Why don't they make Revolvers that fire 9mm or .40

Tango2

Tango2

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Title says it all, Why don't they? I'd love a sweet K frame revolver in 9mm, I understand that one drawback is the case is unrimmed, but they could just have the round shoulder on the case mouth, or even easier but slightly more annoyingly half moon clips.

Auto's are Auto's, but I miss my Revolver, and having it in the same caliber of my auto would be easy.
 
they do, ruger makes what they refer to as there convertable, it fires 38 special and 357 and it comes with an extra cylinder to fire 9mm

also smith and wesson used to make a model 625 (i think) and it was capable of firering 40 cal
 
This again? There was a S&W that shot 10mm. Therefore it would fire .40 obv. The S&W 610. Pretty sure its discontinued. And Ruger currently makes a blackhawk that comes with a 9mm and a .357 cyl. The convertible.

Edit: oh someone beat me with exact same info.
 
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9mm revolvers can be a bit of a pain. On top of the moon clip or funky springed ejector, there is the tapered case problem. The straight walled rimmed cases grab the cylinder walls as they expand. Tapered or bottle necked cased tend to try and press back hard to the recoil shield in expansion. The designers have to balance the tolerances to allow for free movement of the cylinder but control the battering of the frame.
 
Just by way of explanation, the Smith 547 has a limiting pin which beara against the rim of the cartridge to prevent the casing from backing out. As a gun design, it's probably a lot more complicated than it has to be, but I have one of these revolvers and enjoy it quite a bit. Any of the others that use clips to hold the cartridges, won't have back-out problems because the cartridges are held in the clip. For a brief period there was an interest in having a revolver in the same cartridge format as an autoloader. Since autoloaders have so taken over the police market, the interest in that kind of revolver hardly exists any more, except among some people like me.
 
Tango2 said:
Title says it all, Why don't they?
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I agree... I seem to recall Ruger [or maybe S&W] making a revolver that used a heavy wire extractor-thingy that held the cartridges in place in the cylinder and then ejected them via the usual process. I'd love to have a 40S&W K-frame or something similar.

At the same time, I've never understood why ammo manufacturers and gunmakers don't team up to create rimless versions of old favorites. Imagine a carbine in a RIMLESS .44 magnum round [actually the .44 Automag round would make a great carbine cartridge]. Ditto shotguns...no reason why shotgun shells couldn't be rimless, and they'd load and feed so much more easily....
 
Wasn't there a revolver that could fire pretty much any kind of 9mm bullets (.38, 9mm para, 9mm short, 9mm long, etc)? I think is was called Medusa...
 
Canuck223 said:
9mm revolvers can be a bit of a pain. On top of the moon clip or funky springed ejector, there is the tapered case problem. The straight walled rimmed cases grab the cylinder walls as they expand. Tapered or bottle necked cased tend to try and press back hard to the recoil shield in expansion. The designers have to balance the tolerances to allow for free movement of the cylinder but control the battering of the frame.
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The taper on a 9mm case is SO slight that it simply would not produce a backwards wedging action. THe sides of the casing would react the same as a straight wall style.

The pressure on the back side of the head of the cases ensures that the recoil shield gets to earn its keep. This applies with 9mm, various bottle neck handgun ammo as well as the classic straight wall cases. While serious bottle neck ammo would be a non starter in a revolver for the reasons you mentioned the classic .38-40 and .44-40 ammo has such a slight and steep angled bottleneck shoulder that again the effect simply isn't noticable among all the other things going on when the round is fired.
 
Ruger did make a 9mm version of their Security Six/Speed Six for both European and Israeli contracts. I don't know how many made it into the domestic market, but they'd be a 12.6 gun now in any case due to the 4" barrels. If you like single actions, the Blackhawk convertables are you best bet.
 
Honestly, I don't see the advantage of 9mm or 10mm/40 S&W in a revolver. When you've got a 357 Magnum, you've outclassed the 9mm in performance and flexibility. You can reload 38/357 just as economically as 9mm. If you want a bigger punch, 44 magnum will certainly fit the bill. And it's comparable in pricing (give or take) to 10mm.

These cartridges were specially developed for the revolver platform. The 9mm and 10mm are meant for use in autoloaders. It's not that you couldn't shoot them in either, a cartridge is a cartridge, it's just that they're designed to perform best in certain "genres".
 
WestIslandRifle said:
CHARTER ARMS PITBULL comes in either 9mmor 40S&W and it dosnt use moon clips like the smith does, and it a double action revolver
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Sweet Thanks. If I can find one in a restricted barrel length.

Honestly, I don't see the advantage of 9mm or 10mm/40 S&W in a revolver. When you've got a 357 Magnum, you've outclassed the 9mm in performance and flexibility. You can reload 38/357 just as economically as 9mm. If you want a bigger punch, 44 magnum will certainly fit the bill. And it's comparable in pricing (give or take) to 10mm.

These cartridges were specially developed for the revolver platform. The 9mm and 10mm are meant for use in autoloaders. It's not that you couldn't shoot them in either, a cartridge is a cartridge, it's just that they're designed to perform best in certain "genres".
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The only real advantage I'm after is Ammunition standardization. Chasing around and reloading different calibers is slightly annoying. Really I don't plan on using them in a self defense situation, but if it came to that I'm sure the 9mm has a good history.
 
Maybe the 9mm and 40 almost extinct in the revolver class should tell you something... not much interest (or consumer sales) when 357 blows both calibers out of the water. But if that's what the OP is looking for, they are out there.
 
Kirk1701 said:
....These cartridges were specially developed for the revolver platform. The 9mm and 10mm are meant for use in autoloaders. It's not that you couldn't shoot them in either, a cartridge is a cartridge, it's just that they're designed to perform best in certain "genres".
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Well, yes. Up to a point at least.

The .45ACP was designed for autoloaders as well but it served well in revolvers for some time and continues to do so when used with full moon clips for those of us that enjoy action shooting.

The point of advantage for that style of revolver IS the moon clips that allow fast reloads. And those reloads simply go faster and more smoothly when the ammo is short and fat rather than long and skinny. .38Spl or .357Mag CAN be used with moonclips but often as not the ammo is not held by the clip with the bullet noses closely enough to the hole spacing to simply drop reliably into place like with the shorter autoloader cartridges.

If a slick little DA six shooter could be had which used 9mm in full moonclips I'd be in line for buying one. But apparently the market research for such a gun has indicated to the makers that it would be too short a line to justify such a gun.
 
This is a non-issue. If you want to stay with 9mm/40, stay with semi-auto's. If you want a revolver, go for 38/357 or 44. If the price is a factor, reload. Why would you want to shoot the same boring caliber in a revolver that can handle seriously more powerful loads? A semi caliber in a revolver will just disappoint. If the price of ammo is the issue, I'd just stay with semi's.

If you want to see some flames and have fun, go for 357, 44 or 50.
 
Taurus also makes a snub nose revolver in 9mm and do not forget the now out of production Astra Convertible (FN Barracuda). Also the S&W 940.

Ruger also made a cylinder with a spring type extractor for the European market. The dely in releasing the Charter Arms Pitbull was due to a possible patent infringement to the Ruger extractor. The Ruger Speed and Service Sixes for the domestic market used full moon or half moon clips as far as I have determined.
 
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