Professional Work: Senior Contributor, Snub Noir; firearms writer and consultant
Professional Profile
Rob Garrett is a retired police lieutenant, law-enforcement firearms instructor, firearms writer, consultant, and defensive-revolver specialist. His career connects nearly four decades of police service with more than four decades of firearms journalism.
Garrett joined the Columbus, Georgia Police Department in 1978, when the service revolver remained the standard American police sidearm. He retired as a lieutenant in 2016 after 38 years with the department. That career placed him inside the profession through the transition from revolvers to semiautomatic pistols and the later adoption of patrol rifles, weapon-mounted lights, and modern optics.
During his police career, Garrett served as a firearms instructor and led his agency’s training unit. His certifications have included POST Firearms Instructor, FBI Firearms Instructor, and POST Instructor. On P&S ModCast 364, he discussed the practical and institutional challenges of overseeing training for an agency of approximately 410 officers. His perspective reflects not only individual firearms skill, but the realities of building capability across a large organization: staffing, budgets, policy, qualification standards, facilities, and organizational culture.
Garrett also holds a Master of Science in Criminal Justice.
Firearms Writing and Historical Perspective
Garrett’s first firearms article was published in 1984. Since then, he has produced more than 1,000 articles covering handguns, rifles, shotguns, optics, ammunition, law-enforcement equipment, firearms history, and defensive use. His work has appeared through outlets including Combat Handguns, Tactical Life, Athlon Outdoors, GunsAmerica, The Armory Life, Hook & Barrel, and American Cop.
That overlap between police service and professional writing is central to his work. Garrett did not encounter revolvers as a revived niche; he carried and trained with them when they were occupational equipment. He later watched agencies move away from them and has continued to examine which older practices were properly superseded, which remain useful, and how they should be tested against modern equipment and data.
Defensive Revolvers and Ammunition Development
Garrett’s best-known contemporary specialization is the practical short-barreled defensive revolver, particularly the Smith & Wesson J-frame. His work addresses concealed and backup-gun use, handling, sights, stocks, recoil, practical accuracy, reliability, ammunition selection, and terminal performance.
He worked with firearms instructor Mark Fricke and Georgia Arms on the Ultimate Defense .38 Special SNUB Nose 148-grain Wadcutter. The project applied modern testing and performance requirements to a longstanding projectile design, seeking useful penetration from very short barrels with manageable recoil. Garrett has also contributed data and observations to contemporary evaluations of .38 Special and .32-caliber defensive ammunition.
As a senior contributor to Snub Noir, Garrett helps preserve and develop practical knowledge surrounding short-barreled revolvers. His contribution is not nostalgia. It is the translation of firsthand service-revolver experience into current instruction, equipment evaluation, ballistic testing, and defensive practice.
Primary & Secondary
Garrett has appeared with Primary & Secondary in ModCast discussions focused on modern snub-nose revolvers. These conversations draw on his experience as a police officer, agency training leader, instructor, writer, and long-term revolver user.
Selected Sources and Further Reading
- Snub Noir — Staff
- The Armory Life — Rob Garrett
- RevolverGuy — Georgia Arms Ultimate Defense .38 Special Wadcutter
- RevolverGuy — Smith & Wesson Ultimate Carry J-Frames, Part III
Rob Garrett brings together 38 years of police service, agency-level training leadership, professional firearms instruction, decades of firearms journalism, and deep practical experience with defensive revolvers.
Profile last reviewed: September 10, 2026. Biographical details and professional affiliations were checked against the sources listed above.