When I first got into guns, I was one of those who suffered from the Dunning-Kruger Effect in a pretty serious way. I’m a quick learner, so I hit that point pretty quickly, but I did manage to get out of it a bit quicker than the norm.
Or some would say I’ve never made it out.
…
Fair enough.
Anyway, there were some discussions on forums in various places where the subject of revolvers as defensive guns came up, and I believed that semiautos are great and should absolutely be people’s first choice. I wasn’t afraid to tell people I thought their choice was, generally, kind of dumb. “Oh,” I’d say, “I get that you’re comfortable with them, but someone who reads them and isn’t you might think this is really a viable option.”
Yes, I was an jerk.
Or some would say I still am.
…
Fair enough.
As I’m a whole lot older these days, I find myself doing something that the younger me never would have. I’m shopping for revolvers.
The last time I did, I got a Taurus 82. I got it to teach my wife and kids to shoot. My father taught me on his Model 10, and so I knew more about how to use a wheel gun to teach a new shooter than anything else at the time.
Now, though, I’m actually looking for something to have and to hold from this day forward.
I’m not giving up my semi-autos, mind you. I think they’re still the better option for most things. I just find that I’m fascinated with the simplicity of a revolver.
I’m not talking about the hype that they don’t malfunction, because they can and do. No, I think it’s that I’ve matured enough to realize that many of my arguments of the past were, while completely honest, also not really relevant.
For example, let’s talk ammo capacity.
Revolvers will almost always have fewer rounds than a comparably sized semi-auto. Even in California.
But the average defensive gun use is only two to three rounds. Of course, this counts one-shot stops and also counts mag dumps and extrapolates them across all defensive gun uses, so that’s not exactly the median number of shots fired. No, that number is probably closer to zero, if we’re being completely honest.
While there are outliers, and I do think you should at least be prepared for them, the reality is that most of us don’t find ourselves in that position very often.
Have to do something in a bad part of town? Take all the rounds.
Going for a quick errand? Just having a gun is probably enough.
I still want my 15 rounds in my Glock, and will oppose any magazine restrictions to my dying day, but I’m just not that hung up on round capacity for a daily thing anymore.
Next, let’s talk about reload times.
Speed loaders exist. Moon clips exist.
Jerry Miculek dumped two full cylinders from a revolver in less time than some people could find their spare magazines. While I’m not Jerry Miculek, the truth is that you can train your way past that using the very things old-timers used.
But I think part of my change is simply that revolvers are simple weapons, and if something happens where we somehow need them to make a comeback, they’ll only be a thing if people are still buying them and using them.
I read a story about a card scraper, which is a woodworking tool for those who are unfamiliar. The writer talked about how this card scraper was great, but then it left the market for a time. When the company rebranded and put out a new card scraper, it was different. It wasn’t as good. The reason was because the machine they used broke and no one knew how to fix it.
Knowledge, particularly industrial knowledge, can only be preserved through demand. There has to be a reason to keep that knowledge alive, and if something were to happen where revolvers stop getting made, it’s entirely possible that, should a bizarre event take place where we need them again, there will be no one left to make them.
Suddenly, we’re trying to play Sam Colt and reinvent revolvers.
I’m not saying something like that would happen, of course. The odds are about as likely as Sydney Sweeney showing up at my house for a romantic tryst and my wife being down with it. Yeah, not good.
What I’m saying, though, is that if you’re going to worry about the outlier scenario where you’re taking down a mass killer at In-N-Out with a lot of rounds, then maybe you should also consider the outliers that might mean no more revolvers, even if we need them.
Plus, they’re cooler than I used to be back in the day.
Some would say they’re cooler than I am now.
…
Fair enough.
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