CCW revolver or Semi auto

[pred]

I find it interesting that friends of mine in the Philly area are all into the Semi with 14+1 rounds or more carry gun, And I carry a puny 5 shot 357 J frame, and it brings me to wonder, we are civilians, and the chance we are in a O K corral gun fight, WHY 14+ rounds with an extra mag??? I understand being prepared, But I dont see the reason why the average citizen needs so many rounds, Mabey because you are a bad shot and need that many to send one home? I seriously doubt that one would need more than a couple of shots to do the job. I try to always be prepared, I will carry 5 extra rounds with me on occasion, But having 30 rounds with me makes me think I am preparing for a drive by, I dont understand!
Can someone here enlighten me to why I need 30 some rounds?
I can understand why a police officer may need so many with super quick reloads, But again, I am happy with my 5 shot 357 J frame!
I dont want to start a flame session here, Just curious on your thoughts!
Peter.

[imashooter2]

The downside of not enough ammunition is you are dead.

Please explain the downside of having too much ammunition in a gunfight...

[God's Country]

I'm far from an expert on the subject, but I believe in some part the reasoning for a high cap semi is that most people attacked are attacked by a group not one person say 2-3 attackers, also a larger platform will be easier to maintain proficiency, not to mention that it’s hard to find a large single stack semi. The extra mag has more to do with magazine failure, which is the one of the main reasons for a semi to fail. So as with anything it comes down to preparedness, and weighing out the pro's and cons of various choices.
Advocates of high cap/extra mag carry may argue why not be prepared for multiple scenarios. IOW how much is your life worth. Advocates of more packable guns may say it's comfortable therefore I carry more often, or perhaps my j-frame covers me with 98% of scenarios.
It just goes on and on. This is why we have choices. The best advice I can think of is to choose your carry style and strive to be as proficient as possible with that choice.

[Hokkmike]

Mo Hotta Mo Betta

From one of my food websites, the title applies! Why carry 5 or 6 rounds if you can carry 10 to 17 and in a smaller gun. I am sure your revolver is a fine gun. And as a better shot it will be all you need. I will be more confident with a few more pulls of the trigger. (just in case)

[pred]

Hokkmike, you are in sullivan county, I am there often, and I will carry a 357 L or N frame 6 shot since I was confronted by a dear one day in the woods, He was grunting and stomping his foot at me, I slowly backed off till he posed no threat, VERY SCARY to me, and I was not armed at all,,,,,
I have a few semi auto's and they are reliable, But I just trust the revolver more,
It is a choice for those of us who carry, and I feel safe with my 5 shot, If you are surrounded by a group of thugs, and they are armed as well, I doubt that 17 shots will get you out alive unless you are a very good shot, and they are carrying Hi-point semi's,
I avoid the neighborhoods that are scetchy to begin with,
I would be curious of any accounts of where someone was attacked by a group of thugs, and spent some 15+ rounds to delete the threat!
Peter.

[God's Country]

From one of my food websites, the title applies! Why carry 5 or 6 rounds if you can carry 10 to 17 and in a smaller gun. I am sure your revolver is a fine gun. And as a better shot it will be all you need. I will be more confident with a few more pulls of the trigger. (just in case)

That depends.
For example I feel sorry for the thugs that try to mug Jerry Miculek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uisHfKj2JiI

[LittleRedToyota]

my reasoning is...

1. i prolly won't need many rounds...but, then again, i prolly won't need any rounds at all. as with the gun itself, though, i'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.

2. i see no advantage to carrying a revolved over my glock. my glock has gone bang every single time i have pressed the trigger (over 10,000 times), so reliability is not an issue. in addition, i have no problem comfortably concealing a full-size glock, so size is not an issue.

3. revolvers and my hands do not get along well. for some reason, they just never feel as comfortable in my hands as semi-autos and, therefore, i do not shoot them as well as semi-autos.

4. i have relatively large hands and shoot large guns better than small guns.

adding all this up, it is a no brainer *for me*. but, it is a very personal choice.

[Rule10b5]

Your position is predicated on a flawed assumption.

People don't carry pistols simply because of greater ammunition capacity, they carry them because they:

1) typically have better triggers, leading to more accuracy and faster shots;
2) are easier to shoot faster because of lower recoil due to the action cycling;
3) have a bore axis that is lower, leading to lower muzzle flip;
4) take more abuse (not neglect, abuse) and still function;
5) have a flatter profile, making it easier to carry them IWB; and

6) do, in fact, have a much greater ammunition capacity when compared to like-sized revolvers. Why would you want to limit yourself when you have have more of the same at little or no cost?

Finally, the "reliability" thing is kind of overstated, these days. I've had about as many malfunctions with my Glocks (1 or 2) out of tens of thousands of rounds fired over the past 8-10 years as I have with my revolvers, out of which I've surely fired less than ten thousand. And one of the malfunctions I had with a revolver tied the gun up completely -- I had to spend 20 minutes to even open the cylinder. I've never had that happen with a Glock or other modern pistol. Tap. Rack. Bang.

[BearTitan]

The downside of not enough ammunition is you are dead.

Please explain the downside of having too much ammunition in a gunfight...

Well put. Personally I carry both. I find that any of the semi's I would carry on my ankle (G26, G23) are a little chunky for my taste. The J frame snubbie is a nice compact design, but for me it is for very close encounters, at best. The design does not lend itself to accurate, fast shooting. As LRT said, you should carry what you shoot best. I carry an 8 shot auto, which has only a slight firepower advantage over my 7 shot revolver(not the snubbie), but I shoot it much better.To the OP, I would recommend the following. On your next range trip:

Set up a target. Do 100 jumping jacks to get your heart rate up (simulate stress). Have a friend time you (urgency). On the beep, engage the target while running as fast as you can away from it. See how you do. Try this with several guns. The one that you put COM hits on target with the fastest should be your primary carry gun.

...I doubt that 17 shots will get you out alive unless you are a very good shot, and they are carrying Hi-point semi's...

What would the brand of bad-guy guns have to do with anything?

Having said that, most "experts" will tell you that you are not walking away from a multiple armed threat situation. Better to run away than stay and fight on that one.

[imperialism2024]

A point that hasn't been mentioned yet is the caliber limitation of semi's. With a semi, you're pretty much stuck with 10mm as your most powerful round... revolvers give you up to .500S&W while still staying just as reliable. To me, it's more important to stop each threat with a single shot (or two) than relying on multiple COM shots to cause the BG to bleed out before he can get a shot off at me.

I also will carry a few reloads, though, with the reasoning that if I can't find cover after 6 shots, and I still need to shoot, I'll probably get shot by that point anyway.

Just the opinion of a wheelgunner, though...