Gun Digest – August 2019

gundigest.com GunDigest the magazine AUGUST 2019 (^) | 19
there—up past the .44, to .480 and
.50. It is easy to fi nd a gun shop with
a selection of .44 Magnum revolvers,
but try fi nding a gun shop with an
equal selection of equal-powered
pistols.
The important thing to keep in
mind is this: Revolvers and pistols are
not better or worse than each other.
They are different. Each has strengths
and weaknesses. Learn about them
Pistols depend on magazine springs to work 100 percent. Modern magazines are the best
they’ve ever been—but they’re still not up there with the longevity of revolver springs.
Both pistols and revolvers can be had in the inexpensive-to-feed .22 LR, but revolvers can
be dry-fi red much more readily than pistols can.
has a trigger feel that is really smooth.
Mike Karbon, the owner of the
gun shop I started at, dry-fi red his
Colt Python so much that he broke
the fi ring pin. Even Colt was amazed
at that. When it happened, I did a
quick estimate of how many times
a day I heard click-click-click and re-
alized Mike had done hundreds of
thousands of dry-fi res. A new fi ring
pin was cheap practice, and not all
revolvers will break a pin, even under
that volume of clicking.
Truth #2: Revolvers do not
depend on magazine springs.
This is not as big a thing as many peo-
ple make it out to be ... but it is a thing.
No, leaving your magazine (a good
one, anyway) loaded for long periods
of time is not a problem. It will work. I
have personal knowledge of magazines
left loaded for not fewer than 17 years,
and they worked just fi ne.
Nevertheless, you are still depend-
ing on a magazine and its spring.
With a revolver, the fi ve or six rounds
that rest in the chambers do not de-
pend on springs to the extent that a
pistol does. Yes, there are springs in-
volved, but the coil or leaf spring in
your revolver will be up to its task for
centuries to come.
Truth #3: Revolvers are accurate.
A pistol depends on the relationship
between the slide and the barrel for
accuracy. If the barrel does not come
to rest in the slide in a consistent
manner, accuracy will suffer. On a re-
volver, the sights are fi rmly fi xed to
the frame and barrel, and they don’t
move. As long as the cylinder comes
up in line with the bore in a reason-
ably consistent manner, you have ac-
curacy. As a result, even an inexpen-
sive revolver will be accurate. And the
best are brilliant at it.
Truth #4: Revolvers offer a wider
power range than pistols.
Both go down to the lowly .22 LR in
power. Pistols max out at the .45 ACP
in the usual designs, with some going
up to .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum
and bigger. Big-bore revolvers start
at the .357 Magnum and go up from
and learn to shoot them, because your
level of practice and preparedness is
more important than the particular
type of gear you are carrying. GDTM
Patrick Sweeney is a certifi ed master gunsmith
and armorer instructor for police departments
nationwide. In addition to being a household
name in the fi rearms community, he has penned
countless articles and over a dozen books for Gun
Digest.