Reloading With Loose Rounds: Revolver vs Pistol
Russ Chastain 02.20.20
When it comes to reloading a handgun quickly, it’s tough to beat a removable box magazine on a pistol. Empty the mag, drop it out and cram in a new one, cycle the slide and you’re once again ready to rock and roll. This beats the heck out of reloading a revolver using loose rounds or a speed loader, but which is faster to reload using loose ammo? A pistol or a revolver?
Well, that’s what Paul Harrell decided to make this new video about, labeling it as being for the “what if” brigade. And unlike many of his videos, it begins with a LOT of talking — much of it repetitive. Paul’s having a tough time simply stating things and moving on in this one.
He spends some time pontificating on various reasons someone might own only one magazine for his or her pistol. This isn’t really what we came for, but it’s here, and it does give him a chance to throw a barb at the Clintons.
In the 1990s, when the Clinton administration passed Bill’s crime…
no, excuse me;
the ‘crime bill.’
He then launches into discussion on why someone would own a revolver but not a speed loader.
::yawn::
Finally, a bit past the ten-minute mark in a video that’s 18:28 long, he says it’s time to get to the fun part: Shooting!
But, not yet. Instead we learn that he although he would like to demonstrate this as if he’s in a gunfight or otherwise facing a threat — in other words, performing all reloads without looking at what he’s doing because he wants to continue to look downrange to scan for threats — he is not going to do that in this case, because he is not well-practiced at reloading a pistol magazine without looking at it. And because the revolver only holds 6, he will only load 6 into the pistol mag.
If you want to get right to the good stuff, hop on forward to the 13-minute mark. He begins with a 1911 pistol in 38 Super.
By my count (looking at the video’s time readout), it took him 17.5 seconds to fire a round, load the magazine with 6 rounds, and fire another shot.
With the S&W Model 15 revolver, it took a little more than 12 seconds.
He did the same drill a few times off-camera, with his average numbers matching the drill we see in the video:
This time, he uses rimfire handguns; a S&W Model 63 revolver and a Ruger Mark III pistol, 8 shots apiece and he fires 8, reloads, then fires 1.
- Revolver: 24 seconds
- Pistol: 29 seconds
Predictably, it’s easier for him to load a revolver with loose ammo and put it into play than to do the same with a semi-auto. He then demonstrates the advantage of using a revolver instead of a pistol for doing a partial reload, too.
Anyhow, here’s the video; enjoy.
