Which can you fire faster: auto or revolver?

[KJS]

With an auto you have to wait for it to cycle. Evidently, this is so slow that companies like Glock & Springfield put lightening cuts in the top of their slides on competition models so there's less mass and the slide can cycle faster. Now to a mere mortal like me any semi-auto has fired and is back in battery ready to fire again before I've recovered and am ready to fire another shot. I've never noticed that my 1911s are slower to cycle than my Springfield XD(M) Competition .45 or my Glock 34 that each have a big hunk of their slides removed as competition guns. In fact, I've yet to hear any 1911 owner complain "you know, the only problem with this gun is it's doesn't shoot fast enough; I need to cut out a big hunk of the the slide to make to cycle faster."

I've been told that theoretically a revolver can be fired faster than an auto. Well, at least if your name is Jerry Miculek, though he seems something of an anomaly. My 9mm pistol has a titanium cylinder to accommodate such stunningly high rates of fire (lighter weight metal for less mass). Again, doesn't matter much to me, as I cock the hammer manually and fire with a desire for accuracy so we'll never know how fast it could potentially fire.

So which can you fire faster? Or are you a mere mortal like me to whom none of this matters?

 

[6518John]

I miss equally well with both.

 

[hoc9sw]

I couldn't afford the ammo to do the tests!

38 special is getting more expensive faster than anything else around here.

So I'll vote for "none of this matters", knowing full well it does.

 

[STCM(SW)]

The record is 5 shots into a ace of spades @ 7 yds in less then 3/5ths of a second with a revolver.
Don't think any semi-auto can match that.
One of my S&W revolvers had paper work that stated the rapidly of fire was only limited by the dexterity of the shooter.
I can't do that..........

 

[tomcatt51]

My usual "bests" are .19 splits with my 10 shot 617 and .16 splits with my Ruger 22/45 Lite. Seems like a reasonable comparison. Others regularly do better. I make no claim of being fast.

I find JMs' .12 revolver splits amazing...

 

[Cpo1944]

I know with shotguns, a pump action Winchester model 12 is faster than a semi-auto. The shooter just holds the trigger back and it fires with every shuck, where the semi you must release the trigger after each shot and that makes it slower.

 

[hangnoose]

GREAT POINT J.O.

Getting the finger OFF the trigger than the squeeze. I'm still neck and neck with the MKll and the 617, but prefer the revolver.

 

[H Richard]

In match shoting such as the Bianchi Cup the revolver ruled it in the early years, but the 1911 style (and a few others) the custom gunsmiths have learned how to get the utmost accuracy as well as speed out of them. In any professional speed shoot, you will find the Semi-Auto the winner, (unless Jerry Miculek is there).

 

[OKFC05]

are you a mere mortal like me to whom none of this matters?

I have considerable direct experience running the timer for shooters of all levels of competition, and no mortal is going to "outrun the action" on a properly set up semi or revolver. All else being equal, it is easier to shoot the semi faster.
In addition to his revolver record, Mr Miculek does a demo with a 1911 holding the pistol in his left hand and "fluttering" his right hand on the trigger, which results in emptying the magazine at firing rates up to 600 rpm: machine gun territory.

For reference, a .1 split = 600rpm rate.

You can find splits below .15 at any Level 2 or higher USPSA match in the double taps, which is about 400 rpm. My personal best with a revolver, recorded on a timer, is .16 splits on a "Bill Drill."
I am not a Master and never will be.

The real contest is not how fast you can pull the trigger, but all the time you spend on the clock NOT shooting: draw, target acquisition, transition to next target, reloads, moving to next firing position, etc.
That's what you really learn under (simulated) pressure: smooth gun handling.

 

[ma deuce]

I can fire quickly and still hit the target better with an automatic with a good trigger. I have a FEG Hi Power with a 4 lb trigger that's best of all my guns, and firing as rapidly as I can I still get 3-4" groups at 7 yds. I can do nearly as well with my SW1911E.

 

[Laketime]

No one should be able to shoot a double action revolver faster then he can a single action auto like a 1911.This is why this platform has dominated the shooting competitions for years.Common back in the days to see shooters virtually melt two FMJ rounds together in the barrel of a 1911.Articles on this were frequent in Combat Handguns.

 

[Cal44]

The real question is how fast can you fire and hit what you are aiming at.

For other than high end competitors, I doubt the gun cycle time is an issue.

Comparing most of us to Jerry Miculek is like comparing a B student in High School physics to Albert Einstein.

 

[David R]

Shooting bowling pins in an informal match. Once competitor said "No fair, you are using a semi auto."

I went to the car and got my Dan wesson 357 and continued to kick his butt.

Its not the gun, its watch the front sight as it recoils. As it comes back down on target, squeeze the trigger.

David

 

[Ranger514]

Rapid fire double and triple taps are about all this old guy feels the need to master for close quarters work. Revolvers and semi-autos both work for what I need, but the magazine capacity of the semi-auto is a decided advantage.

 

[m657]

"fire with a desire for accuracy so we'll never know how fast it could potentially fire."

......"I may be slow but I'm as inaccurate as anybody".....

I'm not fast enough on the trigger for cycle times being much consequence on my score sheet, regardless of the type of action.

The single fastest time I've ever shot any handgun in Steel Challenge, was recent Sig 1911---5 targets in just under 3 seconds. Shot another using 610 S&W revolver in 2.4..... Fastest 5 shots using 10/22 carbine was blistering 0.9 seconds. Somehow just can't get that to happen very often.

Evidence suggests the time delimiter is not the gun cycle time.....*kaff*kaff*

Even then I had not run into the cycle rate of the gun seeming to affect my own performance. If I could go way faster more of the time I would....just doesn't work out that way.

Hard for me to break 6 sec stages these days. Way too slow to be above the bottom half of the field.

 

[Biginge]

It is awfully hard for a semi-auto to beat a single action revolver that is being "slip fired" by a good hand.

 

[Rick_A]

Depends on what it is. My 22/45 MKII has an aftermarket trigger that is the best on any gun I own. With a comp and bull barrel it's a matter of slapping that trigger.

I can shoot my 1911 and 22-4 about the same, but can manage about a shot a second faster with the 1911.

I need to properly time this stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUT8mxU9g64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_EPsKZhoXw

The shots above result in roughly 4" groups at 7yds.

 

[Rick_A]

It is awfully hard for a semi-auto to beat a single action revolver that is being "slip fired" by a good hand.

Such shooting is highly impractical and only effective among the most seasoned shooters with major action work.

 

[gboling]

Comparing my issue double action, 4" Model 14, to my 5906, in combat qualification, (Back in the day.) I could recover and fire a second shot much faster with the Model 14. With a firm, two hand grip I could control the recoil better with the model 14.

My early 5906 had the square trigger guard which I used. With a firm two hand grip with my left forefinger gripping the trigger guard, I still could not control the rocking motion caused by the cycling of the slide as well as I could control the 4",38 revolver, for second shot accuracy.

That revolver was, without a doubt, the best handling gun I have ever fired. However it does lack the energy and firepower of the modern 45's.
My present favorites are the M&P 45 and the 1911a1.

 

[Biginge]

Such shooting is highly impractical and only effective among the most seasoned shooters with major action work.

Never said average Joe. Google Texas Rick O'Shay. Or attend SASS End of Trail. Just saying, I have seen a bunch of em do it rather quickly, me , not quite there yet.

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