Why do we still use revolvers today if pistols can hold more ammo and shoot faster?
In: Physics
They’re cheaper, more reliable, and cool. Also they have the added utility of *not* having a lot of rounds or a high fire rate. You do not want gun fights to be hailing bullets. A revolver is a reserved weapon used as an emergency to fire a few rounds off at most. If you find yourself needing more bullets, you have a problem. In places where guns are rare, and even criminals won’t have them, revolvers are perfectly adequate for police forces.
I wouldn’t recommend playing Russian roulette without a revolver.
In all seriousness, depending on many variables, you can leave a revolver loaded for a longer period of time. As far as real advantage, bigger calibers, and a relatively small footprint. so if you needed a hiking gun, a revolver may suit you more than having a higher capacity smaller caliber.
Home defense having a weapon that fires from just pulling the trigger may be advantageous depending on your situation.
Also, a back up weapon revolver seem to be favored.
I can only speak from my experience, I’m no where near a gun expert! My dad, husband, and myself took a firearms class for our enhanced carry permit. We had to put time in at the range as part of the class.
I was the only one in the group of about 20 that had a revolver. My gun was also the only one that did not jam. Every other gun jammed at least once. We fired A LOT of rounds.
My dad is beyond OCD about cleaning his gun, so I know it wasn’t about the guns not being cleaned, at least not his.
I understand that it’s unlikely for a well maintained gun to jam. But if my life depends on it, I want to know my gun will fire every single time. This is just my experience of course.
Occasions matter quite a bit too. At a wedding and trying to discreetly carry? Snubnose on my ankle. Dead of winter out in the woods? 4″ .357 shit beater Taurus. Out and about every day of the week? Probably carrying my 365X/XL/Macro/Glock 30SF lineup, honorable mention Beretta Model 81.
The real reason is habit, comfort, and/or sheer fun factor. Besides those three things things, modern handguns are objectively superior.
If this were not the case, you’d see way more world class pistol shooters doing stuff with revolvers.
Idk why everyone here is saying revolvers are mechanically simpler, try disassembling one compared to an automatic pistol, i think they are mistaking it with easier to operate which i agree with since you just put round in chamber then slap it in and then pull trigger vs an automatic where you need to operate a slide or a safety first.
Revolvers also have two advantages that i can name which are that they are easier to conceal (j frames in pockets) and if a round doesnt strike a primer you can pull the trigger again to fire the next round opposed to an autoloader which needs to be cleared with the slide.
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.
If there are nailguns, why do we still have hammers?
Because revolvers don’t eject shell casings all over the ground so there is less/no evidence left behind (aside from the bullets you shot).
The firing mechanism of semi autos can be fouled if there are multiple hands on the gun, as could be the case in a physical struggle. If your assailant gets a grip on your slide and pulls it back before you pull the trigger, or holds it there after you fired your shot, you can’t shoot again until that’s remedied. This also can happen if you press the gun into an assailants body before firing, which is a perfectly possible thing. With a revolver, the amount of space that can prevent a round from firing is just the space between the hammer and the round. Grabbing the barrel won’t stop you firing, and neither will shoving the gun into the assailant’s body.
Semi autos are preferable if you think you’ll reliably have time to draw and aim before the target gets to you. If you think someone might get the jump on you and be in touch-range before you fire, then revolvers start to look more favorable
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