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Review: Rangemaster Defensive Revolver Skills
- Thread starter jlw
- Start date
That sounds like a terrific class.
As you would expect I have quite a few revolvers come through but it seems less & less popular in the last few years, which is really a shame as they are still a very relevant & sensible choice for many.
Often when someone (usually a man) brings a revolver to a class they apologize as if they feel less manly or are embarrassed to bring it.
For example, let me relate a story from 5 or 6 years ago:
An older gentleman called me to say he would be attending an upcoming defensive pistol class. He said he was very excited since he had been wanting to get instruction at a professional school but couldn't afford to go out west or to other out of state schools
I asked him what gun he would be using to which he replied he was bringing a full sized, all steel "Springfield Target Blaster National Match Never Miss 2000" something or other .45.
My next question to him was, "Do you carry that gun everyday? And if not, do you carry ANY gun everyday?"
He said, " No I don't carry the .45... I carry a snubnosed S&W model 36 all the time."
I said, "Well in this class we will teach you how to fight with your gun so I don't know why you would even bring that .45 if you don't carry it... I would bring the .38."
He explained, "But I don't shoot it very well." Then he caught himself & said, "That's not very smart is it?"
I told him not to underestimate what a snubnose was capable of in the right hands & again recommended for him to bring the .38.
He saw the logic & brought the snub. He shot it side by side with all of the people shooting semi-autos for the entire class.
By the end of the class he became much more confident & competent with the gun that he would most likely bet his life on in an emergency.
When it was over it was very satisfying to me to see the look of surprise on his face when he saw how much he had improved with all of his manipulations, speed/ efficiency of handling including drawstroke, reloading, etc., as well as accuracy out to 25 yards.
He was consistently hitting the SQT-A1 silhouette inside the vitals at that distance which is pretty good shooting.
I agree w/ your statement that revolver skills are becoming a lost art & that's a shame.... for many people its a better choice than a semi-auto.
As you would expect I have quite a few revolvers come through but it seems less & less popular in the last few years, which is really a shame as they are still a very relevant & sensible choice for many.
Often when someone (usually a man) brings a revolver to a class they apologize as if they feel less manly or are embarrassed to bring it.
For example, let me relate a story from 5 or 6 years ago:
An older gentleman called me to say he would be attending an upcoming defensive pistol class. He said he was very excited since he had been wanting to get instruction at a professional school but couldn't afford to go out west or to other out of state schools
I asked him what gun he would be using to which he replied he was bringing a full sized, all steel "Springfield Target Blaster National Match Never Miss 2000" something or other .45.
My next question to him was, "Do you carry that gun everyday? And if not, do you carry ANY gun everyday?"
He said, " No I don't carry the .45... I carry a snubnosed S&W model 36 all the time."
I said, "Well in this class we will teach you how to fight with your gun so I don't know why you would even bring that .45 if you don't carry it... I would bring the .38."
He explained, "But I don't shoot it very well." Then he caught himself & said, "That's not very smart is it?"
I told him not to underestimate what a snubnose was capable of in the right hands & again recommended for him to bring the .38.
He saw the logic & brought the snub. He shot it side by side with all of the people shooting semi-autos for the entire class.
By the end of the class he became much more confident & competent with the gun that he would most likely bet his life on in an emergency.
When it was over it was very satisfying to me to see the look of surprise on his face when he saw how much he had improved with all of his manipulations, speed/ efficiency of handling including drawstroke, reloading, etc., as well as accuracy out to 25 yards.
He was consistently hitting the SQT-A1 silhouette inside the vitals at that distance which is pretty good shooting.
I agree w/ your statement that revolver skills are becoming a lost art & that's a shame.... for many people its a better choice than a semi-auto.
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Monte with all the new entries to the semi auto market G42 G43, XDS9 / 45 etc, could you give some specific examples of "many people" better off with a revolver? I want to learn something here as I'm racking my brain and not really coming up with much a revolver can do better than the equivalent semi auto? Maybe extremely accurate target grouping or firing from inside a crowed purse or pocket? But if you're having to fire because someone is on top of you, then IMHO you've reached for the wrong weapon. Knife, fist, elbow, table leg.. or striking with your jammed semi auto may be better?
I'll throw one out here. I went to the range the other day with a lady who wanted to go shooting. We tried a semi auto but she was unable to rack the slide due to issues not related to technique. However, she could easily open and close a revolver for reloading. I have both semi autos and revolvers and love them both, but for her, it will be a revolver all day long for edc.
Jeff
Jeff
That's the rationale a lot of men use for telling a lady to use a revolver; however, it has been my experience that the same people who have trouble working the slide also have trouble with the 12lb double action trigger.
A buddy of mine brought his wife to one of my classes. She was shooting a j-frame due to the slide issue. When she left the class that day, he no longer had a Colt Colt Cup 1911...
In addition to the instances you've named people who will not spend much time at all becoming proficient with their pistol are often better suited to a revolver.
While the "Glock" style of pistol is simpler to use under stress & it, or a design similar, is being chosen overwhelmingly more often than a revolver, my concern is that so many of these guns will not be trained with & will often be carried in a pocket or purse with little or no attention paid to it until the "moment of truth".
I've had several shooters over the years fire their pistol one time then have the gun fail to return to battery due to the slide area being filled with dirt, debris, or "dust bunnies". Though I inspect the guns prior to shooting sometimes I would let the malfunction occur (if it could be done safely) to make the point on periodically cleaning & inspecting the gun as well as knowing how to clear a stoppage.
While modern semi-autos are more trouble-free & quite reliable in many respects I worry about shooters that treat them like a revolver but have no clue on how to clear any malfunctions whatsoever.
Case in point: I had one acquaintance buy his mother a Glock who told me, "She doesn't have the strength to pull the slide back even one time but that's ok.... I loaded it for her & told her to just pull the trigger until it's empty if she needs it for self defense."
If she can't operate the slide at all then:
A. She probably doesn't have the hand/ wrist strength to hold it firmly enough for it to cycle properly & not have a stoppage.
B. She is being set up for failure in the event she does have a FTF, FTE, doublefeed, whatever because she will not have either the mindset, skillset, or physical ability to get that gun back in the fight.
C. She won't be able to load or unload it... or practice since she is completely unable to operate it.
"Repetition is the father of skill...and lack of repetition is the father of incompetence"
Under stress things get worse not better... so many people who lack the most basic strength or skill to operate a handgun are better off with a revolver.
Unfortunately, often the double action triggers are too heavy then that sends the shooter back to the drawing board.
I tune all of my class loaner revolvers' triggers but have had a few elderly shooters or those with physical handicaps that couldn't pull a slide back or press a DA revolver trigger all the way through either.
Sometimes installing an Apex spring "duty/ carry" kit & a trigger polish job does the trick, making the trigger on a j-frame manageable while still insuring 100% primer ignition.
In one instance a lady settled on a S&W M&P Compact .22 that she practices with monthly, keeps meticulously clean, & only loads CCI .22 Velocity rounds ( baby "Gold Dots") for S.D. use.
When she trains she empties or almost empties the entire mag. into the target.
No... it's not my or her favorite but to quote Cooper "it's the biggest gun that she can shoot well & will carry".
While the "Glock" style of pistol is simpler to use under stress & it, or a design similar, is being chosen overwhelmingly more often than a revolver, my concern is that so many of these guns will not be trained with & will often be carried in a pocket or purse with little or no attention paid to it until the "moment of truth".
I've had several shooters over the years fire their pistol one time then have the gun fail to return to battery due to the slide area being filled with dirt, debris, or "dust bunnies". Though I inspect the guns prior to shooting sometimes I would let the malfunction occur (if it could be done safely) to make the point on periodically cleaning & inspecting the gun as well as knowing how to clear a stoppage.
While modern semi-autos are more trouble-free & quite reliable in many respects I worry about shooters that treat them like a revolver but have no clue on how to clear any malfunctions whatsoever.
Case in point: I had one acquaintance buy his mother a Glock who told me, "She doesn't have the strength to pull the slide back even one time but that's ok.... I loaded it for her & told her to just pull the trigger until it's empty if she needs it for self defense."
If she can't operate the slide at all then:
A. She probably doesn't have the hand/ wrist strength to hold it firmly enough for it to cycle properly & not have a stoppage.
B. She is being set up for failure in the event she does have a FTF, FTE, doublefeed, whatever because she will not have either the mindset, skillset, or physical ability to get that gun back in the fight.
C. She won't be able to load or unload it... or practice since she is completely unable to operate it.
"Repetition is the father of skill...and lack of repetition is the father of incompetence"
Under stress things get worse not better... so many people who lack the most basic strength or skill to operate a handgun are better off with a revolver.
Unfortunately, often the double action triggers are too heavy then that sends the shooter back to the drawing board.
I tune all of my class loaner revolvers' triggers but have had a few elderly shooters or those with physical handicaps that couldn't pull a slide back or press a DA revolver trigger all the way through either.
Sometimes installing an Apex spring "duty/ carry" kit & a trigger polish job does the trick, making the trigger on a j-frame manageable while still insuring 100% primer ignition.
In one instance a lady settled on a S&W M&P Compact .22 that she practices with monthly, keeps meticulously clean, & only loads CCI .22 Velocity rounds ( baby "Gold Dots") for S.D. use.
When she trains she empties or almost empties the entire mag. into the target.
No... it's not my or her favorite but to quote Cooper "it's the biggest gun that she can shoot well & will carry".
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damn...sounds like a class I need to take
There are some techniques to get grip strength issues. My point with the above was that generally the people I see with strength issues concerning the slide also have issues with the trigger.
I agree with what you have said and I have no issues with it. I was just saying that in this particular case, it was a little different. I would love her to be able to do both but she is very content with the revolver and much prefers it.
