If you do something for long enough…..

[Scott Tschirhart]

Shooting baskets or throwing a football, basically any physical exercise gets easier and you get better with practice.

When I joined the police department four decades ago, I learned to shoot a double action revolver well enough to maintain a distinguished expert pin on my uniform. Later I learned to do the same with a 1911. Neither of these were particularly difficult.

But when I started shooting the SAA, I struggled with it. I first thought that it just wasn’t as intrinsically accurate as a Smith revolver or a 1911. I couldn’t keep all five rounds on a half sized silhouette at 25 yards! But I kept working at it.

This morning I fired these five rounds:

[Scott Tschirhart]

It wasn’t the gun. It was me.

[GunnyMack]

It's ALWAYS the jerk behind the trigger Scott !!
I'm NOT a good pistol shooter. Why- because I don't shoot them enough. I know I need more practice lots more but I'm not motivated to do it, cost, time, insert any excuse here.
I'm a shotgun shooter to the core and I haven't been out to the club yet this spring- of course the litter of puppies has kept me busy here!
Oh, nice shooting!

[OldWin]

While not a great shot with anything, I find the SAA the most difficult of the 3 you mentioned, also. I always supposed it was because my hands are too big for the grip. Especially the reach. It just doesn't feel as natural. For just informal shooting, I find I do better one handed.
Almost like it was intended to be shot that way.....

[samsi]

Nice shooting. It's been a while since I've managed a 25 yard group that tight with anything, much less a traditional SA.

[JimT]

While not a great shot with anything, I find the SAA the most difficult of the 3 you mentioned, also. I always supposed it was because my hands are too big for the grip. Especially the reach. It just doesn't feel as natural. For just informal shooting, I find I do better one handed.
Almost like it was intended to be shot that way.....

INTERESTING! I found the SAA and the old model Rugers to be the most natural feeling and pointing of any revolvers. 'Course I started out on single action revolvers at an early age.

[OldWin]

While not a great shot with anything, I find the SAA the most difficult of the 3 you mentioned, also. I always supposed it was because my hands are too big for the grip. Especially the reach. It just doesn't feel as natural. For just informal shooting, I find I do better one handed.
Almost like it was intended to be shot that way.....

INTERESTING! I found the SAA and the old model Rugers to be the most natural feeling and pointing of any revolvers. 'Course I started out on single action revolvers at an early age.

The weird thing is, I started on single actions too! Mostly Ruger, and a couple Colts. My problem is I have a long reach. Long fingers like some horror movie creature.
Now....sometimes it helps. Many handguns that folks complain about, fit me great. The old Colt, on the other hand, is a little short coupled for me. It feels great, but only with a LOT of finger in the trigger. If I keep shooting for a spell, it will come in, but it's very easy for me to shade left.
Even with double actions, the Smiths traditionally fit me better than the Colts due to reach. Especially in single action. I usually switch to the old style Pachmayr grippers with the covered backstrap. It lengthens it out a bit. My new Python had them as soon as I got it home.

[Ysabel Kid]

Different hands, different backgrounds, different preferences. I'm the polar opposite. I've always found single-actions to be the most accurate for me, followed by a double-action shooting it in single-action mode. I can shoot my 1911 like a champ for several range sessions, feeling like I've finally mastered it, only to have a session where I just want to throw the gun versus shooting it. Then again, that has happened with other platforms as well.

[JimT]

OldWin .. that makes sense. Everyone is different. There is no "one size fits all" ... did you ever see the grips Bill Jorden used so his huge hands fit the gun?

[OldWin]

OldWin .. that makes sense. Everyone is different. There is no "one size fits all" ... did you ever see the grips Bill Jorden used so his huge hands fit the gun?

Yes sir! I've always threatened to try them. I think old Bills hands were bigger than mine overall, but I bet my reach was close to his. His hand just swallowed a K-frame. If I recall, he also held fairly high, as do I. On everything but single actions. A Super Blackhawk helps a bit with me. I've fitted SB grip frames to standard Blackhawks to help.
I always wished Colt went with the 1860 Army grip frame on the SAA. I always threatened to make the change on one of my Colts to try it, but never have.

[OldWin]

Oh! Pardon my rudeness!

Good shooting Scott!
I don't believe I could duplicate that with any of my SAAs. If I had to try, it would probably be with my 2nd gen .357. I think the extra weight helps mitigate my horrid trigger control.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I don’t know if I could do that again tomorrow. But I’m getting much better.

Here’s the funny thing….I used to shoot these SAAs low and to the left. Now they tend to shoot to the sights. But it took some concentration on the basics.

[OldWin]

I don’t know if I could do that again tomorrow. But I’m getting much better.

Here’s the funny thing….I used to shoot these SAAs low and to the left. Now they tend to shoot to the sights. But it took some concentration on the basics.

Yup. Me too. I seem to shade left without the utmost concentration. As soon as start to speed up or slack off, it comes back. As I discussed with Jim above, it's kind of a fit thing with me I'm pretty sure.
I sure love shooting them, though!

[Ray Newman]

Scot: goods shooting. I would also think your eyesight is still good. Again, good shooting and carry on.

[2ndovc]

I don’t know if I could do that again tomorrow. But I’m getting much better.

Here’s the funny thing….I used to shoot these SAAs low and to the left. Now they tend to shoot to the sights. But it took some concentration on the basics.

I tend to shoot high and left, no matter what I'm shooting if I don't pay attention. I shoot single actions, 1911s and K frames better than most other handguns. My hands aren't all that big, but I have long narrow fingers. I keep buying double stack .45 Autos, just think they're cool, and end up selling them to a friend of mine because I don't shoot them well. He's always excited when I get a new one because he knows he's going to end up with it. Funny part is, he's a skinny little dude, but he can shoot circles around me with those big pistols.

jb

[Walt]

Nice shooting, Scott!

I probably do my best shooting with single actions. I used to think of one of my Super Blackhawks with full power loads to be my most accurate handgun, second only to my High Standard Supermatic Trophy. I still do well with it.

Your silhouette appears to be about ready to lose its head.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Scot: goods shooting. I would also think your eyesight is still good. Again, good shooting and carry on.

My eyesight isn’t what it used to be. The eye doctor says that I have 20/20 vision. But I can tell a difference. At 60 I’m starting to notice issues.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Your silhouette appears to be about ready to lose its head.

I wish I had kept track of just how many rounds I have put on this piece of steel. It has held up very well and probably wouldn’t be cracked like this if the corners were cut on a radius instead of square.

I’ve shot it a lot with pistols rifles and shotguns. A .308 doesn’t seem to hurt it at all.

[Walt]

Scott, at 72, it's time for cataract surgery. I've always been very near-sighted and my left eye works only poorly. The best vision I've ever had in my better eye is 20/40 with a contact lens. My ophthalmologist (don't all doctors look like teenagers these days?) tells me he can bring me up to 20/20. I'm excited but apprehensive but I'm going through with it. Wish me luck.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I hope that works well for you Walt. These young doctors can do amazing things.

[.45colt]

Great post Scott ,That's Good Shooting. Walt; I wish You Luck with the surgery. I've been down the road with cataracts and had a tough time after the operation's. I'm the one in million who has had trouble after surgery but if I had been born a generation earlier I'd be blind now. Stay positive. !!

[Walt]

Thanks, Scott and 45 Colt.

Over the years I have tried to get better visual correction with implantable lenses and also lasix but I am essentially a one-eyed individual and they won't touch me for fear of blinding me completely if they fumble...

[Ysabel Kid]

OldWin .. that makes sense. Everyone is different. There is no "one size fits all" ... did you ever see the grips Bill Jorden used so his huge hands fit the gun?

I have a set of Jordan grips on my 629. I love them!

[samsi]

OldWin .. that makes sense. Everyone is different. There is no "one size fits all" ... did you ever see the grips Bill Jorden used so his huge hands fit the gun?

I have a set of Jordan grips on my 629. I love them!

I've handled a 29 with Herrett's Troopers, they felt pretty good though I didn't get to shoot it. I also have a set of the old plastic Pachmayr Jordans on a K frame and I like those a lot, except for the cheap plastic aspect of them. A friend of mine has a pantograph mill and I keep thinking that I'd like to find an N frame set to duplicate in micarta.

[AJMD429]

.
I am pretty much equally inaccurate with single, or double, action revolver’s. When the grip is really full, I do better, so I think it’s the long fingers thing like mentioned above.

Also, I never do well with Patridge sights, but if a handgun has a gold bead and notch, or better, yet a rear ghost ring, I can do much better. (… should’ve seen the poor gunsmith’s face when this 17-year-old kid brought in a brand-new 200 Anniversary Commemorative Super Blackhawk and asked him to take off the front sight and base and put on a gold bead and ramp to match the handmade rear ghost ring blade I had made for it… )

The funny thing is when I picked it up from the gunsmith he reminded me he hadn’t even bore-sighted it or anything. I was on the way home from college with a friend who was going to come to visit for the weekend who had never shot a gun. We went down to the river bottoms and I figured it wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t sighted in yet, because he just wanted to have the experience of shooting and we would shoot at the riverbank. However, we encountered a pack of feral dogs and I mostly just wanted to scare them away, but there were three of them so I took aim at one and let off a round at about 125 yards. I assumed the bullet would miss but the shot noise would scare them off. It wound up being a heart shot on one of them and it flopped over DRT. Of course, my friend was immediately convinced of the awesome power and accuracy of that gun and the fact that I must be some kind of expert shot. I didn’t know how to explain to him that the sights were probably 10 yards off…

[Griff]

At 15 I first had my eyes tested, 20/15 in both eyes. I'd never shot either rifle or handgun (except for the 22 gallery guns at the carnival), but knew I'd do ok. Entered the service and my eyes were again tested... still 20/15. Boot camp rifle training was with the M-1 and I shot a 299 score out of 300. The range master then took me and a couple other guys and we proceeded to the pistol range and introduction to the 1911. I don't remember that score, but enough to get me my Expert ribbon. When I joined the Sheriff's Department we were using a S&W 10, shooting +Ps. We shot the ASC first then a PPC course for qualifying. 60 rounds, 5 ring for a possible 300 score. I shot a 296 with 30 X's. By the end of the academy I was turning in targets scoring 300 with 30-36 Xs. After transitioning to the street, I could carry what I wanted off duty and I opted for the 1911. Although it was, by far, my favorite handgun, I seldom bettered a mid-290s score but still with 30-35 Xs. The one time I was dared by the Sheriff to qualify with my Colt SAA, I only shot a 275 score with 20 or so Xs. I know that rushing the emptying and reloading on the timed course pretty much destroyed any fine aiming I knew I was capable of... but qualifying with it was the goal, not a high score! Was still higher than 90% of the department with their duty guns, by this juncture mostly Glocks! I pretty much carried that scoring into my 50s, and my first glasses. I left the SO almost 20 years ago when I had to wear "readers" to read a driver's license. Nowadays, it seems to be a good day if I can just line up that fuzzy "U" shape at the back, with the fuzzy "stick thingie" at the front ;em on the fuzzy "dot" out there, I can still punch holes in paper or make steel ring! I'm sure it's just a matter of needing more practice!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

OldWin .. that makes sense. Everyone is different. There is no "one size fits all" ... did you ever see the grips Bill Jorden used so his huge hands fit the gun?

I have a set of Jordan grips on my 629. I love them!

I've handled a 29 with Herrett's Troopers, they felt pretty good though I didn't get to shoot it. I also have a set of the old plastic Pachmayr Jordans on a K frame and I like those a lot, except for the cheap plastic aspect of them. A friend of mine has a pantograph mill and I keep thinking that I'd like to find an N frame set to duplicate in micarta.

Micarta sounds pretty cool!

[Sixgun]

The best way to tell what you shoot best with is to get involved in handgun competition. It forces you to focus….(if you want to win) ….I’ve shot them all in competition and my best scores are always with an N frame Smith with target stocks. Next up was a Ruger Maximum with a Tyler grip adapter.

I have average hands but I like the fullness of the target stocks……on smaller framed guns or N frames with magna stocks I need a Tyler grip filler…….single actions are not target guns and were designed for gun fighting………well, I never have done any gun fighting except for cowboy action but if I was allowed to use a double action for cowboy action I would double action each shot and probably cut my score down by a third.

Once you get really good with one style it may take several hundred rounds to get as good with another style and that’s only if you previously reached excellent status with that style…….it all muscle memory.

I’m not good with a semi auto (1911’s is mostly all I use in semi auto form) but have never practiced extensively and continuously with one. “Good” is defined by how well you do best with your most practiced gun….maybe 6” offhand at 50 yards for one guy and 2 feet at 25 yards by another using a sandbag rest. I like “beer can accurate” at 100 meters…..or a 6” plate at the same distance.

And then there’s short range combat “minute of torso” shooting……I’m guessing speed is more important that a 2” group at that distance.
I have no experience with that.

My very best scores come from an N frame 629 Smith with finger groove full sized grips as shown on the second from the front of these n frames.—-006

All 44 magnums except for the Triplelock Target in the front

[JimT]

The best way to tell what you shoot best with is to get involved in handgun competition. It forces you to focus…

That is for sure!

That was why I started in the Silhouette game and in Combat Matches and later in Cowboy Action. The sihouettes were shot with full power loads. In the combat stuff and in CAS I never used powder puff loads. I used standard velocity .45 Colts because I wanted to shoot under some stress, and I wanted to get consistent with the loads I carried.

[Sixgun]

Jim,
That’s what you and I have in common…we play real……I quit the cowboy action game after around 12 years because of what happened to it. I used a pair of NF Cots in 44 Spl with standard loads with a 250 Keith at 750-800 (6 Bulls.) and the same with my rifles…..and shotguns. I used handicap Remingtons because I didn’t want to “tap” a knockdown target

Then it all changed..guys started using those short 12ga., 2.8 gr.of Bullseye in a 38 Spl and the same with a Marlin cowboy rifle. Those guys used to claim, “you can miss fast enough to win” …well, after many years of trophies I started to lose so I gave it up. Won a few Regionals and Cowboy Convergences in the “modern class” because of the NF.s

Same thing with lever action silhouette. In the first two years I was near top dog at our club and I did the circuit throughout eastern and northern Pa at the Regionals and State Champs…..won a few there in the AAA class. USING ANTIQUE WINCHESTERS & MARLINS with cast bullet, untouched actions and trigger pulls…..THEN, the NRA allowed micrometer receiver sights, fiber optic front sights and the top dogs all had 4-6 OUNCE triggers where the rules star “any safe trigger”. So after many years of doing that, I quit it.

And then at every club there’s a clique. I started paying attention after several years why it was always the same people winning…..yes, they were good and one even won the Nationals……..but at their clubs upstate they ran the roster and I always wondered why they shot their first relays in the shade and last relays in the shade where mine always started and ended in the sun……they had it figured out perfect…..Then my buddy “Gunny” an ex Marine DI noticed they sometimes shot their animals out of sequence but counted them anyway but they would come flying up to me if my hip was touching the rail. One time I knocked the 14th out of 15 chickens in a row and the 14th landed in the dirt upright. This guy, a champion came flying up to me and hollared “that don’t count”!!!!!!! I said it sure does as it’s off the pedestal and he continued saying he was gonna report me if I counted it so I told him if he reported me on his lie I was gonna jam this 10 pound 1886 in 40-65 down his f throat…..I missed the 15th which was exactly his plan.

Just another reason why I’ve become to strongly dislike most people. After that they made sure I was on the last relay every time…so I quit that also. I don’t need them for nuttin. Any monies I won during side matches I gave to the target setters unlike them.

Ya know Jim, took me most of my life to figure this world is full of nasty people.

Well, so much for my rant……I could go on for hours but you get it…….you can do 10,000 things right and proper and as soon as you make a tiny mistake, all of those 10,000 good things you did get swept into the trash. Here at home, I make the rules with a large “KEEP OUT” sign at the end of the driveway.——006

[JimT]

My Sign:

11.christmas22b.JPG

[GunnyMack]

Good one Jim!
I like the one that says to the effect 'no more warnings shots due to the cost of ammo'

[Sixgun]

I like that Jim……..but, I bet you were always the same before you had those “excuses”.

Looks like me and you have the same life……not much to do. . We’ve had about 2 weeks of on again off again rain and while the sun is shining I can see black clouds coming.

Gotta get myself into something…..got a little nitro left and most people around here are at work."…mmmm……..fun time!

[Blaine]

Trigger Control is the key.
As a kid in the 60s I shot thousands upon thousands of BBs and pellets in the basement range I set up. I got real good at it. Real good. If you can master the trigger on a cheap-azz Crosman or Daisy air rifle or handgun, you will easily do well on The Real Thing. Muscle memory is why.
When I got to basic training at age 20, shooting was about the only thing that the DI gave me max credit for.

[Walt]

Six, beautiful picture of your guns and an awesome TripleLock. Is your 629 Classic a 5 or a 6"? I have a 5" and it shoots very well.

[Sixgun]

Six, beautiful picture of your guns and an awesome TripleLock. Is your 629 Classic a 5 or a 6"? I have a 5" and it shoots very well.

Thanks Walt…it’s a 6” and with perfect tolerances……431 throats and a .430 groove diameter….won more than a few matches with it and killed 2 bucks……..back when I used to hunt…..

Same with that Triplelock….beer can accurate to 100 meters easily. It was originally bought by Captain Nathaniel Herreshoff fame, the builder of yachts for Americas Cup in R. I.——006. Didn’t know it when I bought it as that info came from a factory letter I sent for. The gun came into the giant funnel in the sky that drops em off at my doorstep on foam padding. At the top of the funnel I have a sign, “Only Nice Guns”.——