The Revolver: Not for New Shooters? 

They are both perfectly fine. I love both of them, although I mostly carry auto loaders. But, this kind of information, presented in this manner, has never sat well with me. Heavier recoil from a revolver? What size and weight of revolver? felt recoil from a full-size revolver in 9mm? That is literally nothing. And, most people have extreme difficulty even racking the slides on my auto loaders; let alone fully load the magazines, field strip, and trying not to shoot themselves, so they carry on an empty chamber. They are both excellent choices, but people putting down revolvers all the time, making them sound inferior, is just misinformation.

There is NO professional shooter/TRAINER from Miculuk, Leatham, Wilson or Ken Hackathorn that will tell a new shooter, "This is the gun you should carry"! Guns are like shoes or whatever, you gotta' try them see if they work for you. I started carrying a revolver in the early '70's. A 5 shot S&W Chief's Special, 4" .38 Colts/Smiths, Plus an old military .45. Back then they didn't have 5% of the handgun selection we have today, (My opinion). I seen a fellow by a snubby .357 J-Frame at our local gunshop/range just after the "Flu" mess. We were in the range shooting. He shot his Glock really well. So then he starts shooting the revolver with full-house .357 Self-Defense loads. Well, after a few cylinders, I seen the same fellow selling his new revolver back to the dealer taking a "beating" on the trade-in the dealer was offering. Being an decent old guy I talked to the fellow and explained your going to get scr#wed selling it. Get some Soft Lead old style police ammo and then try .38 +P you'll be fine. It worked, he carries the revolver occassionaly. But, small revolvers are deceiving, folks don't comprehend what there getting into. Sorry for the long diatribe but new shooters have to rent, if possible, different guns to shoot. Go with friends shoot theirs. The WORST people to get advice from in buying your first gun or a different platform gun is the dealer! Best to ya',,,,!

Many older people don't have the strength in their grip to rack a slide on a semi-auto, especially a small semi-auto in 9mm or 40 S&W. Most older people can learn how to pull the trigger on a good S&W K, L, or N frame revolver, especially one that has been broken in and tuned by the S&W Performance Center or an APG gunsmith such as Ron Power Custom. Even small revolvers, such as the Kimber K6xs or Ruger LCR/LCRX, will have acceptable triggers right out of the box, after being broken in. Obviously, revolvers are more simple to operate, especially under stress, are less prone to jam from stovepipes, FTF, , etc., and easier to get back into service... just pull the trigger once more.... no tap and rack semi-auto rills needed. Reloads? Almost as fast with a good wheelgunner who has practiced with good speedloaders.... just ask Jerry Miculek.

"Generally speaking, it's going to be easier to learn how to shoot that semiautomatic handgun than it would be with that revolver counterpart." Wow...that is a factually incorrect statement: 1) Revolvers have a simpler manual of arms versus a semi-auto. That is really not debatable. Which means less to teach and learn. I guarantee you that if I gave a new student an empty closed cylinder revolver and a box of rounds versus an empty semi-auto with empty mag inserted and a box of rounds, they would get the revolver in the fight (loaded and first shot) faster 99/100 times. Search your feelings...you know this to be true. 2) The 12-14lb trigger pull presents the same issue as in racking a 20lb (your words) slide. 3) There are vastly more potential user-induced malfunctions in a semi-auto. Which means we do not have to teach the corrective actions. 4) There are almost no ammo related malfunctions (other than wrong caliber or obstructive squib load) that can stop a revolver. Which again means less to teach. (please no one say "jump the crimp") All the other safety and shooting (grip, stance, sights, trigger) related instruction are about the same This does not mean a revolver is "better" than a semi, just easier to learn to shoot.

Triggers and Recoils on revolvers are much harder than semi's (used an 5" 627).. my friend scared me, im like nope next time ill use G19 instead XD

get training, while its still allowed.

Who ever said users of revolvers need no training? You did, not us. That's what's known as a strawman. EVERY weapon requires training. Most importantly, revolvers rarely, if ever, malfunction. Felt-recoil argument was ridiculous. There are a lot of factors that go into it but how the next round is chambered (revolver vs semiauto) is NOT one of them.

All these comments are dumb, lol. If you can operate a car, you can learn a semi auto handgun manual of arms. It's not complicated. Racking the slide is almost all technique, not strength. I've seen old ladies run a slide no problem, once they get a little practice. But trigger press is much more strength than technique, and you can't cheat a trigger. Gripping a semi auto correctly is more intuitive than a revolver. Revolvers WERE excellent choices. Modern striker fired guns have solved the problems that used to make revolvers better choices. Bunch of Fudds in these comments who haven't updated their information, acting like 3 on the tree is better than a modern automatic. Just because it's the one you grew up with doesn't mean we don't have better stuff now.