[Jeff Higgins]

I hear complaints about how difficult it is to load and shoot the old single actions all the time. What I have found, however, is that they force one to slow down and actually learn to shoot. Anyone can feed ammo through a gun and make it go "bang". Not many can really shoot, especially with the handgun.

It still amazes me how many folks I see at the range, or in the gravel pit, who have shot for years (or all of their lives) who still cannot shoot. Yeah, they can stuff magazine after magazine into their pistols (or black rifles) and create mounds of empty brass, but they still can't shoot. What they lack in accuracy, they try to make up for in sheer volume.

Maybe if they slowed down a bit, they would actually learn something. A single action is great for that - you have a lot more effort invested in those six shots, so you want to make them count. Your grip will shift when cocking it (or under recoil in the bigger calibers), so you have to pay attention to it. You have to load and unload one round at a time, so you become loathe to waste one. Most single action men that I know are far better shots than your average handgunner, and most will tell you it is because they learned on, and mastered, the single action.