Survival Handguns, My Thoughts.

I like revolvers, I think it goes back to watching westerns as a kid but they do have a lot of advantages as well.
A little while ago I was reading Brigid, she had done a guest post  with some advice for newer shooters, especially women and commented how a revolver is an excellent choice for a first handgun. I agree, I am not saying you can't learn a semi auto pistol I just think it takes less to 'sort out' if you know what I mean.
I am not trying to start an argument here but it dawned on me there are people out there who are fairly new to shooting or who are preppers and wondering what kind of guns would be good for them so I will list my reasons for liking them.

First I should point I am referring to good quality revolvers, S&W, Ruger, Colt etc. they can be found for excellent prices if you look around at used models, in fact I think all mine I bought were used so they can be found if you look. 
First I will list the disadvantages I see of revolvers, most only hold 6 shots (some 5) and are a little slower to reload. They also tend to be bulkier and harder to conceal than a semi auto especially if they are a big caliber.
Now for the advantages I see,
 I mentioned most hold only 6 shots, to me this is not an issue because semi auto pistols you usually wait till it is empty to reload but with a revolver I can swing the cylinder out and by partially pushing the ejector rod I can lift out the spent cases and replace them thus leaving me with a full cylinder. Apart from target shooting I have never had a NEED to shoot more than 6 shots in rapid succession and I maintain if you ever find yourself in that situation you have bigger problems than your handgun can solve. Another reason I like revolvers is they tend to be more forgiving to dirt and grime and lack of cleaning which could be important in a survival situation. 

 I mentioned earlier they are (in my opinion) a good first gun choice, the reason for this is there is less to think about if you find yourself in a high stress situation, this is very important because you draw it, pull the trigger and it shoots (double action guns of course) You do not have to worry about removing the safety, wondering if one is in the chamber or racking the slide or wondering if the slide is all the way home.  The magazine release button never gets accidentally pushed thus causing a jamb (I have had this happen quite a few times) In the case of a misfire you keep squeezing the trigger till it goes bang, no need to tap, slap, rack to clear a jamb. I have never had a revolver jamb with factory ammo. The only jambs I have had (very rare) are with very hot hand loads and the primer bulged thus causing a jamb.
This leads me to another reason I love revolvers, I do like to reload my ammo, it saves me a lot of money and I don't have to crawl around on the ground looking for all my brass. I also cast my own bullets which saves a lot of money as well and revolvers love cast bullets. I do reload for my 45 and 9mm but they don't feed cast bullets quite as well as ball ammo and this could be important in a survival situation where you would only have access to cast bullets. In a survival situation reloading components may be hard to get but as long as I had primers I could cast bullets and pack the cases full of black powder and have a good functioning weapon, I don't think most semi autos would feed that well with black powder. In a good strong revolver like a Ruger you could devise all kinds of loads which may be necessary in a survival situation and it would function and with some of the long barrels guns you can even hunt quite effectually with them.
There may be a day coming when reloads are all you can find and I can tell you from experience semi auto pistols are not that fond of cast bullets, dented cases, slightly bulged cases, dis-formed lead, weak loads etc, all of which are possible if you don't have the best to work with. I could take a less than perfect re-loaded round and even if I had to force it into the cylinder of a revolver it would almost always fire without jamming. This is just some of my thoughts on handguns.

OK I know I have opened a can of worms and probably started an argument (it's not the first time) I am not against semi autos, in fact I love my 1911 and others however I would never want to be without a revolver as well, especially in a survival situation which will be a less than perfect world.