Finally ... Someone Other Than Me disputes that "Revolvers Are more Reliable"!

I don't care to know the details.  I'm sure it's far too technical for me to understand.

But I've had my own "WTF?" moments with revolvers, and they were always my fault.

The problems I've had were with ammunition which I reloaded ... but I didn't get the primer as fully seated as I should.  (Translation: it was my fault!)

The funny thing about a wheel gun is that if you have a primer that's just a little bit less than 'poked in the primer pocket so that the primer doesn't  hang up on the frame', that cylinder thingie just won't turn.  And you're left with a revolver that not only won't cycle, or fire, but maybe won't even allow you to remove the cylinder to reload it!

My Revolver Stopped Revolving - Lucky Gunner Lounge:

Revolvers fail, too. I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but I’ll probably keep bringing it up until people stop spreading misinformation about revolvers being “100% reliable.” In the video below, I describe yet another revolver failure I recently encountered. Two of them, actually. And I’m not talking about the kind of problems you can fix in a couple of seconds on the firing line. I mean, “put it in a box and mail it to the men with tools” kind of problems.

Personal Anecdote: (Stop me if you've heard this before)

Several years ago (15 to 20 years ago, if it matters) I went to a special "Concealed Carry" match at Tri-Country Gun club.    Doesn't matter ... it's a 'local club' to which I was once a member.

I didn't have a "concealed carry" gun, or holster, so I just used my Taurus Revolver (4" barrel) in a 'regular' holster, and moved the holster way behind my right hip.  Then I put on a rain jacket (this IS Oregon ... I thought it was reasonable) and kept the jacket buttoned so the gun didn't show.  When it was my turn to shoot, I had to unbutton the jacket, but I wasn't really concerned about winning the match; I was just shooting for fun anyway.  I have little patience or concern for people who "can't take a joke".

Some folks took exception to this as not being "Real Concealed Carry"' but I ignored them, as is my usual practice toward people who don't like the way I do things.  And I eventually survived their caustic comments by just not listening to the damned fools. 

*The match rules didn't define "Concealed" anyway, which was an indication that they had no better idea than I did about what "Concealed Carry" meant.*

But that's not the point.

The point is, I was using my own personal handloaded ammunition, and one of them didn't have the primer seated quite as 'fully' as it should have been.  So when I reloaded my pistol during one of the match stages, the cylinder wouldn't cycle!

The "high primer" kept the cylinder from cycling, and I ended up disobeying one of the primary range rules; I had to take my LOADED PISTOL off the range, go to a distant "safe" bay, and eventually hammered the cylinder so it would unlock.  Literally, hammered the cylinder with a ROCK so I could break it loose and unload it.

This taught me a couple of important lessons, not the least of which is to NEVER load a revolver with ammunition which hasn't cycled the cylinder before.  And ALWAYS use factory ammunition if you care about either reliability or safety with your revolver.

 *Especially if you're not as good a reloader as you think you are.*

The upshot is, that you should never load ammunition into your revolver, if you intend it for "serious purposes", until you're certain it will cycle reliably.   That rule also applies to Semi-automatics, but for slightly different reasons

And ..  oh yes, Revolvers are not significantly "more reliable than semi-automatics" because ammunition with flaws which will cycle (if perhaps not perform well) in an automatic may not be as reliable in a Revolver.   A revolver which locks up because of a high primer is not something you want to bet your life on, which is why I never again will load ammunition in a revolver without spinning the cylinder ... "just in case".   Stranger things have happened to me.

Curiously, I still keep that same (loaded) revolver in my bedside night stand.   But I don't have just one weapon; I always have a backup under the "Belt AND Suspenders" philosophy.  It's difficult for me to imagine why anyone would want to raid my home, but I've become convinced over the years that there are people who are more unreasonable than I am.  And yes, Mark, I realize that's hard to believe.