Michael de Bethencourt is a defensive-firearms instructor, snub-revolver specialist, defensive-tactics trainer, writer, and member of the leadership team at Snub Noir. For more than three decades, he has studied and taught the practical defensive use of small-frame, short-barreled revolvers, with particular attention to concealment, access, manipulation, retention, reloading, and close-range problems.
De Bethencourt’s work is distinctive because it treats the snub revolver as its own defensive system rather than a smaller version of a service handgun. Limited capacity, abbreviated sights, short ejector travel, compact stocks, heavy double-action triggers, unconventional carry positions, and close-contact use create problems that require dedicated solutions. His curriculum has developed around those realities.
Martial Arts and Defensive-Tactics Background
De Bethencourt’s background includes approximately three decades of martial-arts study and two decades studying police defensive tactics. He has been recognized for instruction in defensive revolvers, weapon disarming, weapon retention, improvised weapons, and tactical folding-knife skills.
This background places firearms within a larger close-range defensive context. At contact distance, a defender may be unable to assume a conventional stance or obtain an uninterrupted two-handed grip. The problem may involve controlling an opponent, protecting the weapon, creating space, firing from an unusual position, recovering a dropped gun, or transitioning between physical and armed responses.
De Bethencourt’s material reflects that overlap. His revolver instruction includes more than marksmanship: it addresses how the gun is carried, accessed, kept operational, protected from another person, and used when conventional range techniques are unavailable.
SnubTraining
Through SnubTraining and the earlier SnubTraining.com, de Bethencourt developed specialized courses for law-enforcement officers and legally armed citizens. His programs have covered:
- Defensive snub-revolver use
- Revolver loading, unloading, and malfunction management
- One-handed and support-hand manipulations
- Weapon retention and disarming
- Close-contact shooting problems
- Folding-knife skills
- Improvised weapons
- Primary-to-backup weapon transitions
The curriculum has frequently concentrated on keeping the revolver functioning under adverse conditions rather than simply producing conventional target-shooting performance. Students are expected to understand the mechanical limitations of the platform and to solve problems involving incomplete reloads, damaged or lost loading devices, an injured hand, physical contact, and unconventional firing positions.
Secrets of the Concealed Carry Snub
De Bethencourt’s best-known revolver program is Secrets of the Concealed Carry Snub. The course examines the selection, setup, carry, access, manipulation, and defensive use of compact revolvers. It is built around the premise that a small revolver’s advantages—compactness, concealability, mechanical simplicity, and the ability to function in certain close-contact circumstances—come with limitations that must be understood honestly.
Instructor Greg Ellifritz attended a private two-day version of the course in 2013 and described de Bethencourt as having taught his specialized revolver curriculum for more than 30 years. Ellifritz wrote that few, if any, instructors had studied the snub-revolver problem as thoroughly and noted that the course supplied workable answers to many of the platform’s inherent weaknesses.
The class addressed revolver history, equipment and modifications, ammunition support gear, alternate sighting methods, dropped-gun recovery, one-handed reloads, support-hand-only operation, contact shots, weapon retention, disarming, revolver-specific malfunctions, and transitions between primary and backup guns.
Reloading Under Defensive Constraints
Reloading is a major part of de Bethencourt’s revolver work because a five- or six-shot handgun provides little margin for wasted motion or equipment failure. His curriculum examines speedloaders, speed strips, and loose cartridges rather than assuming one ideal loading method will always remain available.
De Bethencourt has taught a dominant-hand revolver reload in which the support hand supplies the ammunition. The technique differs from methods that transfer the gun to the support hand so the dominant hand can operate the loader. His version is designed to reduce unnecessary movement and keep control of the firearm consistent, though it may require experienced revolver shooters to replace deeply practiced habits.
His speed-strip method commonly places four cartridges in the center positions of a six-round strip, leaving both ends empty. This makes the strip easier to grasp and effectively omnidirectional when drawn from a pocket. The curriculum also accounts for dropped or failed speedloaders by teaching the use of loose cartridges and partial loads.
A key principle is that a partially loaded revolver with its cylinder closed may be more useful than a fully loaded gun that remains out of action while the user completes a reload. Students practice loading one or two rounds and returning the gun to service when time or circumstances demand it.
Revolver Malfunctions and Safety
De Bethencourt’s instruction includes revolver-specific safety and malfunction concerns that receive limited attention in more general handgun classes. Squib loads are a prominent example. A projectile lodged in the bore can create a dangerous failure if another round is fired behind it.
In documented courses, he has used primed cases without a projectile or powder to help students recognize the reduced sound and recoil associated with an abnormal discharge. The exercise gives students a reference for stopping immediately and inspecting the firearm rather than reflexively continuing to fire.
His curriculum also addresses high ejectors, debris beneath the extractor, difficult case extraction, incomplete loading, ammunition or loader incompatibility, and operation after injury to one hand. The underlying approach is to identify foreseeable failures before they occur in a defensive encounter.
One-Handed Operation and Weapon Recovery
De Bethencourt has devoted substantial attention to operating the revolver when one hand or arm is injured. Students work through one-handed and support-hand-only reloading, recovering a dropped firearm, closing and indexing a partially loaded cylinder, and returning the gun to use without ideal leverage.
These exercises reflect the frequency with which hands and arms may be occupied, controlled, or injured during close-range violence. They also expose how holsters, pockets, stocks, speed strips, and speedloaders perform when the user cannot rely on a normal two-handed sequence.
Carry, Equipment, and Modification
De Bethencourt’s writing shows a detailed interest in configuring revolvers around a specific carry role. He examines barrel length, frame weight, stocks, sights, holsters, cylinder and ejector geometry, moon-clip conversion, and mechanical modifications as parts of a complete system.
His 2024 Snub Noir article on a customized Smith & Wesson Model 342 illustrates this process. Unhappy with the extremely light revolver’s recoil and handling, he replaced the titanium cylinder with stainless steel, fitted a three-inch bull barrel, installed higher-visibility fixed sights, selected a purpose-built leather holster, and planned further work for moon-clip compatibility and other carry requirements.
The example is less a universal equipment recommendation than a demonstration of his method: define the gun’s intended role, identify its shortcomings, modify only with a specific performance purpose, and verify the finished system through shooting and carry.
Snub Noir
De Bethencourt is a central contributor and leadership figure at Snub Noir, an organization devoted to short-barreled revolvers, their history, practical use, training, and preservation. Its leadership group includes experienced revolver instructors and writers such as Ed Lovette, Jason Chandonnet, Andy Stanford, Mike Boyle, and Rob Garrett.
Snub Noir functions as more than a current training outlet. It collects older police and defensive-revolver material, republishes historically significant writing, documents equipment and techniques, and connects earlier generations of revolver knowledge with contemporary users.
De Bethencourt’s role is particularly suited to that mission. His career spans the period in which revolvers moved from mainstream police service to a more specialized role in concealed carry and backup use. He can compare historical doctrine with decades of experimentation and instruction, preserving useful knowledge without assuming every older practice should remain unchanged.
Institutional Knowledge and Experimentation
Much of de Bethencourt’s value lies in institutional memory. As service pistols became dominant, some revolver knowledge became harder to locate: specialized loading methods, support-hand techniques, equipment compatibility, close-contact operation, and lessons developed by earlier police instructors.
Preservation alone is not enough. De Bethencourt’s work also subjects methods and equipment to personal experimentation. His articles frequently document why he accepts, rejects, or modifies a particular solution. That willingness to examine the platform in detail helps distinguish durable principles from nostalgia.
Writing and Media
De Bethencourt has written and appeared in media addressing snub-revolver selection, common revolver myths, concealed-carry considerations, equipment features, and defensive manipulation. His published work includes material for Snub Noir, SnubTraining, and Warrior Life.
He has also developed a larger written treatment of snub-revolver skills, tactics, and practical advice. His teaching and writing reinforce one another: course problems generate material for further examination, while historical research and equipment testing inform the curriculum.
Areas of Expertise
- Small-frame and short-barreled defensive revolvers
- Deep-concealment and backup-gun applications
- Revolver loading, partial loading, and malfunction management
- One-handed and support-hand-only operation
- Weapon retention and disarming
- Close-contact defensive problems
- Martial arts and police defensive-tactics concepts
- Folding knives and improvised defensive tools
- Revolver selection, setup, modification, and carry systems
- Historical research and preservation of police revolver knowledge
Primary & Secondary Involvement
As a member of the Extended Primary & Secondary Network, de Bethencourt contributes specialized knowledge of snub revolvers, close-range defensive tactics, retention, manipulation, historical doctrine, and the practical limitations of compact defensive firearms. His work complements Primary & Secondary’s broader revolver, concealed-carry, and defensive-training discussions.
Current Work
De Bethencourt continues to write and contribute through Snub Noir, preserving historical material while documenting current revolver equipment, training concepts, drills, and practical experimentation. His continuing work connects decades of specialized instruction with a new generation of revolver carriers and instructors.
Sources and Further Reading
- Snub Noir
- SnubTraining
- Active Response Training — Secrets of the Concealed Carry Snub AAR
- Warrior Life — Michael de Bethencourt
- Snub Noir — Sunday Go to Meeting Snub
- Snub Noir — 38 Range Drills for Snub Revolvers
Profile last reviewed: September 10, 2026. Biographical details and professional affiliations were checked against the sources listed above.