Blammer - Gun Blog

Smith & Wesson Model 327 TRR8 .357 Revolver

One look, and you either love it or hate it. The boards are completely polarized about if such a beast is practical, necessary or too ugly to go on living.

Being a revolver fan and amatuer gunsmith, I had always wanted to carve out a niche for myself by creating custom tactical and carry revolvers. After all, I hadn’t seen modern combat principles applied to this venerable format of firearm. They key factors would be the option of a light rail, tactical style finishes, moon-clips, de-horned carry surfaces and rugged sights with scope options.

Why? Well, despite what most people believe, the revolver is an excellent tactical weapon alternative to a semi-auto. Ammo capacity comes up often as the argument for semi-autos. But current revolvers hold 8 rounds, which is more than enough when you consider that the average rounds fired in an encounter is under 5 rounds. With moon-clips, reloads can be just as fast or faster than magazines (see Jerry Miculek).

Also, revolvers are also more reliable, period. They are simpler mechanisms, with fewer things to go wrong. They are safer, having a heavier double-action pull to keep finger clenching from battle tension from firing an unfortunate round. Sure, it is slower (if you are untrained), but that can be better too, making you aim each shot rather than spraying and praying. Being calm (relatively) and aiming is much more effective in a fight than just spanking the trigger.

Revolvers also allow you to carry a higher power round more comfortably than a semi-auto. When going up against body armor or opponents in cover, being able to employ a .41 or .44 magnum with hunting loads can give you a great advantage. I don’t know of a semi-auto that can handle that while being in as convenient and carry-able form factor as the revolver. In the home defense scenario with the occasional or infrequent gunner, they are also much easier to use. You don’t have to train to remove the safety, loading is obvious, and you don’t have to know how to rack a slide or clear a jam. You can make the argument that revolvers actually take more training for tactical or police use because of the double-action pull (if you ignore all those safety and tap-rack-bang drills)…but if you’re in that business you should be highly trained anyhow.

So, revisit that old wheelgun. Consider it as a backup or special purpose tactical firearm. I’ll be taking orders next spring.

Where’s all the gun pictures? Here’s one, of my XD-9 in the Tucker Gunleather “The Answer”. I’ve had this gun for two years now, my first handgun. Nice to see some wear on it.