ter548
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 41 
|
Post by ter548 on Aug 30, 2016 12:07:27 GMT -5
After buying a S&W 686 plus for conceal carry, i have been doing a lot of practice at double action. Continue to get better at shooting double action and getting pretty good. Of course the excellent 686 and trigger spring kit has a lot to do with it. Started to wonder if anyone is confident enough to hunt and shoot at game double action instead of single action. Don't remember ever seeing this topic discussed so i will start it here. Anyone out there shoot at game using double action. Anybody actually shoot game double action. Don't know if i could do it.
|
|
woody
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,116
|
Post by woody on Aug 30, 2016 12:14:13 GMT -5
I never have. Don't see a reason to. It's just as easy to cock the hammer then shoot.
|
|
|
|
Post by bradshaw on Aug 30, 2016 13:42:13 GMT -5
After buying a S&W 686 plus for conceal carry, i have been doing a lot of practice at double action. Continue to get better at shooting double action and getting pretty good. Of course the excellent 686 and trigger spring kit has a lot to do with it. Started to wonder if anyone is confident enough to hunt and shoot at game double action instead of single action. Don't remember ever seeing this topic discussed so i will start it here. Anyone out there shoot at game using double action. Anybody actually shoot game double action. Don't know if i could do it. *** It can be done, but why? The fine double action on a correct S&W is complimented by a clean single action. A double action hunting revolver is set up every bit as reliable as the revolver you bet your life on. No difference. It must work under adversity. The target on a game animal varies somewhere between a nickel and your fist. Massod Ayoob says he has taken deer double action, and I believe him. This shooter has done it on standing deer. But I never tried it while tracking, where, often as not, the gun jumps from leather to sight alignment on a deer making for the exit before the theatre burns down. Tracking a deer in snow, the moment of truth comes quick. You practice for this, cocking the hammer with the thumb of the gun hand----not the weak hand----in the flash between clearing leather and sight alignment. If you must try it, consider this little test: Set five silhouette chickens on the rail at 50 meters (or yards). Shoot them double action, one shot per target. A score of 2x5 positions you to play. But before you head for the hills, try the same bank of targets single action. Whichever way you shoot best, bank that technique. Accurate double action fire requires dedicated practice, plenty of it. Squeezing trigger straight back while sights implant target. Releasing trigger with same smoothness as the squeeze----while sights implant target. A presentation afield is unlikely to repeat. For this reason and the acuity required in handgun hunting, single action has the edge. David Bradshaw |
|
|
|
Post by magnumwheelman on Aug 30, 2016 15:31:00 GMT -5
my 6" 610 would be easy to use, after going back to S&W 4 times for a different issue ( each time they futzed with the trigger ) it's now probably the best double action trigger I own... now chambered in 10 mm Magnum, it would make a fine hunting revolver... that said... I'd most likely still "hunt" using single action... but if something were close enough, that I didn't want the extra noise of cocking it, I could be confident it would do it's job in double action  |
|
|
|
Post by sixshot on Aug 30, 2016 20:21:49 GMT -5
I've never shot any big game double action, never had a need to but I've shot a lot of small game double action. Mostly it's been ground squirrels & jackrabbits, nothing is more fun than shooting at big jacks in the snow, yippee!
Speaking of springs, in all the years I shot competition we never, ever changed a spring, my son just worked his magic on the actions of my 625's & 610's & I did very well, mostly with the 610's.
After shooting 86.000 rounds in 2 years, all double action you get pretty good at hitting what you're shooting at, whether its moving or turning. A short time back Fermin (who ever he is) mentioned being so focused on that front sight during a stressful situation he felt like he could see the whiskers on the guys face "or something like that" not putting words in his mouth.
Anyway, that's exactly how it is when you are so tuned to your gun, sights & trigger. Several years back when the eyes were really good, my reflexes were extremely fast & I had pounded all those rounds down the tube on my way to #1 nationally in "A" class revolver, USPSA we were setting up a new drop turning target we had just bought from MGM targets. All we had so far was the stand, it was a piece of angle iron that had to pieces of tubing welded onto it that would hold 2 stakes so you could put a disappearing target on it. You would shoot another target that would activate these new target stands.
Once we had it set up we put the pin in & it was connected to a steel popper several feet away & I backed off to give it a test run. No target or stakes, just the stand. I drew my 610 revolver & knocked down the steel popper double action, it pulled the pin on the drop turner base & without even thinking when that base turned I shot one of those brand new legs double action. I could see it as easy as a double cheese burger & a Huckleberry milk shake, I could have hit it 90% of the time even turning like it did. Double action is very hard to master but 86,000 rounds in 2 years can do wonders for your shooting.
Dick
|
|
|
|
Post by AxeHandle on Aug 30, 2016 20:44:09 GMT -5
Double action revolver shooting is definitely a specialized skill. Back before Jim Collins the PPC Shooters would shoot their 50 yard stuff single action. Collins stood the PPC community on it's ear by shooting the entire course double action and not only winning national championships but also shooting 1500/1500 while winning. FWIW IMHO sharpening your DA revolver skill will make you a better shooter with ALL triggers.
|
|
|
|
Post by alukban on Aug 31, 2016 11:28:33 GMT -5
...sharpening your DA revolver skill will make you a better shooter with ALL triggers. I have found this to be absolutely true. |
|
ter548
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 41
|
Post by ter548 on Aug 31, 2016 12:36:53 GMT -5
...sharpening your DA revolver skill will make you a better shooter with ALL triggers. I have found this to be absolutely true. Never gave it a thought that double action could help your single action shooting, but i can now see how it would. Plan to continue my practice and will include my 629 and GP100 revolvers. Shot at my 10" steel at 50 yds. with the 686 slow double action and hit all seven shots with a medium handload. |
|
|
|
Post by sixshot on Aug 31, 2016 13:07:29 GMT -5
You get where you can "prep" or load the trigger until just before it breaks & do it very fast. 12 gauge shot gun shells at 15 feet are easy & fast with a good double action trigger. Pull that trigger straight back into the fork of your thumb & trigger finger & do not lose that front sight, everyone see's it on the first shot, the good shooters see it every shot. Even at warp speed.
Dick
|
|
|
|
Post by whitworth on Sept 1, 2016 8:22:05 GMT -5
I have killed a truckload of game with double-action revolvers. That said, I have never shot double-action at a head of game. I have to repeat David Bradshaw's question: Why?
That said, knock yourself out!
|
|
|
|
Post by shortbarrel on Sept 1, 2016 9:29:21 GMT -5
I have shot mostly single action with double action revolvers,all my life so I always shoot single when hunting.I have shot a couple mountain lions double action but that was real close,fighting the dogs on the ground,so not a normal hunting situation.One of those was a S+W 940,so,not much choice there.
|
|
