Gun Control & RKBA

Reason #1: Five or Six chambers instead of one …

An auto pistol has one chamber attached to one barrel. A revolver has one barrel and 5 or 6 individual chambers that have to line up precisely with the barrel in order for it to fire. If due to wear and tear or whatever else, these chambers are off by even a thousandth of an inch, a bullet could shave off a forcing cone or misalign with the firing pin and you’ll get misfires.

In other words, revolvers require tighter tolerances by nature of their multiple chambers … and … tighter tolerances mean they are more failure prone by design.

Reason #2: More parts = More chances for something to go wrong

In addition to the 5 or 6 chambers that have to precisely line up with the barrel each and every trigger pull, the internals of the revolver are no laughing matter. If you crack it open and look inside, it’s like looking at the inside of a watch.

turn on images to see revolver internals

And like a watch, there are plenty of opportunities for these interacting parts to malfunction or get “out of time” causing failure. Compare that to a modern semi auto pistol like the Glock with only 34 component parts (the smaller number of parts reduces potential for technical problems because there are less chances for something to go wrong).

Reason #3: Most Revolver Failures to Fire are “Jams” Not “Malfunctions”

Let’s define our terms:

JAM - a serious stoppage that normally involves a broken part or something of that nature that would require tools to fix.

MALFUNCTION - some interruption of the firing cycle that can be remedied simply and/or quickly.

When the primary reason for a failure to fire, 100 years ago, was bad ammo — the revolver was reliable because you just had to pull the trigger again.

Now days, ammunition is more reliable so let’s look at what else could go wrong with a revolver. These are ALL reasons that a revolver could fail to fire:

*** Excessive fouling under the extractor star can lock up a cylinder (it won’t turn, won’t rotate to the next round).

*** Recoil can cause bullets to wiggle their way out of the shell casing which can also prevent the cylinder from rotating.

*** Cylinder won’t open for a number of reasons (you can’t reload)

*** The ejector rod can work itself loose and cylinder won’t turn.

*** A grain of gun powder can work itself under the extractor star and the cylinder won’t turn

*** Ejector rod is bent (because it was hit wrong during a reload under stress) and the cylinder won’t turn

*** High primer in one of the 5 or 6 cartridges keeps cylinder from turning

*** During reloading you can get incomplete extraction and cases stuck under the extractor.

*** Taurus or S&W “internal lock” has spontaneously engaged and the gun won’t fire

*** Strain screw in front strap of grip can loosen over time, if it backs out enough, the firing pin strike will be too light and won’t ignite primers — failure to fire.

And almost ALL of these are very, very hard to fix in a fight. In fact, it’s practically impossible. They are true “jams” that require tools to fix.