I really respected my opponent...as silly as it sounds...I would use the wheel gun...facing a bunch of gang-bangers...the semi autos, both with extended capacity and totally impersonal, would do just fine.


Having had a squib load in one of my semis...from my own reloading lab, I must admit...having a semi hangup on me, just frightens the daylights out of me. I would carry a backup wheel-gun into any fray...I knew was coming.

Mano e Mano...I would trust my K frame 38 special, which is especially accurate and easily handled...no need for 357 power, if I shoot accurately.

Since accuracy is the name of the game...45's or 44 mag's or the 500 whatever is totally beside the point...if you can't land the first shot!

[Smaug]

Finally, a zombie thread I'm happy to see reserrected. (sp?)

Since I originally posted, I 've shot about 60% revolvers, and 30% of the autos I shot were 22LR. I just dread chasing and sorting brass these days. To shoot a box of 380 and then find that I can only recover about 30 shells is disappointing.

[liviussteven]

for me.... If i ever have to defend my self i want to increase the chances of victory all i can. Revolvers don't jam!!!

[Jart]

Finally, a zombie thread I'm happy to see reserrected. (sp?)

Since I originally posted, I 've shot about 60% revolvers, and 30% of the autos I shot were 22LR. I just dread chasing and sorting brass these days. To shoot a box of 380 and then find that I can only recover about 30 shells is disappointing.

Since I last posted I've shot probably 85% revolvers but I still wonder about why folks need to justify the things. Perhaps it's because I have both and nobody has ever made negative remarks when I was using the revolvers. If revolvers were questioned then I could see why people gather digitally to extol the things but since I missed the "questioned" part the "extolling" part baffles me.

But I've since gone from raining on revolver love parades to simply being mystified by them. Although some stuff still sticks out:

Having had a squib load in one of my semis...from my own reloading lab, I must admit...having a semi hangup on me, just frightens the daylights out of me.

Given that "revolver love" threads usually produce some of the sorriest advice to be found on the internet regarding a misfire ("Just pull the trigger again"), a squib in a revolver usually results in an exploded handgun. How this is superior to a squib in a semi will likely continue to escape me for quite some time.