Acceptable snub nose accuracy?

militant

New member
I finally got some rounds through my taurus 605 and can only manage 3-4 inch groups at 30 feet. This is standing up with both hands and not off a sandbag. Is this considered acceptable accuracy? This was with remington umc 130 gr fmj .38 special.
 
Is this considered acceptable accuracy?

That is actually pretty good shooting on your part.

My bet is that if you tried using a sand bag for support or put the snubby in a ransom rest , your snubby would be able to achieve a grouping of about 2-2 1/2" groups at 30ft. Maybe better.
 
Decide on what carry ammo to use and practice with it..

and if you reload make up some more the same.

The 130gr FMJ is so-so on accuracy, the commercial self-defense is normally better.

What you shot for a group is good, just start increasing distance to really get to know your sidearm.

Try finding a bowling pin shoot and work on "quick sighting and trigger coordination," and reloading with speedloaders while keeping on the pins.

Good luck.
 
You need to get realistic with your shooting distance. If you pull that snubby to protect yourself, your threat will most likely be on top of you. Most shootings are within 7'-10'. Practice accordingly. You'll be surprised how accurate your revolver is.
 
3-4 inch groups at 30 feet. This is standing up with both hands and not off a sandbag. Is this considered acceptable accuracy?
For me - no...
I'm capable of better so I'd demand more of myself.
 
Yes. For it's intended purpose 3-4 inches is excellent. The snub nosed revolver is NOT a target weapon. They are capable of excellent accuracy but their short sight radius and (percieved) recoil tend to make them more diffucult to shoot well. I regularly shoot mine at greater distances but I'm a snub junkie and do a LOT of shooting with mine.
 
Snubbed

A good quality snub-nosed revolver is probably capable of shocking accuracy...from a machine rest...but what does that have to do with it?

We're talking about a personal defense arm that is assumed to be a last-ditch effort most often deployed at powder burning distances...or with the muzzle in actual contact with an attacker. It doesn't have to be very accurate.

Stressing over the accuracy of such a piece is like a discussion concerning the top speed of a pickup truck. Interesting...but irrelevant.
 
Its not a "bulls eye" target weapon...and the ammo you selected isn't known as extremely accurate....so yes, I think its ok.

If you want to compare your skill....shoot with the 2 1/2" .....and then a 4" ...and then a 6" ....with the same ammo / and see if you do better or about the same....( ideally same model of gun / in different barrels ) don't switch from a Taurus to a S&W or a Ruger...because there is too much difference in the triggers...between those 3 mfg's...

maybe its the grip, the trigger, the sights, your eyes, the ammo ...the light that day ....all kinds of stuff....

But if you're concerned about whether the gun is a suitable "tactical" weapon....shoot it in rapid fire and evaluate your skill level. Out of a holster...and a double tap on the target...say under 3 sec to start with.
 
8 of 10 shots @ 25 yards for me, I couldn't believe it. Not perfect though, 1 headshot and different placements on the body. If I try more I will get better.

can only manage 3-4 inch groups at 30 feet. This is standing up with both hands and not off a sandbag. Is this considered acceptable accuracy?

To me acceptable accuracy is being able to hit your target at long ranges with PDW(personal defence weapon/or EDC) 25 yards max. I don't think bad guy is going to care if I can nail him with a 2 inch group @ 25 yards..
 
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That is acceptable combat shooting.

Consider these facts;

A Taurus is no Smith and Wesson or Colt.
The ammo you were using is average.

Good practice will help shrink the group and/or enable you to get the same hits faster.
 
Not trying to start a brand war here, but I have shot a ruger and a s&w and they all did about the same accuracy wise.
 
I use a plain piece of printer paper when practicing with my snub revolvers. If when shooting double action, you can keep all of your shots in the paper, some what centered, you should be good to go for a short barreled self defense gun.

You can try strong hand, support hand, and two hand.

I usually practice at 25 feet and use 158 grain bullets because that is what I am most accurate with.

I am a snubbie fan and have several makes, models, and calibers. I think they make a great self defense gun but at least for me, it takes practice to shoot them well.
 
It's good enough if you can shoot it reasonably fast that well. My 640 shoots groups about half that size slow fire.
 
"Acceptable accuracy" can be defined in many ways depending on the situation...for squirrel hunting with a .22 it's probably an inch at 25 yds...for tin cans on a sunny Saturday, a cpl inches is OK...for SD use, night or day, from any position, it's something else...I attended the Defensive Handgun Course described below and here's what they train for.

For concealed SD carry with any handgun, Front Sight, the NV based shooting school defines successful accuracy as a two shot group that you can cover with the palm and fingers of your hand....from any distance...to the thoracic region ... or a single shot delivered to the cranial region. See the pic below for the black line defined cranial and thoracic regions.

They teach that a group smaller than your hand equates to lost time that you can ill afford in a SD situation. A group larger than that means that you need to slow down a bit to ensure hits when it counts.

The reason for the hand sized group in practice is that your accuracy degrades by at least 50% in a SD situation and that the resulting shot placement will be twice as large...so if you double your practice hand size shot group it'll still be in the thoracic region, when the chips are down.

Front Sight uses SD exercises, most all of them 'controlled pairs', shot from 3 to 15 yds in their Defensive Handgun four day course to achieve that level of proficiency. A part of the qualification testing on the last day will see a successful student place two shots to the thoracic region from the holster in 1.8 seconds shot from the 5 yd line. Time limits are increased for greater distances, but even from 15, the limit is only 2.5 seconds. Their four day course requires 600 rounds to complete...so there's plenty of practice to get that required level of hand eye coordination and muscle memory...and all of it is from the holster.

At any distance...drawing/presenting your handgun, then firing as fast as you can acquire the sights, and placing all fired shots under that palm sized group is the goal of training. Shots must be placed in the the thoracic region...see the attached target.

For adversaries that are not stopped by the two shots fired in the above manner, a third fight-finishing shot is fired to the cranial region...note the small area defined on the target...

A visit to their web site will give you a better idea of the reasons behind their advocacy of these standards. While they train primarily with auto-loaders of most any make, the accuracy standards are the same for those training with a revolver.

Best Regards, Rod

P1020526.jpg
 
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Shots must be placed in the the thoracic region...see the attached target.
Those black rectangle things are about the right size....

The rectangle in Gort's noggin is way too big.


Klaatu barada nikto :D
 
We're talking gun fight accuracy, Hal; not who's gunna buy the beer tonight! BTW, they use those black pasters for a trigger control, sight alignment and sight picture exercise entitled, "one ragged hole", shot from 7 yds. LOL Rod
 
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