Revolving Autos

I have an affliction for silliness, or maybe it's practicality. I’m not sure, I’ll let you decide. If you have been coming here for any time, you know how much I love a good revolver. I can't tell you why; maybe it's their history or the clockwork mechanics, but there is something about a revolver that means business. One of the significant advantages of a revolver is the power-to-weight ratio. You can get substantially more power from a revolver cartridge in a smaller package than in any semi-automatic. For instance, you could carry a lovely little 3" L frame Smith in 44 magnum that just melts away on the hip, and to equal that energy in a semi-auto, you would have to step up to a Desert Eagle, which is basically like carrying around a rifle, round capacity notwithstanding.

So when I tell you about my affliction, you are going to think I'm a little odd. I love a revolver that can shoot rounds meant for semi-auto (rimless rounds). If you are new to handguns, in most cases, revolvers shoot rimmed cartridges; you place them in the cylinder, and the rim rests on the edge, preventing it from moving while the revolver is fired. On the other hand, rimless cartridges require a magazine to be fed, as their rim does not extend past the body of the cartridge; therefore, they are known as "rimless." They sit on the cartridge's mouth inside the chamber of a semi-automatic pistol. The lack of a rim makes it challenging to shoot rimless cartridges in a revolver, but not impossible. Revolver companies have been finding ways to make it work in various ways since the early 20th century. The first known use of a semi-automatic cartridge in a revolver occurred during the early stages of World War I. John Browning had invented the fantastic 1911 pistol and chambered it to fire the 45 ACP round. The US military had full intentions of using 1911s when the war started and had millions of rounds of 45 ACP, unfortunately they were having difficulty getting the handguns produced, so they went to Smith & Wesson with the 45 ACP cartridge and said, hey, can you make us a revolver that shoots this thing? Smith understood the assignment and produced the Model 1917. The 1917 was developed in Smith's N frame revolver, it fired the 45 ACP cartridge and used moon clips to load and extract those cartridges. Moon clips are small pieces of crescent-shaped steel that hold the rimless cartridges; they help remove the cartridges when the ejector rod is pressed. The US military liked the idea, and both Smith & Wesson as well as Colt began producing thousands of Model 1917s for the war effort.

So, why do I like revolvers in rimless cartridges so much? Well, it comes down to one thing: convenience. I'm a handloader and have been my whole life, but I wouldn't say I love it. I handload to save money, and the advantages in both performance and accuracy can't be denied, but sometimes, I just want to grab a fistful of ammo and go out and do a little plinking; in that case, I don't want to use my precious handloads. When you have spent an hour producing a couple hundred rounds of high-test man stoppers, you don't want to go out and piss them away whacking dirt clods and pine cones. So let's discuss some of my semi-automatic revolvers.

The guns.

Born from the loins of that famous Model 1917, my first revolver is the Smith & Wesson Model 325PD.

The PD stands for personal defense, but really, this firearm excels as a trail gun rather than a personal defense weapon, although it could certainly be used for that. The 325PD is a scandium, N-framed gun with a titanium cylinder. The barrel is a stout four inches long and comes with adjustable sights. Much like its ancestor, the 1917, the 325PD is chambered in 45 ACP and uses moon clips for extraction. Moon clips are necessary for most double-action revolvers when shooting rimless cartridges. There have been a few stabs at getting rid of them, but none of the contraptions seem to have caught on.

I'm not a massive fan of moon clips for several reasons. They are great for self-defense purposes or any situation where a fast reload is needed. A full reload will drop directly into the gun, eliminating the need for a speedloader. Additionally, they're great for handloaders, as they keep all your empties connected. Though moon clips are difficult to load and unload, you can get tools that help considerably. The primary reason I don't like them is that they eliminate the ability to "top up." When I'm out walking around and shooting, I want to take a shot, then remove the empty and replace it with a live round, and I'm not the only one, either. After the war, the 1917 models were sold off as surplus, and the moon clips weren't any more popular with the new civilian owners than they are with me. So, a new cartridge called 45 Auto Rim was developed. This cartridge is identical to 45 ACP except that an extra-thick rim was added rather than the usual rimless design. This made it possible to shoot the Model 1917 without the use of moon clips. I shoot mostly 45 Auto Rim in my 325PD.

My second gun is a stainless Bisley Ruger Blackhawk.

This revolver comes with two cylinders. One chambered for 45 Colt and the other for 45 ACP. As a gunsmith, I love to tinker with my guns, but this revolver shoots so well with both cylinders that I haven't touched anything besides putting a nice set of Sambar stag stocks on it. If someone forced me to have just one handgun, this would be it. The 45 Colt chambering can be loaded hot enough to hunt just about any critter this side of Africa, and when it's time to settle down and have a little plinking fun, out comes the 45 ACP cylinder. Single-action revolvers have an added advantage when shooting a rimless cartridge. Moon clips are unnecessary since each round is expelled using the ejector rod. The only problem with shooting 45 ACP through this revolver is that 45 ACP is still pretty pricey when bought from the store, so I'm still inclined to cast bullets and handload for it, but that leads me to my final revolver.

The Ruger Blackhawk Flattop.

This is Ruger's mid-frame gun, unlike the large frame gun above, and it also comes with dual cylinders chambered in 357 Magnum and 9mm. Luckily, we don't have to choose just one handgun because this revolver picks up where the big 45 ACP fails, and that's how much it costs to shoot. I have so many other 357 Mag and 38 Special revolvers that this gun rarely sees the 357 Mag cylinder; instead, the 9mm cylinder always rides in it. The 9mm cartridge, although not my favorite from a ballistic standpoint, is so popular and affordable that it makes handloading almost ridiculous. I do, of course, reload for 9mm, but only when I want some good high-test stuff, and that's not the job of this gun; it's strictly a plinker and a varmint gun, so boxed 9mm flows through it like sand through an hourglass. This gun, however, is not as accurate as the 45 I mentioned above. So, of course, I did some cutting on it. Initial accuracy tests with this gun were not very impressive while shooting 9mm ammo. Much of that has to do more with the uber-cheap ammo than the gun, but I wanted to work on the gun anyway. I started by installing a Bisley hammer, and since the gun was intended to be a casual plinker, I cut the barrel to 4.5 inches even, which helps with balance and weight. While I had the barrel chucked up in the lathe, I cut a new 11-degree crown and recut the forcing cone. All of this work also necessitated that I shorten the ejector rod housing. I also modified the front sight to give me a better sight picture, which is relatively common amongst all my Ruger single actions. The modifications were minimal but made a big difference in the feel and handling of the gun, and as for the accuracy, well, it got better, but it is still nothing to write home about. I should test it with higher-quality ammo, but for the varmint plinking purpose of this gun, it's really not all that important. The gun is "minute of jackrabbit" out to 50 yards or so, and that's all I ever need, or want to ask of it.

I also have a Ruger single seven that is technically capable of shooting 32 ACP, although I have never tried it. This works because the 32 ACP is a semi-rimmed cartridge. I do have a 32 ACP pocket pistol and ammo but since the Ruger single seven also shoots 327 Federal, 32 H&R Magnum, 32 Long, and 32 Short, I haven't seen the need to try 32 ACP in it, especially since 32 H&R Mag can be handloaded for pennies and does just about anything you could reasonably ask of it.

Shooting semi-auto rounds in your revolver is not using your gun to its full capability. Still, we don't need all that capability most of the time, and in that scenario, having a revolver that shoots cheap, readily available ammunition is an absolute joy. I love gunsmithing, but there are times when it is just too nice out to be stuck in the shop watching my lathe rotate, on those days I really appreciate being able to grab a fistfull of ammo, stuff them in my shirt pocket and go out to blast a few rounds at varmints, pine cones, dirt clods, whatever. I'll never give up handloading for performance, but the "semi-auto revolvers" have it in spades when it comes to cheap, fun, and casual shooting.