days of cheap 357 revolvers over?

[Andrew Leigh]

My dad is giving me his S&W Model 19 in .375 with a 6" barrel. I am looking forward to that.

[A-R]

Been thinking about this, first thing you think is yep, but then afterwards all the reading on GS catches up with you. Is it possible that the exact opposite is true?

Been some time now that people went over to modern pistols as carry and home defence as their primary option. But it’s clear that a LOT of folk that carry modern plastic all have a revolver or two, which they keep because they just like it, many of the folk here it would seem in fact.

I mean having nice things is nice, but that would also mean that the current revolvers in circulation was grabbed up by gun lovers, but still they are not used statistically speaking, shot here and there but not used.

Is my theory plausible or not?

Let us try and determine who the revolver users are, shall we?

Long-barreled (6"+) 357's and 44's are loved by handgun hunters, and hunters who would like to try handgun hunting sometime in future. So they buy them if they can't resist the bargain. These are getting scarce on the used market now.

Sport shooters seldom use them, except for a few disciplines that cater for revolvers:

Pin shooting has 2 revolver disciplines that any serious competitor participates in, being "Stock revolver" and "Pin revolver". For Pin revolver the 8-shot (S&W and Taurus) models are desired. For Stock revolver any 357 or larger revolver will do. 6" and longer barrels are popular. Many competitors choose to shoot their revolvers in the "Pin Gun" and "Stock Gun" disciplines, competing against 1911's and similar pistols. Then there is the "Subway Snubby" division, that accomodates revolvers with 3" and shorter barrels. So here is a sport that promotes revolver shooting.

IPSC has a revolver division. It does not seem to be very popular in SA yet. The number of reloads required during a long stage might be discouraging. With enough speedloaders or moon clips, and the appropriate carriers, this could be great fun. Pity about the cost of a S&W625JM, that basically kills it.

ICORE is fairly new in SA and is a revolver-only sport. I see they are active at FBSSC and spreading to GP already.

I have not read up the IDPA rules, but revolvers seem viable here in certain divisions too. (BUG?)

NHSA have several classes reserved or suitable for revolvers.

CHASA now present the old Bianchi Cup, now called NRA Action Pistol Shooting, in SA. These also cater for revolvers in all classes. I guess a revolver should be quite competitive in Production class here, since accuracy at distance (50 yds) is needed.

I might have missed a few others.

Then we have the SD market. Not the wisest choice, I'm sure we will agree, but that's all some people have. I doubt that many carry or practise with their revolvers, but we know they are out there keeping the safes warm. They mostly have 2" 5-shot snubbies, but some 3" and 4" 38's and 357's are also amongst them. When these become available occasionally, you could pick up a bargain.

I still see security companies issuing their officers with revolvers. These are mostly 3" and 4" K-frame sized Tauri or similar. My guess is these revolvers are more like a badge on the uniform than a fighting tool.

A specific revolver model that frequently get mentioned on the fora is the S&W Victory model. These were SA Army issed untill they adopted the Star mod B. Then they were sold off to serving members for a few Rand. (This was before '94.) These are some of the best revolvers that escaped from the S&W factory, with very smooth actions. Their achilles heel is the British-issue 38S&W calibre. This takes them out of many competitive disciplines allowing revolvers. The result is that they sell for up to R500. Many are given away for free. This revolver, with the needed equipment to cast bullets and load your own ammo, would be a decent entry-level option for minor-PF level competition shooting.

One of the things you learn while shooting a revolver, is to properly control a long double-action trigger stroke. Once you have mastered this, any pistol trigger seems easy. They also don't have the nasty habit of scattering your brass all over the range...