Revolver accuracy

[jonk]

Oxymoron I know.

So, I think with a little tinkering and new bullet, I may be on top of things with my musket; carbine I'm making steady progress in cutting my hit time, same with smoothbore. It's just the revolver that's eating at me now.

1863 Armi San Marco Remington New Army.

Had Eric Schuessler cut it for a dovetail and make and install a higher front sight. I drifted it for windage, then filed from a pistol rest until it was hitting dead on. And from a rest, using a .457 ball, 23 gr of 3f goex, and Mobil 1 synthetic grease, it will put every shot into about a 2" circle at 25 yards. So the gun can shoot.

When I go to shoot it one handed offhand though, well... let's just say that a result of 'not a single shot on paper' is not unheard of. And we're talking the sighter/scoring combo paper.

Now: it could well be me. But I can shoot my 1873 .45 colt at 25 yards one handed and at least keep them all on paper. It has a similar balance to it. So before I say 'it's just me' I wanted to ask if there's any other tricks you can suggest. And if it IS me, if you have any thoughts on what I might be doing? I know with one handed handgun shooting, in general, I have a tendency to break up and right, probably the result of too much trigger finger and/or squeezing the whole grip... but if that was the case, I should still (somewhere) on the cardboard backer, see *some*semblance of a group somewhere.

Any common issues for a gun that shoots well from a bench to check, or bad behaviors I should look for?

[Michael Bodner]

If the gun shoots from the bench, then you are correct in assuming that its the shooter.

Some common things to watch for:
1) Anticipating recoil. You can either be pulling up or pushing down on the gun in anticipation. Have a friend remove a cap from a nipple and hand you the gun. Shoot it normally. As long as you don't know which nipple has no cap, you'll see if your flinching.

2) Grip. These guns are sort of small for many hands. You might want to consider twisting your hand clockwise such that the wrist forms an angle to the forearm. This will allow you to place your thumb on the back of cylinder guard (or whatever the half-moon part of the frame on the left behind the cylinder is called) allowing you to counter-act any rotation of the gun that occurs while you're pulling the trigger.

3) Trigger over-travel is a big accuracy killer. You'll discover that once the trigger breaks, you will tend to twist the gun as your finger continues to move rearwards. This can be fixed by placing a stop behind the trigger. Test it with notepad cardboard and tape. Make it more permanent by soldering a brass rod through the trigger guard frame such that it can be filed to length to prevent trigger over-travel.

4) Stop looking to see where the bullet is going to impact!!!

5) Focus your eyes and your BRAIN on the front sight only (keep it even between the rear and even with the top) and slowly apply pressure to the trigger. You should be able to 'see' where the gun was last pointed when the shot breaks. If you don't have that in your brain, then you're doing it wrong. Concentrate on the front sight and trigger squeeze.

Remember - You have proven that the gun can do its job. Now work on getting your body and mind to do theres. Do NOT start chasing the gun all over the place to find out what is 'wrong'.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

-Mike

[Mike McDaniel]

Dry fire. Then dry fire some more. Focus on the sights as the shot is released. If the sights move, the shot would have gone wild. Adjust trigger finger position and pressure until the sights stop moving at shot release.

[efritz]

All good advice. One of the most important lessons for me was that every shot must be a surprise when it goes off. There is no drive by shooting with a revolver. The shorter the barrels (3 bander, two bander, carbine, revolver) get, the more hold and SQUEEEEEEEEZZZZZZE comes into play. I was told by a very good pistol shooter long ago that if your shaking in the black, it'll go in the black if you squeeze. Also a tight grip is important. If you feel yourself relaxing your grip, put the gun down and start over. And that goes for any shot. If you drift from your concentration, put the gun down.

23 grs. sounds like a lot of powder but if it's working I wouldn't advise changing it. Personally I shoot 14grs. of Swiss, 360 RB, in a Remington at 25yds and 14 grs. of Swiss, 460 RB in a Rogers and Spencer at 50yds. Your grip better be tighter than mine.

Good luck.

[Ron/The Old Reb]

There is only one way to be a good revolver or pistol shooter.
Practice, Practice, Practice, and when you think your as good as you can get Practice some more.

[Fred Jr]

That's what I was gonna say! A lot of the advice given is good stuff.

[Jim Barber]

Jon,

All good advice here. If you've done well with a big-ass Colt .45, though, a Remington-sized .44 ought to be a piece of cake by comparison. What's the trigger pull like on the Remington? Lighten that sucker up, I bet your groups will tighten as if by magic!

Cheers
Jim B.