D/A revolver shooting

[Sarge]

This is being offered to supplement the recent discussions here on combat shooting with bigbore DA revolvers. Hopefully it will not result in another locked thread.

I was asked to run a qualification for a small Department yesterday afternoon, and during a lull I was able to get another instructor to run me through with my old S&W .44 Magnum. I teased the Major who ordered the targets, and asked him if they were left-over props from the old movie “Land of the Giants”. The load was a 200 grain RNFP with enough Universal (about 9 grains) to approximate WW 210 Magnum Silvertips; all shooting was DA, fired from standing. 48 rounds total worth a max of 5 points each, for a possible of 240 points. Stages were as follows-

3 Yards- six strong-hand only and six weak-hand only, in 20 seconds including reload. This is the dreaded hip-shooting that most LE instructors avoid like the plague these days. I am one of the few dinosaurs who still teach it as part of qualifications.

7 Yards- Double-taps from the holster, in 4 seconds or less. Repeat three times.

7 Yards- Three rounds from “low ready”, in 4 seconds or less. Repeat twice.

15 Yards- Twelve rounds in 25 seconds or less, including reload.

25 Yards- Twelve rounds in 45 seconds or less, including reload.

I don’t shoot a DA revolver as well as I used to, yet I still finished the stages with time to spare. I was the only revolver shooter there, and oddly enough, posted the only "possible". I wandered off to the right there a tad, but I can live with it.

 

[RWK]

Thanks for your excellent report, which validates my long held opinion that I am well defended with Smith N frames or Ruger GP100s.

 

[newerguy]

Can D/A be accurate enough for bullseye type shooting. I guess the heavy trigger pull would complicate matters, but can you shoo say three inch groups, one handed at 50 feet double action?

 

[Archie]

Hello, Brother Dinosaur...

Ivnssgt: I don’t shoot a DA revolver as well as I used to, yet I still finished the stages with time to spare.

Gee! Imagine if you practised some with it? Looks serious to me.

Ivnssgt:I was the only revolver shooter there, and oddly enough, posted the only "possible".

Probably will get yourself branded as a 'poisonous individualist'; or at least a show off. This is America; what a country! Be Free!

Ivnssgt:I wandered off to the right there a tad, but I can live with it.

Yeah, come a click left.

Seriously, Sarge, that's 'competent' shooting; and that's the whole point. I'll have to see if I can honswoggle my range guy into 'qualifying' me with one of my revolvers. Company policy won't let me carry it, but it will probably be 'enlightening'.

 

[Sarge]

Thanks, Archie. There were only four of us on the line when I did that. The last time I benched the gun at 25 yards it was about an inch and a half right with my qual load, but dead on (windage) with my hunting load. A half turn down on the elevation screw, and it'll be zeroed for 250 Keiths at about 1300 fps.

Newerguy, I wouldn't bet I could shoot that 3", 50-foot group one-handed DA, but I might try it two-handed. There are guys out there that can do it, I just probably ain't one of them.

Glad you enjoyed it, RWK. I had fun doing it

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

A competent shooter should be able to do 3" groups at 50 ft two handed. One handed makes it a real challenge.

 

[beenthere]

Competent

Guy, I used to be what you call a competent shooter. Unfortunatelly the eyes and occasional flares of arthritis make that a thing of the past. I guess I now have to be satisfied with being a competent across the living room survival shooter.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

beenthere,

Well you're one step ahead of me. I can put the shots into the 3" circle two handed very inconsistently due to a constant fight with a flinch that I picked up from shooting 12 GA slugs in a bolt action shotgun and a mean face smashing Argentine Mauser chambered in 30-06. When the flinch is quiet, it's good. When the flinch starts 6" is my best.

Doing it SA is a piece of cake--two handed. Those turkeys that can do the bullseye thing cause my envy factor to go off scale.

 

[100W_Warlock]

I recently took a revolver class as well...

In MN, Defensive Edge has revolver handgun class which is a blast. (no pun intended)

The signup for it filled in about 3 weeks before the class. Everyone had their Smiths, Colts, Rugers, and Taurus (me) and LOTS of 38spl cases littered the ground.

The last 2 rounds of class, I decided to get a little snarky and put in some heavy loads with 2400 and mag primers. Needless to say, the guys next to me on the range were not prepared.

It was a fun class and I learned so much more than the $45 the class cost.

Autos are nice...they are the "prefered" sidearm for many folks.

but, I gotta say, my revolvers have NEVER jammed on a round. And if they dont go off with a lazy primer, I just cycle to the next round in the chamber.

nuf said.