My beloved Taurus 605 snub-nose revolver failed the other day. Really bummed me out, I had a “relationship” with that gun, and was counting on it if I needed it to save my life. I carried it everywhere.
My Taurus jammed while shooting .38 special plus P ammo. I got the spent shells out, but the gun won’t close easily now, and you can barely pull the trigger.
Fortunately, Taurus guns covered by a lifetime guarantee, not just lifetime of the owner, but the life of the GUN, so even if you buy one second-hand, it’s still covered.
UPDATE, ONE MONTH LATER: Got it back from Taurus, 4 weeks to the day after sending it in, it’s now working better than ever.
I’ll carry my S&W 908 semi-auto until I get it back (could take Taurus a few months, I’ve heard) but I am going to ALWAYS carry at least the mouse gun (Ruger .380 LCP) as a backup. What if I’d needed the Taurus in a life-and-death situation and it failed, and I had no backup?
I got the gun new, and have fired maybe 1000 rd through it over a few months. Mostly .357, some .38.
FWIW, the brand of ammo I was firing when it jammed was Blazer, but I don’t think it’s an ammo issue. Those rounds have a lot less power than the .357s I usually use.
WHY REVOLVERS?
Someone asked me “why do people still buy revolvers”?
People buy revolvers for the reason people still buy hammers. Because it may be an old design, but they work (despite my exception, which is so rare it proves the rule).
They fail less than most semi-autos, they’re cheaper.
They’re actually great guns for people with no experience with guns. If you ever buy a gun for someone, like a girlfriend or wife, who’s willing to carry a gun, but not willing to really become a “gun person”, a revolver is great. No safety to forget to turn off, not mag disconnect to accidentally hit, just point, and pull trigger. The trigger is so hard it acts as a safety, but you can also cock the trigger with your thumb to get a shorter trigger pull. (Which also has the psychological effect on whoever you’re pointing it at,….think Dirty Harry).
And why snubbies? A .357 revolver is the most power you can pack in the smallest form. Someone described a .357 snubbie as being like the “Noisy Cricket” gun from Men in Black.
And Snubbies can be fired from inside the pocket if need be. A semi-auto, not so much, because the slide has to move. Also, revolvers do not engage a spring until you pull the trigger. You could probably leave a loaded revolver in a drawer for half a century, and it would still work when you pulled the trigger. A loaded semi-auto with a bullet in the chamber would probably seize up or the spring would break in that amount of time.
Plus all revolvers look and feel cool and retro, and have a lot of history. They were the first usable multi-shot handguns. “God mad man, but Sam Colt made them equal.”
Revolvers have very few moving parts
compared to semi-autos
more on revolvers:
http://www.snubnose.info/history.htm
http://www.sixguns.com/range/Mademag.htm
http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=30
http://www.notpurfect.com/main/concealed.html
Revolvers are much less affected by dust and dirt, require less cleaning and oiling, and are much easier to clean. (for what it’s worth, I cleaned mine often, and carried in a holster, which prevents pocket lint from getting in, but many people carry snubbies in a coat pocket. I don’t recommend that, for dirt, but also because in a holster, you KNOW what position it’s going to be in when you need to grab for it in an adrenaline situation.)
I’m psyched today. My concealed carry permit is waiting for me to pick up at the sheriff’’s office . Yay! I’ve wanted one for two years and more or less moved to Wyoming so I could get one!
MWD
Tags: Concealed Carry, gun rights, guns, open carry, revolvers, Taurus 605, Taurus 605 failure, Wyoming
Didn’t I just say that revolvers never jam? Just HAD to prove me wrong, didn’t you? LOL.
Doesn’t sound to me like a “jam” per se, not in the sense that a semi auto would jam anyway. Sounds more like the cylinder or frame may have become distorted. At any rate, your revolver would likely STILL fire even though it’s damaged, unlike a semi auto which is nothing more than a melee weapon until the jam is cleared.
Justin
Just my opinion, but the argument for revolvers over autos on the subject of “revolvers never jam” just isn’t relevent anymore. Autos have come a LONG way since the 80s…
Also, if you have a malfunction with an auto, most likely you will be able to take it apart, fix it and put it back together. With a revolver, if it DOES fuck up you’ll likely have to take it to a gunsmith. And sand, dirt, etc. will screw up a revlover mechanism, they aren’t immune.
But I still think they have thier place, and I still want one. Probably one of the lightweight hammerless .357s that S&W carries. If they wern’t so goddamed expensive.
” cylinder or frame may have become distorted.”
Bingo.
And yeah, it would probably still fire, but I’m not gonna risk it, since they will fix it free and I have other carry guns.
I still love my revolver. I want more.
MWD
semi-autos rarely jam now, but they do stovepipe an expended round once in a while, which could get you killed in a self-defense gunfight.
If a bullet misfires on a revolver, just pull the trigger again to go to the next round.
MWD
-Autos have come a LONG way since the 80s…-
Yep, sure have . . . since the 1880’s that is. There’s been extremely reliable semi autos around for a long, long time. The Colt 1911, Walther P38 and PPK, Colt Woodsman, Ruger Mk. I, the list goes on. There’s been a lot of mediocre ones too, and some that were downright laughable. I’ve owned some of each category, and most of the good ones copy designs that have been around for 100 years or close to it.
With a semi auto, you generally get EXACTLY what you pay for, and even with a quality weapon proper maintenance is paramount. You might get away with neglecting a good semi auto for awhile, but it’ll catch up with you eventually. However, even the cheapest, dime store, foreign made, POS, revolver will generally function reliably for a long time even when totally neglected and abused. Fewer moving parts = less to go wrong. It’s the same concept that rules all things mechanical, guns are no exception. Model T Fords and Volkswagen Beetles may not have had as many creature comforts as a brand new Lexus does, but the guy that kept the first two running didn’t need much more than a screwdriver, a crescent wrench, and a third grade education.
Justin
My Smith & Wesson 910 and 908 are damn reliable, and S&W is known for its revolvers more than its semi-autos. But those two semis downright just plain WORK. I’m carrying them now, which one I carry depends on how I feel that day.
Did you know that in California if you somehow DO wrangle a carry permit, it’s only for one particular gun? They put the serial number on the permit.
MWD
Carrying a .380 Keltec at present, but will probably switch to the Ruger .357 (SP 101? Fuck, all these numbers confuse me….)
Have ParaOrd pistols, but was distressed to learn that one of them fails to feed after 2 or 3 rounds. Not sure why—-maybe a fucked-up magazine. But not acceptable for a gun that expensive.
I like autos and revolvers but for the reasons you cite, prefer the revolvers.
I have the cheapest, POS, Colt 1911 clone that money can buy. Had it for years. It’s eaten several thousand rounds of ammo, and it’s NEVER jammed . . . not even once. Can’t hit the broad side of a barn with the damn thing, LOL, but it’s as reliable as the sunrise.
I also have a cheap, Hungarian made Walther PPK clone. Feg PA63 it’s called. Boatloads of them came out of the Eastern Bloc after the end of the cold war. I bought mine for $100 with two magazines and a nice leather flap holster. They used to be everywhere, don’t know if they’re easily attainable now, but I wouldn’t sell mine for ten times what I paid for it. Rock solid reliable, and damn accurate to boot. It would make an excellent concealed carry weapon, and it’s the only semi automatic I own that I’m willing to carry with a round in the chamber.
I know people that have paid several times what I paid for either of these weapons and ended up with a POS. Hell, I’VE paid several times what I paid for either of those weapons and ended up with a POS, LOL.
My nephew used to have one of those el cheapo S&W Sigma 9mm’s. ABSOLUTELY reliable, no question, I would’ve trusted that thing to the end of the earth. Definitely a fan of Smith and Wesson.
Some semis are finicky about ammo, and will feed one kind reliably while jamming repeatedly with another. Others are just pieces of crap. I had a 9mm years ago that wouldn’t feed more than 3 rounds in a string, ever. A friend of mine has a .22 by the same manufacturer that’s even worse. There’s definitely POS semi autos out there, but they’re not nearly as common as they once were.
Justin
I have revolvers, but my personal preference is Auto’s, but it’s just that a preference, now my wife carry’s a revolver that she loves a Taurus Judge and she can shoot way better than I can with my auto.
I guess it comes down to what feels best in your hand, for example I know many people that love Glocks, I can’t stand them, the Grip just feels wrong to me.
BTW, Mike, have you ever attended any Appleseed shoots ?, if not she give one a try, it will improve your rifle shooting and you will learn a lot from it.
http://www.appleseedinfo.org
I don’t know if any of these locations are close to you, but check them out, you will have a good time, I promise.
Kemmerer, WY – Apr 17-18
Osage, WY – May 8-9
www,appleseedinfo.org
Yup, I’ve attended two appleseeds. Loved em. both for the shooting, and the history.
MWD