Revolver Reliability

[LuckenbachTexas]

"I've got two guns, one for each of ya"

 

[lfpiii]

I will keep it short since I have posted all the details else where. Guns load in a box for more than 30 years. Pistol frozen needed all new springs before it would fire. The revolver fired all 6 rounds without a problem. Both guns had not been lubed since the day they had been put in the box.

 

[Boge]

...That wasn't the only issue with the Security Sixes though. A number of them were pulled off the line and replaced while they went to see the on base smiths. They were usually back the next range day.

There was another (little known today) reason as well:

...In the mid 1970s the FBI started using Winchester's 158-grain all-lead hollow-point load X38SPD. Federal followed with its 38G and Remington the R38S12. Of these, the Winchester and Remington loads performed best. Federal went through several design changes using several different bullet alloys and cavity geometries before they got their load working. To get reliable expansion requires softer alloy which causes +P loads to foul bores and impair accuracy after 18 rounds or so. The Federal 38G load in particular which used a dry lube with no cannelures on the bullet caused severe cylinder binding in revolvers which do not have a cylinder gas shield.

A gas shield or cylinder hub prevents gases carrying vaporous lead residue out the cylinder gap, from being deposited between the crane arbor and the cylinder recess on which it rotates. Remington and Winchester versions of these loads had grooved bullets with a heavy, waxy lube were less cranky in that respect, but you still have to be careful about cleaning and lubrication.

At Ruger, revolvers were assembled with a proprietary lubricant similar to Militec to help prevent the lead from binding. Applying a few drops of Mil-L-63460B (Break Free CLP) in the crane arbor each time you clean also helps. Ruger developed a "hubbed cylinder" version of the Security Six, Speed Six and Service Six revolvers to mitigate the binding problem.

This required milling a small flat across the barrel extension, which protrudes into the frame opening at the 6:00 position, to clear the hub on the cylinder. Machining the flat reduces the cross section though the barrel extension, which caused heat cracking problems when those revolvers were shot extensively with .357 Magnum ammunition. The hubbed cylinder was used only for law enforcement contracts for revolvers to be fitted with .38 Special cylinders when the lead +P ammo was specified.

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/75f11fe4e235da7c69cabf94daa7dbd9-932.html

 

[LuckenbachTexas]

I got some news for you folks:

Whether its your Landrover getting mobbed in NYC, or many other instances like the VERY FEW ones below. You guys can carry a five shot revolver if you want! I know certain groups of animals flee as long as there is gunfire, and I plan to keep that fire coming. It is the least I can do for my family! When you can't even stop for a hamburger or gas while traveling without a racist mob based threat, you have to change your way of thinking. I'm more likely to carry a J-Frame in good areas of town where a mob threat is low. A revolver in some places these days is about as useful for defense or offense as a pad lock on your truck tool box. You have illegals and cartel in open range area of border states, serial killers and drug farmers on National Park land. This stuff is real folks.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/beaten_to_death_at_mcdonalds.html

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/18285-white-vacationers-attacked-by-black-mob

http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/black-mob-attack-on-elderly-white-halted/

http://www.conunderground.com/black-mobs-terrorizing-whites-as-planed/

http://dailykenn.blogspot.com/2014/03/woman-and-chlidren-attacked-by-black.html

http://whitegirlbleedalot.com/black-mob-attacks-cop-in-chicago-fractured-skull-media-silence/

http://angrywhitedude.com/2010/12/black-mob-attacks-white-couple-no-word-from-al-sharpton/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/05/report-black-mobs-attack-white-patrons-outside-wis-state-fair/

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/022329.html

http://topconservativenews.com/2012/04/black-mob-loots-store-attacks-white-couple-in-portland/

http://www.inquisitr.com/856039/white-marine-attacked-after-zimmerman-verdict-in-possible-hate-crime/

http://www.westernjournalism.com/hate-crime-disabled-veteran-attacked-mob-black-teens/

I'm not trying to spark a debate, and if you feel good with a revolver, good for you. Yes, a revolver can fail...Including the best they make!

 

[WESHOOT2]

My most reliable-functioning gun remains my slightly-custom EAA Witness in 9x19; it has well over 100K through it.

If the ammo fits its chamber it fires and ejects and feeds the next rd.
Every time.
Without exception..
But only if the ammo fits the chamber.....

IME all guns fail; all.


That said, my 'always' is a wheel (NAA Mini) and my 'car gun' is a KGP-141.
If I feel hinky I wear an all-custom Caspian 1911 in 45 ACP.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I got some news for you folks:

Whether its your Landrover getting mobbed in NYC, or many other instances like the VERY FEW ones below. You guys can carry a five shot revolver if you want! I know certain groups of animals flee as long as there is gunfire, and I plan to keep that fire coming. It is the least I can do for my family! When you can't even stop for a hamburger or gas while traveling without a racist mob based threat, you have to change your way of thinking. I'm more likely to carry a J-Frame in good areas of town where a mob threat is low. A revolver in some places these days is about as useful for defense or offense as a pad lock on your truck tool box. You have illegals and cartel in open range area of border states, serial killers and drug farmers on National Park land. This stuff is real folks.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/beaten_to_death_at_mcdonalds.html

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/18285-white-vacationers-attacked-by-black-mob

http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/black-mob-attack-on-elderly-white-halted/

http://www.conunderground.com/black-mobs-terrorizing-whites-as-planed/

http://dailykenn.blogspot.com/2014/03/woman-and-chlidren-attacked-by-black.html

http://whitegirlbleedalot.com/black-mob-attacks-cop-in-chicago-fractured-skull-media-silence/

http://angrywhitedude.com/2010/12/black-mob-attacks-white-couple-no-word-from-al-sharpton/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/05/report-black-mobs-attack-white-patrons-outside-wis-state-fair/

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/022329.html

http://topconservativenews.com/2012/04/black-mob-loots-store-attacks-white-couple-in-portland/

http://www.inquisitr.com/856039/white-marine-attacked-after-zimmerman-verdict-in-possible-hate-crime/

http://www.westernjournalism.com/hate-crime-disabled-veteran-attacked-mob-black-teens/

I'm not trying to spark a debate, and if you feel good with a revolver, good for you. Yes, a revolver can fail...Including the best they make!

I'm amazed how little reporting on here these attacks have gotten. Did people see that one statistic. OVER 500,000 black on white crimes a year more than white on black. That my friend is 1400 PER DAY. Some areas of the country this isn't as common as others but it goes on everywhere. Be careful out there.

 

[Varminterror]

How is a thread about the reliability of revolvers allowed to devolve into racist diatribe?

Particularly insulting the way that you chose to refer to the collective race of black people as a "certain group of animals..."

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

How is a thread about the reliability of revolvers allowed to devolve into racist diatribe?

Particularly insulting the way that you chose to refer to the collective race of black people as a "certain group of animals..."

I judge people by the content of their character. It is often displayed through behavior.

 

[Revolver-Time]

I never ever had a revolver fail. I did have an occasion where I was about to be on the bad side of a 38SPL from a Colt Detective Special. I was able to grab the cylinder and prevent it from turning. The hammer was not cocked and I got it away from her. Yes I said from her!

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I believe I want to hear more of this story. :roll:

 

[Varminterror]

How is a thread about the reliability of revolvers allowed to devolve into racist diatribe?

Particularly insulting the way that you chose to refer to the collective race of black people as a "certain group of animals..."

I judge people by the content of their character. It is often displayed through behavior. You assume way too much. You know nothing about me. I don't care what color a person is if they act like an animal I label them that way. I believe you are projecting your own racism on me.

Feel free to be defensive if you like, but I was not referencing your comments.

 

[Varminterror]

I never ever had a revolver fail. I did have an occasion where I was about to be on the bad side of a 38SPL from a Colt Detective Special. I was able to grab the cylinder and prevent it from turning. The hammer was not cocked and I got it away from her. Yes I said from her!

I have heard a similar story from a retired career state patrolman that was a father of a fella I grew up with. He said he was WAY TOO DEEP before he realized a guy had a pistol, so his only thought was to grab the muzzle and try to press the slide just far enough out of battery to keep it from firing. It worked for him, and as it sounds like happened in your situation, the would-be-cop-killer abandoned the weapon quickly once it failed to fire for him.

Either case would fall in my book of "incredibly lucky applied mechanics!"

 

[Revolver-Time]

My situation was an alcoholic wife. Over the years, I knew she had a problem but I never saw any sign of violence. One day she snapped while friends were in the house visiting. She open the safe, loaded the revolver, came into the living room where I was standing and leveled it at me. I looked in the chambers and saw the bullets. I moved toward her and grabbed the revolver. That was the end of our marriage.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

How is a thread about the reliability of revolvers allowed to devolve into racist diatribe?

Particularly insulting the way that you chose to refer to the collective race of black people as a "certain group of animals..."

I judge people by the content of their character. It is often displayed through behavior. You assume way too much. You know nothing about me. I don't care what color a person is if they act like an animal I label them that way. I believe you are projecting your own racism on me.

Feel free to be defensive if you like, but I was not referencing your comments.

Then I apologize for my comment and will remove that part.

 

[caryg]

If its a Taurus revolver you are in trouble.

 

[buckeyeshooter]

I have never had either fail. I carry a revolver because I shoot one better than an autoloader. Also, a 44 magnum hits harder than a 45acp.

 

[Dienekes]

Short version is that I carried wheel guns (usually a Security Six or variant thereof) for 22 years, and it was also my primary CCW after retirement. I'm quite fond of them as I took the Ruger armorer's school on them, regularly qualified a bunch of people on them, and was still using them when semiautos came on strong. I have yet to find anything more reliable than those guns, but I HAVE seen a couple of them go down. Add to that the odd S&W Js and Ks, a couple of Glocks, SIGs, the occasional 1911, a lemon Kahr, a couple of Ruger semiautos and a Blackhawk, and you get just a bit cynical. But I am BIG on reliability and will take all of it I can get.

The above NYC Range Rover cluster got my attention, after years of packing the old Security Six or a 442 in the pocket. It's just not a revolver world any more; there are some seriously weird people out there and we need to take that into account. (It's probably going to get worse...) I went to a Gen 4 Glock 19 with BIG dot XS sights; ran 1000 plus rounds of all kinds through it in a year with one shooter-induced malf--which was all me. Someday it will probably choke or break, but so far it's pretty darned good and easy to carry everywhere in a Fobus. 15 rounds on board and more easily available. The only other semi auto that has run as well for me is a BHP. The Glock is about as classy and unique as a crescent wrench, but this ain't beanbag any more.

 

[bigbill]

Revolvers never failed yet on me, colt 1911's yes.