Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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Exactly correct Jeff.
I have taught shooting to hundreds of people in civilian life and thousands in the military. It is always the same. Any semi-auto weapon will cause the vast majority of people to shoot poorly, due to the fact that people are inherently impatient and will resort to rapid fire (and it is fun!).
I usually tell people to practice no more than 30 minutes with handgun because muscles are not developed to hold a 1 - 3 pound piece of metal at arm’s length for any longer period of time. Fatigue sets in and accuracy drops (and then the rapid fire starts).
Practice should consist of making each shot count. Each shot being a totally separate event with every step taken with the care like it is the only shot you will have.
Also dry firing with a dime balanced on the barrel (if round) or front sight is fantastic to develop a proper trigger pull (if it is a square barrel use a nickel balanced on edge). Practice 30 minutes each day for a month and most people will see a dramatic improvement in their shooting.
Few people follow this advice.
It doesn't matter what kind of handgun shooting you want to do. The above practice will improve every genre of handgun use. Including the fast work. To be truly fast, you need to be smooth first.