Selecting a Handgun for Defense: Part 2. Revolvers

[MNBurl]

I find that I like carring my medium frame (66 2.5") and small frame revolvers (442) (always carry two). When in the woods deer hunting with my Marlin 1894 357 or grouse hunting with my Remington 1100 or 1930 SXS 12 gauge my 66 or 686 seems the right gun to carry. Heavy shooting handguns that will go through heavy brush no problem.

If out west, I would carry either my 66 2.5" or my Charter Arms Bulldog 44 Special. Love my revolvers and never feel under armed. Today was my 66-1 2.5" in my The Slide OWB holster with 2 speed reloaders in my coat pocket and my 442 as backup in a pocket holster (Rough Out).

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Stetson]

I hate to say it, as I age artie is affecting my hand strength so I gone back to my revolvers.I have a security-six in 357 I just love and I shot it enough I can antiscapate the trigger break,I too have a older bulldog Charter 44spl nice revolver.My latests addition S+W Bodyguard with laser site in 38spl. Pricey at $650 but nice carry piece.Articles like the one above certainly tell me the revolver well always be in style.

[Yankeejib]

Good article.

Needs more pictures:)

Smith 442, 686


442, SP101

[JerryMac]

Excellant post, thank you for your time... I have been ok'd by the warden, ''wife'', to buy another weapon and iti s going to be a cc revolver, this has helped a lot.

[Hot Wing]

Great Stuff JD

There are the Girls that need to stay with the wheels for sure .

In my view all laddies that are new to ownership and may be carry, should make real sure that there weapon of choice can be racked cleared and

field striped by them with zero problems .If they are not at 110 % comfort level with that they need to be Wheel Girls only.

Not a thing wrong with that .

[R.W.Dale]

I've recently gone from glocks to revolvers for my daily carry. I appreciate the ease of loading unloading and not beating my defense loads up in the process.

For me they conceal better too even my 5"barrelled s&w 60

A word of advice though. A revolver that's carried needs to be detail stripped and cleaned every so often. My 44 titanium recently skipped lockup a couple times on a recent range trip and apoun disassembly turned out to be full of gummy varnishy crap that once cleaned out set everything back to right.

posted via tapatalk using android.

[Rugergirl]

Great article JD! Being such a wheel gun lover I found myself smiling and nodding as I was reading. With having 5 carry options, I find that over 95% of the time my pick is one of the 4 revolvers over the Kimber. Usually it ends up being my Model 65 or my 686+, either with a 3 inch barrel. I've found that the weight is a non-issue for me and both hide better for me than the 1911.
And to be brutally honest, a revolver is a sexy work of art.

[Paladin3840]

The most objective, comprehensive yet concise comparaison analysis I remember in 45 years of following the gun press. When GLOCK became the rage around 1990 it sounded the death nell for the Colt 1911 said many scribes. But history has proved those scribes wrong. I'm confident Jeff Cooper is smiling.

Semi's in general became the rage and many answered the siren call of this sea nymph. (She is nice in some ways.) The revolver was headed to the museum they said.

Some of us who used a revolver case for a teething ring have come full circle, singing a'la Marty Robbins: "Devil woman let me go, leave me alone, I want to go home".

Thanks JD.

[Toorop]

Thanks for another great and useful thread.

[Milwaukesha]

Great work on this post, very informative!

[Stkglover]

Here's mine,
Smith and Wesson 639 Bodyguard Buffalo Bore 158Gr LSWCHP, Dade Speedloader, Bianchi Speed strip.
Never felt under-gunned if I need to reload I'm in trouble, if I need to reload again I probably shouldn't have drawn my weapon. After that call in a company of Marines.
Photo0248.jpg

[hogdoc357]

I am a Wheelgun man. Thanks for posting this information.
I mostly carry my Ruger LCR. Once in a while I will carry my S&W M60 3 inch.

[rdpG19]

Outstanding thread, thank you OP! Love revolvers. After I finally found my Ruger SP101 357 3" barrel, it has become my main carry gun.

[shockwave]

It should be clarified that speed loaders and speed strips are not equivalent solutions. The OP does not suggest that they are, but I'd like to add this to the section that addresses them.

The speed loader is the preferred tool for reloading a revolver in the fastest possible time. Here's Mas Ayoob demonstrating one.

Speed loaders can be carried in a pocket or an OWB holster, typically holding one or two loaders.

Moon clips are popular and allow for fast reloads. Here's Jerry Miculek, setting a record using moon clips. On the other hand, moon clips are relatively fragile and not nearly as rugged as speed loaders.

Speed strips offer the advantage of being compact, flat, and easy to carry in a pocket or on a belt in a low-profile case. But they are not useful for a full reload. Rather, the speed strip shines for an "administrative reload," i.e., say you shoot 2 or 4 rounds and then want to top off the cylinder. Then you'd open the cylinder, flick out the spent rounds, and replace them by snapping in fresh rounds from the speed strip. This can be done relatively quickly.

In the event you fired 3 or 4 rounds, however, in a serious situation you'd want to perform an administrative reload by emptying the cylinder of both spent and remaining live rounds and fully reload with a speed loader. As the OP mentions, the overwhelming number of real-life incidents suggests that you'll only ever need a few rounds - or empty the cylinder once. Very few gunfights ever reach the stage where reloading is necessary.

It's a good skill to have and worth practicing. You'll need it if you do IDPA or IPSC competition. And maybe, in some wacky situation, you might need to reload but the odds of that happening are extremely low.

[OD*]

Moon clips are popular and allow for fast reloads. Here's Jerry Miculek, setting a record using moon clips. On the other hand, moon clips are relatively fragile and not nearly as rugged as speed loaders.

I've found spring steel half-moon, and full-moon clips are much more rugged than plastic and aluminum speed loaders, there is nothing to break, and bending one takes a real effort.