In every generation since the '36 Patterson, some folks got to live out their lives in relative tranquility because they had one or another revolver handy when trouble came calling. I'd wager very few were steely-eyed, deadly pistoleros to whom the gun was an extension of their soul.
What they did have was basic familiarity with a firearm, the determination to fight back and the resolve to do it. Some people will attain that basic familiarity faster and more comfortably with a double action revolver. Almost anybody can learn to run it safely and shoot it well enough to discourage a miscreant inside your home or a couple of car lengths. That's all some want from a defensive handgun and if it works for them, so be it. High achievers will master it and probably move on from it. I think of the defensive revolver as a stepping stone, not a wrong turn.
Not really a true statement. Seeings how the most common of arms in possession of the populace was not a revolver or rifle, it was a shotgun. Double duty for food on the table and self defense.
Phil Spangenberger
Although the rifle and six-gun usually take the bows for winning the West, it was the double-barreled shotgun as much as any firearm that was responsible for bringing civilization to the frontier. Many of the early pioneers invested everything they had, in order to make the overland trek out West, leaving little money for weaponry. The best and certainly one of the most economical and versatile firearms for hunting and defense in a wild, hostile land was the twin-barreled scattergun. Whether muzzle loader or breech-loading cartridge gun, many thousands of shotguns from a variety of makers and countries were the mainstay of settlers, lawmen, express companies, Native Americans, soldiers, ranchers and hunters. Gunmen like Indian Territory lawman Heck Thomas and gambler John H. “Doc” Holiday also used scatterguns. Virtually everyone, good or bad, who needed a weapon recognized the value of the old side by side.
