Ok, I've been doing this regular shooting and this blog thing (and they about coincided in time) for 400,000 hits and 4 and a half years... Let's do some introspection. Specifically on Tam's advice, "Carry a gun that works. Carry the gun you trust and that you shoot best," as it applies to me and pistols. What do I have, what do I shoot best.
I have 3 'real' pistols. A revolver (more than one, but let's concentrate on the snubbie over the bigger 686. I shoot them about the same DA) that predates the blog that I got because I knew how a revolver operated. A 1911 I got because of Jeff Cooper and because it is a 1911. And the Sig P229 that I picked up after trying Chuckle's.
I shoot the revolver ok, actually. VERY good at single action, but that's not what I'd use in a CCW situation. I don't know why. My trigger habit is to commit to the pull through and do so with authoirty when ready to shoot and this dovetails well with my admittedly poor natural trigger pull habits otherwise. I came to this realization over time.
The Sig I shoot ok. Maybe a little bit better than the revolver, but nothing like I shoot SA stuff when I am 'on'. I bought because I DID shoot it as well as a SA gun the first time I got my hands on a borrowed one. So you can see why I wanted it. Double Action Kellerman and a an over fat grip, but I shoot it nigh perfectly? I'll get beyond the negatives to carry a gun like that. But the initial performance was beginner's luck. I hadn't figured the trigger at the beginning and now I know it so it doesn't surprise me as much and the groups opened up. So, with a drop off in my performance with it (still decent) it's negatives came back to the fore. If I had a time machine I'd go back and tell myself not to bother.
The 1911 I shoot horribly. When I concentrate and really feather in that trigger pull and surprise myself I am pleased with the results, but I am no where near consistent. When that good kind of trigger pull gets more consistent and natural, then I will be a "nothing but" 1911 type dude. But will that happen? We shall see. I am getting better. No quantum leaps in performance, which I'd prefer, but it wishes were horses... Improvement are attributed to effort and practice working on the trigger pull.
And that is also the current order I select for carry. Primarily the snubbie, the Sig when wardrobe permits sometimes, and the 1911 on the horizon. I am still not equippend with a holster for the 1911 that I really like, but I'm in less of a hurry to correct that.
Invest in a Basic Pistol and Advanced Defensive pistol course, you'll be amazed how quickly your shooting improve's. Few of us are natural shooter's, instead most of us have to work at improving skill set's.
ReplyDelete"Invest in a Basic Pistol and Advanced Defensive pistol course"
ReplyDeleteDone that. Looking now at the next step in training.
Just looked at Bill Jordan's "No Second Place Winner." On page 91, he says the following: "The only dependable way to learn to shoot a handgun is to start with deliberate, aimed, single-action fire at a bull's-eye target until the fundamentals of trigger squeeze and sight alignment are throughly mastered. Only then should the shooter concern himself with fast double action shooting......Double Action Shooting, with its long trigger movement and 15-20 pound pull is infinitely more difficult than single action where a 3 pound pull will trip the trigger with no perceptible movement."
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think I'm going to put the 6" barrel on the Dan Wesson, get some .38 Wadcutter, and go back to basics.
I wish I shot any SA 1911 as well as I shot my SA SW686.
ReplyDeleteWell, I take that back. One of OldNFO's 1911s performed similarly for me...