Most small revolvers have heavy, long triggers and are difficult to shoot quickly and accurately
The lightweight that makes these revolvers a joy to carry, combined with a heavy and long trigger pull of up to 12 lbs or more, makes them particularly difficult to shoot well without good hand strength and a lot of regular practice.
Think about it this way: if the gun itself weighs less than 1 pound, and it takes 8, 10, or even 12 pounds of pressure to move the trigger to the rear (and that trigger stroke is much longer than on a semi-automatic), it’s much easier for the front sight to stray off the target as you stroke the trigger through its travel.
Some smaller shooters may feel the trigger is impossible to use at first blush, and have a hard time believing how much pressure they have to exert to make the gunfire.
This, combined with the sharp, even painful recoil mentioned above, places the small revolver in the expert category of CCW guns, rather than, as many people believe, the novice category.
It’s difficult to clear certain types of revolver malfunctions
We mentioned above the inadequate ejection stroke that can leave empty cases partially expelled from your snubby revolver’s chamber. But things can get much worse.
Many shooters who swear they’ve never had a malfunction with their revolvers have likely not shot a lot, because it’s relatively common for an oft-used revolver to get a grain or two of unburned powder or other debris under the ejector star at the back of the cylinder, which can lock up the gun and prevent the chamber from being opened without tools.
A stuck case in one or more chambers can cause the ejector star to jump the rim, resulting in an infuriating malfunction that prevents the chamber from closing and, you guessed it, requires the use of tools (and often a lot of cussing).
A third type of malfunction can occur in these super-light, sharp-recoiling revolvers, where a bullet can actually be pulled forward out of its case by the recoil (similar to a hammer-type bullet puller) and bind up the cylinder. This is uncommon with quality, well-crimped defensive ammo, but it is possible, and it causes a nasty situation that, again, requires the careful use of tools.
Unless something breaks, the vast majority of semi-automatic malfunctions can be remedied by tap-rack drills, or in the case of a double feed, an unload/reload drill.