The number of semi-automatic pistols produced in the United States in 2010 was 1,868,258. The number of revolvers produced was 547,195. In 2011, Michigan sold 2,453 semi-automatic pistols and 1,039 revolvers. With the sale numbers more than 2 to 1 in most states you would think that the wise choice for the consumer would be semi-automatic pistols. I believe this is not true and for most people, they are making a bad choice in pistols. The facts show that revolvers are a far more superior pistol than a semi-auto because they are far more dependable, accurate, and powerful. Whether you are hunting dangerous game or using a pistol for personal protection. A revolver will never fail to fire unless it is unloaded or all the ammo has been fired. On the other hand, all semi-automatic pistols jam and fail to fire, regardless of manufacturer or the highest of quality. There are numerous mechanical levers and springs that all have to be timed properly and all have to work just right for a semi-auto to fire. With all these mechanical devises moving at a very rapid speed every single time a semi-auto is fired there is also a lot of wear happening. For example the 20lb. recoil spring or any spring for that matter when compressed and/or stretched hundreds or thousands of times at an extremely fast speed lose their strength. Worn out parts equals’ failure. People I know that shoot their semi-automatic pistols a lot replace many parts every year such as the recoil spring attempting to get some kind of reliability out of their pistols. There are only 3 moving parts in a revolver and even when severely worn it will still fire. Wyatt Earp and Jesse James revolvers would reliably still shoot today even though they are hundreds of years old and with the reputation these men carry, I would bet they are severely worn. When it comes to personal protection there is no more dependable pistol to carry than a revolver.
With a lot of training you could proficiently use either pistol but FBI and Michigan State Police facts show that in a crisis situation, all of your motor skills and clear thinking go out the window. Physically a human body goes through many changes when faced with a life threatening situation; it’s a type of adrenaline. Your eyes naturally will dilate for more focused sight; your blood naturally drains from all your extremities to flood your core and organs with blood. It is a natural defensive mechanism that all humans have. Facts show that most people cannot even dial 911 clearly while in a panicked state. I have a friend that was rear ended multiple times by a drunk driver while driving down the highway. He attempted to dial 911 multiple times and never got it right. He said, “I mentally did not have the control to dial 911, I could not do it, which added to my panic”. He eventually got it right after seven tries. If you are unable to use a cell phone to push 3 numbers correctly, how do you think you will perform with a pistol under duress? A semi-auto has many gadgets and levers that need to be activated in order to shoot. Safety levers, decoking levers, magazine release button, slide release button. A revolver just has a trigger. A revolver can be shot from inside a pocket or a purse multiple times without jamming where a semi-auto cannot because of the moving slide. All semi-autos have a minimum of a 20lb. recoil spring that is depress when the slide is engaged. This slide action has to be done just to shoot some semi-autos and for all semi-autos after reloading. It is an impossible feat to accomplish for most women and even men when posed with a threatening situation. It is mechanically impossible for a revolver to jam simply because there are no moving parts while it fires and its simplistic design containing only three parts. When the situation demands it, and you have lost all you motor skills I would prefer a revolver where all I have to do is pull the trigger. A semi-auto allows the shooter to shoot faster and with more bullets but when it comes to accuracy this only allows you to miss the target more times in a shorter amount of time. Hitting a man sized target every time at 50 yards is a hard thing to do with a semi-auto pistol; in fact it is very demanding to keep all shots in a paper plate sized target at 25 yards. A semi-auto by design can’t hold accuracy at those distances. A revolver can easily keep all shots in a paper plate sized target well out to 100 yards with ease. Simple technology tells us that a moving semi-auto action is not as accurate as a locked up action. Look at a semi-auto rifle verses a bolt action rifle; the same is true for pistols. Semi-autos do nothing but boast record sales for the ammo manufacturers and a slump in sales for the target manufactures. You can mount a scope onto a revolver for an even higher amount of accuracy but cannot on a semi-auto because of the moving slide. Because of all the moving mechanical parts in a semi-automatic pistol the barrel must be kept very short. Some compact semi-autos only have a 1” to 1.5” length barrel which impedes accuracy. With revolvers, it is not uncommon to see barrels range from 3 up to 12 inches in length which gives us a longer sight radius equaling more accuracy. Common knowledge tells us that a longer barrel length allows the bullet passing through it to perform better, again adding to accuracy. Because of the lack of many moving parts such as the semi-auto, the revolvers frame is allowed to be thicker and more stout, which allows a much higher chamber pressures. More pressure equals more power. This increased allowance of pressure offers the manufactures a wide range of very powerful calibers to offer in the revolver that it can’t offer in the semi-auto. There are literally hundreds of bullet choices for the pistol enthusiast if shooting a revolver and only commonly about seven choices for the semi-auto shooter. You can shoot anything from .22 Long Rifle to the enormous .500 Smith & Wesson in a revolver. The semi-auto pistol is very picky about bullet choice. With the inherently short barrel ammo is a very important choice if you want any kind of accuracy. Also with the semi-auto, bullet nose design is very important, commonly causing a feeding jam if it is not a round nosed design. There is no feeding problem with the revolver; you just drop the bullets into the holes in the cylinder when loading. There are many revolvers that carry dual rolls. The .357 Magnum carries a powerful punch for a small caliber and can also shoot .38 special ammo which is a lot less powerful and more enjoyable to shoot. A .44 Magnum revolver can shoot any one of a half dozen .400 caliber sized bullets. The huge .460 Smith & Wesson can shoot many bullets, .45 APC, .45 Long Colt, .454 Casull, and .410 gauge shot gun shell. You could never ever do this with any semi-auto because they are all chambered for a specific caliber. Dual roll pistols make a great purchase because you don’t have to buy separate pistols for separate duties. My wife loves shooting my .357 Magnum revolver with cheaper .38 Special ammo, plinking on a day at the range. But on the same day I can load it with some very accurate .357 Magnum Hornady ammo and go deer hunting. I believe that most people are lazy gun shoppers. I think most Americans shop by advertising they see on TV or in magazines. I also believe we are lazy because most people buy semi-automatic pistols but don’t get any further training to be proficient with them. Who wants to put hours of training into something that is supposed to be fun. The problem comes when the hobbyist pistol shooter does not know how to clear a jam at the range. Because of an inadequate amount of training and the regular occurrance of a jammed bullet in a semi-auto, I commonly see people actually looking into the end of the barrel trying to see what the problem is. An associated problem with jamming arises when the semi-auto shooter wants to go hunting and can’t find flat nosed or hollow point hunting ammo that will function in their pistol. Flat nosed or hollow point bullets are required for hunting because of the engineered deformation or mushrooming that occurs when the bullet contacts flesh, resulting in more tissue and organ damage allowing a quick clean kill. Semi-autos perform more dependably with round nosed bullets because of the curved ramping surface that feeds the next bullet from the magazine up into the chamber. A round nosed bullet assists this feeding while riding the ramp to the chamber but do not deform when hitting flesh making it an unlikely choice for hunting. Also round nosed bullets are manufactured for target practice, it doesn’t take a lot of power to poke a hole in a paper target, they are not made powerful enough to take down a large animal. It takes a lot of time and money test firing hunting ammo trying to find a hunting bullet design that functions reliably in a semi-automatic pistol. The dangerous problem really shows its ugly face when the hobby shooter now wants to protect themselves with their semi-automatic pistol and get just enough training to be licensed to do so. They still might wind up dead or, God forbid, shoot someone they never intended on because of the lack of training, giving them control, and accuracy. Plus, it’s pretty hard to protect yourself with a pistol that fails to fire. There is such a long list of things that can go wrong with a semi-automatic pistol which can cause it to not fire that the sales numbers really surprise me. Pretty hard to beat the revolver, simplicity in its purest form, just pull the trigger.