I've blogged before about my views on revolvers vs. semi-autos for civilian self-defense. I continue to be very much in the revolver camp, primarily because they are vastly more reliable than semi-autos. For typical self defense purposes, the greater capacity of semi-autos is a moot point.
Note, I'm not a semi-auto "hater." I use them for sport. In fact, the sports I compete in allow for one do-over when a semi-auto jams. But I don't rely on semi-autos for defense and I advise others to strongly consider revolvers.
It amazes me the amount of denial out there about semi-auto reliability. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had where someone insists their semi-auto has run perfectly for them. However, when I start a serious cross examination, the answer always changes to "oh yeah, well it did have a few failures to feed with a certain type of ammo, but that wasn't the gun's fault," or "oh yeah, well I did have a few stove pipe jams but that was my fault not holding the gun properly," or "oh yea, well I did have jams with older magazines but that was fixed when I put in new springs," and so on.
Are revolvers perfectly reliable? No, but both by inherent design and the fact they've been around much longer, they are far more reliable. Whereas most of the time I suspect a semi-auto owner is not being truthful when telling me his gun has run through thousands of rounds without a hiccup, I will always give the revolver owner the benefit of the doubt.
I thought I might maintain an ongoing list of links to blog posts describing various reliability difficulties with semi-autos, which I will try to update occasionally:
Note, I'm not a semi-auto "hater." I use them for sport. In fact, the sports I compete in allow for one do-over when a semi-auto jams. But I don't rely on semi-autos for defense and I advise others to strongly consider revolvers.
It amazes me the amount of denial out there about semi-auto reliability. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had where someone insists their semi-auto has run perfectly for them. However, when I start a serious cross examination, the answer always changes to "oh yeah, well it did have a few failures to feed with a certain type of ammo, but that wasn't the gun's fault," or "oh yeah, well I did have a few stove pipe jams but that was my fault not holding the gun properly," or "oh yea, well I did have jams with older magazines but that was fixed when I put in new springs," and so on.
Are revolvers perfectly reliable? No, but both by inherent design and the fact they've been around much longer, they are far more reliable. Whereas most of the time I suspect a semi-auto owner is not being truthful when telling me his gun has run through thousands of rounds without a hiccup, I will always give the revolver owner the benefit of the doubt.
I thought I might maintain an ongoing list of links to blog posts describing various reliability difficulties with semi-autos, which I will try to update occasionally:
- 11/17/11 Blogger "Shelly Rae" of Gun Nuts Media describes magazine feeding problems causing malfunctions with her S&W M&P semi-auto pistol.
- 11/17/11 Blogger Kelleen Bishop of Women of Caliber describes malfunctions with her semi-auto caused by underpowered ammunition.
- 11/16/11 Blogger Aaron Spuler of the The Weapon Blog reports that while field testing a semi-auto Diamondback DB380, he experienced a high misfeed rate.
- 12/03/11 Jewish Marksman's Ar-15 rifle suffers a dud primer in the middle of an NRA High Power match. I suppose a bolt rifle is no better off, but the point is that occasional dud primers happen. With handguns, the revolver just needs its trigger pulled again, but the semi-auto needs its slide reset.
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