I was noting recently that at banks or ATM centers, any security personnel usually sport revolvers as their sidearm. This surprises me, since virtually all police officers use semi-automatic weapons as their sidearm. Is there any specific reason security guards would prefer a revolver to a semi-automatic? And are there any police or public safety officers who still use revolvers?
Less likely to jam but other than that I don’t know.
This surprises me since virtually all armed security I have witnessed carries semi automatic pistols as well. This seems more like a local issue for you …or me.
Still some possibilities pop to mind for justifications.
- They might have gotten a good deal on revolvers which tend to have lower demand. - Since the rounds are not feeding through the grip revolvers tend to be more adaptable to different sized shooters by changing the grips. That might let them get away with lower cost by buying all one pistol instead of managing different types.
- The fail less often. The reaction to a round failing to fire in a revolver is to just pull the trigger again and try and fire the next round. It takes out the need to train to deal with failures to feed or eject on semi-autos. If you are only worried about deterrence and being able to shoot 5-7 rounds that can reduce training time and cost.
Those I’ve spoken to who preferred revolvers (not professionals, I mean amateur shooters) do so for personal preference. The big one is comfort; revolver grips are more contoured and just feel better to some people. Also, you don’t have brass to pick up afterward; it stays in the gun until ejected. And you don’t have to take the gun apart to clean it. Just a bunch of little things that add up to liking them more.
My guess would be that the security company didn’t want to shell out for any training on semi-autos, so they just handed the rent-a-cops surplus revolvers they bought cheap from a local police department that upgraded to Glocks.
There seems to be a wide-spread feeling that revolvers are obsolete.
If your sole criterion for choosing a sidearm is how many bullets it can carry, then you’ll want a semi-auto. If almost any other criteria are taken into account, a revolver is very often a more logical choice.
Probably because the weapons security guards carry don’t matter much as they’re intended to create some kind of threat to dissuade robbers more than anything else. Revolvers tend to be simpler, more reliable and durable than pistols.
Also, .357 magnum revolvers can shoot .38 Special which is cheaper and milder.
I feel like that wouldn’t be a deciding factor in choosing your sidearm.
I recall reading and hearing somewhere, that many police departments switched to semi-automatic handguns because of the higher round capacity and faster reload time that may be required in a firefight. This is also the reason cited for why both the police and U.S. Military switched to smaller caliber ammunition vs the 11?, 12 with one in chamber? capacity of the Colt M1911, plus being lighter weight.
A security guard is unlikely to need more than six rounds as the primary purpose of a firearm is deterrence as mentioned above. I believe armored cars have more powerful and larger capacity firearms to point out the gunports if necessary.
I’d think a consideration would be that if the guard was required to actually shoot they would presumably have more control and less likelihood of shooting everyone in the bank in a reflex action. As someone from a non-gun-toting culture this is entirely informed by what i’ve seen on TV cop shows, so reality might be different.
Banks and such often contract security to private security firms.
These firms do not pay the guards especially well. In some cases the guards are required to purchase their own arms. In addition to saving money, this avoids a number of problems for the security company, such as keeping track of the guns, Dealing with a guard that skips town with the gun, keeping them in working order, guard complaints about what they are issued. etc. etc.
Given that the pay isn’t great, the guards are likely to procure an inexpensive gun. New revolvers can be even more expensive than automatics. However, due to the fact noted by the OP that most police departments have converted to auto’s. there are a huge number of former police revolvers on the used gun market, so former police revolvers can often be had quite reasonably, and are generally of much higher quality than a similarly priced automatic.
In addition, used holsters speed-loaders, etc. are often available as police surplus.
I’m not too sure on the “affordability” thing, yes you can buy cheap used revolvers but a brand new Glock 9mm is only about $500 and you can even buy a brand new 9mm pistol for only $200 from budget makers like Hi-Point. If affordability was such a major concern we should be seeing a lot more security guards with Hi-Points.
A bulkier gun just looks more intimidating.
So, why do all the other privates in this man’s army have a rifle, but you have a gun?
I’m not sure what background you have. But revolvers ARE pistols.
Any gun that is short in length, designed in such a way that it can easily be fired with one hand, and is generally carried in a holster, is a pistol.
Pistols come in 2 common varieties (revolvers and semi-autos) and 1 uncommon (autos).
Is the OP in a jurisdiction that restricts magazine capacity? Revolvers are limited to what their cylinder holds.
People making such decisions for banks have little incentive to assure that guards can fire off a dozen rounds at robbers inside a building full of employees and customers. The possibility of winning a fifty shots fired gunfight at the Third National Bank’s local office requires a fairly unrealistic definition of “winning.”
Most banks think “give them the money” has a better long term cost/benefit consequence for
the bank. Mechanical infrastructure designed to make access to amounts of money over ten thousand dollar very time consuming are far more effective deterrents than high capacity magazine handguns.
Sir, the private believes that any answer he gives will be wrong! And his senior drill instructor will beat him harder if he reverses himself, sir
As is usually the case it took murdered cops to get any change to happen. There were a few other incidents but two big ones that brought on change in weapons were the Miami FBI shooting and the murder of Trooper Lamonaco in New Jersey.
https://apnews.com/4c1bbe998d14bfce6dda3c9511049cc1
That is a possibility.
As a bank customer, not a bank robber, the visual of an automatic rifle, slung over the shoulder, scares the poop out of me.
Here, the folks that replenish the ATM’s have sawed off shotguns. Now, that is a deterence.