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Think revolvers are "outdated" and gone for good? Or will they make a big comeback

8524 Views 108 Replies 48 Participants Last post by  Will44
Think revolvers are "outdated" and gone for good? Or will they make a big comeback

It's often said by most people, cop and civilian alike, that revolvers are "outdated" and are "a thing of the past" Most of these people don't realize that the Double Action Revolver Pistol and the Semi Automatic Pistol are not too far apart in terms of age. Furthermore, many of these same people will respond by saying "well we have high capacity guns now" not realizing also that high capacity guns have been around since 1935 with the Browning Hi Power (and it didn't even have any kind of market in the US until the 1950s and didn't gain any kind of real following until the 1980s). They'll then say "well criminals are better armed now" forgetting that criminals have been armed to the teeth in the past with gangsters like John Dillinger, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and mobsters with Al Capone and other mafia thugs armed with BARs, Tommy Guns and 1911 pistols. Much more than I can say for the average crackhead of today.

All things considered, nothing has REALLY changed in terms of weapons technological effectiveness (although bullet designs have in some ways improved....but then the "old school" FBI Load in .38 Special still reigns king compared to "modern" .38 hollowpoint bullets). The only thing, as I see it, that has really changed is the culture. This mindset of "more means better" and that the style needs to look "new" and we take our model off of what we see and experience in movies and television. If an idea is over 20 years old, it's "outdated". Doesn't matter if it's right, just that it's "old".

Well, one day the world I think will swing back the other way and realize that speed kills, old people are wiser, history has more to teach than we think and revolvers means Six for Sure and the polymer semi-automatic fad will die out or at least retract into moderation.
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Gone from te combat world imho. BTW, the only thing that is sure is death. No mechanical item is a sure bet.
Well, we still have the Colt SAA, cap and ball revolvers, Winchester lever actions, various single shot rifles, etc, still being made today. So I believe the double action revolver will remain, also.
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After 140 years the SAA is increasingly popular and extensively copied. Maybe LEO's will continue with the polymers but I reckon collectors and hunters will never abandon the revolvers. Same for home/self defence - reliability and ablility to accept any type of ammo without hanging up are a consideration.
On the subject of culture change, the movies appear to have changed when the US Forces switched to the Beretta 92. Prior to that the celluloid cops had small capacity handguns and could mostly shoot straight. Hollywood suddenly realized that high capacity existed and now our heroes spray bullets all over the scenery with several mag changes in every shootout.
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I can tell you his much, in my area, thugs are even encouraging gang members to buy revolvers. The reason you don't leave shell casings behind or evidence. The police have been recovering more revolvers with large calibers more so now then they ever did. Thanks to tv shows like CSI and such to make LE jobs more difficult to solve crimes due to the stuff shown on evidence gathering. Granted we don't spot a grain of broken glass across the room from the hallway of an apartment but you get my drift. So o I think revolvers are dead? No sir they are not. If anything I think it's just as popular as it always was.
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Revolvers do seem here to stay.

It would sure be interesting ( although a little risky, since it might be depressing, too ) to see where the Revolver is at in 2113 say, a Century from now.

Or in 3013, a Thousand years from now.

The true pinnacle of 'DA' Revolver design and Lockwork did seem to be reached in the closing decade of the 19th Century or maybe in the first few years of the 20th, for a few minor improvements to the designs, with only some very small ( and mostly cosmetic ) changes there-after, at least as far as Colt and S & W anyway.

'SAVAGE' had the 'Double Stack' Magazine for their Pistols, 30 years before the Browning High Power, for that matter...Automatic wise.

They say "You can't stop progress!", but they really should have also said "You can't stop how for so many things, the real Zenith or Peak or Crest, just keeps getting longer and longer ago..."


Some days I am tempted to bury a few of my favorite Revolvers, and early Colt Automatics, and, a few boxes of Ammunition for them, in the hopes that if I reincarnate a few centuries from now, I might remember that, and where, I had buried them. Since by then, the Colt New Service and early Detective Special or an early Government Model and so on are going to very likely be tough to find, or be one giant bite in the ass on whatever the successor is by then, to Gunbroker.
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I like my colt DA's even if they are outdated. I will say for police work a semi-auto handgun is the way to go. todays semi-auto's are very reliable. but for myself if I were to carry it would be a DA revolver.
Wheelguns will always be around but maybe ammo won't. Then they'll make great paperweights.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised, when the cultural mindset starts settling down, service revolvers make a come back even in LEOs. Especially in places where LEOS can choose their own weapon and/or departments let up on their mandates that everyone "must have a semiauto" for the reasons I stated in original post.
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BTW, the only thing that is sure is death.
I'm a Christian, so not even sure of Death.

Bob Wright
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Comeback? I never knew they left.

As long as there is a color case hardened, blued, brass mounted, ivory stocked .44 Magnum sixshooter around, there will be the revolver enthusiast.

Bob Wright
With all the attempts ,many successful , in restricting semiauto mag capacity for civilians ,I believe the revolver will stage a comeback. My prediction is more revolvers ,sa and da 22 with 10-12 round cylinders. It is difficult ot stigmatize the revolver for self defense ,so I would expect more to carry them for ccw. I have for years. More women gun buyers ,many new shooters better served by learning to handle the simple manual of arms for the revolver. Lastly ,the revolver is capable of superior power for hunting and outdoors use.If Colt does not see a market for the revolver now ,they never will
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I have carried many handguns in my life . Revolvers and Semi-autos of all calibers and configurations. The magazine capacity on any auto is no reason to carry that weapon for self defense. In a true fight for your life gun battle your first two shots are all that will matter. For me a 5 or 6 shot revolver is more than enough . Yes I carry an extra speed loader, but in reality if the crap hit the fan you wouldn't need it. Unless you have an encounter with . multiple assailants. I carry semi-autos that I think look sharp, and I enjoy shooting. Not for any other reason. The key is practice with what you carry, and practice often. JMO.Blade
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The revolver is a dead letter in law enforcement, but I suspect you'd be surprised to know just how many revolvers are being carried concealed.
There was a flurry of CCW autos being bought when the police went to autos and the mini-autos come on the market.
After that a lot of people re-learned the utility and simplicity of a revolver, and this is born out by the huge numbers of concealable revolvers are being sold by S&W, Ruger, and Taurus.

S&W and Ruger wouldn't be going to the expense of developing revolvers made of new materials like the plastic revolvers if they weren't selling well.
The revolver is a dead letter in law enforcement, .
. I'm not so sure it will stay that way simply because the reality is they are not, and never were, outdated and see just as useful and effective today as they were in 1950. Just as more people are realizing gun control doesn't work than 20 years ago sooner or later the culture will mature again and realize this (among other things)
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As long as there is still one dvd of Dirty Harry, the revolver will live on.
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Autos are cheaper. Standardized firearms save departments mega dollars. Plastic service autos are cheaper to maintain. Your post is a pipe dream sir. I carry revolvers often but if I was in charge of a budget for a dept. they would all carry the same firearm that combined cost savings on purchase, reliable service, easy to maintain, cheap to maintain. This would not be a revolver, sorry.

. I'm not so sure it will stay that way simply because the reality is they are not, and never were, outdated and see just as useful and effective today as they were in 1950. Just as more people are realizing gun control doesn't work than 20 years ago sooner or later the culture will mature again and realize this (among other things)
Autos are cheaper. Standardized firearms save departments mega dollars. Plastic service autos are cheaper to maintain. Your post is a pipe dream sir. I carry revolvers often but if I was in charge of a budget for a dept. they would all carry the same firearm that combined cost savings on purchase, reliable service, easy to maintain, cheap to maintain. This would not be a revolver, sorry.
Where I come from, a lot of police can or are even required to purchase their own gun. That saves even more money as far as tax dollars go.
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That is just awesome. So you have Officer Joe with a .357, Officer Jane with a .44 Special and Officer Biden with a good ole Double Barrel Coach Gun. I hope they all are hauling around a lot of extra ammo with them on their person. Seriously though, it just makes sense all the way around for a dept to be uniformly armed.

Where I come from, a lot of police can or are even required to purchase their own gun. That saves even more money as far as tax dollars go.
Revolvers are not going away. I think they will always be around until they perfect a tiny power/ignition source for a microwave rifle and handgun, but they will never have more than a quarter of the market from here on in. If that much.
A member posted firearms manufacturing statistics recently for all major makers and a breakdown of how many were semi autos and how many were revolvers. It's not even close.

I don't think they are outdated. They are still very lethal and their virtues and positive design features are many, as I am sure previous posters mentioned. I own a few more revolvers than semi autos myself. But I have a lot of both types.
I carry a Colt Agent or a S&W Mod 37 98% of the time from June to the end of September and I love and shoot old snubbys well. I never seem to carry my S&W Mod 13-2 3" even though I am crazy about it (not for sale). I had a slick Mod 58 but I sold it. That was some cannon! Very accurate, though.

However, it's hard to argue with semi autos when it's widely accepted that most people shoot better with a DA semi auto than they do with a DA revolver. Unless one is Jerry Miculek's class, semi autos can be reloaded much faster by most, even if the charged magazine is somewhat fumbled. Most people feel they are more comfortable to carry unless they favor the Desert Eagle or something similar. The capacity issue really doesn't come in to play as much as these other factors. Modern semi auto reliability is still a hair under that of the redoubtable revolver, but it's very close after 111 years of semi auto design and modern materials. Perfectly designed tools for self defense - low maintenance, lower production costs, many caliber choices, frame sizes, and cartridge capacities. They will stand up to more field abuse than most revolvers - not pretty like a good old revolver or a Colt Govt. Model, but deadly effective.

I remember an article by a Lt. Toronto Police official written about 1988 about the Glock 17. In part he said "the best reload is no reload." This is not gospel, but it's a good point.
Not everybody that has high cap semi autos "spray and pray" either. The Glock is not the point, whether we like them or not, it's the fact that it's a high capacity plastic framed pistol. Modern single stack semi autos have the same semi auto good points as the high caps. Again, the capacity is not the central issue to me.

I apologize if I am being too provocative, but we will never see an eye popping market jump of revolvers to even half the market. That is, unless semi autos are legislated out of possesion for average citizens and revolvers are the only alternative.
Just my brash opinions, again :rolleyes:

Now, I think I'll go back and read what my fellow members think!
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