I choose an auto, but I must admit that a revolver would not have jammed in this situation. An auto is sensitive to jamming up due to a sloppy grip, such as we see here, where the guy put his support-hand thumb behind the slide. Did he know he wasn't supposed to do that? Did he have lots of live fire practice doing it right? Almost certainly yes to both. What happened was that he was overwhelmed by the urgency of the moment, and his motor coordination went to [bleep], resulting in a catastrophically incorrect grip, causing the jam. I don't think there's such a thing with revolvers. I'm sticking with my Glock, but this is a legitimate point to take note of.

True, but if he had of needed 7 shots to deal with the situation he could of been in trouble.

i guess its all in what you practice with and can use instinctively. for me, its a revolver. they also seem the most intuitive for beginners. pick up, point, pull the trigger. i've never had a revolver jam on me in 10's of thousands of rounds. but i've had plenty of ftf, fte, etc in less shots in semi's. would hate to be dealing with that when a bad guy was bearing down.

Have you never had a revolver jam? I've seen it.
A long time ago and a place far away. I don't remember the details now but I think it was an old S&W and their was some problem with the ejector -- backing off the threads or some such.

I didn't say revolvers don't malfunction. One, however, that is maintained properly, with a track record of reliable function, isn't going to jam because you gripped it wrong while using it in a gun fight.

i carry a revolver most of the time.

It was an impressive defense by the guy coming from the back. John Correia notes that the fellow could have shot through the cabinet and certainly he could have but if he missed I wonder where the bullet would have gone--as in what's outside the shop? As it was he seemed to be shooting down at the bad guy with most of his shots.

And the bad guy wasn't the least bit hesitant to start shooting.

A lot of lessons in that video.

I appreciate your posting these, TRH.

I guess I'm surprised he let the hoodrat go.

I don’t know, there is something kind of satisfying about the visual of him holding his side thinking to himself "damn, I think I need to go to the hospital"... I guess I’m just funny that way

Admitting it would be hard to do, but that guys thumb could just about tie up the cylinder on a revolver. It tried to stop the slide once before it did.

Some draw & gun handling skills need practice, says this arm chair quarterback, but his shoot & move skills were very, very good. A big factor in his survival.

I dug my old Ruger Police Service Six out of the safe a while ago and have been keeping it handy.

Ruger made a big mistake when they discontinued the Security/Service Six line of revolvers.

I like all the name brand revolvers,..Smith, Colt, Ruger,...but the Security/Service Six was the strongest mid frame .357 made.

That employees movement was awesome. Too bad that fool was able to crawl off.

It took the cops 12 minutes to arrive. That's actually fast for a big city.

Should have had a Ruger Alaskan 454 and the guys hip would have had to be mopped up off the floor.

I’d take my chances with a Glock 19 any day of the week over a revolver. Way more positives vs a wheel gun IMO. But each to his own.

And the Speed Six.

A crappy grip is a crappy, regardless of chosen weapon.

He could have just as easily jammed his thumb between the hammer and frame on a revolver while pressing the trigger, or grabbed the cylinder due to the effects of inter limb interaction or hit the cylinder release,or....

You can clear most jams in semi autos that would turn you're revolver into an over priced rock.

I'll bet that's a sore thumb later on. The guy did a great job; sore thumb notwithstanding. GD

Indeed, revolvers are infinitely easier to use under pressure and still more mechanically reliable.




My 686+'s wouldn't have that problem......

If revolvers were easier to hit with and more reliable than auto's the military would have kept the M1917.

They are not as easy to service or maintain under warfare conditions, and are more prone to being disabled by dropping on hard, muddy, or sandy surfaces. That's why. All largely irrelevant to typical self-defense shootings.

That guy showed pretty staggering restraint when he didn't just empty his mag into the guy when he went down.

He also saved himself some serious jail time by displaying such restraint.

Well, if the good guy kept his mouth shut, instead of giving verbal commands/warnings to not touch the gun, the perp probably would have.

Then the good guy could have lit him up some more, from a position of great tactical advantage.

Oh well, at least none of the innocent folks got shot.

Autos/semi autos in the military are/were are about regular troops putting lots of bullets in the air against multiple adversaries during combat. Shooting one or two bad guys in civilian life is a somewhat (but not entirely) different scenario. Their are advantages and disadvantages to both. For the average person who goes through daily life and then unexpectedly and suddenly finds the need to use a firearm, a revolver is most likely simpler to use under stress.

The good guy did well. Had his gun on his person, did not hesitate, constantly worked to improve his position, rapidly cleared a malfunction, put down the BG, stopped shooting when the threat ended, let the bad guy leave rather than extending the risk by detaining him. A reload after the BG was gone would have made it near perfect.

Second guessing his choice of weapon is nonsensical. Serious people carry semi autos for a reason but the lesson is that he was wearing his gun and knew how to use it, and did so w/ purpose.


mike r

This.

Revolvers are for fudds and boomers.