Can you serve two masters well?

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showmebob

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What I would like to know is simply this. Can you shoot both a semi-auto pistol and a revolver well at every range session?
I can be reasonable with either/both if I shoot them at every session. If I shoot only one for several sessions my performance really improves with that particular one but my performance really suffers with the other at the next session until I get back up to speed.
Do you have a relearning/adjustment period or do you start where you left off?
 
Technically, you retain the mussle memory. However, the technics are a little different for trigger pull (different weights, different actions, different travel) it is not just from revolver to semi-auto, but between different semi-autos as well (1911 to strikers to SAO or DAO or SA/DAs). You should be able to get back in the grove within 10 to 20 shots.

Most of us have favorite guns to shoot and pretty much stick with them when we go shooting. Any others we bring with are just to keep our hand in incase we have to use them.

Just my opinion.
Jim
 
Can you shoot both a semi-auto pistol and a revolver well at every range session?
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Yes. Once you've sent enough meaningful ammo downrange, you will individually master each weapon, and the difference between your skills with them becomes negligible. Once you've passed that point of critical mass, your skills also decay much more slowly.

Don't forget: dry fire practice counts too, and is a lot easier on the wallet.
 
Yes. If you learn to shoot a DA revolver well everything else is easy. If you get away from a revolver for a little time you may still shoot semiautos well but will find you lost a bit of technique when you go back to a revolver.
 
Maybe I am more mortal than the rest, but I have a pretty tough time switching between triggers. For a moment or two yes, but after a significant amount of firing, when you begin to become fatigued, reflex takes over, and I find my finger naturally slipping to that first joint on the trigger regardless of action type. On revolvers that is fine, on my semi-autos, it degrades my accuracy.
 
Sheesh my poor trigger finger gets all confused as I shoot almost every type of gun I own each week. Pistols, revolvers, riffles and shotguns. Takes a little for everything to adapt to each change.
 
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What are you shooting and how long have you been shooting? What sort of problems do you have?

As others have said, it depends on the trigger. The DA trigger on many hammer fired pistols is (understandably) quite similar to a DA revolver. Firing a single action revolver and a 1911 would also be very similar. I have been caught by going from single action to double action on my P95.
 
Given that there are people who've made Master Class with both revolvers and semi-autos in IDPA and USPSA, yes, it is possible to be extremely proficient with both types of guns.

However, the relative rarity of such shooters shows that it takes a higher level of effort and self-discipline to achieve proficiency.
 
I was pleasantly surprised last week to find that my groups and control over both my firearms were very similar, and much improved from the last range session due to careful dry-fire practice. So for me, and my two, yeah, I use them both equally well.
 
I am an equally poor shot with all my pistols and revolvers. All I ever find on the target is a big ragged hole in the center--How am I ever going to score my individual hits!:D:D
 
Realistically, yes, you should be able to shoot anything well, with some experience. The fundamentals are almost always the same. Slow steady squeeze.... proper site alignment, site picture... breathing...

The fundamentals you learn in any basic marksmanship class apply to any firearm...

For example, today I went between my glock 19, AR-15... Boom-stick to blaster drills. And had approximately 2 "fliers" (not in the lethal zones).
 
Can you drive a standard and an automatic? Same situation. Different ways to do the same thing.

I am faster at short ranges with the semi-auto and just as accurate. I am more accurate at long ranges with the revolver due to the longer barrel, heaver firearm, and more powerful cartridge. Of course my slowest and most accurate handgun is a Thompson Contender with a 2X Leupold scope.
 
I've mastered both.

I edited this one after a second look. Wasn't as funny on screen as it was in my head.....
 
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Thanks to all for your interesting thoughts. Seems as though it's primarily an issue of how much one shoots. Thanks again........I'm off to the range with both.
 
I'd think the user's existing level of knowledge, familiarity, training, skill and experience would be factors, just like with using other equipment.

I can drive a car with an automatic transmission, one with a manual transmission and a motorcycle all on the same day and manage it. However, that wasn't the case until I'd grown skilled using all of them.

I usually take my J-frames and several semiauto pistols to the qual range at the same time, and my commonly used defensive pistols are comprised of at least 5 designs, some with individual variations. I've spent a lot of time becoming familiar with them and using them for training & practice over the years, though.

I also agree with the earlier comment that a well skilled user of double action revolvers can develop a solid foundation of handgun skills which can be used to learn and master other handguns.

I'd much rather transition a DA revolver shooter over to learning & using pistols than the other way around (and I've done both often enough as an instructor). I miss the days when cops were expected to learn how to shoot using a traditional DA revolver and a qual/training range might include 50 yards targets.
 
I shoot DA revolvers and DA/SA hammer fired pistols equally well with no particular adjustment period between the two types. I tend to push striker-fired pistols low of POA without a few rounds or even a couple of magazines to reacquaint me with the feel of the trigger.
 
My DA revolver, and my striker fire pistol, both have very similar trigger and sight radius.
Both shoot pretty much to the same POA, the manual of arms though, is very different, but I seem to be able to switch without much difficulty.
 
I shoot pistols to be accurate.

I shoot revolvers for fun.

That said, I realize it's hard to master all disciplines, so I pick and choose what matters most to me. Rifle and semi-auto pistol are my two focii when it comes to serious marksmanship (I'll be dissapointed if I get a group larger than 2" at defensive distances with any of my guns..and very dissapointed if I get more than 1" with my .25auto at those distancs..which it will gladly let me achieve if I put the skill into it), while shotgun/skeet , revolvers and blackpowder revolvers are my for fun disciplines.
 
Did it just today. Put a hundred rounds through my XD45 with passable accuracy, and a slightly better with a hundred more in my GP100. Switching between guns is, for me, no big deal. Kinda depends on your definition of 'well.'
 
Kinda depends on your definition of 'well.'
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Indeed. This varies from one person to the next. I once encountered a fellow who defined "well" as 10 shots from a .44 magnum at ten yards, and then indicated group size by holding his hands about a foot apart.

It was a tremendously instructional moment.
 
IMHO, you are FAR better off focusing on one gun or at least one platform at a time. Building proficiency takes a lot of time spent handling, reloading, drawing and shooting. You simply cannot become highly proficient shooting several different guns every time you shoot. Not to any appreciable extent anyway. I used to do that, I'd take a bunch of guns with me to the range every time. Sure, I had fun but it wasn't until I began to deliberately build skill with a single firearm at a time that I got appreciably better with any of them. Time, practice and dedication are what separate the "good" from the noisemakers.

Try shooting the same gun every week for six months to a year and see where you are at the end.
 
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