Back before the 1980s, it was actually a good argument that one should prefer five or six rounds of a sure thing vs 8 to 16 rounds of maybe.
As machines go, the revolver is simpler in one respect, in that its operation is controlled from start to finish by a pull of the trigger powering mechanical actions leading to ignition of the next round, while an auto pistol does the operation all on its own after the trigger is pulled to the point the hammer is released, powered not by the muscles of the finger, but expanding gas from burning powder direction the extraction of a spent case and replacement of a fresh one from a magazine into the chamber. That introduces factors that are inherently less certain, since not powered directly by the movement of a trigger finger at every stage along a more certain mechanical chain of events. But they've made such strides in reliability of the gas-powered action that it's about equal to the revolver now, assuming you acquire a model that's currently in common use by major military or police agencies.
