Using a Revolver for Dry Fire practice?

I shoot my 22s OK, and the 45 OK in SF, but really collapse in 45 RF (and TF to a lessor degree). Much of the issue seems to be the trigger pull on the 45 vs the GSP which I use for RF. (the 45 is a well set up STI with a trigger job by an excellent smith). I realize I need much more dry fire practice and was curious what the thoughts are re: using a revolver (in my case a S&W 357). 

The potential advantage of using the revolver is simplicity in that I don't have to keep cocking it for every shot.  The pull is much longer on the revolver, and using DA is a heavier pull. Is this good, bad, or indifferent? 

I did do a search, couldn't seem to find much on point.

Dry firing helps you with both trigger and grip and the repetition drills into your subconscious what a "good" trigger pull/grip feels like.  So I'd dry fire the gun I am competing with. 

- Dave

Dry fire with your 45.

I do practice some with the 45, my issue is repeated shots under time pressure.  Can't figure out how to practice that with my 45?

In all my years of doing this I have never been told or heard of anybody say if you want to improve your 45 rapid scores shoot a revolver. That doesn't make any sense to me. I guess there is probably some ace revolver shooter that is better with a revolver, but that is called an exception.
What I have heard is if you want to improve your 45 rapid shoot a lot of 10 second targets. At least shoot a 22 or 22 conversion on your 1911. I have heard of people starting with 3 rounds in 10 seconds and once getting all those in the black consistently for 5 targets in a row, then they move to 4 rounds in 10 seconds and so on.

robert84010 wrote:In all my years of doing this I have never been told or heard of anybody say if you want to improve your 45 rapid scores shoot a revolver. That doesn't make any sense to me. I guess there is probably some ace revolver shooter that is better with a revolver, but that is called an exception.
What I have heard is if you want to improve your 45 rapid shoot a lot of 10 second targets. At least shoot a 22 or 22 conversion on your 1911. I have heard of people starting with 3 rounds in 10 seconds and once getting all those in the black consistently for 5 targets in a row, then they move to 4 rounds in 10 seconds and so on.

+ 1 on 2 & 3 shot drills.  The more you dry fire the more your subconscious will take over that part of your shot process.  Then as you practice the 2 & 3 shot drills your subconscious will start taking the shot as you move into the black/10ring and you won't be snatching them.  If you can't get the first 2 or 3 in the black consistently then the rest are a "crap shoot"! 

- Dave

I understand what you are all saying about dry fire the 45 as that is the gun you compete with, but it was said last year in the advanced SAFS class that dry firing a double action revolver is a great tool for improving your sustained fire performance. Given where it came from, I give a lot of credence to the advice.

First shot within 1s and 2 within 3s is key to 45 rapid success. 

My coach had us train a lot of two shots in 3 seconds drills. In my opinion the key to this is knowing absolutely how much trigger pressure you have (you want about 75%) just before the target turns and then accepting that the first shot only needs to be in the black and therefore you don't  try and dress the sights up, you just squeeze with the sights you have at the turn. The sights and NPA to the black should be good since you had all that time before the turn to get everything aligned! After a bit you will be surprised how many of those, just accepting a shot in the black, turn into 10's and X's. It's because you are just squeezing with decent sights and not trying to make a perfect sight alignment and smashing on the trigger.  

This strategy aligns with the saying "don't ruin excellence chasing perfection." I don't know about you but i'll take a 100-0x over a 99-9x every time. I'm sure this last sentence will create much whaling and mashing of teeth since so many seem to think a sub 1 inch gun is needed. FAR, FAR, FAR more points are lost due to trigger control and mental errors before and during a string of fire than due to the accuracy of the pistol. Accepting this is half the battle.

try downloading an app to get the commands timing ingrained and learn to get 75% of final trigger pressure staged before the target turns and then breaking it within 1s while dry firing.

weber1b wrote:I understand what you are all saying about dry fire the 45 as that is the gun you compete with, but it was said last year in the advanced SAFS class that dry firing a double action revolver is a great tool for improving your sustained fire performance. Given where it came from, I give a lot of credence to the advice.

Advanced SAFS, Experts and above, you should have already cleaned a few sustained fire targets by then.  The fundamentals should be ingrained first, then it's a great way to hone the skill.  They also said an LP50 air pistol is one of the best training tools for rapid fire.

- Dave

dronning wrote:

weber1b wrote:I understand what you are all saying about dry fire the 45 as that is the gun you compete with, but it was said last year in the advanced SAFS class that dry firing a double action revolver is a great tool for improving your sustained fire performance. Given where it came from, I give a lot of credence to the advice.

Advanced SAFS, Experts and above, you should have already cleaned a few sustained fire targets by then.  The fundamentals should be ingrained first, then it's a great way to hone the skill.  They also said an LP50 air pistol is one of the best training tools for rapid fire.

- Dave

Compact or full size

Thx for the comments!  My coach has been telling me repeatedly since he started helping me that trigger control is number #1:P.  Robert, similar to what you mentioned, he tells me to start applying pressure to the trigger while recovering from the recoil.  The problem is that I shoot nearly every day with my target 22s, with much lighter triggers. Just really hard to adjust to the 45:(  During RF, and sometimes TF, I will shoot maybe 8-12" lower and left, compared to SF.

A couple events got me thinking about the revolver.  #1, based on numerous comments I read, i got a nice SSP air pistol a few months ago for shooting at home. It seems to have helped with the 22s.  Secondly, after nearly 20 years I drug out my S&W 357 a few days ago. This was in anticipation of, for grins, shooting the distinguished revolver match at the Arizona Mid Winter event next month.  Last Monday, for the 1st time in my life I actually tried to shoot it DA only  After a bit, I found that sometimes I could successfully pull the trigger maybe 3/4 of the way (where there seems to be a "dead spot") while recovering from the previous shot. Then it was more like shooting SA.  My thought was that practicing this might be a real help in mastering the 45 trigger. I guess assuming that good trigger control is transferrable gun to gun.

I will probably keep practicing with the Smith for a while in the theory it can't hurt.  Plus, it's a heck of a lot of fun:lol: