Shooting DA revolvers

[ditto1958]

I would like to work on my double action shooting. I don’t do it often, and I’m terrible at it. If anyone has any tips on how to shoot revolvers well in DA, I’d sure appreciate it. My Security-Six would, too.

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[Vaquero]

Nice pistola.
No help here as I most always shoot mine single action.
Could use a pointer or two myself, so I'll check in from time to time.
Hey, edit: post # 1776.

RP

[daytime dave]

I'll bet North Country Gal will post a fantastic piece here shortly. I won't be able to come close. I started with double action revolvers and still favor them today. I find that a firm, consistent pull will yield the best result. People talk about staging and such. A smooth steady pull, all the while holding, or trying to hold, the perfect sight picture, will yield the best results. It helps if the trigger is smooth and under ten pounds in double action.

I'm hoping to hear what NCG has to say on the subject.

[Greyhawk]

Personally I like to stick my tongue a bit out of the left corner of my mouth, aim, close both eyes and jerk the trigger really fast.
On second thought, maybe we should wait to here from North Country Gal!

[Mistered]

Nice older Security Six!
I had one once but it was really beat up, lots of the bluing gone and I sold it back to the original owner (who wanted it back)

I also do not shoot my DA revolvers DA very often but as a starter it would help to have some larger (and rubber) wrap around style grips for an improved grip on the gun.

[Mags]

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Me too, I'm terrible as well.

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...

... Could use a pointer or two myself, ...

[GunnyGene]

What Mistered said. Grip is important. Also, many people tend to tighten their grip while pulling the trigger. This is a big, and usually not noticed, problem and will throw your shot somewhere down yonder. Your hand muscles will naturally want to tighten up your entire hand on a long heavy trigger. You've got to work on JUST pulling the trigger without tightening up your grip in the process. Easier said than done, I'll admit.

If you want to try something, grip a uncooked egg in your hand and practice pulling against some resistance ( the thumb or a finger of your other hand for example) with your trigger finger. Can be a little messy but if you're tightening up you'll know it.

[Mags]

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Yes it is easier said than done. Apparently I don't have the knack for it yet. I'd swear I don't clinch when pulling the trigger, but must be. The bullets go elsewhere.

What Mistered said. Grip is important. Also, many people tend to tighten their grip while pulling the trigger. This is a big, and usually not noticed, problem and will throw your shot somewhere down yonder. Your hand muscles will naturally want to tighten up your entire hand on a long heavy trigger. You've got to work on JUST pulling the trigger without tightening up your grip in the process. Easier said than done, I'll admit.

If you want to try something, grip a uncooked egg in your hand and practice pulling against some resistance ( the thumb or a finger of your other hand for example) with your trigger finger. Can be a little messy but if you're tightening up you'll know it.

[Mistered]

Another thing that would help immensely is lighter trigger and hammer springs.

Wolff no doubt makes springs for the SS and will make a world of difference.
https://www.gunsprings.com/

My Mod 66 and 60 both have Wolff springs (as well as custom trigger and action jobs) and the DA pull on both is much lighter than original.

[North Country Gal]

Hey, wait a minute. I'm no expert on DA shooting, but I do shoot in DA a lot, because, well, I enjoy it. Thank-you all, though, for the nice compliments.

Here's some tips on the basics, whichever method of DA shooting you use. Just a few things I've picked up and tried that worked for me. Maybe they'll help you.

First, a firm grip. Not a death grip, but a good firm grip. After all, the trigger pull weight has now doubled or tripled or more over the SA pull. Those sights are going to wobble, plenty through that long DA pull, even with a firm grip. A loose grip will be all over the map.

I don''t care to dry fire my revolvers much, but when I'm getting ready for some DA shooting sessions, I do some dry fire work in DA, beforehand. This old lady has to do it for the sake of muscle strength. Maybe guys don't need this exercise, but I sure do. makes a big difference for me. It's also why I am very picky about the DA pull in my DA revolvers.

I don't focus too much on sight alignment at the beginning of my DA pull, but I'm focusing 110% on those sights when that hammer finally falls. This is what makes shooting in DA such a departure from shooting in SA. In SA shooting, we're ready to go the instant our finger touches the trigger. In DA shooting, we have a lot more work to do before that hammer falls. This mental adjustment takes practice.

I find that pointing my elbow (s) down to the ground, rather than allowing them to point out to the side at an angle reduces a lot of that side to side wobble with the sights during the pull.

Can't say enough about follow though and rhythm in DA shooting. If you've already fallen into the habit of allowing yourself to think the shot is over as soon as you feel the gun fire, you're going to have a problem in DA shooting. You'd be surprised at just how much better you'll shoot in DA by working to keep those sights and gun on the target right on through the recoil cycle. I visualize following that bullet to the target with my sights or scope reticle for all my shooting and it really helps.

One more. This one may sound like heresy to bench rest target shooters who ever so gently and ever so slowly finesse that hair trigger. Uh, not going to work shooting a revolver in DA. That long, long DA pull will drive you crazy if you try shooting it like a single action pull that measures in only ounces. I'm not saying you should snap the trigger in DA, but moving though it smoothly and deliberately, not hesitating along the way works the best for me. With practice, that DA cycle quickens by quite a bit and it starts to feel a lot shorter than it actually is. Best of all, when I've got my speed going, but still maintaining my smoothness, those sights seem to behave a lot better. This is where DA shooting gets a lot more comfortable for me.

As for the two schools of though on DA shooting, your call, but know that there is a LOT of controversy, here.

The smooth and steady, not hesitating or stopping anywhere during the pull, is the classic method of DA shooting. This is the one taught for self-defense work and I totally agree that this is the ONLY choice for that work. I also like this method because it enhances good follow though. Here's where I love a DA revolver with a nice buttery smooth DA pull with no bumps or snagging long the way. One of my favorite revolvers with this kind of pull has been the Ruger Redhawk (not the Super Redhawk. It has a different lock). Most Redhawks I've shot have a dream of a trigger for DA shooting. Smooth as can be.

The other school of thought/technique on DA shooting is called staging. On some DA revolvers, you can feel where that trigger catches near the end of the pull, just before the hammer falls. A good shooter using this technique can learn to hold that spot for an instant during the pull, fine tune the sight picture and finish the pull with something akin to a single action pull.

I've seen some experts using the staging method do some amazing target work, darn near the equivalent of shooting in SA. It's tricky, though, because that hold spot is tough to catch at precisely the same point for every shot. Add any variable, such as cold fingers, sweaty fingers, shooting with gloves, shooting when stressed and it gets trickier, yet. Bottom line is that it is tough to catch that hold spot 100% of the time. I can't. Every once in awhile, I miss it and the gun goes off before I'm ready. Obviously, this is not conducive to good follow through and good rhythm.

This is just one reason why staging is not recommended for self-defense shooting and why it raises the hackles of instructors trying to teach self-defense shooting. No argument from me. I do use staging on some of my DA pistols strictly for target work. Those DA revolvers also happen to have DA triggers that are easy to stage. (Not all DA revolvers have DA triggers that work for staging.) Not a problem switching back and forth between the two DA methods for me because I don't carry a gun for self-defense work. If I ever do, I'll drop staging, entirely.

In the end, shooting in DA is like any other form of shooting in that it takes a lot of practice. I understand that a lot of folks have no interest in DA shooting, but, honestly, you can get to a point where it is actually fun and rewarding. It's whole new world of revolver shooting for me. I enjoy it. Who knows? It might even make you forget about shooting those fancy bottom feeding autoloaders.

[markiver54]

AMEN...Great analysis NCG. I personally learned from it!!

[Mags]

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Thank you NCG.

[North Country Gal]

You are so welcome, my friends.

[BrokenolMarine]

A lot of good advice offered here, but shooting double action revolvers is one thing that I can say that I would consider myself qualified to comment on. In competing in PPC we shoot revolvers double action at distances as short as three yards and as far back at fifty yards with the heavy barreled custom guns. The key to accurate shooting double action at that distance is indeed staging the shots, but most of us had trigger stops on the fifty yard guns. (In this picture, you can see the small rubber tip sticking out the back of the trigger that would contact the inside of the trigger guard at the rear of the trigger pull) It is adjustable with an allen wrench. It will contact the frame just as the shot is beginning to stage, and being rubber, your additional trigger pressure compresses the rubber just enough to fire the shot. This allows you to pull TO the staging point rapidly, with practice, and stage just enough to finalize your sight alignment / sight picture, then pull thru and fire the shot.

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Practice and practice and it becomes second nature. I was shooting falling plate matches in revolver class, and found that I was actually staging the trigger out of habit, but doing so rapidly, with only a slight hesitation. With non competition guns, I don't stage the trigger, but pull thru smoothly, keeping the sights steady. A good way to practice smooth straight trigger pull is to balance a spent case on the end of the barrel and pull thru the trigger holding the gun out at arms length in your shooting grip. If you pull thru the double action pull without the spent case falling off the barrel, you achieved a smooth pull.

To reinforce what NCG had to say, remember that the gun is already dead, you don't need to strangle the grip. What I used to tell my students was to think of your grip as a firm handshake. Your grip, grips the gun and your trigger finger (only) operates the trigger. Squeezing with your grip hand as you pull the trigger is called "Milking the grip" and will cause the shots to go low and left for right handed shooters.

[BrokenolMarine]

A couple shots from the Virginia Police Revolver Association Matches...

From the 50 Yard Line...
I am the old Fat Guy in the Black T at target 17...

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The Richmond Shooters at the 50 yard line. You can see HOW far away that target is and we are shooting at it with 38 caliber revolvers.
The little guy on the left, shooting that tight sitting position on target 13, is the builder of all those amazing guns.

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Before the start of the match... this was years ago, back when I was still working patrol.. not all gimpy.

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I enjoyed the matches, they kept me sharp, and I got to spend the day with folks who liked the same things I did.
As an Department Firearms Instructor, competing helped insure I was at LEAST one of the best, if not, "The Best" shooter on the range when I was teaching.
In addition, most of the other department's instructors, were there on the range with me, so we got to discuss new techniques, ideas, and training methods between strings and matches.

[North Country Gal]

Marine, that is so cool. Love that mod on the trigger. May even try it on my Dan Wessons. I gladly concede that you are the real expert, here. Thanks for sharing.

[BrokenolMarine]

Thanks, it's an easy mod, but most smiths will ask if it's a recreational or protection gun. It's NOT recommended for a EDC gun or a Personal Defense home gun as it can creep slightly out of adjustment if you over wear the allen screw all the time playing with adjustments because YOU can't make up your mind. For a target or competition gun all it costs you is a second to make the adjustment and a few points in a match. (At worst.)

On a defense / protection gun you don't want to find yourself fighting the trigger stop and pulling hard to fire the shot, which would pull you off target. It would have to drift WAY out of adjustment to keep you from being able to fire the shot at all. Hopefully you would have noticed in your monthly practice sessions before that happened... right.

[GFK]

I also do not shoot my DA revolvers DA very often but as a starter it would help to have some larger (and rubber) wrap around style grips for an improved grip on the gun.

I can attest to this. A rubber grip has helped me. It makes holding my S&W .357 Mod. 65.5 easier. It is an Uncle Mike grip that I brought from S&W in 2006. As far as trigger pull goes, it is smooth throughout the pull. I shoot it in single action mode most of the times. But, double action is good for quick draw.

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[fortyshooter]

Got here a bit late but this is a great topic! I fire DA when I have those revolvers out during my 10 ft. paper target drills.
One thing I have tried is to dry fire in DA with a penny or dime sitting on top of the front sight if it is wide enough to sustain balance
and try to go thru trigger pull with coin staying in place. Works in SA pull also .

Not any expert by any means...but not to awful shooting the Alaskan in DA...at the 2:50 segment in video.https://youtu.be/wCToPRzUyb8

Broken Marine....thanks for those great shooting tips!

[ditto1958]

NCG, thank you. I’m gonna work on this at the range over the next few weeks. I hope I will have some progress to report.

I like my Security-Six, but it’s DA trigger is not very good. This may be a good excuse to find another nice older Smith & Wesson. My Model 14 has a really nice trigger, both SA and DA. It’s my bench rest gun, though.