SHTF- is there a role for SA pistols AND revolvers?

[squinty]

If I won the lottery I'd cash the check, but I don't base my financial plans around winning the lottery. I don't base them around finding a cache of one or another type of weapon, or finding ammo, either. The question is not "what would you use if you happened to find it."(concerns about looting aside.)

The question is "what tools will you acquire right now, in the NAW, in preparation for that day when you need them?" What will you spend time and energy mastering, what will you stock ammo for, what will you make sure (as much as possible) to have on hand when disaster strikes? That isn't something left up to providence, like finding a crate of revolvers or arbalests. That's something you have control over, right now.

[TheLastRifleMan]

In a true PAW, I won't turn any weapon down that I find if I have the means and storage ability to secure it. If I find 200 abandoned 38 revolvers in cases in a basement in a true PAW, then I'm taking them with me if I can.

I trained on a semi-automatic so I would stay with one. If there is someone in my group who trained and has experience with a revolver, then, if I was leader of the group, of head of security in my community, I would let that person carry a revolver. Make the most out of every resource. What does Les Stroud say, there is no junk, there are only opportunities.

That being said, in a true PAW, if I was running a scavenger/resource hunting/patrol team, outside the bounds of my communities walls, there has to be a good reason for someone to carry a weapon with a different caliber and/or magazines without a good reason if options exist. I'm not a huge fan of the M4 or it's platform personally. But if I'm running a team outside the wall and 9 of the other 10 guys are proficient with the M4, I'm carrying one too. Uniformity is just practical if I have to strip mags, ammo or spare parts off of a broken weapon or a dead comrade in arms.

Maybe revolvers, their role for me will be barter. Maybe I need to, in desperate times, arm women, children and those personnel in the group who would not traditionally be considered a shooter. Maybe I can set up some firearms to be fired remotely for distraction purposes or to fool potential invaders of my ability to lay down fire superiority.

TripleThreat, you mind want to take some time and read the forum rules again. This post sounds like you are talking about looting which is illegal and against forum rules.

If someone loves their revolver better, great. If someone loves their Glock better, great too. But in a team concept, given command, I'd expect and demand that people bend to the best interests of the group and the community. The hard reality is there are more spare parts out there right now for semi automatics and more people versed in their maintenance on the average. But maybe uniformity isn't a luxury I have and an option I can't use.

This is the only question that matters to me. If you were in a true PAW, and you carry a semi, and you ran into a case of abandoned revolvers, would you pass them up or would you, if so much as you could, take them with you? If you take them with you, they aren't obsolete in my book. If you carry a revolver and ran into a case of abandoned semis, would you pass them up or would you, in so much as you could, take them with you? If you take them in that case, they have some tangible value. If it has value, it has a role. That role might never be exploited or used, but there's a reason you take things with you in a PAW and a reason why you leave other things behind. I don't see many instances where people pass up functioning firearms.

I want options in the PAW. Crossbows, flintlocks, sharp sticks, if I find a working catapult from the old Roman Empire, I'm taking it with me. Some folks seem to treat options in the same vein as getting gang raped in a prison shower. No such thing as junk, only opportunities.

I think you should take some time and re read the forum rules. This post has some references to looting, which is illegal and against forum rules.

[TripleThreat]

Good luck to all

[squinty]

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TripleThreat, you mind want to take some time and read the forum rules again. This post sounds like you are talking about looting which is illegal and against forum rules.

Hello,
I have read the rules. But, as you are a moderator and to show due respect to the board and community and Staff, I did read them again.
I'm discussing the abandoned firearms point as an objective point, not a literal one. The OP asked if there is a role for one type of firearm versus another, my point is in a legitimate PAW, ALL functional firearms HAVE VALUE and the backbiting and bickering people in the thread here have over which is superior, the revolver or the semi-automatic, is, IMHO, a moot point. My point is not to try to pick up property that is not mine in a legitimate PAW, my point is this question, the topic, IMHO, answers itself. All functional firearms will have value, immense value, in a PAW or in a major disaster.
I respect the Staff here and thank the site admin and his Staff for allowing me to be a guest on this board and their community,
Respectfully,
Triple Threat

To be clear: I am inclined to agree that any weapon is better than no weapon in a PAW, and if I had a sudden windfall access to a weapon in such circumstances I wouldn't turn my nose up at it for being the "wrong" kind. I just wanted to make the point that the question wasn't about which weapon you'd choose to keep if you came across it as a legitimate windfall in a PAW - of course the answer would be "any kind." I think the question is, rather, what kind of weapon should you choose right now, in preparation for some violent disaster. I don't know the answer to that, I own both types of handgun and like both. If I were worried about having to fight off human sized attackers, possibly groups of same, I'd choose a full size semi-auto as a sidearm as a secondary weapon to a centerfire semi-automatic rifle. But maybe that's not the only role for a handgun in a PAW.

A larger caliber revolver might be useful as a hands free gun to wear for large predator defense, or to take advantage of windfall hunting opportunities or self defense situations requiring longer shots, maybe?

You might have your hands too full doing survivalist chores to always have a long gun slung and handy, so maybe a large caliber revolver would be easier to strap on while you pulled weeds in your subsistence garden or pushed your biodiesel truck out of a ditch. Maybe it would conceal in a glove box whereas a rifle or shotgun in a rack would not?

As a backup or "holdout gun" in case the semi shits the bed? I have a J-Frame for that purpose.

The 'bickery' nature of the conversation is kind of funny to me. There are some things I take too personally when I read them on the internet, too, this just doesn't happen to be one of those topics for me.

[foxx]

I own both, like each, and have different uses for each. I don't see a reason to have to choose just one. The each have a role now and always will, in my opinion.