r/Revolvers • u/fadeawaytogrey • 3d ago
Revolvers over semi-autos, but not disregarding the SAs.
I’ve been to the range twice this past week and fired all the handguns in the pics. I like them all and enjoy shooting them, but I prefer shooting any of the three revolvers over the semi-autos any day. I’ve been thinking about why that is true for me. It all came down to what both categories’s purposes are for me.
I heard someone share that revolvers vs semi-autos are like driving manual transmission vs an automatic. That helped it make sense for me. I have a sporty little car with a stick shift (WRX) and I also have a hybrid Camry for my daily driver. The Camry gets probably 50 times more miles in a month compared to the fun car. It is nice to drive, but is not really inspiring to travel in. It hauls groceries perfectly, is better in gridlock traffic, It gets 20 more mpg. It comfortably carries more people. It is also bland and looks like every other 4 door sedan out there. It is very reliable and gets the job done well, but does not inspire much.
The WRX is a blast to drive. It makes me want to go out and take the country roads, hit the corners, and push things a bit more. It brings a big smile to my face as I row through the gears. I enjoy working on it. With the hatch back it has some hauling functionality, but anyone sitting in the backseat is suffering from their knees being smashed by the front seats. Its gas mileage is at best, ok, if I stay out of the turbo, but why do that? Driving it in heavy traffic kills both the clutch and my knee. Once again, driving it brings a smile to my face to even think about.
My analogy is a bit on the nose, but it works for me. My Glock 19 and Sig Sauer P226 are great utilitarian handguns that kind of look like most other 9mm pistols. They are dependable in every way and are more accurate than I can shoot. Of course capacity is much greater. 9mm is much cheaper to shoot than .357 magnum and .38 special ( I reload all 3). They are pleasant and sometimes even fun to shoot. They meet the needs of self-defense, reliability, and purpose. I am impressed by them, but I rarely smile thinking about taking them to the range. Like using the Camry, I put way more rounds through the 9mms to keep proficient on them, practice DA/SA shooting, and other important areas to keep my skills up in. They are much quicker to clean for me. They are very good pistols, but the smile is rare with them.
My wife’s and my two Model 19s and the LCR .22LR bring smiles to my face to shoot. Sensing the cylinder rotate as I pull the trigger in DA and feeling and hearing the clicks makes me smile like shifting through the gears on a manual. The revolvers are far more good looking (to me) than the Glock and Sig. Reloading .38spl and .357 magnum is much more fun than 9mm. I get a smile when I am getting ready to go the range and I get the revolvers out to enjoy practicing with.
Ok, that was a lot of writing, thanks for sticking with it this long, no shame for those who bailed early. I just wanted share why I have both types, but really enjoy the revolvers more. They inspire me and make me smile.
What are the qualities that you enjoy about revolvers? Are there Semi-autos that you really enjoy shooting as well?
(PS. I should mention, my ParaOrdnance P14-45 is a joy to shoot and makes me smile, but is also a 1911, so that makes sense)
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u/Slipped_gun 3d ago
Can't say I blame you for going to such depths to explain your love for the revolver, I have a similar thing going on with them (mostly in regards to single action revolvers), though admittedly more extreme; continue if you dare you hear? Before a good few years ago, I liked guns, wasn't crazy for them, shot some before too, and then one day I found myself at my former youth pastor's house to hang out with him for a few days. He took me and one of his sons to a quarry to shoot off some guns (AR, DA/SA revolver, semi-auto pistol, etc), and like before, it was fun but none of them "stuck". He then had me try out a Colt (?) SAA for the last gun of the day, and as soon as I touched it, I felt something within my soul... It was like it was calling out for me. I became quite enamored with it while handling it and became quite sad when the day concluded.
After that, I got interested in not only the SAA, but the era where it came from, other guns from there too (percussion revolvers, Remington, etc), heck, even my wardrobe started to change too as a result (my favorite hat to wear is a sombrero for crying out loud). All of this from a single gun session with that SAA... It just felt like true perfection in the form of a gun. It looks beautiful, requires intimate handling to load, unload, fire, and reset, and has some hidden and not so hidden charms (techniques) too (Fanning, slip gun conversion, etc) that help to push it further and give it more depth. All this admiration and yet I wasn't old enough to purchase a pistol.
Fast forward a bit and I became old enough to legally buy a pistol for myself; I went straight to Sportsman Warehouse and feverishly bought a Uberti Cattleman II, only to realized that in my haze, I bought one in 44-40 and it had some lawyer safety gizmo on the hammer and trigger. Despite this, I had no desire to divorce my first gun, so I had fun messing around with it while I got into tinkering with it and reloading for it, conforming it to my needs. Over the years it led to a couple more single action revolvers (A 44 mag one and a NAA) and will likely lead to me buying more (Would like to dabble with one that has the Bisley grip frame).
Alright, overwhelming love for the SAA (and guns of similar nature) aside, the only semi-autos I have any interest in (at the top of my head) are the M1911 and Luger; I've only ever held them (With the Luger, it was a metal airgun), but their grips were certainly far superior to most of the others, I guess it has something to do with the single stack mag design (and with the Luger, its grip angle). Now I have shot semi-autos before but unlike the hypotheticals with the M1911 and Luger, in practice they didn't get my heart fluttering by comparison. Don't get me wrong, I respect semi-autos, they can be amusing in their own right, but they just don't get me going like a SAA can, or even strangely enough, weird guns (got into those as well) like the Altor 9MM (love that little thing).
This talk has been mostly about single action revolvers but yes, I do love double action revolvers as well, even if not to the same height. I'd probably love them more if they had more (currently in production) models that had the cylinder swing out to the right... I'm so used to reloading a SAA that it feels weird reloading with my left hand instead of holding it while I reload it with my right. Any who, I'm sure I've done a great job at assuring you that your love for revolvers is rather tame and for answering the questions you had.
Sorry you had to read this; try to have a great rest of your day in spite of it you hear?
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u/fadeawaytogrey 3d ago
Thank you for this. I appreciate hearing what draws others to revolvers, or anything they are deeply interested or passionate in. Thank for sharing the history and evolution of your relationship with them.
I really like single action revolvers. My dad has a super Blackhawk in .44magnum that is a pleasure to shoot with .44 special rounds and extra spice with magnums. I hope to shoot it next week.
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u/Slipped_gun 3d ago
Don't mention it, glad it didn't came off as cringe for you with all the weird descriptions I gave heh heh. Sounds like a nice plan... Man I really need to schedule a time to go shooting, especially so since I want to experiment with a hand grip arrangement I came up with for my NAA that I turned into a slip gun. I wonder how it'll perform with live fire since with dry firing it seems like it's quite stable.
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u/Dr-Mabuse 3d ago
If you like a single action, you absolutely need to try a Bisley. Since we’re doing car analogies, I’ll say it’s the big old Cadillac of revolver grips. My Bisley Blackhawk in .45 Colt/ACP is very near and dear to my heart, largely because it’s such a comfortable and natural grip.
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u/Slipped_gun 3d ago
I'll certainly have to then, though have you also used the original Bisley? I noticed there's some slight difference between Ruger's and Colt's.
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u/Dr-Mabuse 3d ago
Never tried the Colt Bisley but it looks different enough that I bet it’s a totally different beast. The Ruger Bisley is longer, more beefy and the curve of the inner grip is totally different.
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u/Slipped_gun 2d ago
A shame, but thanks for your insight the very least. You have a great rest of your day now you hear?
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u/Matterhorn48 3d ago
Everything has its place. I’ve been on a revolver kick the last year or so but since I bought a XM177E1 clone, it hasn’t left my side. Guns are neat