Revolvers

This week, I got my hands on the M&P Bodyguard in .38 Special from our friends over at Smith and Wesson. What is the big deal, you may ask, with a .38 Special J Frame that was actually released six years ago? Well, there have been a couple of updates, but the biggest deal is what we found to feed it.

It seems like every year we hear that revolvers are dead, and then every year some magic happens with the wheel guns. The Performance Center Model 327 is no exception to this. The 327 is everything you could ever want in a personal protection gun if you are a wheel gun fan.

For several years, gun writers ignored revolvers. This is reasonable because there has been a renaissance of creativity in firearms design in this same period. There has been a steady, but declining market for wheelguns, but the surge of interest in defensive concealed carry has brought new interest to these simple and reliable guns.

By the time William Barclay “Bat” Masterson received the handsome, nickel plated and hand engraved six-shooter pictured, he was already a legendry lawman, as famous as his friends Wyatt Earp, Charlie Bassett and Bill Tilghman.

Sam Colt’s firearms had always been counterfeited in abroad but the numbers were small and Sam was, as usual, strapped for cash and so little could be done. Sam Colt and his London solicitor decided that the manufacture of copies would be allowed to continue as long as a royalty of 10 francs per firearm was paid. All revolvers made according to the agreement were to be marked COLT/BREVETE as proof of “licensed” manufacture.

How would you feel about shooting a .357 Magnum revolver with virtually no muzzle flip? That’s exactly what the Smith & Wesson 586 L-Comp is all about. Let’s take a closer look.

Kimber broke some new ground last year with the introduction of their K6s revolver line. This year featured some new additions to that line, sure to make them a major player in the wheel gun market.

Kimber is adding new models to the company’s K6 series of revolvers for 2017. These compact handguns are built for everyday carry, concealed or on the hip.

The multi-caliber Scavenger 6 is a survival rifle dream gun. It’s a stocked revolver with each chamber cut for a different cartridge. By using multiple cylinders, it’s possible to have one design fire a dozen and half or more cartridges.