Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns DA accuracy

I've pretty much always been a semi-auto guy when it come to personal defense but I decided to bring my S&W 629 44mag along yesterday to shoot some steel. I can hit well with it shooting single-action at small steel rounds but when I switch to DA, my hit rate went WAY down. At first I thought it was a recoil issue but when I slowed down, I was still having issues from the DA trigger pull. Do I just need a tighter grip or is there a different/better grip fir DA shooting vs the traditional grip I use for semi-autos?

Mastering a revolver in double action mode takes some practice. First, you need grips (or stocks, as S&W calls them) that fit you well. Second, you need lots of practice. Third, I highly recommend a trigger job, which can be nothing more than replacing your stock trigger rebound slide spring with a 14# spring to lighten you double action pull. And lastly, did I mention lots of practice?

Don

You might pick up some tips from this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEHNZFTfSD8

DA shooting is just a different animal. As stated, good fitting grips is a HUGE help, as is a smooth action. But the biggest boost you'll get is dry firing at home. Balance a penny on your front sight, then start your DA pull...yeah, it's beotch to not knock the penny off but with much practice you'll get there. Start by focusing like a laser beam on your front sight, trying to pick up ANY movement during your DA stroke. Then move on to the penny thing when you can no longer detect any front sight movement while doing a DA pull.

You'll have to strengthen your trigger finger, and that comes with DA dry fire practice.

As for grip, I find it best when my strong hand has a medium grip on the gun, but my support hand has a vise grip on the gun. Squeeze with your support hand until you see the front sight start to wiggle, then back off a little; there's your grip.

Awww, what does Jerry Miculek know about DA shooting?

Try staging the trigger break. Pull the trigger until just shy of firing, then squeeze off the shot. I find firing DA with a staged break is as accurate and for me more accurate than firing SA.

It takes time to master it. Make sure you're doing it right, according to correct technique, then practice practice practice. Dry firing while holding the sights aligned on a small dot on the wall is crucial. Do that a hundred times a day, and soon you will be quite good. Also, balancing a quarter on the top of the top strap while you do it helps you get steady. Start out with dominant hand only, and only switch to two hand hold after you've become very good with one hand.

When you have a blister on your trigger finger from dry fire practice (use snap caps), you will likely be much better ... at least after it heals.

Buy the book Fast And Fancy Revolver Shooting, by Ed McGivern, too. Great book that contains a great program for developing this skill. The author didn't choose the title ... the publisher did, back in the day when they gave serous books silly sounding titles to appeal to mass audiences and thus boost sales.

PS One thing I remember from the book that helped a great deal was to focus on a controlled release of the trigger even more than you focus on the firing squeeze, i.e., make sure the sights stay aligned, and on the dot you put on the wall, through the release also.

Place a fired case on the barrel or frame where it's flat. Practice pulling the trigger through without dumping the case. Once you've mastered that then concentrate on sight alignment.

Well, there goes my chances of ever shooting DA. I would have to glue that empty case on with super glue. Nowadays, I shake like a gerbil in gay bar.

The 44, even the 44 Special in a 29, isnt the beginning for DA shooting.

Get a Smith 22 or 38 and make sure it has or gets a clean pull to your liking.

Practice with Snap Caps aligning the sights, then with the target.
Once you get used to the live fire recoil you can move up with power

Most dont ever shoot a 44 DA as well as a 22, 32 or 38. If Jerry does, I'd bet he'd agree its more difficult!

Nebraska,

Some helpful hints: Weaver stance, and don't worry about your sights wandering during the double action pull. The only time the sights have to be lined up is when the hammer falls. Learn to anticipate the hammer fall and lining up your sights at the precise moment of the completion of the double action pull.

Don

I am no pistolero, but this has helped me a lot. It gives me just a second to make sure the sights are aligned properly.

Some DA revolvers are easier to shoot DA than others. For me the two best are the Colt Python and Ruger Redhawk .. not the Super Redhawk, but the regular one. GP100s and Super Redhawks aren't too bad though. S&W triggers are just plain heavy, even tuned.

The thing that makes the Redhawk special is that single spring mechanism. Other than the Python, the conventional "two spring" guns have a pretty heavy DA pull or you're flirting with misfires. Offhand I can shoot a Redhawk better DA than SA.

The meanest, hardest little son of a bitch I ever shot was a Taurus snubby .38. That POS's trigger "reverse stacked" starting out very heavy and quickly getting lighter as the action cycled. It was near impossible to "catch" the hammer and control the drop, it was seemingly meant to just yank and pray.

I've been shooting single actions so long I generally instinctively thumb the hammer for the first shot then switch to DA mode. I figure somewhere up there Col. Cooper is laughing ... I shoot a revolving crunchenticker.

Tom

I have a .38 and a .357 Smith that are DAO. No single shot option. I had to shoot them a lot to get the whole thing down pat. Both have superb triggers though, and that helped.

Thanks for all the feedback. Also received some great info via PM so hopefully that will get posted as well. I'm going to pick up some snap caps for my 357 and 44 mag and have much higher hopes for future range sessions!!

Staging is improper technique, in my opinion. The pull should be straight through without hesitation.

I'll second Hawkeye, if you are practicing for anything more serious than range play forget the staging. A decisive pull, and you'll get that by wearing out those snap caps.

I've been good friends with DA revolvers since 1970 and shot a lot of PPC back in Olden Times. Staging seems like a good idea at first, and it can actually produce some improvement in scores early in a shooter's career. However it is poor technique and you will not see experts do it.

Staging slows you down. It doesn't work in gunfights. It also sets up the potential for an unintended discharge under stress. In addition, it encourages a trigger jerk during the final release because of the tendency to try to time the shot and fire when everything "looks right".

A proper DA trigger pull can best be described as a "trigger stroke" that is a constant movement of the trigger to the rear without stopping it, slowing it down or speeding it up. The stroke can be fast or slow, but it should be a constant speed. The shooter is not trying to fire the revolver. Instead, he is trying to keep the trigger moving while focusing on the front sight.

An often overlooked aspect of DA pull is the shooter's finger position on the trigger. I like narrow triggers for DA work, so that my finger can curl around the trigger. The old narrow S&W serrated "service" trigger is best for me. I need to contact the trigger just past the distal joint of my finger.

Too much or too little trigger finger on the trigger can be very problematic, because it changes the leverage you have. Every DA shooter should experiment to find the "sweet spot" of trigger finger contact that gives the best leverage and a straight back pull. And that sweet spot can be different from one shooter to the next because of differences in hand size and finger length.

The grips should be the best size and shape to allow the trigger finger ideal contact. For example, the old S&W "Magna" service grips are awful, but if you add a grip adapter, they become quite good for DA shooting. A very large grip that forces you to pull the trigger with the tip of your finger will often produce lateral dispersion of the shots on target.

A good DA shooter has probably dry fired his revolver at least 20,000 times. It builds the grip strength you need. Ball and dummy exercises (having someone else load the revolver with an unknown number of live rounds and empty cases) also work wonders.

Excellent shooting can be done using proper DA trigger control, but staging will not get you very far towards that goal.

^This.

The basic for DA-shooting is still the same as for SA-shooting.

Focus on the sights and squeeze!

Is't just that it's a longer and slightly heavier squeeze than with SA-shooting. Try to pull the trigger in one single, smooth stroke with a firm grip (not hard), don't rush it, speed comes later.
And remember... focus on the sights and squeeze.


Regards Mike