If you are a hand loader, a Revolver is the ticket

[deerslayer303]

I tell ya, when you are a brass saver like me, a revolver is a stress free hand loaders friend. EVERY TIME I shoot a box through one of my auto loaders, I can NEVER find all 50 cases. ESPECIALLY if your range has a cemented firing line. Its like the brass hits the cement, switches gears and keeps on trucking!! Have a great day Gentlemen!

 

[SARuger]

Our range just enclosed the pistol shooters firing line so all the brass stays in the building. You just have top gather it before it gets stepped on

I agree though, being a handloader and a revolver lover, works out

 

[tulsamal]

And it's about more than just the brass. Loaded FMJ 9mm ammo works just fine for most practice and is generally cheap. .357, .41, .44 Magnum loaded ammo is almost never cheap. So while you can practice "enough" with a 9mm... odds are you won't ever be a great magnum revolver shooter unless you reload. (OK, if you are willing to spend literally hundreds of bucks on ammo... I can't imagine it.)

Plus the revolver rewards the reloader in even more ways. My very favorite "knocking around" .357 revolver round is a hard cast double ended wadcutter. (DEWC) It can be loaded faster than the typical swaged target hollow base WC's. I usually still keep it well under 1000 fps but a hard flat wadcutter hitting a small to medium animal at 850 fps or so will usually do the job. If I didn't reload them... where would I get them?

I like to load absolute max WW296 loads behind a Sierra 180 JHC bullet for my 9.5" Super Redhawk. I load them so hot they flatten out the primers most of the way.. I wouldn't shoot that load in another gun... but that load in that barrel with a short pistol scope on top... you can totally smoke most vermin! Where would I buy that load?

I could go on and on. Revolvers can be loaded super light or, in some cases, super hot. They can handle light for caliber bullets or heaver for caliber bullets. They can handle any standard bullet style as well as full lead SWC/WC/HP's whatever. Nothing to get stuck on a feed ramp and cause a jam.

I do reload for my autos because I'm not made of money. But in my case, reloading for those autos is nearly entirely about saving money. Factory ammo works just fine... if you have the money. In my revolvers, I like to save big money... and get lots of kinds of ammo that I couldn't find to shoot otherwise.

First non-.22 handgun... Ruger Security Six. Stainless. Six inch barrel. 21st birthday, 1982. Bought the gun, one box of factory target WC's, one box of Federal 125 grain JHP's and Lee reloading dies. The little cheap kit that you sit in the floor and hit the cases with a hammer! But it worked, I learned how to shoot that revolver, I never bought any more factory ammo for it. Still have that gun. Right next to the bed. Lots more "up to date" handguns in the house but I have total faith in that Ruger and in my ability to use it under stress.

Gregg

 

[Hal]

If you are a hand loader, a Revolver is the ticket

Agreed...
Also, with a revolver, your only concern is how the loaded round performs.

With a semi auto, the round needs to also make the gun function as well as perform.

To go from "mild to wild" in a revolver involves nothing more than putting a round in the chamber.
With a semi auto, you need to change springs & bother with such controversial things as buffers......

 

[elk]

Couldn't figure out how to quote: Loaded FMJ 9mm ammo works just fine for most practice and is generally cheap. .357, .41, .44 Magnum loaded ammo is almost never cheap.

I reload 38sp, 357mag, and 45acp. My cost is approximately $0.15 per round. Could not afford to shoot factory ammo.

 

[DaleA]

Well where will I get my deep knee bends exercise if I give up searching for brass from my auto loaders???

And loading for revolvers is sooooooooo boring. Where's the suspense? Where's the anticipation of 'did I load it hot enough to work the slide???' or 'will THESE hollow points finally work and not hang up on the feed ramp???'

And how else will you learn the 'shoot and duck' method of target shooting if you don't have a gun that'll throw the empties back at your face???

I'm unconvinced!!!

 

[deerslayer303]

[emoji3] ^^^LOL Well since you put it that way!

 

[CajunBass]

I used to think that until I started shooting at a range where the employees sweep up my brass for me. I almost always end up with more than I fired. Now I can enjoy my semi's again.

But that didn't stop me from liking my revolvers too.

 

[deerslayer303]

The grass around the cement usually claims alot of it amd makes it hard to find.

 

[2damnold4this]

When I reload for revolvers, I usually load mild loads that are easy and fun for me and my daughter to shoot.

 

[spacecoast]

I always make sure I leave with more than I brought. Some guys even dump revolver brass on the ground, I'm not sure they realize that .44 brass goes for 20-25 cents a round new.

 

[rodfac]

Well, gotta say, with the new trend from some of the manuf.'s to small pistol primers in .45 acp, it allows me to let the brass lay where it falls, guilt free! I use it for woods and meadows walks where I'm likely to loose the majority of anyway. Some autos, like one of my .38 Supers, throws its brass 7 ways from Sunday...luckily, most of it is nickel plated and easier to find than brass.

Revolvers are truly great that way, dump it into your hand and palm it into a pants pocket, reload and you're on your way.

Rod

 

[BBarn]

I too have shifted from autos to revolvers over the last several years because of the brass and reloading issues. I got tired of hunting for spent brass, and I find the longer revolver cartridges easier to handle during the various reloading steps. I suppose I might feel different if I was using a progressive press instead of a single stage.

 

[Longshot4]

You guys seam to have it made. I shoot at a small out door club range. Where the grass is 3-4" long in the summer. That is not too bad compared to this time of year when the fluffy snow is sucking it up. The more I shoot the harder it is to find. Well it would be easer if I would remember to bring a cane to assist me getting up from bending over. A revolver sounds like a good idea.

 

[Cheapshooter]

I have both revolvers, and autos. Not going to deprive myself of the joy of my autoloaders for a few lost cases. Besides, there are a lot of shooters at the range I belong to who don't reload, and even though they sweep up the concrete pad the benches are on, they don't ckean up the gravel area in front of it so I usually go home with more than I brought.

 

[UncleEd]

This subject came up on another forum and I made a few observations which, of course, touch on the revolver vs. auto debate which has been worn to a nub.

An auto user is a slug who hates nature and fouls it by littering all over the earth. He hates his mother. He hates apple pie. He is a braggart. Never sure if he'll pay his bills. More can be said but you get the picture.

Now, a revolver user loves nature, is kind, loves his mother and is reliable and loyal to his friends and neighbors. As others added in the other forum, he is also handsome and I'll add dashing. And because he's a reloader, it proves he also is more intelligent.

 

[Cheapshooter]

with the new trend from some of the manuf.'s to small pistol primers in .45 acp, it allows me to let the brass lay where it falls, guilt free!

When did small pistol primers become unavailable for reloaders? Are you only shooting large case revolver cartridges that take large primers?

 

[kilimanjaro]

UncleEd is exactly correct!

However, I have both revolvers and semiautos, so I must admit to a Jekyll and Hyde personality shift while at the range.

Very disconcerting to the other members.

 

[Cheapshooter]

An auto user is a slug who hates nature and fouls it by littering all over the earth. He hates his mother. He hates apple pie. He is a braggart. Never sure if he'll pay his bills. More can be said but you get the picture.

Yup, that's me! Auto pistols rifles, shotguns, Hemi powered Ram truck, Polaris 800 ATV to tear up the woods, and 6.0 Vortec V8 powered inboard jet boat to destroy the rivers!
I love my life of destruction, and giant carbon footprint!

 

[deerslayer303]

^^^^^ [emoji3] [emoji2] [emoji1]