Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns You guys have been doing it wrong

Funny how thinking on that subject has so changed over the years.

Originally, you weren't even meant to use the sights when firing double action. In fact, pre-war S&W hammers were designed such that the spur actually blocked out a view of the sights, since they never thought anyone would ever try to use the sights when firing double action. Double action was thought to be a last ditch, bad breath distance, measure, for when the attacker is already on top of you, or nearly so. That way of thinking about double action shooting only changed with the influence of Ed McGivern, after he published his book Fast And Fancy Revolver Shooting (1938). Even he, though, never put more than one hand on a handgun while shooting.

McGivern, Jordan and a few others seem to have been born with a magic mix of reflexes and hand/eye coordination that the other 98.8% of us didn't get. I fooled with point shooting quite a bit as a kid, got just OK at it. I think it has its place but for most of us, that place is powder burn distance.

In no situation can I imagine testifying in court, as the defendant in a homicide case where I am presenting self-defense as the reason I had to shoot the deceased, that I didn't use the sights on the gun I shot the deceased with...unless it was truly as Sarge noted, at powder burn distance, or even better, a muzzle pushed into the deceased's body and pulling the trigger until the deceased stopped the behavior that was threatening my life.

you should have some fun instinctive shooting a 4" barreled Colt 357 mag from an old coat pocket, you'll of course chitcan the coat, but, surprisingly accurate from a few feet away, BTW, you'll lose hair on your hand you didn't even know was there ; )