Back in the early 1970's I was trained (as a cop) to shoot DA revolvers. Our qualification course included shooting at ranges of 3,5,7,10, 25, and 50 yards. We shot both strong-hand and weak-hand. Double-action only out to 25 yards. At 50 yards we fired both off-hand and from a barricade, single-action or double-action allowed.

Unlike today's training standards, the trigger finger was kept on the trigger (not outside the trigger guard until ready to fire). We trained on how to "stage the trigger" on double-action fire to rotate the cylinder and bring the hammer to the full-cock position, while holding the sight picture, then either hold fire or squeeze off the final bit of pressure to release the hammer and fire the round.

All these years later, I still shoot just about every practice round double-action, and I still "stage the trigger" with an almost undetectable pause during the final let-off.

The indoor range I use most of the time is limited to 50 feet (16.66 yards) so all of my practice there is double-action, combat-style shooting. When shooting at the outdoor range I shoot at 50 and 100 yards with both pistol and revolver. With the revolver I shoot the longer ranges single-action, right-handed but using my left thumb to manually cock the hammer between shots. I can usually keep everything on a B27 silhouette at the 50 yard range, and about 90% at 100 yards (on a good day).

But I am describing results after about 48 years of practice and training, several seasons of PPC competition, and tens of thousands of rounds sent downrange. I will admit that my earlier years of 20/15 vision are gone, and cataract surgeries followed by bifocal lenses have a big effect. I can still get the job done, but it takes all of my concentration to make it happen.