I know whacking the cylinder in and out of the frame like 1940s detetives and slaming the trigger back as hard as you can is abusive, but whenever I let my friends use any of my revolver at the range they use single action by snaping back the hammer back where it sounds like one large CLUMP. I can pull it back as quick as I can without doing that. What they are doing almost goes out of the way to snap it back. Obviously snapping the hammer back with a sling of your wrist where it goes CLACK!!! is abusive but in y'all's opinion what is the boundary between quick SA on a DA revolver and abusive treatment
Abusive revolver treatment
- Thread starter Doug.38PR
- Start date
Dfariswheel
New member
There is no boundary.
Even fairly gently SA cocking will eventually wear a revolver.
The harder it's cocked, the faster and worse it wears, and the more battered the cylinder and bolt.
Proper shooting, either DA or SA will cause wear.
Hard jerking of the trigger or yanking of the hammer will cause battering damage.
I've seen old Colt Officer's Models that were used for years in fast, timed stage SA target shooting that were in almost perfect condition.
A couple of years ago I saw a man at the range with a one month old S&W 686 that was so badly battered, I was surprised it locked up at all.
The owner drew my attention when I heard him cocking it all the way from the other end of the firing line.
Every time he cocked it, he did it with such force, you could hear a loud "CLACK".
When he showed me his "new" 686, I asked about the cocking method.
He informed me that "They're built for that", although he did mention that the gun strangely wasn't as accurate as it had been just a month earlier when it was new.
Even fairly gently SA cocking will eventually wear a revolver.
The harder it's cocked, the faster and worse it wears, and the more battered the cylinder and bolt.
Proper shooting, either DA or SA will cause wear.
Hard jerking of the trigger or yanking of the hammer will cause battering damage.
I've seen old Colt Officer's Models that were used for years in fast, timed stage SA target shooting that were in almost perfect condition.
A couple of years ago I saw a man at the range with a one month old S&W 686 that was so badly battered, I was surprised it locked up at all.
The owner drew my attention when I heard him cocking it all the way from the other end of the firing line.
Every time he cocked it, he did it with such force, you could hear a loud "CLACK".
When he showed me his "new" 686, I asked about the cocking method.
He informed me that "They're built for that", although he did mention that the gun strangely wasn't as accurate as it had been just a month earlier when it was new.
Okay, lemme ax ya this,
How does wear on a revolver compare with wear on an automatic (Glock's excluded of course)
In other words if I rapid fire say a 1911 A1 over and over and over etc. will it eventually wear down and have problems? In what way. I'm just looking for a comparison
How does wear on a revolver compare with wear on an automatic (Glock's excluded of course)
In other words if I rapid fire say a 1911 A1 over and over and over etc. will it eventually wear down and have problems? In what way. I'm just looking for a comparison
Dfariswheel
New member
Use ANY machine from an Apollo Moon ship, to a car, to a pistol, to an egg beater, and it'll wear.
Use a machine in an abusive manner, and it wears faster.
Just shooting an auto, even fast really isn't abusive, unless you let it overheat.
Typical signs of wear on an 1911 are battering of the frame and barrel, looseness between the slide and frame, and looseness between the barrel, barrel bushing, and slide.
The difference here is, the revolver is a MANUALLY operated firearm.
That means the operator can operate it carefully, or by jerking and yanking the hammer and trigger, he can abuse it and cause excessive wear and tear.
Fire an auto, and it operates itself with a certain amount of force, for which it's designed.
You can abuse it by shooting loads hotter than it was designed for, which is the auto version of jerking a revolver's trigger until the cylinder and bolt are beaten to death.
Use a machine in an abusive manner, and it wears faster.
Just shooting an auto, even fast really isn't abusive, unless you let it overheat.
Typical signs of wear on an 1911 are battering of the frame and barrel, looseness between the slide and frame, and looseness between the barrel, barrel bushing, and slide.
The difference here is, the revolver is a MANUALLY operated firearm.
That means the operator can operate it carefully, or by jerking and yanking the hammer and trigger, he can abuse it and cause excessive wear and tear.
Fire an auto, and it operates itself with a certain amount of force, for which it's designed.
You can abuse it by shooting loads hotter than it was designed for, which is the auto version of jerking a revolver's trigger until the cylinder and bolt are beaten to death.
Going back to a revolver, is there a difference between pulling the trigger real fast and "jerking" it back. I mean if you want to pull off all 6 shots real quick. BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM. Is that abusive? usually when practicing squeezing I do what I call falling through the motions relatively slow. Pull slow and allow the bolt to pop back into place and continue until the hammer drops. Usually pretty effective as far as shooting goes. This process at maximum takes about 1 shot per second
But what about simply pulling the trigger and BAM real quick with the cylinder twirling around into place with a twitch. It isn't really slaming the trigger back because the sight doesn't bobble or jerk out of place of my target. Each of these takes 2 maybe 3 shots per second. I try not to slam the trigger back, sometimes even resulting in my letting go of the trigger too soon before the gun finishes it's action.
Then there is what I call the toy cowboy gun action. You know the toy that look like Single Action Army with metal frame plastic pearl like handles that shoot a role of paper caps. The kind boys play like a guitar. Snapping the trigger so hard so fast that the gun bobbles around like a mini guitar in their hand. After a few days or a week at best of doing this the springs break and daddy has to go buy a new one. When I first got my OP two years ago or so I would treat it just like this sitting around dryfiring it thinking "oh this is a real gun made of strong metal, these won't break, they can take it. Cool!"
(Yeah right 
Now I know better) Ultimatly the gun started throwing by. Obviously abusive.
But what about simply pulling the trigger and BAM real quick with the cylinder twirling around into place with a twitch. It isn't really slaming the trigger back because the sight doesn't bobble or jerk out of place of my target. Each of these takes 2 maybe 3 shots per second. I try not to slam the trigger back, sometimes even resulting in my letting go of the trigger too soon before the gun finishes it's action.
Then there is what I call the toy cowboy gun action. You know the toy that look like Single Action Army with metal frame plastic pearl like handles that shoot a role of paper caps. The kind boys play like a guitar. Snapping the trigger so hard so fast that the gun bobbles around like a mini guitar in their hand. After a few days or a week at best of doing this the springs break and daddy has to go buy a new one. When I first got my OP two years ago or so I would treat it just like this sitting around dryfiring it thinking "oh this is a real gun made of strong metal, these won't break, they can take it. Cool!"
(Yeah right Now I know better) Ultimatly the gun started throwing by. Obviously abusive.Young'uns talking about abuse...
Abusive is what the Texas boys did when they tested revolvers back in the days when six guns were on the hips of LEOs. Tied a rope to it and dragged it behind a pick-up truck. Tried it with Colt, Ruger and S&W. Only the Ruger could take that abuse and still work.
Abusive is what the Texas boys did when they tested revolvers back in the days when six guns were on the hips of LEOs. Tied a rope to it and dragged it behind a pick-up truck. Tried it with Colt, Ruger and S&W. Only the Ruger could take that abuse and still work.
Dfariswheel
New member
There's shooting fast by jerking the trigger HARD, then there's shooting fast by "stroking" or "rolling" the trigger....quickly.
World's fastest revolver shooter Jerry Michilek strokes the trigger very fast and he doesn't wreck his revolvers.
This is a hard concept to explain, but comes with revolver practice until you learn the technique.
My 4" stainless Python has an unknown number of thousands of rounds of ammo through it, with a good number of them Magnum rounds.
MOST of those thousands of rounds were fired double action.
My "delicate" Python is still in perfect condition, no battering, and no out-of-time problems.
World's fastest revolver shooter Jerry Michilek strokes the trigger very fast and he doesn't wreck his revolvers.
This is a hard concept to explain, but comes with revolver practice until you learn the technique.
My 4" stainless Python has an unknown number of thousands of rounds of ammo through it, with a good number of them Magnum rounds.
MOST of those thousands of rounds were fired double action.
My "delicate" Python is still in perfect condition, no battering, and no out-of-time problems.
Harry Bonar
New member
out of time
Dear Shooter:
If someone, any-one. ever closes my revolvers like on T.V. or cocks it so fast as to injure the locking bolt stops he will never do it twice and I'll put him out of my shop.
Harry B.
Dear Shooter:
If someone, any-one. ever closes my revolvers like on T.V. or cocks it so fast as to injure the locking bolt stops he will never do it twice and I'll put him out of my shop.
Harry B.