There is one “fact” which is repeated many times on this thread and on just about any other similar one. That it is not correct, usually isn’t that important as it isn’t too far off, but the truth is important.
“Everyone knows that revolvers fire every time you pull the trigger. They are more reliable than autos”.
Here is the real story. With a couple of qualifiers, that quote simply is not true.
The qualifiers are if the auto is fed high quality ammo of the proper type.
I used to teach skeet shooting at the University of Southern Mississippi. The skeet range was at the city of Hattiesburg’s old police firing range. Although they had a new range the old one was still heavily used.
Sometimes between classes I would sit in the small bleacher and watch officers doing qualifying or whatever it was. When I first started they were using S&W revolvers. Probably model 13’s. I got to noticing that after just about every string of fire, a cop would bring his jammed revolver to the rangemaster to show him before clearing the jam.
Somewhere along the line they switched to Glock model 17’s. I would watch them as they monotonously went through string after string of fire with never a malfunction. The interesting thing to me, is I don’t even think Glocks are the most reliable autos tho the newer ones may be about as good as any.
There are a lot of things which can jam a revolver. If the barrel to cylinder gap is too close and/or the range is off, the cylinder face will become clogged with firing debris and jam the cylinder. Also the action can and sometimes is short cycled on the second or third, etc. shot resulting in a badly jammed action.
A bent crane is also fairly common. Dirt or mud or anything like that will jam a revolver much more quickly that an auto. A high primer can also jam one tho that might cause an even worse problem with an auto. Probably the most common one is empty cases getting stuck under the extractor star. Sometimes with hot loads and a rough chamber, the cases simply stay in the cylinder. There are a lot of other possibilities but I can’t think of all them right now.
I like revolvers. I also like autos and single shots. They both are extremely reliable assuming high quality models.
Just don’t tell me that revolvers never fail. They do. I have had it happen more than once.
I hadn’t heard of those problems with revolvers. Thanks for the heads up.
But as a whole, a jammed revolver is pretty rare.