Why do revolvers still exist?

[The Happy kaboomer]

What ever spins ya propeller......Thank God you can't choose for us or us for you.

[Nathan]

What ever spins ya propeller......Thank God you can't choose for us or us for you.

Where I’m from, it doesn’t work like that. We choose for ourselves from what is available.

[gwpercle]

I hate to say it ... but when the chips are down and the going gets rough ...

I prefer a Revolver ... my S&W model 58 in 41 Magnum and my Ruger Blackhawk in 357 magnum have never failed me ... not once in over 50 years of shooting .

I like the 1911 and 45 ACP round ... but it has jammed more than a time or two .

A Sixgun will do me just fine !
Gary

[44 AMP]

Still waiting for someone to show me a .44 Magnum semi auto that weighs 47oz......

[smee78]

I know my Desert Eagle in 44 mag weighs in at around 67oz, as for the OP's question. Variety is the spice of life; it's the same reason we have options for different calibers. Some tools work better for certain jobs, and this can be due to size, weight, age, or ability, to name a few. The last answer I will give is the same reason we have options for autos or home size: because we can.


And as it has been mentioned, I haven't found a 45 Colt semi-auto yet.

[1972RedNeck]

The 45 ACP is technically a 45 Colt... Automatic Colt Pistol...

Just not the 45 Colt

[RickB]

I enjoy the challenge of shooting DA revolvers, because they are so different from my auto pistols.
It's like driving cars with auto or manual transmissions; they do the same job, but they're very different in operation.
On a less personal level, revolvers can be chambered in cartridges that would make an auto pistol large and unwieldy, so for some needs the revolver is still necessary.

[Jack Ryan]

Same reason manual transmissions still exist. Same reason people still write in cursive. To confound the kids, especially the ones who THINK they already know it all.

[osta.doc]

Squeeze trigger, go bang!

[Webleymkv]

On the practical side of things, revolvers do have certain advantages over semi-automatic pistols. Probably the most contentious comparison between the two is that of reliability. It has become fashionable, in recent years, to say that semi-autos are more reliable or that when a revolver malfunctions, it takes a gunsmith to fix it while a semi-auto can be put back into action with a malfunction clearance drill neither of which, in my experience, are completely true. IMHO, many of the criticism that we've seen of revolvers in the last several years come from people who are unfamiliar with them and, quite frankly, don't understand them. These people expect to be able to shoot and maintain a revolver like they do the semi-autos they're familiar with and then dunk on the revolvers when they don't work properly under such circumstances when, in reality, they're expecting the revolver to do things it was never designed or intended to do.

Darryl Bolke has noted in a few different podcasts and articles that most of the horror stories we hear of revolvers malfunctioning come from training courses, and usually ones with high round counts but we have very few instances of revolvers malfunctioning out in the real world. By contrast, we hear far fewer stories of semi-autos choking catastrophically during training, but many more stories of them malfunctioning in the field. This is because while semi-autos are certainly more tolerant of hundreds or even thousands of rounds being fired with minimal or no maintenance, they are far less tolerant of poor quality/improperly loaded ammunition, poor quality/damaged/worn out magazines, or shooter-induced malfunctions such as poor grip, or as Bolke calls it "being shot in space".

For example, I watched a relatively prominent YouTube gun channel rail on and on about "poor quality control" because the revolver he was reviewing had its cylinder fall off during a reload after firing several hundred rounds in one range session (I think it was around 500 rounds but I don't remember for sure). As it turns out, the problem was that the front sideplate screw had loosened to the point that it no longer retained the crane as it was supposed to and the only "gunsmithing" required was to put the cylinder and crane back on and tighten the screw back down. Now it is obvious to me that this "reviewer" is much more familiar with semi-autos than revolvers otherwise he'd have known that part of the basic expected maintenance on a revolver is to periodically check the screws for tightness and, had he done so, he'd have never had the issue that distressed him so greatly. On the one hand, I cannot judge this "reviewer" and other like him too harshly because most of the firearms training available today comes from people whose experience is in law enforcement or the military and most of the people who used revolvers in those roles are either long retired or passed on. However, being a millennial myself (though on the older side of that generation) I've been able to read, research, and understand the differences between the two platforms so part of me views the "misunderstanding" of revolvers as a lack of due diligence on the part of the trainers and reviewers.

DA revolvers also offer advantages to inexperienced or casual shooters in their simplicity. It is very easy and simple to load, unload, or check/verify the loaded/unloaded status of a revolver. While many here probably don't find it complicated, a great number of people still struggle with remembering to chamber a round when loading a semi-auto, remembering to eject the chambered round when unloading a semi-auto, or remembering the order of operations between inserting the magazine and chambering a round when loading and unloading. I'd be willing to bet that among the leading causes of unintentional discharges are either forgetting to eject the chambered round when unloading or forgetting to remove the magazine prior to ejecting the chambered round hence the adage that more accidents have been had with "unloaded" guns.

DA revolvers also have an advantage in that their relatively long, heavy DA trigger is less likely to be unintentionally pulled and thus the need for an active manual safety is obviated (hammer-fired DAO and to a lesser degree traditional DA/SA semi-autos can also offer this advantage but they seem to be out of fashion at this point in time). Before anyone starts in on the "safety between your ears" or "booger hook off the bang switch" lectures, remember I'm talking about novices and casual shooters and the reality is we live in an imperfect world and what should be and what is are often two different things. Besides trigger finger discipline, there is also the issue that many unintentional discharges have happened because foreign objects like jacket zippers and retention straps found their way into the trigger guard while the gun was being holstered. I find it ironic that so many in the "tactical" sphere are so adamant that the only suitable holster is one made of hard material like kydex which completely covers the trigger guard when many "tactical" holsters of years past like the Jordan or Threepersons not only didn't completely cover the trigger guard, they left it wide open. This is because the fighting handguns of that era were either revolvers or semi-autos with active manual safeties like 1911's which don't require a hard plastic shell around their triggers to be holstered and carried safely.

Speaking of administrative handling, revolvers are less destructive to their ammunition when loaded and unloaded repeatedly. A round which is repeatedly chambered in a semi-auto can suffer bullet setback which, if excessive enough, can lead to overpressure and catastrophic failure (there's a lot of evidence that this was a large contributor to the infamous Glock "kabooms"). Because of this, it is recommended that one should limit the number of times that a given round of ammunition is chambered in a semi-auto either by "rotating" the ammunition in the magazine (changing around which round in the magazine is chambered) and/or trading out the ammunition which is carried for new ammunition periodically. I've even heard "experts" like Dr. Gary Roberts recommend that any round which has been chambered more than once should be set aside as "training" ammunition and not relied upon for carry. With a revolver, you can take the same round of ammunition in and out of the cylinder as much as you like and the only "damage" you're likely to do to it is tarnishing the case and bullet jacket.

Revolvers also have an advantage in that they can use a wider variety of cartridges and power levels of ammunition than a semi-auto can. I think that .357 Magnum is probably the most versatile handgun cartridge yet devised and if I were limited to one chambering for all my handguns that would be the one I would choose. I can have ammunition which is readily available ranging from the mildest .38 Special wadcutters to heavy hardcast bullets that can take large and dangerous game. I can also have guns ranging from lightweight pocket snubbies which weigh less than a pound to the biggest, longest barrel guns I care to tote around.

You want a 9mm because the ammunition is affordable? There are several so-chambered revolvers. You want to plink or hunt small game with rimfires? You can get a revolver with both .22 LR and .22 WMR cylinders that will shoot anything from .22 Short CB caps to .22 Magnums. Yes, there are semi-autos chambered for both .22 LR and .22 WMR but they're notoriously finicky about ammunition and none that I'm aware of can shoot all the various .22 rimfires in one gun.

Similarly, revolvers are advantageous in times of ammunition/component shortage such as we've experienced repeatedly over the last 10-20 years. Because many revolvers can shoot more than one caliber, you're more likely to be able to find some useable ammunition. If you handload (and with today's prices you should) revolvers are easier to retain the brass for as they don't fling it into the rocks and weeds. Some semi-autos don't do well with cast bullets but most revolvers shoot them just fine (and they're cheaper to buy and can be made at home). Even with the limited availability of powders, revolvers can be loaded with propellants like Pyrodex, Triple Seven, or even homemade black powder (I've heard of a few people loading their revolver ammunition with these lately as they seem to be more available and/or lower cost than most other smokeless handgun powders).

Another aspect is, unfortunately, legal and/or political. Much as I wish it weren't so, there are places in the country where modern semi-auto pistols are legally restricted to the point that their availability and practicality is diminished and even more places where, while legal, a modern semi-auto might get you looked at with a jaundiced eye by the police and/or attorneys. The first advantage always cited for a semi-auto is capacity, but if you happen to live in a place with magazine restrictions that advantage is considerably less (at one time, NY had a limit of 7 rounds in a magazine). I don't know what the current status of California's idiotic "microstamping" law is, but I know that as written, revolvers were exempt. Even where technically legal, semi-auto pistols can garner you unwanted attention depending on what city or county you're in and who the elected officials there happen to be. Revolvers, on the other hand, are 50 state legal and don't seem to raise eyebrows as much in areas less friendly to 2A. Likewise, even if your semi-auto is legal and socially acceptable where you live, if you travel that may or may not be the case in your destination or the areas you pass through en-route while a revolver is more likely to be so.

Finally, as 44 AMP already pointed out, revolvers can chamber much larger and more powerful cartridges without the need to be overly large, heavy, complicated, ammunition finicky, and quite frankly impractical. I'm well aware of guns like the Desert Eagle, Wildey, and Automags chambered for rounds like .50 AE, .475 Wildey, and .45 Win Mag but they're all so large, heavy, and finicky about their ammunition that I view them as novelties or mechanical curiosities/conversation pieces. The closest that you can get to true Magnum handgun performance in a practical semi-auto pistol, in my mind, would be either the Coonan .357 Magnum (which is rare, expensive, and again out of production) or a 10mm Auto loaded with full-power ammunition (as in Underwood, Buffalo Bore, Double Tap, Grizzly, or equivalent handloads). While I do consider .357 Magnum and full-power 10mm to be "Magnum class" handgun cartridges, they're the low end of that spectrum and can deliver nowhere near the power or effect that cartridges like .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, "Ruger only" .45 Long Colt, .454 Casull, .480 Ruger, .460 S&W, or .500 S&W can.

This is because in order to get the sort of power available from most of the true "Magnum class" handgun cartridges while still maintaining pressures low enough to have a handgun small and light enough to be practical, you have to have a case large enough to contain relatively large amounts of relatively slow-burning powder like 2400, AA No. 9, IMR/H4227, or H110/Win296. Because most semi-autos house their ammunition in a magazine inserted through the grip of the pistol, "Magnum class" cartridges often require a grip too large to be comfortable for people with small-to-medium sized hands. Also, the mass of the slide/bolt, weight of the recoil springs, and/or other parts like recoil buffers and gas systems add to the size and weight required for a Magnum semi-auto and, often, make them finicky about what ammunition they will run reliably with. A revolver, on the other hand, need only a cylinder and frame of sufficient size and strength to contain the pressure and, with modern exotic materials like titanium and scandium, they can be surprisingly small and light. Even when made entirely of steel, a revolver need not be nearly as large and heavy as a semi-auto to work with a "Magnum class" cartridge as evidenced by small-frame .357 Magnums like the Ruger SP101, Kimber K6, Taurus 605, various S&W J-Frames like the models 60, 640, and 649 or medium-frame .44 Magnums like the S&W Model 69 or Taurus Tracker series.

As a final thought, why does a handgun (or anything else for that matter) need to be practical to justify its existence? Many people still own, buy, shoot, and enjoy percussion and flintlock muzzle-loaders despite their having no practical advantage over modern in-line muzzle loaders and metallic cartridge guns. For that matter, people still ride horses and bicycles despite automobiles being available for over a century. The only reason a revolver, or anything else for that matter, needs for still existing is because people still want them and are willing to pay good money for them.

[JustJake]

Why do revolvers still exist?

Because there’s a market for Safe Queens.

[pete2]

The only reason semi autos exist is because they hold more ammo and are better at certain shooting games. The revolver is better in all ways except limited ammo capacity. It will do everything else better than a semi. In general, more accurate, more powerful, less likely to malfunction and they are a lot prettier.

[44 AMP]

Webleymkv covers many points very well, I will add a bit to a couple of them..

first,

A round which is repeatedly chambered in a semi-auto can suffer bullet setback

This is often true. Sadly, it is something that does not need to be true, and should not be true, but has become acceptable to most. The ammo companies have literally "gotten away" with making an inferior product. It wasn't always that way.

My handloads don't do it. Factory ammo made 40+ years ago didn't do it. If you have the personal experience and remember, (which I do) they didn't "setback", other than as a rather rare thing, and rounds that actually did, were considered defective.

If you look at the gun literature of those days, bullet setback from repeated chambering was not a common thing and was almost never mentioned, because it was something that almost never happened. Today, it does, and the general shooting public is complacent about it, instead of hammering the ammo makers to go back to what they used to do, today's shooters are told to rotate their ammo, and accept setback as something that happens.

Next point,
The magnum semi autos...I like them, a lot. Yes, I said "show me the 47oz magnum semi auto" and no one has, or can, but I understand that the lightest possible or practical magnums aren't always the best guns to use.

Little J frame .357s are popular, but almost no one shoots them (more than once or twice) with magnum ammo. They're too light, and they hurt!

The biggest argument about magnum semi autos is always centered on their size and weight, and often said by people who don't own and, and never will, and sometimes repeated by people who have never shot one, or even handled one. Along with the size, weight, and "being picky about ammo" (which all semis are, to a point) is the damning assessment of being "impractical".

This is an opinion, and a judgement call, entirely valid for the person making it, but less so, or not at all, for someone else.

Think of the magnum semi autos as the "heavy haulers" of the handgun world. They do what they were built to do pretty well, but don't do (and were never meant to do) other jobs as well.

Driving an 18wheeler tractor trailer downtown to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk is not a practical thing. Using one as your daily commuter car isn't, either.

But, you're not going to haul 20 tons of cargo in your SUV, minivan, or sedan, let alone on your Harley Davidson.

Another point about the magnum semi autos, because they are heavier, and because the grip size and shape is different, they shoot "softer" than magnum revolvers at the same ammo power levels. Other than the effort needed to hold it up, shooting a .44 Mag Desert Eagle is a pure joy, compated to shooting the same ammo in a stock S&W Model 29!

No, they're not for everyone. Sometimes, you need a compact car, but when you do need, or have a use for a heavy truck, nothing else does the job quite as well.

[Drm50]

I have around 25 autoloaders, counting 22s but the bulk of my handguns are S&W DA revolvers. The most of them are 6”-6.5” barrels or longer. Have a few SA revolvers too.
Revolvers are more useful in the woods than auto loader with the exception of 22rf models
Revolvers can on average handle more powerful cartridges. Also have a wider selection of loads & bullets available.

[FITASC]

Get yourself a 38, 357, 41, 44, 45 Colt a 410 or other cartridges in a semi

[44 AMP]

who makes a .45 Colt semi auto pistol?

Is there a .410 semi auto pistol? Wouldn't it have to be one of the AK types "chopped" into a technical handgun (and wouldn't that be an NFA item??)

Never saw the sense in the .45 Colt/.410 revolvers. Fugly and oddly balanced to me.

I have .45Colt/.410 Contenders, great guns for certain specialty applications. Rat wrecker supreme, but, of course, you have to aim!

[Cirdan]

You know they always say revolvers are more reliable, but my SP101 has given me more trouble than almost any other gun. Only my Ruger LCP had more problems, and that's a cheap gun.

[JustJake]

Get yourself a 38, 357, 41, 44, 45 Colt a 410 or other cartridges in a semi.

Why?

The 10mm AUTO already has all of those cartridges covered in reliable semi-auto platforms.

[Ricklin]

Originally Posted by Cirdan

You know they always say revolvers are more reliable, but my SP101 has given me more trouble than almost any other gun. Only my Ruger LCP had more problems, and that's a cheap gun.

Interesting, I just noticed yesterday my LCP is not feeding, rounds are hanging in the mag, I do not know why yet. I'll mess with it when I get a chance.

[FITASC]

Quote:
Get yourself a 38, 357, 41, 44, 45 Colt a 410 or other cartridges in a semi.
Why?

The 10mm AUTO already has all of those cartridges covered in reliable semi-auto platforms.

Show me the 10mm shotshell for snakes and other critters

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by JustJake

Why?

The 10mm AUTO already has all of those cartridges covered in reliable semi-auto platforms.

Dream on.

[1972RedNeck]

The 10mm AUTO already has all of those cartridges covered in reliable semi-auto platforms.

300 grain bullet at 1200 FPS?

I'll wait...

I will agree that a 357 Mag and 10mm are fairly equal. But that's it. The lowly 45 Colt trumps a 10mm...

[Dead-Nuts-Zero]

I won't write a book, I'll just briefly say that most folks my age cut our teeth on a wheel gun and old habits often refuse to die.

YMMV

[Mal H]

No need to beat a dead horse ... and that horse died at practically the first post.

Closed.