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Mon-Fri: 10am-8pm
Sat-Sun: 9am*-7pm

*First hour of weekend range time (9am-10am) is reserved for members only. Retail store is open to everyone during these hours.

Popular Revolver calibers

Although revolvers have been around for a long time and many different calibers have seen use and subsequent disuse, there are only a few calibers that have withstood the tests of time (and fashion). Just as with pistol calibers there is no definitive best or worst caliber; the choice depends upon the shooter's abilities as well as the intended application. There are some differences in ammunition used in in semi-automatic pistols and revolvers and they are described on our Pistol and Revolver differences page.

.38 Special

Long popularized by it's use in law enforcement revolvers, it is the most common caliber found in the rest of revolvers. This caliber can also be used in revolvers chambered in .357 Magnum and is the only interchangeable handgun round. The .38 Special bullet has a much lower recoil factor than the .357 Magnum bullet which has the same diameter but much more space in the cartridge for powder; the .357 Magnum has over 3 times the chamber pressure and is not as easy to control. Since the chamber pressure in .38 Special is not too high it is possible to make very small, light and compact revolvers. Modern metallurgy allows materials such as Titanium and Scandium to be used in order to create incredibly light and versatile revolvers.

.357 Magnum

Once considered the most powerful handgun cartridge in the world (now eclipsed by calibers such as .44 Magnum and 10mm Auto) it has seen service since 1935. The recoil of this round can be quite high, especially in small-framed revolvers. Many .357 Magnum revolvers are therefore made of heavy materials and have longer barrels to reduce the impact of recoil.

.44 Magnum

This extremely powerful round was popularized by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry series, shot out of his Smith & Wesson 29. Remington brought out the cartridge in 1955 and within a couple of years other manufacturers brought out revolvers chambered in .44 Magnum