Author Topic: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?  (Read 1706 times)

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Offline flmason

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SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« on: January 12, 2012, 04:51:51 PM »
Is it myt imagination, or do many DA revolvers have a better SA pull than many SA only revolvers?

Was recently looking over a Ruger Super Redhawk and could swear it was better than the Super Blackhawk I ended up with. But seems a Smith Chief's Special I had years ago also was better. I ever get ahead enough, going to have to get a SRH, LOL!

Granted one or two tuned SA revolvers I've handled over the years or maybe a Colt SAA or clone of same beat anything else, but seems out of box the above has held for me. Especially against New Model Rugers.

Anyone else find it the same way?


Offline bilmac

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2012, 05:52:51 PM »
Blackhawk trigger pulls are not good. I usually work mine over. S&W single action pulls are about the best trigger I have ever squeezed.

Offline Graybeard

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2012, 06:46:45 PM »
I'm not sure it's necessarily safe to say that. What is accurate is to say the SA pull on S&W revolvers is better than the SA pull on any SA gun other than an FA revolver. You can get the SA guns to have nice light crisp pulls but only if ya know what you're doing.

Magnaport did a Ruger Single Six for me and it is every bit as nice as my S&W revolvers. Now my Bisley flat top Ruger came with an excellent trigger right out of the box. I have no reason to need work done on it but my BH 45 Colt could use an action job. I took one leg of the spring off and can live with the results until I get an action job done.

If I was comfortable taking the gun apart I'd do the job myself but I'm really not comfortable taking it apart. I've disliked the Rugers I've owned previously so much I've never bothered messing around with them long enough to figure out the take down. I do recall helping a friend do it to a SBH years ago and sure recall that one pin didn't wanna come out. Seems I recall there was a spring holding it in and we liked to never have figured it out. Other than that tho I don't recall it being that hard to switch the trigger guard and grip frame. He wanted one from one gun on another. We did it but it took us a few hours to figure it all out. After all these years I've forgotten what we did.


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Offline BUGEYE

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2012, 01:30:43 AM »
my old bounty hunter is about 1lb.  but that may be years of wear.
luckily, it has a safety.
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Offline guzzijohn

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2012, 08:23:23 AM »
In SA I have a near new Uberti El Patron which comes with a factory trigger job and is very good. I have a S&W 36 snubbie and the stock trigger on it is about like the El patron, maybe a bit better as the El Patron still has a very slight short creep to it and the S&W breaks extremely clean. I also have a 90s vintage BH in .357. Although the trigger pull is somewhat heavier it still is a fairly good trigger, a bit better than my 80s vintage Ruger Mark II target pistol. Many years ago I had a Hawes and a Colt in .22 rimfire but it has been to long to remember the trigger pulls but I do remember being able to shoot consistently better with the Hawes than the Colt.
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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2012, 09:12:47 AM »
If you talk out the box you can say most S&W's have better trigger pulls than many SA revolvers. As the guns see service they all get better. Some old Colt SA revolvers have very nice triggers from wear in. I shot Ruger Super Blackhawks in IMHSA and had a gunsmith do a trigger job on one . It was for range use only and was very lite with no creep and very little over travel. It was in the 2 lb range . It was not for carry or hunting , range work only. Which brings up the point of what is a good trigger ? I think it depends on the use the revolver will see. The conditions it will be used under. I had the same smith do a job on a Redhawk that is almost as good , it is not a gun for cold day hunting with gloves. The only other revolver I have owned with a trigger job I got used . It broke at 4 lbs even. It felt like 2 lbs no creep no over travel that you noticed while shooting it was a mod 66 S&W . We checked it several times with a guage . So a trigger does not need be to lite to be good.
GB its not fair to compare Freedom Arms it takes custom work to come close to their out the box guns .
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Offline coyotejoe

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2012, 07:13:09 AM »
 I much prefer the overall trigger feel of a double action than a single action but think there is more to it than just the trigger alone. One very big factor to me is the much shorter and snappier hammer fall of a double action. In dry-firing it seems like a double action goes "snap" while a Ruger single action hammer goes "schulunk", with an impact which rocks the whole gun. I also feel that double action grip puts the hand in a better position for a straight back trigger pull. Although the 1911 has long dominated the bullseye range some people are still competitive with Colt or S&W double action revolvers, single actions just cannot compete.
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Offline flmason

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2012, 04:55:53 PM »
I much prefer the overall trigger feel of a double action than a single action but think there is more to it than just the trigger alone. One very big factor to me is the much shorter and snappier hammer fall of a double action. In dry-firing it seems like a double action goes "snap" while a Ruger single action hammer goes "schulunk", with an impact which rocks the whole gun. I also feel that double action grip puts the hand in a better position for a straight back trigger pull. Although the 1911 has long dominated the bullseye range some people are still competitive with Colt or S&W double action revolvers, single actions just cannot compete.

What I was really wondering about is how other folks find the SA pull of a DA revolver vrs. the SA pull of the SA revolver. 

Seemed to me in trying a few, that the SA pull on the DA guns is actually crisper and tighter than on the SA guns. In this case was comparing mostly Super Redhawk to Super Blackhawk, but also a Smith or two.

Offline flmason

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2012, 05:03:36 PM »
Blackhawk trigger pulls are not good. I usually work mine over. S&W single action pulls are about the best trigger I have ever squeezed.

Well... I wouldn't call Blackhawk triggers "bad", as I'm kinda used to them, as well as Military box stock 1911's and milsurp rifles and such. So not really a "trigger snob" as it were. I figure with some concentration and practice I can get used to anything that's reasonable.

But yes, the observation that even Ruger SA pulls on their DA guns seem to be nicer than my Blackhawks (save one early 3 screw SBH that has been traded back and forth in the family of the years that does have a professional trigger job).

My thinking is, even though I tend to shoot single action, even with DA available... maybe I should just switch to Redhawks and have the choice, with no real loss of quality. Though I suspect the Blackhawks will stay tight longer, simply because there's no crane.

Offline gcrank1

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Re: SA Trigger Pull on DA better than on SA Only Revolvers?
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2012, 10:41:31 AM »
Handguns or rifles, and some 100K + rounds later, many of it in match shooting, many times placing or winning, I have concluded that in 'testing a trigger pull/break' vs actually shooting it I much prefer to shoot it. If I cant, I hold it as if actually firing at a mark and drop the hammer. If I do not notice the trigger pull is a 'problem' then it is not a problem. IMHO, too often I see people hold the gun to test the break in a position never to be used shooting and it gives a false impression unless the tester is quite experienced and well versed in what he is looking for.
Well.....it works for me, try it and see...... ;) and do what works for you  ;D .
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