Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Revolvers V Semi

Tam* discusses the difference between finely machined all metal revolvers and stamped metal and injection molded semi-autos here.

Do you think that the cops, nationwide, would have switched over to black plastic pistols if the price point to the forces was 125% of a revolver price point?

I think so.  The purchasing officialdom would rationalize the capacity difference and 'reliability' would be stressed and stretched almost to the breaking point.  But.  Bottom line would be the bottom line.

Maybe the police would see themselves more as a police force instead of soldiers, too.  "We are cops, not a combat force!  My 8 shot revolver is what I need when dealing with the public I serve.  Wait, that didn't sound quite right"

Why equip your patrolmen with $1600 Glocks when you can get a $1200 Smith & Wesson.  If Glocks were at that price point in the real world.

*(edited for spelling error.  How in the HELL did I originally misspell Tam's name as 'Damn'?)

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

That is a point...

Sigman said...

That is actually only part of it. I've been a cop almost 40 years, from almost entirely revolver agencies to the semi auto being pretty much universal. In many agencies that actually did their homework, they found marginal shooters actually shot better with semi autos (especially the Glock). Glock lowered the price in bids and marketed them as double action initially which made them even more attractive to administrators. Safe handling skills took some time to catch up (given the number of NDs reported even now, one could argue they still haven't caught up).