Do you use your double action revolver mostly SA or DA?

Fast, accurate DA shooing is one of those things that "anyone" can learn to do, if they put in enough practice.

"Anyone" meaning anyone physically capable and mentally determined. "Enough" practice is a hugely variably number. Some folks have a natural ability, some of us have to really work at it, and a few of us never seem to get there, no matter how much we try...

I had the occasional use of my parent's pistols while I was growing up. My Dad, an NRA certified instructor, had two DA revolvers, a High Standard Sentinel, and a S&W Highway Patrolman 6". He had a couple Colt Govt models, .45ACP and .38 Super, and a Browning Challenger. He did not own an SA revolver, didn't like the grip shape, he said.

My Mom sometimes shot Dad's pistols, but she had her own, a Ruger Super Bearcat. :) Both were excellent shots, and I cannot remember ever seeing either shoot DA. It just wasn't something they bothered with.

In my mid 20s, I fell in with "poor company":rolleyes:, and my best buddy had a 6" Model 19. He shot a lot of DA, mostly .38 wadcutters, loaded between 6-700fps. Death on two legs for small pests, the rounds wouldn't reliably punch through the side of an old refridgerator. But he could machinegun all six on to a very small spot or egage multiple targets at speed.

I got a 6" 19, and while I did fine SA, shooting DA I was lucky to hit the proverbial broad side of a barn, from the inside. After a few years, I tired of it, and sold or traded the gun.

Later, I got a Highway Patrolman 6", and shooting standard .38 158s, found that slow fire DA, at my backyard steel target I just about couldn't miss.

And that's about where I have stayed, since. Never really developed any good turn of speed with the DA revolver, (naturally because I never trained to do so), I think it was the long trigger pull that disinclined me to speed and accuracy. I could do either, but not together. :o

With an SA semi auto, its a different matter for me. I am much faster and accurate at speed (when I'm having a good day, ;))

There's lots of folks faster AND more accurate than I am, probably because they are much more serious about that than I am.

Going to local bowling pin shoots in the mid-late 80s was a real eye opener for me, met a number of folks who were not just good shots, but FAST. It didn't help my shooting that they matches were always held on a Sunday after I worked graveyard shift the night before, but I had a lot of fun.

I didn't shoot DA revolver but did shoot "Crank & Yank" SA with my Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt, 250gr@1100fps. Personal best time, 5 pins, 7.02seconds. Didn't even place 3rd!

I was much faster with a different gun, shooting SA. (duh:rolleyes:). 7 pins, 9 shots .357 Magnum Desert Eagle, 125gr @about the speed of heat:D. 4.37seconds.

Wasn't even in the top 5....

Did see a couple guys shooting .44s and .45s DA, very impressive, and they were pretty quick too. They weren't the top speed guys, either. The serious guys shooting the comp'd pin guns were the fastest.

Fast & accurate DA shooting is easier with lighter loads, and heavy guns. Full bore magnums make it tough, but I know people who can do it. I'm just not one of them.

Now, if I had spent the last 35 years practicing short range rapid fire DA instead of long range (200yd) slow fire SA for my revolver shooting, I'm sure I'd be in a different place today.
 
If I'm running a double action, which is the only revolvers I own not counting a '51 Colt's Navy, I like to run double action almost exclusively.

My revolver are for defense. I run 'em like I brung 'em. I also have a S&W M64 DAO for primary HD work.
 
AK103K said:
The 29 had a very nice trigger, in both respects, and SA was VERY light. I was having flinching issues because of it, as I knew, as soon as I touched that trigger, the gun was going off.
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That's a very interesting comment. I've wondered about it myself. Keeping a flinch at bay basically requires that you don't know the EXACT instant when the hammer is going to drop, and it's conceivable that that is more likely with a trigger that requires some noticeable motion, not just a force on an immovable (until it drops the hammer) trigger. But I sure like the FEEL of a single action trigger that doesn't move at all until the hammer drops ... I hope I can find ways of keeping the flinch at bay without trigger motion being required.
 
That's a very interesting comment. I've wondered about it myself. Keeping a flinch at bay basically requires that you don't know the EXACT instant when the hammer is going to drop, and it's conceivable that that is more likely with a trigger that requires some noticeable motion, not just a force on an immovable (until it drops the hammer) trigger.
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I come from that school of thought as well. I prefer to go for a surprise break. If I know exactly when the hammer is going to fall, I tend to "run at" the trigger or jerk it when the sights are perfectly aligned. That's why I'm more consistent shooting DA revolvers DA than SA. I rarely ever shoot SA, except perhaps when shooting from a rest to verify POI vs POA and make sight adjustments, or if trying to ignite a stubborn primer in one of my reloads.
 
... I hope I can find ways of keeping the flinch at bay without trigger motion being required.
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Sometimes it take things that are counter-intuitive, and out of our comfort zone, to move on past things that are keeping us back.

Up until I started deliberately shooting DAO, I felt the same way, and thought there was no way, that DA shooting could be anywhere near as accurate as SA shooting. I came to understand soon after, that I really didnt know what I didnt know.
 
I notice the term "trigger cocker" used as synonymous with double action; it is not. A true trigger cocker is basically single action but the hammer is cocked using the trigger rather than being cocked with the thumb.

Trigger cockers are the Aston, and the old "double action" Starr of the Civil War era.

Jim
 
99%+ double action. It's just more fun and almost as accurate. If you shoot IDPA or one of the other action games you have to shoot double action.
 
My two 38 Specials and my 357 Magnum, all being snubnose EDCG's, are fired DA. My 22LR/22Mag revolvers are hunting guns and I practice and shoot them almost always SA. I have a 4" 41 Magnum that I use as a "Critter Defense Gun". This gun I shoot almost always DA.
 
I always preferred single action revolvers but only have double action (A S&W 617 and Security Six .357 mag)..................so it's single action for me.
I just think of my two revolvers as single actions, that easier and quicker to reload!:D
 
I mostly shoot single action, but I do make it a point to shoot some double action when I go to the range. I would say 80% SA and 20% DA. I've actually found my DA accuracy is not much less than my SA out to ten yards, beyond that it's not so great.
 
The Snubs I carry are D.A.O. the only revolver I shoot Single Action is my 4" 357 when Informal target shooting.
 
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The last time this question came up I replied mostly double action with one or two cylinders single action.

Pretty much the same now.
 
Fall vs. Break

I shoot mostly double action. They key is being able to stage the trigger. When you can do that well, the end of the DA press results in a surprise hammer "fall" rather than a sharp or sudden trigger break. As long as you have your sights on target, you're good. With practice, this staging process can occur faster and faster resulting in rapid and very accurate fire.

With SA shooting I have to envision that rearward press, or I am more likely to corrupt the trigger break with side pressure. I could shoot a 1911 much better when I learned to envision the rearward press.

I can shoot both equally well, but I completely understand what people mean when they feel that they can shoot better DA than SA.
 
Single Action

I am back deep into revolvers. A Rossi 462 and 851. I shoot them Sa most of the time and really kill the targets. Love the motion and feel of shooting Single Action.
 
Shooting a DA gun almost exclusively SA, I am practicing cocking the gun while maintaining aim, similarly to when shooting DA. At the range I have seen some ridiculously elaborate, time consuming motions cocking single action, and that made me think more about what I was doing.

With a single action I have that big hammer that I can cock with my off hand for rapid fire. Not so easy with the short hammer spur of the DA gun.
 
Almost all of my shooting is double action, except when I'm testing loads for the best accuracy. Then I shoot single action and use a scope instead of my C-More Red Dot.
 
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