[58duck]

. . . retracted . . . musta been a dumb question . . .

[Chup]

There are no dumb questions. I would help if I thought I could.

[RetailNinjitsu]

Originally Posted by 58duck

. . . retracted . . . musta been a dumb question . . .

No such thing. There is an incredible wealth of knowledge here. Ask away!

[bac1023]

Originally Posted by Chup

There are no dumb questions. I would help if I thought I could.

Originally Posted by RetailNinjitsu

No such thing. There is an incredible wealth of knowledge here. Ask away!

What they said

[58duck]

okay . . . .

i started hand gun shooting last March with semi-auto's. mid-summer i acquired a Taurus 66 - a .357 double-action revolver with a 6" barrel. i like the gun, and it shoots fairly well for me.

i know that there are numerous modifications that can be made to semi-auto's, but is there any thing that can be done to improve revolvers ??
my goal is to use this gun in some NRA style bullseye competitions this coming summer - slow fire, timed fire and rapid fire. currently, i plan on shooting .38 Spcl wadcutter reloads for these matches, unless i'm steered into a different direction.

even tho' the gun is a double-action, most of the shooting i've done so far has been single-action.

any suggestions and/or advice is appreciated.

thank you

[Chup]

Revolvers are my favorite. I have had a lot of them. I am no pro and never shot any competition. The main thing I do to all my Revolvers is Dry Fire the snot out of them. I do at least 2000 dry fires before I ever shoot the gun. I also degrees and lube the action several times during this posses. This makes the action smooth and easier to shoot accurate. After range sessions I still dry fire my guns. A few of them are so smooth you would think they had Gunsmith trigger work.

[Butch]

I've shot competitive bullseye with a revolver ever since I started doing so in the Army in 1974. This is the gun I've done it with since I got out of the Army in 1975:


The gun is a S&W Model 14 (K38) with a Bo-Mar rib mounted on top. I shot it with the iron sights until about ten years ago when I screwed the short scope base onto the rib and mounted an Aimpoint dot sight (a great thing for aging eyes).

The three things to consider changing on a revolver are:
1. Grips
2. Sights
3. Trigger

1. Grips need to fit your hand, and they need to fit in such a way that you can thumb cock the guns hammer without loosing your grip.

A lot of people buy or make target stocks like these Herretts:

I don't know if you can find any to buy for your Taurus.

2. Iron sights for bullseye really need to be plain black and adjustable. Again, what might be available for the Taurus, I have no idea. Unfortunately Bo-Mar, the maker of the rib and sights on my gun, is no longer in business.

3. The single action trigger pull, according to the rules, has to be at least 2.5 pounds. And it's important that the trigger break be crisp and clean, preferably with a positive overtravel stop.

The hollow based wad cutter ammo is the exact ammo to use, nothing does better. The pics below show the HBWC between two solid wad cutter bullets, one cast lead, the other plated.




MOST IMPORTANT! Use a six o'clock hold! Trying to hold in the center of a bullseye target with iron sights is simply not consistent, which equates to 'not accurate'.

[58duck]

Butch - thank you very much.

i was about to order double-end wad cutters, thinking they would track better going down-range. i'll change to hollow base.

yep - i thought part of my problem was because i was NOT using the six-o'clock hold - i'll make that change/adjustment also.

i wasn't sure if i could dry-fire the taurus. the grip is okay, but sometimes in the summer the perspiration makes it a little slippery because the grip is wood. i may have to look for some type of rubber grip to get for it.
i can cock the hammer okay with out losing my grip, but the real challenge is to do it during rapid fire while still maintaining accuracy . . .

i wasn't sure if triggers could be worked or polished or smoothed up, like you can do for the semi-auto's.

thanks again,
duck

[PzGren]

58Duck,

Butch has pointed you already in the right direction but I have a site that I can recommend, for the beginner and advanced competitor, as well.

http://www.bullseyepistol.com/

There is another thing to keep in mind, most forcing cones on .357 Mag revolvers are cut at an angle to be for jacketed bullets and you may have an ever so slight loss of accuracy. The bullet shape might even take a back seat in the variables that influence accuracy.

Butch's M14 is a perfect gun for bullseye. I have used an M14-2 in my days.

You can probably lighten your single action trigger pull by installing a Wolff reduced power spring set and do an action job, or have it done.

[ZekerMan]

Get some snap caps for your dry firing. Good luck!!