Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire If you HAD to carry a revolver as your EDC...

All the dancing on the head of a pin (Smith vs. Ruger vs. Colt vs. Taurus, .357 vs. .38 vs. .44 etc...) makes for lots of pages of back and forth and gives people the chance to show off pictures of their carry revolvers and rigs, but what it really boils down to is this:

Carry the largest caliber and barrel configuration you can conceal under the clothes you're wearing and you can handle the recoil well enough to draw and fire five rounds into a torso-sized target at 10' in 5 seconds.

For some, that may be a 3" SP101 in .327 Federal. For others, it might be a 6" Model 29 in .44 magnum, but I doubt it.

Every person has a different skill level and a different requirement for concealment. Concealment challenges will vary due to different outside temperatures. What works in January may not be good for July.

I personally prefer a lightweight Smith J-Frame in my right front pants pocket, loaded with subsonic 145 grain wadcutters. It's good for year round concealment, won't rupture your eardrums, and I can empty it accurately enough in about three seconds if need be.

.45 Colt Mountain Guns would be my next choice after what I posted above. After them, a .45 acp S&W 625-2 Model of 1988 that shoots incredibly well.

This. Often carry mine while working here around the property. 2 rounds of CCI snake shot and 3 140gr Barnes XPB.
If I gotta run somewhere its reloaded from a speedloader with 38+p 130 HST in warmer seasons and in Winter coat season its 2 357 Speer Golddots then 3 hard cast flat nose.

Not much of a standard. The OP could do that with the S&W Model 500, but I doubt he's lookin to EDC three and a half pounds of steel plus 2 reloads.

S&W 340... it's light so I carry it. Heck if they made something lighter in .38 I'd buy one.

Actually was interested in the Taurus View when it was released but it only lasted a year. I think the idea was sound for an EDC revolver...other than the gimicky plastic piece.

That would be hard to beat. Or one of the S&W Model 60’s with the 3” barrel in 357 mag with adjustable sights.

My second and third choices would be a S&W Model 66 with the 3” barrel or a Charter Arms Bulldog .44 with the 3” bbl.

S&W 432PD 6 shot or Charter Arms Pro, 32 H&R, 7 shot.

A small .38, of course.

S&W 38 special 3"

Or

Taurus model 85 in 38 special, 3"


If your guns are heavy, you are not apt to carry it. If you carry an ultra light in 357 practice at 10 yards a LOT!

Carry a reload and practice reloading.

Most people shooting 2" smiths can not hit a bull in the azz with a base fiddle

and the 357 mag version are pretty much noise makers, very, very difficult to shoot

IDPA has matches where wheel guns are used...dang...one match and you learn just how useless some of these guns are.

Remeber, two hits on target with a lesser caliber are better than six sprayed all over with an ultra light magnum. 12 lb triggers make for great noise makers...that is about it.

Chances are if you ever need the pistol, you are going to be scared schittless!! You will not remember to watch the front sight, and you will be pulling the trigger so fast in the direction of the perp, you may not hit anything. TRAIN for success!

Few if any posting here have ever been robbed or beat up during a robbery.

I would pick this one,38 spcl. 6 shot, 17oz. night sights

3rd Gen. Colt SAA.

Lots of choices here, some I wouldn’t carry. They would be, for me, to large for concealment. But fine woods or ranch revolvers.
For me, there is only one choice. The revolver I have been using since 1974, S&W M66 4” with any holster that works for you. Along with speed loaders or speed strips.
This revolver and it brother, the model 19 have been getting it done for decades.

I’ve actually carried mine in 45 LC a time or two as my CCW. 🤠

Curious about the taped grip. Throw down like The Godfather bathroom stashed piece?

Looks good, but I’ve never owned a Taurus Revolver that I thought reliable enough to bet my life on. Every one I’ve ever owned would hang up every so often when cocking the hammer or pulling the trigger in double action mode.

Their small automatics I’ve owned, have however been very reliable.

3” Smith 66 is the sweet spot for me, but any of the 2.5, 3 or 4” K frames would serve well.

I regularly pack my S&W 396 Mountain Lite titanium .44 spcl about everywhere.

I traded a S&W 629 for this gun here at the fire almost ten years ago and still feel like I got the better end of that one.
For daily carry 'light is right'....

As we speak I've got a Colt Detective Special on my belt. Truth is I am so enamored with EDC revolvers I could carry a different one everyday for a while. My hands down favorite is a 3" Ruger SP101. I don't like the original grips and I'm big enough to carry mine with better grips. I always have a C/A Bulldog 44 Special close by. I've carried a couple of variations of the Ruger LCR many a day. And I'm old enough to have spent a lot of time with Ruger Six Series whether, Speed Six, Service Six, or Security six all of which are 2-3/4" except for the postal model which is 3".

That brings up, "How much sight radius would you want? I'm talking in terms of fighting back against a determined attacker." As tanker jockey said don't discount them till you try them. It's amazing how well they can be shot. Course I also like S&W's including and especially the S&W 66's with the 2-1/2" barrel if you just have to have "real" sights. Plenty to be said about the 3" Ruger GP's of those I prefer the 44 Special as well

I'm still sorting that one out.

I like the larger grip of the 66. Right now I'm leaning toward buying a 3" or 4" 66. If not, then just schlepping the 2.5" 66.