Why do we still use revolvers today if pistols can hold more ammo and shoot faster?
In: Physics
So, as other people have said, “pistols” includes “revolvers” and the other type of handgun, “automatics” or “autos,” but more correctly, “semi-automatics.” Revolvers have revolving cylinders that hold the bullets, usually five or six or (rarely) eight or ten “cartridges” or “rounds”. (A “bullet” is just the metal part that flies out the barrel and hurts people.) Revolvers look like the guns in Westerns. Semi-automatics (because the bullets are fed into the chamber automatically, but still require a trigger squeeze to fire) look like thick italic L’s. They can hold maybe seven to thirteen rounds, or more, as you say.
Why do we still use revolvers today? There are a few reasons. One is that it’s the gun your service issues you. Police departments and military services don’t always use the most up to date sidearms, especially when both police and military might not use them very often, if ever. But by now most police forces and I think all military groups have abandoned their old revolvers.
Another, and this is probably the main reason, is that revolvers have the *reputation* for being more reliable. Early semi-autos could jam more often than revolvers. That reputation seems to be fading, but memories die hard.
Another is that for autos, the cartridge size determines the grip width, and some very large calibers might make a semi-auto pistol that’s too fat to use comfortably. In a revolver, the rounds are stored in a cylinder, not in the handle, so big rounds aren’t a problem (at least not that way.) You can even make a small revolver that fires large calibers (if you wanted.)
Lastly, there are nuances regarding single-action, double-action, and single-action/double-action that might make a revolver better for a backup gun. You can have a semi-auto as a that requires you to manually chamber a round (by pulling back or “racking” the “slide”, i.e., the top housing of the gun) before it will fire the first round in the stack. A revolver is always “chambered,” so you can just pull the trigger and it goes boom (though the pull might be long and stiff.)
There’s other minor stuff, like the shape of the bullet itself, handling weak powder that might fail to cycle a semi, etc.
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