Colt Seavers

He's goin with the 'manly' 6" so he can laugh meniacally at the lack of recoil and therefore lack of pain in those arthritic hands.

tglazie

Funny you mention that. Every time my wife comes with me to the range she get comments from anyone on the range about her SP101 .357. it always the same- "wow its nice to see someone shooting a revolver these days"

funny, they never say a thing when I bring it to the range alone!

jcohen24

Agree with terry_p. When I was single I used a semi-auto for home defense. I wanted my new wife to use it but became aware that she had issues with whether there was a round in the chamber, whether the safety was on or off and whether a casing might not eject properly.
The clear answer was a revolver. Simple to use and very reliable.

ThreeScrew

Dunno, just always gravitated to wheelguns, and I am a range rat. Someone commented on 1911s being to pricey but they can look like budget pistols next to an N-frame smith.

Wish there was an ICORE chapter around here. I just can't get into the CAS dressup thing.

McD

Tomrbka -- I am getting a 4" GP100 with the monster Hogue grips... May need the old version of the GP100 grips... It is a 2009 with only a few rounds through it. Paying a few bucks to supplement the XD 9 to land the GP100.

WOW! the guns are flying off the shelves in the LGS. 20 a day (approx). Mostly bottom feeders and sport utility rifles (black). I am glad I have all I need...

tangent

Revolvers = "old guys"?
I would think 'anybody' with decent mechanical knowledge, would have to admit, that between revolver and semi-auto, the one most likely to go "bang" every time, would be the revolver. Less parts, less complications, = more reliability. It's that simple!

rdp357

Grew up with revolvers, going out with them, Shoot them better and there purdy....
like my simi-autos, love my revolvers!!!!

tglazie

The funny thing is most revolvers often have more parts than a semiauto.

Looking at the schematics quickly, I see that my Ruger P89, for example, has approximately 51 parts including the magazine parts. My wife's SP101 has approximately 63, or 71 if was an adjustable rear sight model.

Having torn down both of them several times for cleaning, action jobs, dehorning, etc, I would be hard pressed to pick which one is more inherently reliable. The trigger group, in particular, is pretty complicated on the SP101 compared to the P89. Revolvers have an advantage in the feed/extract area though, of course.

Personally, I think a revolver's real advantage vs. a semiauto is in "functional reliability" rather than mechanical reliability. A revolver is more likely to go bang in a stress situation not because it is a simpler mechanical design, but because there is significantly less required of the operator to make it go bang.

Just one man's opinion. I am a mechanical engineer but not a gunsmith. I would defer to the judgement of a good gunsmith who has seen all types of failures across the various applications more than I do my own limited experiences with a select few well made weapons.

McD

tglazie is on to something here. Since the P38, the basic autos and revolvers are not qualitatively distinguished by mere number of parts. The feed and extraction combined the operator use (and the effect of stress) distinguish them. At the same time, once you need a reload, the auto beats the revolver with speed and ease of reload. Yes, we get better with our reloaders, but the autos have our revolvers beat there.
BUT, as one guy said (and many quote): The revolver is the best defense sidearm for the first 6 shots (or 7 or 8). MOREOVER, the auto has the disadvantages (well highlighted in this thread) of "feed issues", power, and other reliability factors.

But... if the zombies attack from over the north pole, I will have an auto to accompany my wheelgun canons. Indeed.

tglazie

And a 12gauge pump to accompany both! Everyone knows a tacticool shotgun is like kryptonite to zombies.

leftofcentre67

Forgive me father for I have sinned. I did not buy a Redhawk 5.5".

I have on order a 629 in 5" because it looks nicer in my opinion.

My .44 obsession begins....

McD

Lefty: My son, your contrition is obvious, your sorrow for your deed is true. For your penance you will go get a GP100 to upgird and back up your S&W 629.

Or get a Redhawk 4"...

leftofcentre67

I didn't like the feel of the 4.2" Redhawk...seemed a little unbalanced.
I do have a GP-141 so I haven't gone quite to the darkside. I love the GP-141 by the way.

Bvd1

I also use a revolver for home defense, my S&W 3" model 66 or my 4" Security Six.

McD

Lefty, I am glad to hear that you are not in the darkness. The GP 141 is my favorite of the GP series. Mine is the GP100 SS 4". I acquired it 2nd hand, barely used, yr man. 2009, and with VERY sweet trigger. Apparently, a younger feller bought the GP100 for daily carry. Soon the glory of that wore off, especially when the "buddies" had polymer autos. So he traded it in on some plastic autococker. With a month, he traded that in for a sport utility rifle (some kind of AR semi-auto). At the local gunshop both pieces sold in short order. The 3and 1/2 week old auto had NEVER been fired by the guy. The fever makes guys do expensive things sometimes.

Some of the best firearm acquisitions ever have been used items. Over the years I have acquired stuff used that is now worth many times the price I paid. Funny how that goes.

P.S. -- The fever has made me do some weird stuff too. I try to forget that stuff.