Revolver shooting

Any advice or tips for someone who want to shoot bullseye with a revolver. I've been shooting bullseye with a .22 for a few years now a want to start shooting center fire. I have a .45 but always loved revolvers ever since I was a kid. I have a S&W 686 with a 4" barrel and will be shooting indoors at 50'

I shot all-revolvers in my first ever 2700 match, and one of the old guys there told me "Crankin' and yankin', eh? You'll always have time to cock the hammer!" - I took that to mean that settling in to aim after cocking the hammer will be the most time consuming part of the routine, especially in rapid fire. I had been shooting a .22 indoor league for a year or two with a S&W Model 617, so centerfire (with a 686) and .45 (with a 625) weren't that different with wheelguns.

It took me three years to make Master, indoor and outdoor, with wheelguns. With dedication and practice, it can be done.

The best tip I can give you is to tell who ever is calling the line that you are shooting a revolver. If you have shot BE with a 22 revolver then you know that some of the guys calling the line can rush things a bit and it can be un-nerving at best. Other that that a good set of grips that fit your hand( Ropers, Jordon Troopers, stock grips, etc.) and practice,practice,practice

Virgil Kane wrote:The best tip I can give you is to tell who ever is calling the line that you are shooting a revolver. If you have shot BE with a 22 revolver then you know that some of the guys calling the line can rush things a bit and it can be un-nerving at best.

Excellent advice. Feeling rushed while loading a revolver can be mitigated with proper staging of ammo - use a loading block (like the plastic tray that comes in a box of 9mm ammo) to stage the ammo for the next string of fire, or you can just use your plastic reloading ammo box. When loading a revolver, most of the time is spent moving your hand back and forth between the bench and the gun, so picking up two or three rounds at a time speeds things up a bit. Or you can use a speedloader.

It's good to let the RO know you might need a few seconds more when loading, but with practice you can be loaded, cylinder closed, and ready to go right with the semi-auto guys (I found that I was often ready to go before many semi-auto guys were ready when I was shooting wheelguns).

When I have used a revolver, I like a safariland loading block and comp-iii speedloaders. I had no trouble keeping up. In fact, you may be faster.

I would love to shoot my Ruger Super Single Six, but the cylinder doesn't pop out, it has a loading gate, and I cannot figure a way to load it fast enough for the timed and rapid rounds.

I shoot a single action occasionally....you just have to be smooth & communicate with the range officer.

Even at smaller matches, if we know there is a single six shooter on the line, after the command to load, we wait until the wheel gun shooter has finished before asking if the line is ready.

Bullseye10X wrote:I would love to shoot my Ruger Super Single Six, but the cylinder doesn't pop out, it has a loading gate, and I cannot figure a way to load it fast enough for the timed and rapid rounds.

The Single Six cylinder hole pattern is about the same as that of a S&W K-frame .22 (Model 17 and Model 18...and the very rare Model 45), so an HKS 22-K speedloader will work, as will the modern crop of SpeedBeez/DS-10-SPEED speedloaders that retain rounds with a spring and 'punch' the rounds into the chambers.

I've actually used a few HKS 22-K speedloaders with my Single Six for league Bullseye shooting: I would eject the spent cases normally with the ejector rod, then pull the base pin and pop the cylinder out of the frame. I'd hold the cylinder and the rest of the gun in one hand, and a speedloader with 5 rounds in the other hand. Upon the command to "Load!", I'd use the speedloader to charge the chambers, then put the cylinder back in the frame, taking care to keep the empty chamber at twelve o'clock under the hammer, and then reinsert the base pin and close the loading gate. With practice, I was loaded and ready to go in a fairly timely manner, usually before the "Is the line ready?" command was issued.

Technically, a loaded cylinder is considered a loaded gun, as the rules make no distinction as to where the cylinder is in relation to the rest of the gun, so technically I am not allowed to put rounds in the cylinder before the Load command is issued, even if the cylinder is removed from the frame entirely. One RO I've talked to said he'd make an exception for single action revolvers, however.

You can also use a .22 magazine to thumb rounds into the cylinder (I've done that before, too).

Rvlvrlvr said... 

rvlvrlvr wrote:The Single Six cylinder hole pattern is about the same as that of a S&W K-frame .22 (Model 17 and Model 18...and the very rare Model 45), so an HKS 22-K speedloader will work, as will the modern crop of SpeedBeez/DS-10-SPEED speedloaders that retain rounds with a spring and 'punch' the rounds into the chambers.

Thanks!  I will definitely look into this.  I've been trying with the cartridges loaded into a large milk shake straw allowing them to drop into the cylinder as it's being rotated.  I never thought that taking the cylinder out completely would be faster.  Thanks for the tips!

For a revolver, just get practiced at loading out of a loading block with rows of five set for easy grabbing.

I was under the impression that you could load the cylinder before the command to load was given, you just could not close it (swing our cylinder) before the command.  The cylinder was like an auto's magazine and was not considered loaded until it was closed.

Reed Van Ness

Two-Bit Charlie wrote:I was under the impression that you could load the cylinder before the command to load was given, you just could not close it (swing our cylinder) before the command.  The cylinder was like an auto's magazine and was not considered loaded until it was closed.

Reed Van Ness

Nope - revolvers may not have rounds in the cylinder, and semi-autos may not have magazines inserted until the command to "LOAD" has been given. Take a look at Rules 10.1.2 and 10.1.3 in the rulebook:

10.1.2 Pistols Unloaded - Pistols will not be loaded until the competitor has taken position at the firing point the pistols pointed toward the targets and the command “LOAD” has been given.
10.1.3 Loaded Pistols - A pistol or revolver that has a cartridge in the cylinder or in a magazine which has been inserted shall be considered as being loaded. No pistol will be loaded until competitor has taken the assigned place at the firing point and the command “LOAD” has been given by the range officer. Loaded pistols shall be pointed in the direction of the targets at all times.

On a related note: I see even very experienced (and generally older) Bullseye competitors inserting or partially inserting magazines well before the LOAD command is given, so all they need to do then is close the slide and chamber a round. Presumably this is to "save time" but there is plenty of time allowed anyways, and these competitors are in violation of rules 10.1.2 and 10.1.3, and technically they can be disqualified or even ejected from the match for doing it. As much as I've tried to remind them of this when it's my turn to run the range at our league night, old habits die hard it seems.

I would argue that the key part of 10.1.3 is "which has been inserted" means that the rounds can be in a cylinder which has NOT been inserted.

Of course because of the ambiguity, it would be wise to check with the match director or line officer before the match starts.

Rob Kovach wrote:I would argue that the key part of 10.1.3 is "which has been inserted" means that the rounds can be in a cylinder which has NOT been inserted.

Of course because of the ambiguity, it would be wise to check with the match director or line officer before the match starts.

I believe "which has been inserted" applies to magazines -- with a cartridge in the magazine -- that have been inserted into a semi-auto pistol. The first half of that sentence, which reads "revolver that has a cartridge in the cylinder" means that if a round is inserted in the cylinder regardless of whether the cylinder is in the frame of the firearm, then the firearm is considered to be loaded.

Edit: the point I'm getting at in my interpretation is that from either having inserted the loaded magazine, or having rounds in the cylinder (even swung out), the firearm is just one step away from being ready to fire (either by cycling the action to chamber a round in a semi-auto, or closing the cylinder in a revolver). If the cylinder has no cartridges, or if the magazine has not been inserted, then it takes more effort to make the gun ready to fire.

In the context of a single-action revolver and my earlier attempts to remove the cylinder from the frame entirely for loading, it's probably a moot point (as getting the cylinder back in the frame is a pretty complex action and takes even more effort to make the gun ready to fire). The rules were probably not written with single-action revolvers in mind, but in order to comply with the rules as written, I believe it is necessary to refrain from loading the cylinder (even if the cylinder has been removed from the frame entirely) until the command to "Load" is given.