Proper Tech Level for an 1980s Setting

[AlexanderHowl]

No, that prompted the adoption of AR-15s by police forces, as no pistol or shotgun was capable of penetrating the body armor of the perps (they used metallic trauma plates in aramid armor, meaning that they each withstood dozens of huts from pistols and shotguns).

[RogerBW]

Many of the police weapons involved in the North Hollywood gunfight, on the police side, were 9mm pistols. The after-effect of that was to give more SWAT teams weapons that could penetrate body armour: AR-15s rather than MP5s.

The automatic-vs-revolver thing still stirs up strong emotions on both sides. In the very early days, automatics were a bit less reliable; this hasn't been measurably true since before WWII, but firearms lore insists that it still is, and even professionals can be subject to firearms lore. For more examples, see "Gun Cults", p. 39 in Gun-Fu.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

. . . In the very early days, automatics were a bit less reliable; this hasn't been measurably true since before WWII, but firearms lore insists that it still is, and even professionals can be subject to firearms lore. For more examples, see "Gun Cults", p. 39 in Gun-Fu.

It also was a function of ammunition & reliability. Until the early 1960s semi-automatic pistols would only feed round-nosed ammo with reliability; such were poor man-stoppers. In the early 1960s Lee Jurras of Super-Vel produced hollow-point ammunition that was better at feeding in semi-autos, and the major ammo manufacturers followed suit. But until the early 1980s revolvers with hollow-points were still more reliable than semi-autos with hollow-points, (or at least were thought so).