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Which naturally leads to gun manufacturers focusing on the small range of models that actually wear out, rather than on the larger market. There's probably just no mass market for revolvers these days, sad to say as I'm one of the few holdouts who love them.
I still say the most fun target shooting is firing .38s through a .357 cowboy revolver. All the fun with less recoil and much cheaper ammo. The Blackhawks being discontinued is a shame, but it's not like I need any more of them.
I like the form factor, and I like the simplicity and reliability. I know that if I maintain my semiauto properly there's no reason it won't work when called on, but I like that the revolver more or less can't jam under pressure, even if it hasn't been used in a while. And while I have no fear of using a semi-auto, I like that the revolver has extremely visually clear loaded/unloaded states. Basically everyone I know who ever had an accidental shooting, the gun was "unloaded" at the time.
I think my revolver has jammed more times than my semi-autos at this point (and that’s something requiring disassembly to fix), but it’s also somehow ridiculously accurate despite having a 12-pound trigger (that is sometimes 20 if it’s in a bad mood).
You require no other hand strength to unload the gun, as soon as the cylinder leaves the gun it can’t fire even if the user pulls the trigger (for leverage, I guess), and you get a set trigger if you need one by pulling the hammer back.
It’s honestly a type of pistol that you could use offensively if you needed to (as in, not exactly 7 yards and in, especially in .357 where it’s not dropping 3” at 50 yards) if you put an optic on it, which is probably why the French adopted one.
I think the decline in metallic silhouette, or the fact it didn’t evolve as a shooting game, has a lot to do with why the casual for-recreation owner doesn’t seem to bother. Not like indoor ranges have the space for it anyway.
How?
By being off-brand Italian garbage that, while they are dimensionally compatible with gear (and some grips) meant for K-frame revolvers, is where the similarities end (so you're on your own for parts).
In my defense, it was 300USD, new in box, looked like a Python, and I bought it because I wanted a gun for every competition division (and... also to learn about revolvers; in this, the piece functioned as intended). A .357 would have been better if only for more reliable ejection; .38-only revolvers can sometimes fail to get the casings out and this one is no exception (I'm also not doing the '90s-cop/Ayoob thing where you let go of the grip and tilt the gun vertical to eject, so if I forget to sufficiently tilt the gun up before hitting the rod it'll remind me). I'd go to .38 Short Colt brass for speed, but doing that creates pressure in excess of what a .38 is supposed to take, so that's out too.
Anyway, this particular design uses a torsion spring to push the bolt into the locking recesses on the cylinder rather than the coil spring S&W designs use, and was having problems positively locking the cylinder, so it locked up in the first 50 rounds with a shaved jacket against the left side of the forcing cone (and would occasionally lead to a round where the primer would be hit so off-center that it wouldn't fire). Modifying that spring so that it engaged more forcefully against the frame solved the issue- the gun wasn't actually out of time, it just wouldn't honor the existing timing, if that makes any sense.
Then, one of the two pins engaging the hand with the other moving parts fell out somehow. For some stupid reason, the pins aren't actually part of that assembly, and said pin magically vanished out of the gun one session. The one I ground to fit seems to have held up better- at least that was a standard dimension, but I get the distinct impression that it's supposed to sit flush against the inside of the frame (there's no recess to hold it in the side plate) and I currently suspect some of the inconsistent trigger pulls the thing suffers from now are due to this pin shifting in some direction (perhaps due to recoil) and binding up. That could probably be solved by an improved shim to better capture the pin, melting some plastic on the 'loose' end to support it better, or soldering the pin to the hand, but I'm too lazy to take this thing apart because it's annoying to get the side plate back on so that's just a theory for now.
Oh yeah, and the screw holding the cylinder release backs off within 100 rounds of tightening it (unless you make it so tight it binds). Loctite would solve that if I was totally done playing with it, but a gun that was made before the widespread use of threadlocker shouldn't need threadlocker.
The extractor rod will sometimes bind due to failing to re-center on the stud that retains it and there's no chamfer so good luck loading anything other than round-nosed projectiles with any urgency whatsoever. Surface finish is nice enough but not so nice I wouldn't be that sad if I scratched it up somehow.
And yet, for all of those faults, I shoot it exceptionally well [in DA] with the factory grips (which are too fat to accommodate speedloaders, but one problem at a time) and have about 6000 rounds through the thing so far. It would be more, but the assholes at the place I bought the bullets from failed to send me the proper diameter, so that's kind of on hold for now.
Overall, I rate it 6 out of 6, would revolve again.
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