revolver or semi auto handgun
- Thread starter Whiterock
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Captain_coues
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LAST EDITED ON Jul-02-14 AT 06:19AM (MST)[p]Now I'm not a pistol guy, although I do have plenty I am more of a rifle guy. I do not even CC. If I did, I would choose a compact 1911 45 acp. I have always liked the feel of these and like having the exposed hammer. For some reason they feel safer to carry than the other types.
F
Flatlandr
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Check out the Sig P938. Love mine, shoots great and pretty easy to conceal.
RELH
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It is going to depend on your experience with both types of handguns. If your experience is less then great, you should stick with a revolver that has less chance of problems dealing with reliability and possible accidental discharges.
My personal favorite that I carry concealed is a Colt Defender 1911 in 45 ACP. Small in size compared to a full size 1911 and lightweight.
When I started law enforcement in the mid 70's most officers carried revolvers and they had to have a score of 70% to preform their duties. My dept. allowed officers to switch to semi auto only if they could demonstrate three scores of 90% or better with the semi auto as the dept felt the auto was for more experienced gun handlers. We did not have the rate of accidental discharges that we heard about with other depts. when they switched because of that requirement.
I prefer the semi auto, but I would not feel under gunned with packing a good revolver and have done so on occasion. Unlike a cop, a citizen has very little chance of getting into a long gun battle with several suspects that would require more then 6 rounds to finish the fight. That event is even very rare for gunfights involving cops as the average rounds fired was 5 rounds by both sides when I retired from law enforcement in 2003.
Get what you feel comfortable with and make sure you practice enough with it to feel confident in your ability to win a gun fight if it ever happens to you. If you have a local IDPA club and range, join it and get the experience you need while having fun doing it shooting against others in your level of experience.
RELH
My personal favorite that I carry concealed is a Colt Defender 1911 in 45 ACP. Small in size compared to a full size 1911 and lightweight.
When I started law enforcement in the mid 70's most officers carried revolvers and they had to have a score of 70% to preform their duties. My dept. allowed officers to switch to semi auto only if they could demonstrate three scores of 90% or better with the semi auto as the dept felt the auto was for more experienced gun handlers. We did not have the rate of accidental discharges that we heard about with other depts. when they switched because of that requirement.
I prefer the semi auto, but I would not feel under gunned with packing a good revolver and have done so on occasion. Unlike a cop, a citizen has very little chance of getting into a long gun battle with several suspects that would require more then 6 rounds to finish the fight. That event is even very rare for gunfights involving cops as the average rounds fired was 5 rounds by both sides when I retired from law enforcement in 2003.
Get what you feel comfortable with and make sure you practice enough with it to feel confident in your ability to win a gun fight if it ever happens to you. If you have a local IDPA club and range, join it and get the experience you need while having fun doing it shooting against others in your level of experience.
RELH
hounddawgs
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It really is your choice in which one fits better for you to conceal carry I carry a FN 45 14 round clips and have a Sig Saur 9mm P250 that my wife carries both are carried in a shoulder holster when are you wanting to carry all the time or when your out hiking/ hunting/camping ?
1911
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Autoloader
Pros. Increased round count, rapid mag changes, wide variety of caliber selection. Typically thinner and easier to conceal.
Cons. 100% increase of malfunction probability (except a used Rossi) over a revolver. Add inexperience and it is a formula for disaster. Range time and familiarity will overcome this. Problem is, once the cc honeymoon is over they don't get enough range time. Accidental discharge rate goes up exponentially.
Wheel gun
Pros. Idiot proof. If you pull the trigger it will go bang. Most will go bang six times in succession. (Only exception might be a used Rossi. They are questionable to suck start let alone save your life). Great self defence calibers readily available.
Cons. You have six chances. Some might give you a seventh. If you get to reload time unless you are an expert consider yourself done. Guess that should be a con but in almost any scenario from a ccw standpoint it is a mute issue. If you haven't fixed the problem in six or seven it is probably not going to make much difference.
Fatter than most autoloaders...trade off is a snub nose is pretty short.
The only one that can best answer the question is you. If you aren't willing to spend the time and money, a wheel gun is hard to beat. Everything has a trade off. A gain here is a loss there.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/4abc76ff29b26fc1.jpg
Pros. Increased round count, rapid mag changes, wide variety of caliber selection. Typically thinner and easier to conceal.
Cons. 100% increase of malfunction probability (except a used Rossi) over a revolver. Add inexperience and it is a formula for disaster. Range time and familiarity will overcome this. Problem is, once the cc honeymoon is over they don't get enough range time. Accidental discharge rate goes up exponentially.
Wheel gun
Pros. Idiot proof. If you pull the trigger it will go bang. Most will go bang six times in succession. (Only exception might be a used Rossi. They are questionable to suck start let alone save your life). Great self defence calibers readily available.
Cons. You have six chances. Some might give you a seventh. If you get to reload time unless you are an expert consider yourself done. Guess that should be a con but in almost any scenario from a ccw standpoint it is a mute issue. If you haven't fixed the problem in six or seven it is probably not going to make much difference.
Fatter than most autoloaders...trade off is a snub nose is pretty short.
The only one that can best answer the question is you. If you aren't willing to spend the time and money, a wheel gun is hard to beat. Everything has a trade off. A gain here is a loss there.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/4abc76ff29b26fc1.jpg
I started off with a S&W Airweight 38 5 shot revolver. I couldn't shoot the gun well and switched to a S&W M&P Shield in 9mm and really like it. It is accurate, always cycles, easy to conceal and holds 8 shots. My wife has the same gun too.
We took a CC course and the instructor was ex- military and said he would never consider a revolver for CC. I'm a rifle guy but do prefer the auto by a wide margin.
We took a CC course and the instructor was ex- military and said he would never consider a revolver for CC. I'm a rifle guy but do prefer the auto by a wide margin.
RELH
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Jim Cirillo, retired NYPD special unit officer and firearms instructor would strongly disagree with your ex-military CC instructor. Cirillo was a member and later leader of a special robbery unit that staked out stores and would confront armed robbery suspects that involved numerous gunfights.
Of living cops, still on duty and retired he has probably been in more gunfights then any cop alive today. He shot and killed many suspects in gunfights with a double action 38 special revolver. Used a shotgun many times also.
I myself prefer the semi auto, but never sell the revolver short as it will take care of business in a gunfight. I have found that a good portion of sage brush commandos that rave about a high capacity semi auto over a revolver are of the "spray and pray" crowd that have more misses then hits on their target and never been in a gunfight.
RELH
Of living cops, still on duty and retired he has probably been in more gunfights then any cop alive today. He shot and killed many suspects in gunfights with a double action 38 special revolver. Used a shotgun many times also.
I myself prefer the semi auto, but never sell the revolver short as it will take care of business in a gunfight. I have found that a good portion of sage brush commandos that rave about a high capacity semi auto over a revolver are of the "spray and pray" crowd that have more misses then hits on their target and never been in a gunfight.
RELH
RELH
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LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-14 AT 10:52PM (MST)[p]I used the term " good portion" along with the term "never" which means "not all" as there are exceptions.
I am also aware of several incidents where in a gunfight the criminal counted 6 rounds fired by the officer and rushed the officer thinking he was out of ammo and had to be reloading. Poor criminal end up taking the 7th or 8th. round in his chest as he left cover and rushed the officer, not knowing the cop had a semi auto and not a revolver. Bottom line use what you are comfortable with and can shoot the most accurate with.
RELH
I am also aware of several incidents where in a gunfight the criminal counted 6 rounds fired by the officer and rushed the officer thinking he was out of ammo and had to be reloading. Poor criminal end up taking the 7th or 8th. round in his chest as he left cover and rushed the officer, not knowing the cop had a semi auto and not a revolver. Bottom line use what you are comfortable with and can shoot the most accurate with.
RELH
