How Do You Shoot

My double actions are fired double action 99% of the time. It's rare that I take a single action shot with them.

My single actions are fired single action 100% of the time :)
 
I use single action most of the time (95%) with my double actions. After reading this thread though, and seeing targets posted, I'm going to try double action only for a while.
 
I shoot 99% double action with revolvers, IDPA and practice and for fun. Paper targets, clay birds and such. If you haven't tried it you need to. I have a few tuned guns that are easy to shoot but I also have s couple stock ones that I shoot DA. It's easier with a light trigger pull but doable with a stock gun.
 
With my carry gun, a Smith M60, it's double action only unless I'm working up a load for it...same's true for my wife's M637, double action only, and from the holster or carry position as well. Muscle memory is the thing, and you'll fight like you train, so it's always business presentations.

For single action work with my Rugers and Colts, I slow fire them, but again, as if I was hunting. 99% of my shooting is offhand, and I find when training for defensive shooting, that my DA groups are just about double the size of my SA ones. From the 10 yd line that's two inches shot at combat speed and I can hold an inch or less shooting slowly, SA or DA.

My single actions are fun guns..hobby stuff, but the J-frame Smiths are for business and are treated as such.

Best regards, Rod
 
I shoot my revolvers DAO. Its the way they were meant to be shot, and it really doesnt take much effort to learn to shoot them that way.
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So why bother to allow the hammer to lock in the SA position? Yes its obviously intended to be used either way.

The DA is dual feature. Its a safety and its a firing mode. SA is an intended firing mode, it did not happen by accident and is not required by design (they do make DA only revolvers) .

My take is shoot it any way that suits you.

Me, I started out with an SA revolver and I was quite accurate with it (not that I did it left handed and standing on my head but I was pretty good standing upright right handed and not too bad left handed.

I am also a slow deliberate person. Shooting SA suited me and everything that I have heard or read over the years has endorsed the fact that shot placement is key. I don't shoot well real fast. Nice if you can do both of course. If I can't be fast I would rather be good and I would rather be good first than fast latter (or something like that) (phew)

I did have a terrific opportunity to find out (at least as close as you can get without a real need be it in woods protection or street.

I shot a Police course, no prep. We were briefed on the course and objective, given the guns and rounds and off we went (one part was left handed shooting)

I shot all the mid to long range stations SA. Once I got to the last short range stage I used DA. There were 20 some instructors involved (and 30 students) Only 3 of the instructors had higher scores than I did and they practiced the course all the time. None of the other students even came up to the bottom of the instructors score wise.

Could you shoot it DA, yes. Maybe even successfully. I shot it my way and it worked perfectly for me.

Someone else may shoot it different and thats fine. There are often more than one right way to do something. Its my way, it may not be your way. That does not make me right, nor does it make you right, it just makes you right for you and very possibly wrong for me.

In the long run, by shooting them that way, you will become a better all around shooter, with everything you shoot.
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I see no connection to anything else in that regard.
I do see understanding both yourself and your capability as well as the discipline in finding out what works for you as making it likely you will do well with other types of shooting.
 
It might be easier for you to run DA by using your trigger finger on the face of the trigger, near the first distal joint.
 
Me, I started out with an SA revolver and I was quite accurate with it (not that I did it left handed and standing on my head but I was pretty good standing upright right handed and not too bad left handed.

I am also a slow deliberate person. Shooting SA suited me and everything that I have heard or read over the years has endorsed the fact that shot placement is key. I don't shoot well real fast. Nice if you can do both of course. If I can't be fast I would rather be good and I would rather be good first than fast latter (or something like that) (phew)
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I started out the same way, and ran into troubles, with heavy recoiling handguns, with light SA triggers. DAO shooting, changed all that, and I began to see pretty much instant improvement, in my shooting with all the other trigger types as well.

I understand the thought of being good, and Im sure we all strive to achive that, but sometimes, you need to do it quickly. If you dont shoot well quickly, then thats an indication of where you should be putting more of your attention in practice.

Anyone can be slow and deliberate. Its being able to shoot quickly without thought, under stress, that tends to separate the more narrowly focused shooters, from the more well rounded.

Could you shoot it DA, yes. Maybe even successfully. I shot it my way and it worked perfectly for me.
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I would say if youre used to shooting DA, doing so successfully, wouldnt not be an issue at all. Its just to those who are not used to shooting that way, that its difficult.

Someone else may shoot it different and thats fine. There are often more than one right way to do something. Its my way, it may not be your way. That does not make me right, nor does it make you right, it just makes you right for you and very possibly wrong for me.
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I agree to a point.

I used to feel the same way about shooting DA, until I was shown the way, and put a little time and effort in to learn to use it.

We really dont know what we dont know, until we push ourselves past our boundaries to learn new things. Getting past those boundaries, tends to offer new perspectives.


I see no connection to anything else in that regard.
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I really dont see how you cant, unless all you shoot, are SA or lightly tuned triggers. It translates into less fear of triggers overall, and especially ones youre not used to, and puts your focus on whats important, the sights, and maintaining proper alignment, until the gun goes off. For me, I dont really think about the trigger when I shoot. My focus is on the target and the sights.

As an example, when I first got into HK rifles/SMG's, the triggers were about the polar opposite of what most US shooters seem to need when it comes to a rifle trigger. All my buddies, and pretty much anyone else who shot those guns, complained loudly, that the triggers sucked, and they were hard to shoot. By then, I had been shooting DAO with my revolvers for quite some time, and I had no troubles at all shooting them, and shot them as well as I shot my M1's and M1A's, and a few others that others deemed "acceptable".


Youre right too, there really is no right or wrong way, as long as you can accomplish whats needed at the moment. Sometimes I think being realistic about your skills, is as much or more of a challenge as shooting is.
 
Since the gun has two actions and each has its advantage why not pratice both and take full advantage of the design of the gun? On my double action revolvers I like to compare my single action fired targets to my doubles. But also owning many single action only revolvers I have learned that there is very little if any advantage to not shooting single action at least on the first shot. Pulling a revolver takes time, cocking the hammer adds nothing to that time.
 
I don't see it as an either/or: The well-rounded wheelgunner will be proficient with both triggers, and be proficient at both types of shooting - target accuracy at target speed, and combat accuracy at combat speed. Personally, I prefer not having any glaring holes in my repertoire.
 
I shoot both ways prolly a little more SA than DA maybe 60% to 40% and I certainly agree with Mr Borland here
I don't see it as an either/or: The well-rounded wheelgunner will be proficient with both triggers, and be proficient at both types of shooting - target accuracy at target speed, and combat accuracy at combat speed. Personally, I prefer not having any glaring holes in my repertoire.
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One things for sure it doesn't matter if you believe you can shoot DA as well as SA or not you're probably correct.
 
To take full advantage of the features, it is best to be proficient with both. When I competed in LE courses, they were all shot DA. In PPC, most were shot DA except the 50 yd line, my scores were higher shooting that SA. In silhouette the closest target was 50 meters and the longest was 200 meters. I shot the course SA and can't ever remember seeing a serious competitor shoot DA. I continue to use both and would not consider buying a DA only revolver.
 
I used to shoot my DA's in SA mode because I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn otherwise. Plus I like single action revolvers and cocking the hammer first came natural.

Then I discovered dry firing! After thousands of click click clicks with my revolvers I've found that my shooting was much better than I expected when I decided to try shooting DA again. I think learning to shoot well in double action mode is worth doing if for no other reason than it makes your single action shooting that much better!
 
Thanks Everyone!

I have appreciated all the comments to my original post. You have
given a dedicated semi auto shooter, the incentive to get to work
shooting my GP100 in DA. I have started working with dry firing it
with snap caps, and you are right it soon feels very natural. I will
keep at it, and will be anxious to test my DA skills at the range soon.
Regards to all!
SN
 
Both.
Mostly S/A with my Ruger GP100 6" full under lug barrel. Much more of a target or hunting revolver than SD
Some of each with a S&W Model 10 4" HB. But much more D/A practice as that is how it would most likely be shot if I decided to use it for SD
I'll throw in this one, A little D/A for fun with my 1895 Nagant. If I have a go-rilla, with a couple pals to help me pull the old Nagant's D/A trigger.
None of the above are actually used for CCW or HD. The one revolver I do carry CCW at tmes gives me no choice. D/A Ruger LCR.
 
I shoot SA. DA is awkward for me and I hate that long trigger pull. Yeah I know practice, practice, practice but I'm too old and set in my ways to change now.:D
 
One of my hunting buddies called me out for shooting my DA revolver like it was an SA.

What I did that worked for me (I do reload) was go to a bunch of steel target matches. I shot those DAO as required by the rules and it made a huge difference for me.

Certainly taking my bone stock Redhawk to steel target matches was sort of like taking an F-150 to autocross against a bunch of corvettes, but I was only competing with myself and became a much better shooter for doing it.
 
Times, attitudes change...

What I see today is a lot of people saying that a DA revolver should be shot DA, and some go so far as to say DAO.

For the better part of the last century, the general belief was that DA revolvers should be fired SA for best accuracy, and the DA feature was for up close, "emergency use only".

Unlike more "modern" folks, I'm still essentially still in that category. 99% of my revolver shooting is SA. Up until I turned 30, it seemed I couldn't hit the proverbial bull in the butt shooting DA. Then, one day, just for grins, I tried again, and the plate just went tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, tink.

I can shoot DA, and well enough to hit the plate (30ish yds) regularly, with one of my S&Ws, at least. But I choose to shoot SA.

You do what you think best, but don't take any crap from someone who says you're "doing it wrong", because, if you hit what you aim at, there is no wrong.

Some things might be better, but there is no wrong, unless you miss.;)
 
You do what you think best, but don't take any crap from someone who says you're "doing it wrong", because, if you hit what you aim at, there is no wrong
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I actually like to see people thumb back the hammer of a D/A...

It removes any and all doubt I might have of which one of us is the better shot...

Let's think of this not in the context of a friendly day at the range, but, in the context of an encounter in a dark alley.
If I'd encounter some BG that thumbed back the hammer of a D/A, my confidence meter would red line.
I'd know 100% that - I owned his sorry butt.
 
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