Any left-handed revolver shooters out there?

[Wheeler]

I'm a lefty, right eye dominant, revolver shooter/lover, too! I have a safe full of S&W (pre-lock) revolvers in many flavors that I shoot, hunt with and carry.

Reviewing the Griffin reload is fun, but is truly oriented towards a moon clipped competition gun instead of a carry gun. That single finger ejection stroke at less than a vertical orientation is a sure way to stick a case in a J frame or to get a case under the ejector star.

For a defensive gun, I push the cylinder open with my right hand thumb, wrapping the rest of my right hand and fingers around the trigger guard and frame. The revolver is then oriented muzzle straight up and the ejector rod is SMACKED with the heel of my left palm. This accelerates the fired cases out of the chambers instead of simply pushing them out and the vertical orientation allows gravity to do its job most efficiently. The gun is then oriented muzzle straight down, the cylinders reloaded by whatever means and then it's closed smoothly and the grip re-established. Not as sexy, but much more dependable.

I've had the discussion regarding the tactical ejector rod smack vs a one finger engagement of the rod with several high speed practitioners of the defensive manipulation (vs. competition) of the revolver. Almost everyone agrees with you regarding the smack, vs one finger. However, I do it differently

I bring the revolver back to mid-chest level, while doing so I engage the cylinder release with my left index (trigger) finger. Upon release I push the cylinder out with my right thumb, pushing my thumb all the way through and allowing the revolver to pivot on my thumb. I take all four fingers of my right hand and wrap them below and around the trigger guard. Positive control of the gun has now transferred to my right hand.

At this time I will remove my left hand from the gun, retrieve a speedloader or speedstrip (both of which I carry on my left/strong side. AT THE SAME TIME, I use my right index finger to engage the ejector rod, wih a double pump. I then slide my index finger down the side of the ejector rod placing it so that I have my index finger on one side, and my middle finger on the other and rotate my wrist so the gun is pointed muzzle down at about an 85 degree angle.

This all takes place at the same time I am extracting a speedloader/speedstrip. If it's a speedloader in a belt carrier, by the time I have the gun oriented in a muzzle down position, the speedloader is in place to be inserted in the cylinder. After I insert and release the cartridges, I toss the speedloader with a wrist snap while at the same time closing the cylinder with my right hand.

Now I can grip the gun with my left hand, assuming a strong hand only grip, with my right hand oriented fingers under and around the trigger guide, it takes a slight movement to reassume the correct position for a two-hand grip, which is done as I bring the gun back up to a shooting position.

Average time from last shot-reload-first shot is about 1.5-1.75 seconds. I used to be faster but let's not discuss the slowing down that increasing age and lack of practice has brought.

FWIW, I have only had one time where I had to slap the ejector rod to extract a case, which turned out to be split from one too many reloads. I have enough hand strength to push the ejector rod forcefully with one finger. The double pump will clear any cases that hang up, which is also a rare occurance.

It took me a LOT longer to type this than it does to do it! This is the first time I've sat down and wrote out the process step by step.

Wheeler

[Wayne Dobbs]

"Double pumping" should work most of the time. The smack technique I mentioned is applicable to two different situations. One is the .357 Magnum service/carry gun that's been shot with a significant amount of .38 Special and has a "crud ring" from that. When the longer Magnum rounds get fired, they have a tendancy to seize up on that ring and need some energy and effort to get ejected.

The other situation is with a J-frame type revolver with a shorter ejection stroke than is the length of the case being fired in the gun. I find that it's a common occurance for there to be at least one case hanging in the charge hole upon ejection. These two scenarios are almost always solved by the "smack".

Finally, can you really pull off a sub-two second REVOLVER reload?

[Wheeler]

"Double pumping" should work most of the time. The smack technique I mentioned is applicable to two different situations. One is the .357 Magnum service/carry gun that's been shot with a significant amount of .38 Special and has a "crud ring" from that.I solve that problem by making sure if I'm carry .357's I clean the cylinders When the longer Magnum rounds get fired, they have a tendancy to seize up on that ring and need some energy and effort to get ejected.

The other situation is with a J-frame type revolver with a shorter ejection stroke than is the length of the case being fired in the gun. I find that it's a common occurance for there to be at least one case hanging in the charge hole upon ejection. I don't shoot my LCR as much as I should but I have found the double pump and a slight tilt of the gun will make that case closest to the frame and grip go away. These two scenarios are almost always solved by the "smack". I won't disagree that the smack is the better choice, I just don't utilize it.

Finally, can you really pull off a sub-two second REVOLVER reload?

Yes. I'm not Jerry Miculek, never will be, But I can reload my L frame pretty darn fast. I have finally broke down and ordered a shot timer. First chance I get, I'll time the reloads. I'm basing that time on splits from a few years ago. Perception can get us all in trouble, and my perception of time shot to shot might be skewed. If so, I'll own up to it and eat crow.

[jlw]

Overcoming cross-eye dominance isn't hard at all. The shooter should simply turn their head to put their dominant eye behind the sights.

My boss is a lefty and a revolver shooter. We both just put together sets of revolver duty gear.

[Wheeler]

Overcoming cross-eye dominance isn't hard at all. The shooter should simply turn their head to put their dominant eye behind the sights.

My boss is a lefty and a revolver shooter. We both just put together sets of revolver duty gear.

Since you're in the area, if you haven't already given it thought, Cherokee Gun Club in Gainseville is hosting the 2011 IDPA WheelGun Championship. If you're not an IDPA member, it's cheap to join and they will be holding a classifier the first Sunday of April.

I for one would love to see more revolver shooters show up, even if it's just to the regular matches.

Here's a link to their IDPA page with links to the match, schedules etc.
http://www.cherokeegunclub.org/HTML52.phtml

Wheeler

[jlw]

Since you're in the area, if you haven't already given it thought, Cherokee Gun Club in Gainseville is hosting the 2011 IDPA WheelGun Championship. If you're not an IDPA member, it's cheap to join and they will be holding a classifier the first Sunday of April.

I for one would love to see more revolver shooters show up, even if it's just to the regular matches.

Here's a link to their IDPA page with links to the match, schedules etc.
http://www.cherokeegunclub.org/HTML52.phtml

Wheeler

I'm an IDPA member and safety officer. I had been shooting the monthly matches there, and I am hoping to shoot the Wheelgun Challenge. However, I have gotten increasingly frustrated at the late starts and DMG grinding the matches to a halt; so, the regular matches are no longer a priority for me. It's a shame because Cherokee is an incredibly easy drive for me.

[Wheeler]

I'm an IDPA member and safety officer. I had been shooting the monthly matches there, and I am hoping to shoot the Wheelgun Challenge. However, I have gotten increasingly frustrated at the late starts and DMG grinding the matches to a halt; so, the regular matches are no longer a priority for me. It's a shame because Cherokee is an incredibly easy drive for me.

It has gotten better. The DMG has finally started to run a lot more efficiently. If I had my druthers, I would run the DMG on two seperate bays and let the IDPA match have the usual four but, I'm not the MD, I don't belong to the club, and I'm pretty sure there are politics involved.

I'm pretty sure they will be having the DMG, Classifier, and the regular match this weekend as well.

Wheeler

[jlw]

It has gotten better. The DMG has finally started to run a lot more efficiently. If I had my druthers, I would run the DMG on two seperate bays and let the IDPA match have the usual four but, I'm not the MD, I don't belong to the club, and I'm pretty sure there are politics involved.

I'm pretty sure they will be having the DMG, Classifier, and the regular match this weekend as well.

Wheeler

I agree. Put the DMG over in one of the other bays, and it wouldn't be a problem at all.

I know there was an uproar with the MD over the match a couple of months ago where only half the shooters finished. Maybe some things got straightened out.

If I can make it on Sunday, I may come classify with one of my wheelguns.

[Wheeler]

Wayne,

Looks like I need to eat a little crow. I had my son time me today with a stop watch during dry fire practice. From snap to snap my best time was 2.83 seconds. I've either slowed down considerably or was never as fast as I thought I was. Either way I have a goal to work towards.

Wheeler

[Wayne Dobbs]

Wheeler,

A sub-three second reload is still very fast. I recall when we thought that five to six seconds with a speedloader was a par time reload (back in the old days of duty revolver carry).