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The Renaissance That Isn’t There.

The Renaissance That Isn’t There.

There are a bunch of my friends who are re-considering the revolver as a defensive tool, and to their credit, there is a lot to like about carrying a revolver on a regular basis. Because they’re not as sensitive to variances in ammo and magazines, they tend to be a bit more reliable than their semi-automatic cousins, and they have a ridiculously simple solution to a “click” instead of a “bang”: Pull the trigger again.

Yes, revolvers do carry fewer rounds than a semi-auto: Most of the pocket revolvers out there carry just 5 rounds of .38 Special (or .357 Magnum if you’re a masochist), but a quick peek into the stats covering the response of armed citizens to lethal threats tells us that, yeah, that’ll cover most situations.

However, as Claude Werner points out, the revolver renaissance just isn’t there. People are buying pocket guns, but they’re buying .380ACP pocket rockets like the Ruger LCP2 or Sig Sauer P238. In fact, .380ACP is the second-most popular pistol caliber out there right now, surpassing even the mighty .45ACP and the .40S&W.

The interesting thing about this is how many instructors out there don’t acknowledge that reality: We seem locked into the idea that if your pistol of choice can’t make Minor Power Factor, it’s useless in a defensive situation. This information, however, will come as a surprise to the many, many and guys who get shot with .380s, .22s or something else. Didn’t anyone tell them that the caliber that did them in wasn’t up to the task?

If you carry a pocket .38 revolver or a small .380ACP, congratulations, you’re way ahead of pretty much everyone else when it comes to self-protection. That’s the first step, though. The question is, what are you going to do about the rest of the journey that lies ahead of you?

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  1. As Greg Ellifritz notes, 90% of the people he stops who have carry licenses aren’t carrying. The one this year who was had a Taurus .380.

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