I noticed while shooting my new to me 4553TSW that my shooting appeared to be a little slower than with a TDA S&W 45.

I didn't have a timer available.....but based on experience my split times between shots was a good 10% longer....IMO.

Two fast shots into an index card taped to the chest of a B21 is where it was very apparent. Anyone know if DAO is slower than TDA for mechanical or operator reasons? Regards 18DAI.

Well a longer heavier trigger pull, plus further reset... seems to me that would contribute.

It is slower for sure. I will need a little time getting used to DAO. My 4553TSW has a much harder trigger than the 4586 I have. More practice I guess. My 4566 and 4516 both has better double action first shot than the 4553 doa I have.

For me it's all a matter of trigger time. If I spend a lot of time shooting my DAO's, then I get excellent splits and can really drive the trigger. If I spend too much time with my TDA guns and then switch back to the DAO I feel slower. But the long DA to short SA always screws me up. So for me it's tap then double tap with the TDA.

Long, heavy trigger pulls take longer than short, light trigger pulls. With that said, Jerry Miculek seems to do all right with double action revolvers, as did Ed McGivern before him.

Now, Miculek and McGivern are probably freaks, outliers, plus there's the small matter of the tens, or hundreds, of thousands of rounds they have fired to polish their skills.

I spent a few years where revolvers, sixguns, were my main focus. Double action sixguns I shot exclusively with a double action trigger pull. I'm not a very good shot, and I'm not a very fast shot, but I got both better and faster the more I shot them.

In the end, it comes down to what you prefer. The good news is that S&W offered the choice, so you can choose. My personal choice is to prefer the consistent trigger pull of the DAO system, with the extra advantage of a cleaner slide.

Having run the timer for a lot of shooters shooting all kinds of guns, I just don't buy it that the action determines the split times when doing aimed fire. In theory, a short single-action pull is superior, but there's that first long pull on a conventional double action to deal with.

It's the shooter, guys, and if you can't keep up with the master shooters shooting long double-action pulls, than you have a LOT of company.

Having watched revolver shooters make it into shootoffs with 1911 shooters--and sometimes win--with split times around .12 sec and reloads as fast as the semi-autos, i have proof it is the shooter, not the type of gun that determines the actual range speed and accuracy.

I've shot many times with the national IDPA/SSR champion, and he can take his revolver (686 with speedloaders) and beat me with any gun I choose. Then we can swap guns and he will beat me again. Several state IDPA matches we have had about the same hits, but Curt's speed is just better than--well, just about everybody.