Do you fire double action?

[sheppard]

DA almost exclusively. A major reason for using Smith and Wesson revolvers as they have the best DA trigger pull.

 

[7shooter]

I can't remember the last time I shot a revolver single action.

 

[DennisE]

I always shoot my S&W 60 Pro double action But for some reason I only shoot my Ruger SA single action! Dennis

 

[Donn]

I like the SA option, ergo, all my revolvers have exposed hammers. That said, the ones I occasionally carry, at the range or dry firing, are used DA exclusively. I believe that in a stress situation, I'd be using DA, so it behooves I be as proficient as possible. YMMV.

 

[RGNewell]

I have always had better results shooting DA. My EDC is a 640 Pro Series .357. I buy every reasonably priced factory bobbed hammer I see. I also love the factory combat trigger. I do like staging the trigger for long range shooting. At 100 yards I do shoot SA.
I have a 27-2 5" at Ten Ring Precision currently having Alex preform a complete action job. I normally do my own, but he does things I can't.

 

[Fastbolt]

... a mush
trigger return that is not good. The mushiness
actually slows the DA shooting and is a great concern
for short stroking the revolver. ...

A firm and brisk DA trigger recovery is rather important for a revolver dedicated to a self defense role.

When I bought my first 642-1, the former revolver armorer offered to install a reduced power rebound slide spring. He tried all 3 of them in the 3-pack, having me dry-fire the snub each time he tried a different spring.

The lightest consistently wouldn't allow for trigger recovery (bear in mind the action had been checked and "deburred" by the armorer, who used to build PPC revolvers).

The "middle" spring had very slow recovery.

The heaviest of the reduced power springs seemed okay. We left it in my snub and I began to shoot the dickens out of it, as it had been a few years since I'd been carrying revolvers for duty and off-duty, and I wanted to knock the rust off my revolver skills. I was also using an early 640 we had in our training vault, burning up some +P and +P+ .38SPL loads (it was the 640 marked on the frame as rated for +P+).

It wasn't long before I discovered that my returning DA revolver skills was letting my trigger finger "outrun" the DAO trigger's recovery during rapid shot strings out on the firing line. That's not good, as trying to rapidly press the trigger again before it's recovered is ... well, bad.

I replaced the reduced power rebound slide spring with the factory spring. The DAO trigger was firm and brisk in its recovery, and my trigger finger couldn't "outrun" it in the fast and furious shot strings and qual courses-of-fire.

Now, bear in mind that my DA/DAO revolvers are all maintained pretty well, since I was subsequently trained as a S&W revolver armorer myself.

By that I mean that if one of my S&W revolvers were to become a bit fouled inside, and the action became compromised by enough fouling, or an unexpected exposure to an environmental contaminant (dirt, sand, mud, etc), the factory spring would probably help keep the rebound slide's movement and trigger recovery firm and complete better than a lighter weight spring.

Just some thoughts. All of my S&W revolvers are only used for self defense/retirement CCW roles, so the mainsprings and rebound slide springs are factory (and relatively heavy).

 

[ContinentalOp]

I replaced the reduced power rebound slide spring with the factory spring. The DAO trigger was firm and brisk in its recovery, and my trigger finger couldn't "outrun" it in the fast and furious shot strings and qual courses-of-fire.

For a while I tried looking around for an extra-power rebound spring, but no luck.

 

[Fastbolt]

For a while I tried looking around for an extra-power rebound spring, but no luck.

A couple of the older Chiefs were brought to me a few years ago for inspection and cleaning, and both of them had surprisingly HEAVY DA triggers. I sort of expected to find them heavily fouled, thick oil/grease, etc inside. Not the case, though. Instead, oddly enough, both of them had longer rebound slide springs in them than we'd been told were supposed to be in J-frames (17 coils, versus 15 coils). Neither of the frame studs appeared to have been damaged or bent, but those longer springs had to have really been shoe-horned to fit in that short space.

I called someone I knew at the factory, who once upon a time had worked in revolver repair and had done "trigger jobs" (simple jobs not sent to the PC). I asked him when they'd used the longer 17 coil springs in the J-frame, as that hadn't been mentioned in my armorer class. He said that to the best of his knowledge (dating to the 70's) they'd never been used in the little 5-shot snubs.

When I replaced both of them with new 15 coil (light blue) slide springs, which were the proper part numbers in my revolver parts lists for them, the triggers felt normal. However, both of the owners were pleased with the DA trigger pull and thought I'd done a "trigger job" to their guns.

 

[bmcgilvray]

I always figured that they put the single-action sear on the hammer for a purpose and I use it. I shoot mostly single-action. I do practice double-action shooting with my favored carry revolvers and am fine at self-defense distances. I'm under no illusions that I'll shoot better at distance with a double-action trigger.

I loathe DAO revolvers. Only one lives here, a Model 642 and Mrs. BMc has appropriated it. I like single-action capabilities because I like choices.

 

[runscott]

And, in his book, "Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting," The late Ed McGivern said that the trigger must travel forward at the same speed it travels rearward. This was probably the single most valuable piece of information in his book. Once I grasped that concept, I proceeded to shoot perfect scores....

When I read the above in McGivern's book, as well as his additional emphasis on shooting double-action, it reinforced my shooting DA.

That is one dry book, but well worth having around.

 

[cmansguns]

Mostly DA with all the wheel guns. Carried for self defense and that was the old training, so just kept with it.

In addition if you want to be "holster qualified" at my current local range, it is all DA at the command(s).

One BIG exception is my Model 29......just can't do 6 full load Maggies…..OK if running 44 Spl cowboy action loads.

 

[dr. mordo]

I regularly leave the range and realize I didn't fire a single shot in SA.

 

[heeter3]

99.99% dao.

 

[ejr10mm]

Mostly in DA but sometimes in SA.

 

[Trooper224]

Always DA unless the shot is past twenty five yards or so.

 

[jcs266]

Double action almost exclusively.

Ditto here. I only fire single-action for a long shot that needs precision.

 

[Hapworth]

Double action for everything except sighting in.

 

[scruffy]

Forced to learn to improve my double action trigger pull skills on my 422 and 642 paid off and now I use it most of the time on all my SA/DA revolvers.

 

[yeti]

DA most of the time. Long distance fun is SA.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Double action is what I originallytrained with, makes sense to me tohave that first hard pull.

 

[S&W Fan]

Another voice heard from-the only revolver I have that I shoot single action is my 17-3, though I'd say it's about 50/50 with it. All the others are double action all the time. I enjoy it, sorry I'm late to the party.

 

[Valmet]

I don't shoot DA much, but sometimes I will for fun, to see how I group compared to SA. I'm usually pleasantly surprised and I should start doing it more often.

 

[S&WIowegan]

DA vs SA

I began shooting USPSA around 1990 and the club I joined had lots of people who shot a semi-auto for one entry and a revolver as a second entry. So, I've been a DA shooter ever since. When I sight in a new Smith I will fire the first few rounds SA to see where it hits, then go to DA.

I have a stack of Ruger SAs that I rarely ever shoot anymore.

One of the clubs I shoot IPSC-style has a long-time revo shooter who goes SA on long shots. My observation is it doesn't help him but he's habituated to doing it that way.

 

[SuperMan]

Was doing some DA shooting today with a 3" 657 and 657-4 PF 2.6"....

Ran 12 rounds from 5, 7 and 10 yards slow fire then two strings of 6 at 5 yards rapid fire from each gun...

The DA pulls on these guns are heavy which doesn't help things...

Bob

 

[AManWearingAHat]

I practice both but with a heavy weight towards single action. I know I should shoot more double but some of my single action pulls are just so sweet. Lots of respect for all of you talented double action shooters, that's a skill that takes a lot of dedication to develop

 

[Mike_Fontenot]

I think that in some of the cases where someone shoots DA more accurately than SA (or, at least, almost as accurately), the reason is that the shooter has never conquered the flinch. If you are prone to flinch, it will have a bigger effect when shooting SA than when shooting DA, because of the long trigger movement on DA before the hammer falls. If you've conquered your flinch, SA is MUCH more accurate than DA (especially if you've got a light SA trigger).

 

[islandguy]

About 99.8% double action.

Same here.

 

[m657]

re: " shooting mostly DA : do you shoot with a very slow pull of the trigger in order to have maximum accuracy ? Or a fast pull for speed ? "


My 627 & 327 use in speed steel relies for best scores, on DA mostly. Sometimes I'll need to use SA on the first distant target of a stage, then revert to DA. The 'cylinder indexing trick' or 'stacking' is slower than the SA-like release once you find the target. After a bit of training it gets more comfortable. I shot SA cowboy style for a couple decades before changing to speed steel event. It was just a little training exercise, and my score improved rapidly.

 

[Tubbsy]

I carry an lcr, so double action there, and shoot most other revolvers I own almost exclusively double action... the exceptions being my iver Johnson .22 supershot (wouldnt wish that double action pull on anyone) and my 28-2 when I want to do some precision work.

 

[hogblue]

Well all of my issued revolvers had to be fired double action in training and qualifying. So to answer the question I always fire double action all the time. The single action sears in my revolvers are as new, never used