Does that photo above, which mimics the common police pose from the past of officers holding up their open service revolvers for inspection, bring anyone back to the old days? I hope so, because that’s why we posed it that way. Nostalgia is a thing.
The efficient use of the double-action, swing-out cylinder revolver seems to be something of a dying art. That makes it not only important to teach, but in my case, fun as well as satisfying to teach.
We started doing these last year with great success, and I just did one in Slidell, Louisiana hosted by ace instructor Bill Long. That’s the class photo you see in the lead, above.
The class included how to master the long double-action trigger pull and take advantage of the revolver’s inherent accuracy, and various ways to speed-reload (including one-hand only with either hand if wounded or injured), and a lot more over a period of two days with a ration of 500 rounds of ammunition per student. Brands on the line were, in order of popularity, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Colt, and Armscor. Calibers ranged from .32 H&R Magnum in a Ruger .327 revolver to .44 Magnum cowboy loads in a Model 29 S&W Mountain Gun, with .38 Special predominating. Student evaluations averaged 9.86 on a 10 scale, so we apparently did something right.
There is actually a small renaissance of interest in revolvers in today’s defensive firearms community, and we at Massad Ayoob Group are happy and proud to be a part of it.
Good on you! Back in the last century I learned more from you about one handed revolver reloading/use than I did from our S&W Academy certified instructors. [If you’ve just burned 6 fast rounds of full house .357, sticking the barrel in your waistband to reload isn’t a really good idea. But it does give you incentive to be quick. Mas’s solution is MUCH better.]
There also wasn’t anything on immediate action drills.
I would love to attend one of your revolver classes some day. I bet several pot bellied stove members would, too.
Do you have any revolver classes coming up?
Not at this time, but we’ll probably be doing at least one a year from now on.
Thanks for a great class!
I started shooting revolvers in my early 20s (45 years ago) and enjoyed it, but never learned any of the “right ways” to do things. This class was really eye-opening.
And thanks for all the patience ya’ll extended to my wife. She just wanted to “learn the basics” in case I had to pass off a snubbie BUG in a crisis, or grab a home-staged gun if I weren’t around. She learned SO much more and gained so much confidence. One of the instructor/participants commented that she “jumped into the deep end” and then someone added “with sharks” considering how many were high-proficiency shooters and she was a newbie.
She is now considering other classes and oppportunities to expand her knowledge and skill. I would strongly recommend every 2A advocate to promote and bring (and show support) a “newbie” to an intro class whenever possible. It is our future!
I remember the old episode of COPS with Metro-Dade PD and the weapons inspection scene one episode. Some had S&W semi autos, a lady with a 6906 stands out in my mind, but the revolver people were in a separate formation in which Rugers seemed to dominate. When the inspection officer got to a guy with one, I remember being able to see from the camera angle that the gun was loaded with the then issued 158 grain lead hollow points; it’s funny how our memories work!
The only difference between that picture and the older ones is that your fingers are no longer inside the trigger guard.
Beat me to it.
It’s probably been better than 10 years since I went through your regular class with a revolver. That’s pretty exciting to see a dedicated class for it. I feel the need for a refresher coming on. Keep up the good work!
Hopefully Smith & Wesson will produce more models without that silly lock (why is it even still there?). A 3” heavy barrel Model 13 and/or 65 would be nice. My wife has always preferred revolvers and her female friends usually shoot better with a k frame 38 revolver than any of the auto pistols they may bring to our range.
I’m with you for sure, either of those would be great in snake country and of course double as two or four legged predator repellent with the right loads. As to those stupid locks, I have none and it will stay that way. I call them hillary holes, maybe our new POTUS will help get rid of them once and for all.
I love revolvers myself. I took this class in ’24. It is a great class!
BTW, from the above photograph, it looks like stainless revolvers dominated this class. I only see a handful of blued models although it looks like Mas, himself, is using one.
What do people usually bring to this class? S&W, Ruger, etc.? I would be curious as to what seems to be the most popular make/caliber that people use nowadays for this kind of training. Or is it a random mix with no trends or pattern?
When I took the class, I used a blued, S&W Heavy Barrel 4″ Model 10 in .38 Special. I purchased it as a police trade-in. This was a model that was fairly typical for police back in the Jurassic when Revolvers Walked the Earth! 🙂
Sure wish I could have been there for the class. jw
I am under 45, but I guess I’m nonetheless in the old guys club because my last two gun purchases were revolvers: a Colt Police Positive and an Enfield (yes, Enfield!) break-action in .38/200.
If you’ve gotta have it this year, there’s
https://revolverfest.com/
I count two Mas vests.
When I came to terms with the fact that I didn’t have enough mobility left to take more advanced courses, I coped by taking variations of the basic course (low light, weak hand). One of the things I did was run the course with a revolver. I found that I shot as fast and accurately with a revolver as I did with a semi-auto other than the reloading problem. I think the long trigger pull management problem may be overestimated. It seems to make little difference for shooters of my skill level. Perhaps high-end shooters may feel a difference but I don’t.
With a good break in or judicious adjustment, it’s easy to get a revolver trigger in the 8 lb pull area with complete reliability. Out to about 10 yards, there’s no real world significant difference in split times (time between well placed shots) between round and square guns. At least for most of us.
After an extended period of heavy training, I did some experiments. One of the things I discovered was that the difference between a well placed shot an one not well placed was 1/10 of a second. Take the 1/10! It’s less than the time needed for another shot.
I second the wish for Smith & Wesson to reissue the Model 13 with 3 inch barrel and rounded grip. I had even considered having my Model 19 turned into a “Chopper” conversion, but it didn’t seem to be cost effective.