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.

MALF

Hand-gun malfunctions; they happen.  Sometimes you can just call it a day and go home ... if you're at a pistol match.  Other times there are immediate remedial actions which you can perform to quickly resolve the problem.

(I'm not even going to try to address rifle malfunctions: too many types of actions, and generally the resolution is "go home, you're screwed", such as when you can't extract a fired cartridge.)

Here are the five most common types of firearm malfunctions, and the things you can do with them.  The first three are typical of semi-automatic pisols, and the fourth is typical of revolvers: but SQUIBS can happen to everyone!

1: Failure to Feed
2: Stovepipe
3. Uncategorized
4. locked cylinder (Revolver Only)
5: Squib

Thinking about a wheelgun? ME TOO!!!

SayUncle  I’ve been thinking about a wheelgun:
 MAGAZINES ARE NOT ALWAYS 100% RELIABLE!

Actually, I went out and bought a short-barreled revolver for home defense several years ago, and I've never been attacked in my home.  This proves the defensive capabilities of a Stubby, Right?

No.  It proves nothing.  I never 'expected' to suffer a home invasion (I have nothing worth stealing .. everybody knows that) and the proposition that having a gun in the home prevents robberies is  .. not really real.

I just wanted to have a reliable firearm in my home,

And the 1911 just doesn't get it because ... magazine spring.

Magazines, and .... RESTING!

Democrats think we are stupid

John Lott has a new article at National Review today, which demonstrates the perfidy of Democrats in their never-ending story of trying to remove all Second Amendment rights from the American Public.

Democrats’ Semi-Automatic Gun Ban Is Clueless:

In the New York Times this month, Thomas Friedman called for “bans on the manufacture and sale of all semi-automatic and other military-style guns.” The city council of Lexington, Mass., is seeking to “ban the ownership of semi-automatic or fully automatic weapons able to hold ammunition clips containing more than ten rounds.”
 Well over half of the guns sold in the U.S. are semi-automatic. And, if a gun can accept a magazine, that magazine can be of pretty much any size. So the “ten round” rule is meaningless. So, with the exception of a few specialty guns, these rules would in effect ban all semi-automatic guns. This Democrat goal is nothing new, of course — in 1998, Illinois state senator Barack Obama supported a “ban on the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons” — but for years, gun-control advocates wanted to ban guns based on appearances. Now, instead of arbitrarily going after guns because of how they look, Democrats are at least being logically consistent and talking about banning guns based on how they function.

Go, read The Whole Thing.

Oh, and just in case you think that Revolvers are "less dreadful" than semi-automatic pistols, in terms of rounds fired downrange per second:

Introducing Jerry Miculek

Semi-Auto Madness: GRIP SAFETY!

Sometimes, it makes me want to just chew my leg off to get out of the trap,

I find myself teaching an advanced "safety" class in a competitive sport, and I expect people who sign up to be experienced, compent and SAFE pistol shooters.

Instead, I too often discover that I am teaching basic pistol skills.

Now, when you read the title you probably thought that the phrase "GRIP SAFETY" had to do with the John Moses Browning (PBUH) design where the external thumb safety must be set 'off', and also that the grip on the support hand must be sufficiently firm to depress the "grip safety'.

No.

What I'm talking about is that it is possible with both revolvers and pistols to GRIP your handgun in such a manner that you may cause physical injury (and a LOT of pain!) when you fire it.