Revolvers: Is DA trigger pull worth learning if you only target shoot?

[Wordupmybrotha]

Definitely. I enjoy shooting it DA; strangely, I shoot more accurately with DA than SA.

[SquidBilly]

Yes. I own a S&W 442 with classic wood grips...not fun to be a target shooter with much of any load.

But it's alot of fun when you get the feel for the DA trigger and can stage it (feel it) and it becomes very accurate for such a short barreled gun.

158 SWC loads seem to do the best under most powder charges. If I load HBWC at 2-2.5 700x/HP38/Bullseye...I get tumblers. But those puffy loads do great with longer barrels.

[tipoc]

Folks should learn to shoot da.

You're not in a rush. You can begin with a 22. or a 38 Spl. Start shooting 3" bulls at 7 yards da. Take your time. Place all rounds shot inside 3". Then move out to 10 yards.

No rush.

tipoc

[Gryff]

If you want to shoot for fun at the range, there is nothing wrong with shooting a revolver SA only. But there are a few reasons why learning competence with the DA trigger is worthwhile.

Being decent with DA allows you to drive the gun faster (necessary for self-defense or competition). I also have found that mastery of revolver DA triggers translates into improved control over most other handgun triggers.

It's funny. As a kid I always shot my Dad's revolvers in SA mode because the DA was too much work. Now, I find I almost never shoot a revolver in anything other than DA.

[JeffreyAK]

I always thumb the hammer back on my R8 - it's easy, reflexive, and doesn't take as much time as recovering from the recoil of the previous shot and reacquiring the target. One benefit is, the hammer thumbing does become reflexive if you do it every single time. On the other hand, my MP340 is internal-hammer DAO, so obviously that gun is always fired double-action, and that is also committed to muscle memory as soon as I have it in my hands. My semi-autos are all fired single-action, including the ones that I could fire double-action on the first shot, and that's in muscle memory too for those guns.

I think there's a lot of value in learning different triggers on different guns, but I'm not sure I see particular value in learning different triggers (DA and SA) on the same gun.

[JTROKS]

I have a cousin who shoots his modern SA/DA revolver single action only. He felt it wasn’t necessary to learn DA shooting for he was more accurate in SA mode. The only reason why he bought a GP100 instead of a Blackhawk was for the ease of loading the gun and being able to utilize speedloaders. I finally convinced him to shoot steel plates under a timer with me. That quickly changed his mindset on the importance of the DA mode.

[IVC]

Nobody mentioned it yet, so here it goes...

There are TWO ways to shoot DA: (1) stacking the trigger, and (2) pull through.

What you need to learn is the second way, the pull through. It's the only way to shoot fast and it's one skill that translates to all other triggers and guns. In pull through, it's your grip that must become not only good, but independent of your trigger pull. This, in turn, enables you to shoot fast any gun by mastering how to "pull the trigger fast without disturbing the sight picture," which is the next level skill from your basic "trigger press" technique used for bulls eye.

[IVC]

I have a cousin who shoots his modern SA/DA revolver single action only. He felt it wasn’t necessary to learn DA shooting for he was more accurate in SA mode. The only reason why he bought a GP100 instead of a Blackhawk was for the ease of loading the gun and being able to utilize speedloaders. I finally convinced him to shoot steel plates under a timer with me. That quickly changed his mindset on the importance of the DA mode.

Heh, nothing works better than bringing up a timer. I've done this with people working on their draw. It's amazing how quickly priorities change once a person sees the actual time for the first time.

[IVC]

I think there's a lot of value in learning different triggers on different guns, but I'm not sure I see particular value in learning different triggers (DA and SA) on the same gun.

It's not so much learning different triggers as it is learning different trigger techniques. In this case, there are two fundamental techniques: trigger press (slow, high precision), and trigger pull (fast, good precision once you learn it correctly).

Learning how to shoot DA in pull through mode will help a lot with shooting even a 1911 with hair-trigger - what you are learning is correct grip and how to disassociate trigger finger from affecting this grip. This skill is required in order to be able to shoot fast.

[Barbarosa]

I'm one of those who shoot revolvers better in DA than SA, but it's taken 50+ years of shooting to get there.

[IVC]

But it's alot of fun when you get the feel for the DA trigger and can stage it (feel it) and it becomes very accurate for such a short barreled gun.

Staging a DA trigger is sort of a trick to get it close to SA, but it's not what people normally call "shooting DA revolver."

When you stage the trigger, you are shooting using the "trigger press" technique - get the trigger to the wall, then add pressure until it fires. This is how you would shoot SA anything. Not wrong per se, just not the way to shoot fast.

What you need is a smooth pull all the way, the "pull through" method. This is a different technique from "trigger press" - this is "trigger pull" that you need in any action shooting competition. It also introduces the grip into the shooting equation. With "trigger press," you can hold the gun any way. When you advance to "trigger pull," the grip becomes fundamental part of your accuracy.

[tipoc]

I can't think of a good reason not to shoot da and to invest the time and attention to learning to do so. I can readily see many bad reasons for not doing so. Unless you have a physical disability or degenerative illness I don't see any positive reason to not challenge yourself by shooting da.

The most honest reason for not learning to shoot da is that you don't care for revolvers and don't see the point of them when you have your Glock (or whatever). This is not a good reason but it has the benefit of being forthright. It's in a class of not shooting a lever gun because you have your AR. Why spend the money and time on something you won't do or use? I don't have to, the thinking goes, and you can't make me.

Related to the above is the thinking that you won't ever use a wheelgun for defensive purposes so why do it? This has more laziness to it.

These things are weak thinking and short sighted. I see a 22 year old person decide that they will never need to learn something new and challenge themselves. For the next 40 or 50 years they can be enjoying handguns, developing their skills and learning, but they decide not to. The reasons for this are never good ones.

tipoc

[smittty]

It will make you a better shooter. Period.

[eaglemike]

Lots of good comments above.
If one ever sees a few of the good guys at the International Revolver Championship shoot the standards stage, it's easy to see the benefit of learning to shoot DA.
Always fun to develop another skill, too.

[SquidBilly]

Staging a DA trigger is sort of a trick to get it close to SA, but it's not what people normally call "shooting DA revolver."

When you stage the trigger, you are shooting using the "trigger press" technique - get the trigger to the wall, then add pressure until it fires. This is how you would shoot SA anything. Not wrong per se, just not the way to shoot fast.

What you need is a smooth pull all the way, the "pull through" method. This is a different technique from "trigger press" - this is "trigger pull" that you need in any action shooting competition. It also introduces the grip into the shooting equation. With "trigger press," you can hold the gun any way. When you advance to "trigger pull," the grip becomes fundamental part of your accuracy.

Thanks for the advice.

I honestly haven't done much fast one pull triggering techniques with this gun. I definitely should. I got into the habit of trying to stage it and get the easiest pull from that stage point, mostly because I've only ever used it for target practice and not defensive training.