Do you fire your revolver fast?

I

ithaca_deerslayer

New member
Ok, I just read another thread where somebody was complaining about only grouping 4 inches at 50 yards! So I know some of you must be real experts with revolvers.

Here's my question. Is single action or double action the way to go with a double action revolver when trying to fire as fast as possible and still hit a 3 to 4 inch circle at about 50 FEET?

Strange question? Perhaps. I've seen some good shooters do shots like that with single action by using either their off hand or firing hand thumb to do the work. But I've never seen a good double action shooter.

I would think that double action should ultimately be better for this task, if one practised enough at it.

My hypothesis is that few people are good shooters in double action nowadays because they are used to semi-autos with a lighter trigger pull.

I'm going to work on double action, with the belief that it can be both fast and accurate.

What'cha think?
 
Ask Ed McGivern how quickly and accurately you can shoot a revolver in double action...

He used to do 6 shots into a playing card at 25 feet in about 1/2 of a second.
 
Just be careful

Whenever someone asks "can you _________ fast?" I think a word of caution is in order. The one thing to be very careful of is NOT to sacrifice speed for accuracy. I used to suffer from this in my younger days. Remember, hitting your target is the name of the game.

Also, most revolvers are a bit more powerful than a semi-auto. This is *Not* a dig on autos at all, please note. IF you are a civilian and you don't make a habit of picking fights with biker gangs, it is highly unlikely that you'll ever need more than one or two shots. Having seen a .357 Magnum round that I dug out of one of my targets (cardboard box filled with wet bags of flour), I am resonably confident that a center mass shot would end the conflict.

Shoot straight, train often, and take good care of your firearms.

Regards,
Mntneer357
 
Mntneer makes some good points. But I should note that I am asking about both speed and accuracy, and I never said anything about being in a shootout with badguys. I'm more concerned with the skill, itself, which then has multiple applications (badguys, target shooting, hunting, defense against animals).

The question I'm interested in is what you guys think is better for gaining both speed and accuracy--single action or double action?

Haven't any of you tried to get faster with your revolvers, while retaining accuracy? If so, how did you do it? Didn't you notice that you can shoot your double action revolver pretty quickly in single action, and that you will initially be more accurate than using double action?

I don't know who Miculek or McGivern are. Nor do I know how they shoot.

With double action, I'm not sure if the best result will be by using a single quick and smooth trigger stroke or by using a two-part motion to first take up the slack and rotate the cylinder followed by the second part of actually firing the gun. I know that with practice, we can get a good sense of when the double action will "break", therefore we can take up the slack, finish aligning the sights, then fire.
 
It really depends if you are "on the clock". If you are shooting for time you will almost need to shoot double action. If you are shooting for as much accuracy as possible then single is preferred at any distance.
For most practice scenarios anything within 25 yards should probably be done double action. With practice you will be nearly as accurate as shooting single action. Remember to use one steady squeeze all the way through.
 
Before I retired (when I carried a badge) I shot a couple years in what used to be called PPC matches. Now I believe it's called Police Revolver competition. Amyway, they shoot from 7 yards back to 50 yards. The really good shooters (Governer's 20 types) all shot the whole thing double action. It is inspiring to watch a good double action revolver shooter put 24 rounds into the 10 ring of a B-27 silhouette target from 50 yards. That's 6 rounds right barracade, 6 rounds left barracade, 6 rounds setting and 6 rounds prone, all double action.
 
First, you need a quality revolver with a good action!

Aiming at the target you specified you will want to squeeze the trigger gently, and strait to the rear. the better the action, and the better the shooters basic shooting ability the faster it can be done.

The two men spoken of are phenoms in the revolver enthusiast world. hero's everyone looks up to.

as for training, snap caps and a lot of dry firing is always a good start, if you don't have snap caps, insert old brass... tripple check to make sure its OLD brass. and then check again, then use that to dry fire on, it will save the hard slamming of the mechanism.

for truely superb DA shooting, you can have the gun converted to DAO, which will shorten the trigger pull, and sort of smooth up things on the inside.

as for speed, thing about it. buzzer goes off > thumb cock the gun, establish grip, sight alignment squeeze,recover from recoil... move grip, thumb cock, re-establish grip, regain your sight picture, trigger squeeze.........

you get the picture, as opposed to trigger squeeze, recoil control, trigger squeeze repeated 6 times.

the trick to speed is economy of motion, if you watch a Grand master IPSC shooter, he doesn't usually look like he is going fast, but its smmmmoooootttthhhhhh, nothing jerkes fumbles, or jitters.

hope that helps, feel free to email with more questions.
 
I use two GP100's and three Redhawks for IPSC; fast DA shooting is possible (but my splits ARE slower than with one of my autos, but not by much).

Jerry M. is cool, a good guy, and a miracle talent.

ps I had NO idea how hot a 44 Mag Redhawk could get after a 36rd field course
 
WESHOOT--

Yeah I use a 625 and a 629 mountain gun for IPSC and ICORE. If you REALLY want to test your revolver skills, go shoot the Crocodile Dundee Banzai Ballistic match near Portland Oregon. 60 round stages--several--and it's eight-round friendly, so you'll get plenty of reloading experience, too. I wear a batting glove on my left hand for matches like this one, cuase it DO get HOT!

Unfortunately, this year's Croc match is the same weekend as the ICORE IRC, so we'll be down there instead. Are you going?

Steve
 
Steve,

I'm in sunny Vermont; Oregon is a bit far this year.

Besides, I shoot IPSC (and we got a crazy Canadian who holds a couple matches each year with HUGE field courses; you know the type, 48+ rds, run 100 yds, etc...)

I have 11 HKS speedloaders each for my 44 Redhawk and my GP100's.....
 
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