In general, are revolvers more accurate than pistols?

I agree with Matt VDW on the issue of shooting a revolver accurately enough to win in competition in the rapid fire stages.
You just can't change your grip to cock the hammer and re-establish the same grip fast enough. And for bullseye shooting, you ain't gonna crank them off double action.

A long time ago I tried bullseye shooting. The local shooters used mostly a mix of revolvers and auto loaders. In the .22 class they favored the High Standard Supermatic Citation, the S&W Model 41, S&W K-22, Colt Woodsman, and Colt Officers Match.
The K-38, M-52, Officers Match, and a few 1911's in .38 Special, for centerfire, and 1911 and N-frames for .45 class. Like I said, this was a long time ago.
Neil
 
In U.S National Match course used to have 11 seconds to fire five rounds in rapid fire.

In ISU rapid fire (duell) you have 4 or 5 seconds from the gun in low ready position. There is plenty of time to scratch and cock the weapon.

Sam....if it was before yesterday it got fuzzy.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>In ISU rapid fire (duell) you have 4 or 5 seconds from the gun in low ready position. There is plenty of time to scratch and cock the weapon.[/quote]

In ISSF (International Sport Shooting Foundation, the current name of the organization formerly known as the International Shooting Union) Rapid Fire Pistol matches, the course of fire consists of five shot strings from a low ready position. The competitor has five targets to shoot and he must engage them in progressively shorter time limits: first 8 seconds, then 6 seconds, then 4 seconds. This is all done one handed with the targets at 25 meters; the 10 ring is about 10 centimeters wide.

Even without subtracting the time taken to raise the pistol to the first target, the shooter has only 0.8 seconds to shoot each target during the 4 second strings. That's hardly "plenty of time" to fire, shift the grip, cock the hammer, re-acquire a firing grip, and point the pistol at the next target.

In NRA Conventional Pistol matches, where the time limit for the rapid fire strings is a relatively generous 10 seconds for 5 shots on a single target, having to manually cock the hammer is still a complication that most shooters would prefer to avoid. A shooter can clean a target with a wheelgun (I've done it myself), but it's much easier to do it with a semiautomatic pistol.

I know that experienced sixgunners like Bob Munden and Thell Reed can cock and fire a revolver very, very, quickly, but they're doing it two handed and they aren't shooting at small, distant targets.

Now in ISSF Sport Pistol matches, where there's a seven second pause between shots in the "duel" or rapid fire portion of the match, a revolver makes a lot more sense. Then again, a shooter using a blowback operated .32 S&W Long pistol with a fixed barrel wouldn't gain much accuracy by switching to something like a S&W K-38. Either gun will cloverleaf its shots at 25 meters.

In ISSF Free Pistol, the handgun event with the most stringent accuracy demands, the autoloader versus revolver debate is moot because the generous time limits allow the use of single shot pistols.

I'll bet that this is all much more than FUD wanted to know. :D
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by juliet charley:
But Joe - you have missed the point entirely.
[/quote]

juliet,

Respectfully, I don't think so. I was responding to Ed's original post.

I will agree that your average $400 revolver will probably out shoot a $400 auto, especially at ranges over 50 yards. That may be due in large part to the calibers each are usually chambered for. In addition that average $400 auto is normally going to be built with short range selfdefense in mind.

Joe




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Go NRA
 
Fixed barrels are usually going to be more accurate whether on an autoloader or in a revolver.

I still prefer semiautos though ;)
Ben

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Almost Online IM: BenK911
ICQ # 53788523
"Gun Control Is Being Able To Hit Your Target"
http://ben.gunsnet.net
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by juliet charley:
But Joe - you have missed the point entirely.
We are talking about out of the box service handguns--not specialized competition rigs. Day-in, day-out, an out of the box revolver will circles around a pistol particularly at longer ranges which is where this thread started (and I have had some very accurate pistols). For example, just last month, my beat up old N-frame (Model 28) sent my brother (G31) and son-in-law (tricked out Gold Cup) home in tears when we moved to longer ranges.[/quote]

Exactly. Notice how a lot of qualification courses got shorter, oddly enough, just about the time the switch from revolvers to autos was made? Of course with 15 instead of 6 rounds, they could make up for the lessened accuracy by shooting 2 1/2 times more volume of fire, right?

Take a young cop and an old cop responding to a call in the sticks:

The young'n may be packing the latest do everything 19 shot miracle cartridge auto, and the foot-in-the-grave guy a 6" K-38 ( way back in the really rural cow counties ).

Now y'all notice who's carrying the shotgun?
 
Matt, sorry; I meant to use the term "sport pistol" (duell) and it fell outta my head before I found it.

Thanks for bringin us up to speed re the classifications.

Sam
 
I would love to see a production semiauto shoot 1-2inch groups at 100yrds or 8inch at 200. A fluke may occur but a random sampling will flush that miracle.

If you find one and it doesn't cost over 2K or have a 8inch barrel on it, buy it and hold on to it with dear life.

Sure fixed barrel semiautos get close (even cheap ones like Ruger .22s), but the run of the mill auto is pushing it at 1.5inch at 50yrds(price one, even though it is more of a custom) much less at 100yrds. A regular ole 44mag revolver of brandx will usually average at around <2inch @25yrds whereas a 45 autos average around >2.5inch. I can pull a DW 44mag off the shelf and <1inch at 50yrds will happen, try that with a regular ole semiauto.

Cylinder alignment is alot easier to accomplish than getting all the parts of a semi auto to mesh perfectly (and stay that way after a couple of rounds). Lineboring and Taylor Throating really make alignment a non issue wit revolvers. Only fixed barrel semis really have a chance in this competition.

-CAL
 
imagine the angle you'd have to shoot at (or shorten the front sight and raise the rear sight) to lob a 230 grain hardball to hit point of aim at 100 yards... I don't think I can even see that far ;)

Ben

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Almost Online IM: BenK911
ICQ # 53788523
"Gun Control Is Being Able To Hit Your Target"
http://ben.gunsnet.net
 
Looking at my battery of handguns I have to agree that in general revolvers are more accurate than pistols. I own about same number of high quality revolvers as high quality pistols but only 4 of them will shoot 1 1/2" or better at 25 yards, Python, Diamondback (38 special), S&W model 10 (6" barrel) and H&K P7M8. 3:1 ratio.
 
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