Revolver Question...

[Jailkeeper]

Ok boys & girls (and everyone else), I have a question (again)!

All the hype about the ruggedness of Glocks, XD's, etc. got me thinking about something...

How does a revolver hold up in such extreme circumstances? Has anyone or any company (poor English) ever done extreme testing to a revolver?

I have asked questions here about cleaning my pistols, springs weakening, etc. and have gotten excellent answers every time. I feel confident that I could probably carry my Glock 30 daily for the rest of my life and have nothing to worry about.

Then it hit me... I have never read anything concerning how much "abuse" a revolver will accept. I am not talking about dropping it out of an airplane nor hitting it with a sledge hammer. I am talking about daily carry with infrequent cleaning. Yes, I said INFREQUENT cleaning.

I bought a Ruger New Vaquero .357 about 6 weeks ago. Have not shot it yet but am planning to shoot it either tomorrow (Wednesday) evening in Bedford or else on Thursday in Hollidaysburg. It lives on my couch and every evening I spin the cylinder about 13,285 times and dry fire it 926 times.

This evening I was again looking at the Ruger Alaskan on the Internet. I want one, I just can not justify purchasing one (yet).

I guess my sudden interest in revolvers got me thinking about how rugged they are as compared to a Glock, XD, whatever.

[synergy]

They'll typically run w/ much cleaning and lube.

Lube in some key points will make the trigger pull better, though.

I have seen MANY revolvers that malfunctioned. A few were S&W (all but 1 were very high mileage), a few were Rugers (unknown history) and many were Taurus (brand new, to very old). I've bled from my face from standing behind someone shooting a NIB Charter Arms Bulldog which was out of time...I hate those fuckin' things.

You'd cut the top strap on a revolver before you wore out a Glock. I ran a revolver (whole) through an ultrasonic tank once...you couldn't pull the trigger there was so much friction. After working some oil into the mechanism, it was like new, again.

I do believe, you COULD get enough crap under the sideplate to make the gun choke...it'd take some serious effort though.

If the average user detail stripped/ cleaned/ and lubed every part in the mechanism every 5-10k rounds....a well built one would probably never skip a beat.

[General Geoff]

Long as you keep the side plate on, and the gun is in good working order, it'll take a lot of effort to get a wheelgun to stop functioning. I wouldn't be surprised if you could run several thousand rounds through a quality revolver before any (even minor) issues arise during normal use.

[phill]

My 586 went sour at about 8000 rds. It took 3 shims and about 30 minutes to get it back running. 7yrs. later, new owner and untold rounds it still runs plates with no problems.
I never pull a side plate as long as the gun is running. Clean the barrel and cylinder/crane and go.

[aryfrosty]

Some years back we were shooting PPC matches and some of the Officers, who used K frame Smiths started having lockups during a cycle. We realized that the ammo we were using (.38 spl wadcutters) was leaving residue which worked its way under the star and wouldn't let the rounds seat completely. The cyclinder would close but wouldn't turn. With my N frame I never had this issue. I recently bought a used M-19-6 and it had problems with a sluggish action and the cylinder latch refusing to latch back when I closed the cylinder. When I pulled the side plate and the mechanics I found that there was so much gunk built up in the channel the cylinder latch slide worked in that it was slowing everything down. No way of knowing how long that revolver had gone without a good cleaning. I believe that any weapon with good maintenance will run right and forever. But they are made to close tolerances and that's one reason they need maintenance. They just aren't made to be self cleaning...That's the shooter's job.

[knight0334]

{apologies if my bias shows through}

Alot depends in the gun and the people that have owned it.

With that new Vaquero, it'll be a little more like an original Colt than its brute cousins - the Blackhawks/Bisley's and old Vaquero. If you use factory level loads - it should last a long long time.

When the Glocks and such are hyped for "ruggedness", for the most part the average brandname revolver exceeds it. If you compare a Super Redhawk/Blackhawk, the regular Redhawk/Blackhawk, the Freedom Arms, the older Sevilles, the Interarms Dragoons, S&W 29 series, or one of the other tanks versus a brass slinger you'd find that the wheelgun is built to last longer and be far more reliable. If you compare pocket revolvers on up to duty size - you will see the revolvers generally hold an advantage. Cheapo revolvers can be just as much of a headache as a crappy semi.

Hell, even big dollar revolvers can too, just look at the Colt Python. If you constantly shoot hot 357mags out of it at today's 44mag power levels(which is the original power level of the 357mag). Timing gets messed up, lockup looses it's tight sync. etc..

If you want to compare "rugged".... just look at what they make "mountain guns" from - big beefy tanks of a revolver. I almost laugh when someone says a semi is rugged, reliable, etc - let alone a specific brand. Revolvers aren't dependant on ammunition to make it operate - so thats one less factor to make one malfunction.

Some revolvers have a reputation of being trouble. ...One of the Charter era's was totally junk(one was great), Taurus seems to have problems from time to time, Rossi never was that great. A lot depends on how well they were treated too. Some idiots insist on feeding +P or the hottest ammo they can find/load all the time into their guns - despite the fact that a badguy or critter will never notice the difference if shot by a +P versus being shot by a standard load(one way to tell the n00bs from the experienced).

[aryfrosty]

Originally Posted by knight0334

{apologies if my bias shows through}

Some idiots insist on feeding +P or the hottest ammo they can find/load all the time into their guns - despite the fact that a badguy or critter will never notice the difference if shot by a +P versus being shot by a standard load(one way to tell the n00bs from the experienced).

Sorry...Critters and targets, including criminals...will certainly know the difference between being shot by +P or magnum loads and "regular" loads. I have always been grateful to a stupid crook and his lack of knowlege concerning ammo who shot me thrice in the right thigh with 9mm hardball. Had it been +P or any specialty ammo I would likely have lost my leg. I don't want to sound argumentative with you. You probably have more experience than I. RS/ Al

[knight0334]

Originally Posted by aryfrosty

Sorry...Critters and targets, including criminals...will certainly know the difference between being shot by +P or magnum loads and "regular" loads. I have always been grateful to a stupid crook and his lack of knowlege concerning ammo who shot me thrice in the right thigh with 9mm hardball. Had it been +P or any specialty ammo I would likely have lost my leg. I don't want to sound argumentative with you. You probably have more experience than I. RS/ Al

okay, okays.. maybe not never.

I'm sure you knew what I meant though.

[Jailkeeper]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post.

I inherited my first handgun (a Ruger Security Six) in 1985 when my grandfather passed away. Since that time I have accumulated a small collection of handguns. Mostly semi's.

Recently I have had a renewed interest in wheel guns, so of course I have questions.

Part of my question pertains to carrying and NOT shooting the pistol. If someone here carries a Glock OC and does NOT shoot it how long will you carry it before cleaning it? If someone here OC's a wheel gun and does NOT shoot it how long will you carry it before cleaning it?

Originally Posted by knight0334

maybe not never.

Knight? Not sure, but isn't that a double-negative? The Grammar Police are here!

[CommonHighrise]

People who claim the superior durability of Glocks to revolvers based on the amount of ammo they can eat through and still function crack me up. Thats a fine standard for a strict paper puncher, but why in the world would you trust your life and the lives of your loved ones to something you havent cleaned and checked in months? Yeah, a revolver needs cleaned up every few thousand, but if youre taking enough time to shoot that much and train with your weapon, wouldnt you take 15 minutes to clean it?

Reliability of the revolver comes into play most when everything starts going wrong. Almost every gun will shoot when everythings going good, but autos jam fairly easily when you put them in the environment of a defense situation of the street. The badguy might be within contact range, and make a grab to take the gun out of your hand. On an auto, hell probably grab for the slide, most likely knocking it out of battery, which at best will render the gun useless until the slides released, at worse will cause a crippling severe jam such as a double feed.

Shooting an auto with a proper grip while stable will allow it to cycle reliably. When you consider firing it with a damaged, weak, slippery, or generally poor grip, while in the middle of a struggle, or while evading in a panic, you invite the possibility of a malfunction. Shooting with the gun pinned tight to your side, or tangled in clothing, will most likely cause a malfunction with an auto.

While not a feature on all autos, no revolver will fail to fire due to an improperly disengaged safety, either trigger, grip, or thumb. They also lack a sensitive SA-only trigger pull, which is arguably more of a liability in a panic defensive situation. Revolvers cylinder release is alsmost always larger and coarser of a mechanism to operate than the mag release on an auto.

So why doest everyone carry a revolver? Why were thy phased out of both the LEO and military use? My beleif is a lowered standard of accuracy giving way to more emphasis being placed on capacity than stopping power. Also, it is far easier to educate and train a person to run an auto, mostly consisting of the simplicity of the reload. True, you can swap the mag on an auto faster than refilling the cylinder on an auto. However, a good revolver reload is not as slow as most people would think. 3-4 seconds is not a hard speed to attain with proper training.

[/soapbox]