Consider the Following: Can Someone Seriously Carry a Cap and Ball Revolver?

Should you be adding your cap and ball revolver to your concealed carry options?

I’m gonna answer that one real quick for you: nah, you really shouldn’t. But in fairness, the video shown below demonstrates how close you can get to a really serviceable defensive tool for concealed carry, and it’s surprising.

When I was taking my CCH class, the question of whether someone could being a cap and ball revolver as their carry tool was almost the first thing asked.

The first thought I had was: seriously? Why?

I’ve got a cap and ball revolver — I probably will always keep at least one around; I love black powder. They’re a blast (heh!) at the range, and not too expensive to run all day long.

And all day long you will run, because those suckers are a pain to reload quickly.

And that, dear readers, is where we bring in YouTube gun guru Paul Harrell.

If you’ve read Concealed Nation for long, you’ve probably read a reference to the man before — his credentials and expertise really are about as good as they get. That’s going to help us in our journey here, because as Harrell explores the topic, he completes a couple of tests — you’re just going to have to trust that he’s as fast a re-loader as you can expect out of your average shooter — and even your above-average shooter.

That’s an understatement; the dude’s a machine, but you get my point. The argument made for operating a slower-to-fire platform is made by someone who knows what they’re about.

Hero adulation aside, as Harrell demonstrates, there just is no substitute for the rate of reliability and fire that a modern, cartridge-based firearm provides.

He gets pretty darn close, though. Take a look.

The lesson we can learn is pretty easy: Can you carry a cap and ball revolver? Sure. Will it be an inferior choice to modern small arms just about any way yo cut it? Oh, yeah.

For now at least, I’m going to keep my black powder to the range.

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