That phrase, "service revolver," has been around for a very long time, but it's seldom that one sees a law enforcement officer carrying a revolver these days. Most agencies phased them out years ago in favor of the semi-autos, especially Glocks. Glock conducted a very successful campaign to get agencies to convert to Glocks. And they made a fortune.
So it was surprising to see this so late in that transition process: NYPD officially phases out revolvers as 25-year vets transition to 9-mm:
The last crop of cops transitioning from the old-school revolver to the modern semi-automatic handguns reported to the NYPD shooting range in the Bronx for training Wednesday.
The remaining 150 police officers — who all joined the force before 1993, when the the .9-mm semi-automatic became the department's service weapon — had until Aug. 31 to be be trained on new guns. ...
The swap out is a matter of safety. The revolver holds six bullets, each of which have to be loaded individually. ... The contemporary gun has a 16-bullet capacity and can be reloaded quickly. NYPD officers are trained to shoot a 9-mm. Glock or Sig Sauer.
Having all those bullets would certainly help in a genuine shoot-out. But it's also likely that the police officers will outnumber the potential shooter when bullets fly. Recall the Amadou Diallo case in which an unarmed man was shot at by police 41 times and struck 19 times.
Most handgun users prefer semi-automatic pistols, although the revolvers remain reliable and are probably safer. This blog used to cover Glock mishaps on a regular basis. For a sampling, click the guns category at this blog and scroll down for posts about Glock.
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10:06 AM 5/31/2018
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