Has anybody timed his reloading?

[mannyrock]

Dear Guys,
 
   This is a follow up to my nice experience in shooting a Stampede last week.
 
    One of the things I had heard about single actions is that they are "painfully slow" to reload.
 
    Well, it didn't really seem slow to me.  The one I shot was indexed, so everything went pretty rapidly.  After shooting six, I grabbed up six rounds in my right hand, then put the pistol in half cock with my  right thumb, flipped the gate open with my right thumb,  pointed the gun upward at a 45 degree angle away from me, rolled the cylinder with the thumb of my right hand, and jammed that ejection rod tab down hard with my left hand every time I heard a click.    Then I pointed it downward at 45 degrees, and rolled the cylinder with the thumb of my left hand, jamming a round from my right hand into a chamber at every click.  I didn't have a stop watch, but it seemed as if it only took about 10 to 15 seconds.
 
   Have any of you guys practiced fast reloading, and timed yourselves?  Just curious, as to how fast is fast.
 
   Thanks,
 
  Mannyrock

[painted horse]

I've never timed myself, but I do it differently than you. Hold the gun in my right hand (I'm right handed) downward angle, eject empty with left hand, reload cyl with left hand, go to next cyl and repeat. Just the way I was taught. Theoretically that way you never have a completely empty gun. I know doesn't make sense to me either..

[Graybeard]

I'd need a calendar or sundial to time myself reloading my SA guns. I can't think of any possible reason I'd want to rush the job. If you really did it in 10-15 seconds I'd sure like to see that.

I'd best guess me at more like 2 minutes. As I said I never rush much of anything anymore.

[mannyrock]

 
 
   Interesting information guys.
 
   But, by holding the pistol upward when shucking the empties, the empties fall down and out of the way really fast, instead of jiggling around the loading port.
 
   I guess if someone got the cylinders well chamfered, the empties might just fall out.   (I once saw someone who had a Model 19 with polished chambers, and when he unloaded, the empties would fall out by themselves, without using the ejection rod!.)
 
   
     Mannyrock

[Brett]

Heck, with my old arthritic mitts I have to add 5 minutes to my loading time to account for picking up all the rounds I've fumbled.

To unload I hold the revolver by the grip in my right hand and point the barrel upward with the loading gate facing me.  I use the thumb and middle fingers of my left hand to rotate the cylinder and my left index finger to work the ejector. 

To reload I shift the gun completely to my left hand, laying across my fingers with my finger tips curled slightly around the front of the frame and the trigger guard with my thumb resting on top of the cylinder.   Now with the barrel tilted downward and loading gate still facing me my right hand is free to handle the live rounds.  I use the thumb of my left hand to turn the cylinder while poking cartridges into the chambers with my right hand. 

The entire process takes me approximately 15 seconds if I really try hard.   But SA shooting is not about speed it's about enjoyment.   

There are two activities in life that I don't like to rush.  One is shooting my SA at the range and the other... well,  I'll  just let you boys use your imaginations.     

 

[Lonegun1894]

I carry a Ruger (old) Vaquero .45 Colt a lot, especially in the colder months.  My old department had a regulation that said that part of our qualification had to include off-duty weapons, and we had to be able to fire ten rounds in ten seconds and it had to include a reload--the old Chief wrote it and he still carried a 5 shot .38 as his, therefore the 10 round count.  They weren't happy with me carrying that Ruger but said they would approve it IF i could qualify with it.  At the end of the qualification, I had put 12 rounds COM on the target in 10 seconds, but that is the only time I have ever been timed.  The way By the way, in case anyone is wondering, this was about 2 years ago, so still fairly recent.  I do it sounds like the poster above with the tipping up to easy extraction and then tipping down to ease loading fresh rounds.  I'm not saying the single-action is the best gun for all things, but having grown up using single-action Ruger revolvers and then after a few years being allowed to start using 1911s, I feel equally comfortable with either design.  Having said that, just like with any gun, make sure you practice with any gun you're staking your life and the lives of your loved ones on.  We all have preferences, so there's no one answer that is right for everyone.

[mannyrock]

Brett and Lone Gun,
 
  Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.
 
  When you go through life,  it is absolutely amazing how fast people can use their hands and fingers if they practice diligently. (Watch an expert pianist play the Minute Waltz in one minute.)
 
  It's just me, but I would be practicing fast reloading all the time, just for the fun of it.
 
  Course, I would shoot blazer ammo and not spend my time reloading.  :-)
 
Manny
 

[Keith L]

One of the main points that the NRA Personal Protection courses made is that in a fight then fine motor skills are gone.  I shoot my single actions for fun, and have a Glock for protection.

[bilmac]

I hate the fact that Ruger ejectors are not long enough to fully eject the cases. Some of them hang up for me. Maybe I will try to polish the chambers a bit.

If you only shoot one or two bullets you can reload those two chambers without spinning the cylinder. The same idea as painted horse said, you can always put the gun back in action by clicking the gate shut.

When I was cowboy shooting I beveled the underside of the rims of my cases, just a little bit, so I could get a fingernail under them. I didn't use the ejector at all, just pulled the empties with a fingernail and shoved a loaded round in the hole as I went.

[Lloyd Smale]

I once watched Jim Taylor reload a single action using speed strips and without. He was amazinly fast. It got me going and i practiced alot for a while. I got good enough that i could use a single action in ppc shooting and shoot and load in the required time and even shot a match with a 45 colt one day and took second place. I tried both conventional loading and unloading and swapping loaded cylinders and found i actually did better with normal reloading. Swapping cylinders under pressure took a bit to much consentration to get everything ligned up properly and i fumbled to much doing it. Is it practical for self defense if you need to reload. NO! No matter how good you get at it a da with a speed loader or moon clips is going to leave you in the dust and those few seconds your fumbling around could easily get you shot. that said, if your a civilain in a gun fight and you have to reload youve allready got in way over your head. Ive carried a sa for a ccw gun on many occasions but allways with the thought that if i cant get it done with 5 shots i should have ran to start with

[mannyrock]

 
 Lloyd,
 
    While it is probably true that a person with a double action who is practiced and skilled at reloading with a speed loader might leave you in the dust, the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of crooks are hapless when it comes to being  good shots or being skilled in fast reloading, both with double actions and semies.
 
   It constantly amazes me that both police officers and crooks, being people who must literally live or die by the gun, are on average such poor shots and so poorly skilled in general with their handguns.
 
   When I lived in Memphis, we would have an annual invitational shoot, between the Memphis Police (using double action revolvers) and the Single Action shooters (using single actions), shooting six round strings at metal silouttes, at about 25 yards.
 
    The cowboys ALWAYS won.
 
    You could tell when a cowboy was on the line, because you would hear this:
 
    Bang-clink, Bang-clink, Bang-clink, Bang-clink, Bang-clink, Bang-clink.
 
    You could tell when an officer was on the line, because you would hear this:
 
    Bang-silence, Bang-clink, Bang-silence, Bang-silence, Bang-clink, Bang-clink.
 
   My uncle in law was a police officer on Long Island in New York, in the 1960s and 1970s.    This was back when they carried revolvers.  He told me that in 23 years on the force, he had never drawn his gun once.  And, that the only time he ever fired it was about a week before the annual qualification, when he would fire about two boxes at the range the day before, to get ready for it.
 
   Just some things to think about.  Not trying to slam all police officers, as I am sure that many of them are excellent shots.
 
Manny
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 

[Brett]

My CCW instructor (a local Sherrif) told the class of an incident where an undercover police officer and a wanted felon found themselves on an elevator together.   As the door closed they recognized each other and both drew weapons and commenced to shooting.   I don't recall how many rounds our instructor said were fired but is was evident that at least one of them had to have reloaded or gone to a BUG before the ride was over.   Even though they were confined inside a six foot square box neither of them suffered any fatal wounds.