By: Mike Hardesty

   The saying “A Fistful Of… (fill in the blank)” is still popular, long after the movie “A Fistful Of Dollars” came out in 1967. In this case, it’s warranted. This 21-ounce, 5-shot wheelgun is chambered in the attention-getting (on both sides of the muzzle) .357 Magnum. It gets my attention, for sure!

   Why in the world would anyone want a 21-ounce device that all but causes pain each time you use it? Because with any .357, you get to fire .38 Specials. You don’t have to keep abusing your body. Actually, this .357 shoots .38 Special better than its more muscular cousin, as we’ll see later.

   Here’s what it looks like… mug shots, so to speak. Shiny!

   If there ever was a “BBQ Gun”, this is it!

   Here’s an admission on my part… this gun was not sent to me for this review. I bought it after I reviewed it elsewhere, a good while ago. I like guns with some “bling”. (I also own plenty of plain, old black polymer pistols.) So, when I can, I’ll add something to the safe that has character, or is just a bit different. This qualifies.

   I also need to state upfront that these grips did not come with this gun. I bought them off the Charter Arms website. They are the G10 Backpacker Style grips, which retail for $48. The original grips are black, finger-groove rubber. They are boring. They DO help with recoil, but so do these, and they just look cooler.

   What initially attracted me to this gun was its finish. The highly polished stainless steel sure gets your attention. Two more features sealed the deal… the barrel is three inches, not two, and the rear sight is not the usual trough in the frame but is fully adjustable. That’s rare on a snubby. So, I bought it and have enjoyed owning it.

Why A Wheelgun?

   Younger shooters may not be overly familiar with revolvers, since the semi-auto has all but taken over the carry market in the last 30 or so years. But before Gaston Glock presented his wunderkind and the law enforcement world put the nail in the revolver’s coffin, revolvers were mainstay carry guns.

   For some of us, they still are. I own several revolvers and have a personal history with them. From .22s to my 8 ⅜” barreled S&W 629 .44 Magnum, I like to interact with them. I don’t know how many deer I’ve taken with that .44, or how many squirrels and other such small game have fallen to my .22s, .38s, and .357s over the decades.

   As an unrepentant handloader, I craft my centerfire loads in the mid-power range and have achieved decent results over the years.

Advantages Of The Revolver

   A revolver has some features that make it a viable carry gun. First, though, let’s address the elephant in the room… reloading speed. I can surely stuff a fresh magazine into my Springfield SA-35 High-Power tribute or my Echelon 4.0C faster than I can fill the chambers of any wheelgun I own. I admit that up front. But… how many rounds are enough? We’ve all heard the F.B.I. statistics that say a typical self-defense situation is resolved in 2.7 rounds, or whatever.

   I sometimes carry a S&W J-frame with a 5-shot cylinder. I typically will have one reload with me. Do I feel undergunned? Nope. I practice reloading and feel secure. I also practice shooting. Hitting what you aim at with a few rounds is more important than missing with many.

   Reliability. Revolvers are reliable. A good double-action (DA) revolver only requires another trigger press if the bullet under the hammer fails to exit the muzzle… no “tap-rack-bang”, no jerking a slide back. Granted, modern autoloaders are really reliable as a rule, but nothing is simpler than “pull the trigger again”. You can’t look at a magazine full of cartridges and pick out the ones that will possibly fail by sight… I wish you could. With a revolver, pull the trigger again if something fails.

   Easy To Teach. I am not a certified instructor – I respect those of you out there who are. However, I have shared some expertise over the years with new shooters who are aware that I have been shooting for several decades. Sometimes, they’ll formally ask me what handgun they should buy. Since I live in the boonies, I have a range in my backyard, so I’ll invite them over and we’ll shoot different guns. Nine times out of ten, semi-autos intimidate them. Training is the answer, but they want results now, so they gravitate toward a wheelgun.

   Easy To Load and Unload. Many folks I’ve spoken to have gotten confused just by loading (or unloading) a semi-automatic. They may pull the magazine out, but they usually will forget to check the chamber. I heard of an accidental discharge by a person the other day that made our local news. (Must’ve been a slow news day!) They’d forgotten to check the chamber and fired the “unloaded” gun accidentally. No one was hurt seriously – just a graze – but it could have been worse.

   With a DA revolver, loading involves opening the cylinder and inserting cartridges into the individual chambers. Unloading is accomplished by pressing the ejector rod to remove the empty cases. It’s easy to make a revolver safe… open the cylinder and remove the cartridges. There is no magazine to remove, nor a chamber to check. Newbies grasp this concept pretty easily.

   (Speaking of safety procedures, I remember Don Knotts’ character Barney on the old “Andy Griffith Show” who was allowed only one “bullet”… a single cartridge for his 4-inch .38 that he had to carry in his shirt pocket due to a few negligent discharges.

   What a great show… simpler times! “Opie” was actually younger than me…)

   Easy To Operate. The DA revolver is very easy to operate. Once loaded, simply align the front sight with the target and center it in the rear sight. A squeeze of the trigger launches the bullet downrange. There is one trigger pull to learn… the longer, DA pull that instructors will have you use. The lighter single-action trigger is great for targets or hunting, but most (if not all) defense training will require you to use the DA option.

   No Fetching Of Wayward Brass. The older I get, the more I appreciate not having to retrieve all those empties from the ground. ‘Nuff said.

   Please understand… I am not trying to get you to abandon your carry semi-auto and switch to a revolver! I am simply presenting some reasons that revolvers remain a viable choice for concealed carry and are not obsolete. I love my semis… I own several and use them. But I also own some wheelguns and use them, as well.

   Now that we have looked at why revolvers still matter, let’s look at the one in front of us today.