Snub interest and discussion has been particularly popular of late, so I offer the following as we deepen our knowledge base and consider our options.



Purpose: Compare the time required to reload and fire 20 rounds from a 5-shot snub revolver using three spare ammunition carry methods.

Start position: 5 fired cases placed in the cylinder, gun held in a two handed firing grip, covering a target placed at 7 yards. Spare ammunition set out on a table top in front of the shooter.

Instructions: On the tone from the shot timer continuously reload from the loader specified (below), firing the ammunition in the cylinder to the designated target zone until 20 total rounds have been fired.

Target: 8”/-0 zone, RGT-1 target (https://www.letargets.com/estylez_item.aspx?item=RGT-1)

Drill 1: Safariland Comp 1 Speed Loader
Loaded: Capacity
Time (1): 34.51, Clean, 1:1.73 sec
Time (2): 31.68, 17/20 hits, 1:1.58 sec

Drill 2: Bianchi Speed Strips
Loaded: 4 strips of 5 rounds each
Time: 52.02, 18/20 hits, 1:2.6 sec

Drill 3: Bianchi Speed Strips
Loaded: 5 strips of 4 rounds each, load to middle four slots
Time: 54.27, 18/20 hits, 1:2.71 sec

Notes and Discussion:

Target size and distance was chosen to prevent artificially rapid fire for the sake of setting up the reload.

Spares carriers (pouches, pockets, etc) were not utilized to prevent giving any reload configuration possible advantage.

20 rounds was the quantity selected as it was the lowest mathematical intersection for the chosen reload configurations.

Reloading via speed loader was ~34% and ~40% faster than the lowest time for any speed strip configuration.

The rate of fire averaged over each string with speed loaders was 1 round every 1.58 and 1.73 seconds. The best speed strip run was 1 round every 2.6 seconds.

For the two speed strip configurations, it took approximately the same amount of time to load and fire the revolver with 4 rounds 5 times, as reloading with 5 rounds 4 times. This is due to the amount of time required to index the speed strip and cylinder to load the remaining fifth round each time. The four round speed strip returns the gun to a firing condition quicker, but with 20% less ammunition. The five round speed strip leaves the gun down longer during reloads, but at full capacity when brought back to target.

Summary: The limited capacity of the snub revolver does not negate its value as life support gear, nor its ability to accurately place rounds on target if the shooter can deliver. It does require an additional layer of deliberate planning and training for keeping it loaded and able to fight. Many shooters will consider concealment and convenience in the choice of reloads, without regard to performance. The information above may be helpful to them.