DA practice for better SA control

[Duane Thomas]

Oh yeah. Back when I was doing a lot of shooting with the DA/SA SIG P228, it occurred to me that, yes, this is the most difficult type of trigger action to master. With either a straight DA or straight SA gun, you only have to master one type of trigger control. With the DA/SA auto you've got to master THREE things: DA shooting for the first shot, SA shooting for all subsequent shots, and you've got to know how to instantly transition between the two between the first and second shots. Once you've mastered the DA/SA auto, by contrast anything else is easy.

[Alan550]

So far as needing one in the nick of time, I've seen matches where you had to pick up a "mystery gun" in the middle of a stage and shoot it, not knowing beforehand what it was.  After shooting a 9mm, it's a real trip to pick up a 4" .357 Mag with full power loads in the middle of shooting!  Helps to know what that trigger feels like from previous experience instead of having a totally new "experience" in the middle of a match.

[George D]

---

Quote: from Duane Thomas on 9:50 am on May 12, 2002

I'm a firm believer that practicing with a DA revolver will make you a better SA auto pistol shooter.

---

I found the entire post from which this quote was taken, made by DT, to be very informative, and a question comes to mind. If a shooter owns and shoots both a DA revolver and a SA Auto pistol, is it better to dry-fire practice (other than for index) with both or just the DA revolver??

(Edited by George D at 12:35 pm on Jan. 4, 2003)

[Duane Thomas]

"I've seen matches where you had to pick up a "mystery gun" in the middle of a stage and shoot it"

I'm shooting tomorrow the Shelton IPSC club's annual "Low Light/No Light" match. It's always cool. This year we're going to have a stage where the only illumination is a strobe, a stage where the only illumination is a police car light bar, a stage where the shooting position is illuminiated but not the targets, a stage where the targets are illuminated but not the shooting position, a stage shot in darkness where the targets are painted with glow-in-the-dark paint. And we have one 16-round stage where you start with 12 rounds for your match gun on your body; before the stage is done you'll have emptied the main gun and you have to pick up and finish the stage with a big ol' Smith & Wesson M624 .44 Special revolver. And yes, there will be steel. No misses! You've got 18 rounds to make 16 hits.

The guy whose only experience is shooting a single action auto pistol is probably gonna be sucking wind on this one.

[Duane Thomas]

"If a shooter owns and shoots both a DA revolver and a SA Auto pistol, is it better to dry-fire practice (other than for index) with both or just the DA revolver??"

This is just my opinion - it didn't come down from Mount Sinai carved into stone tablets or anything - but I think the greatest advantage would be to dedicate yourself to the DA revolver for awhile. Give the SA auto a rest. Shoot the DA revolver to the point its trigger operation becomes second nature. Then switch back to the SA auto and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised, and gratified.

[George D]

Thanks Duane, LOL re Mt Sinai.