Dual Wield Pistols vs Single Pistol

Which is faster and more accurate?

Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical and his buddy Dave Royer were out testing a firearm myths whether dual-wielding versus using sight alignment with a single pistol is better. Seen all the time in the movies Dave and Larry are out to show you what really happens when you fire two pistols at the same time.

Stationary Drill
They start the test with stationary shooting at multiple targets. (5 targets) Dual shooting (using H&K .45 Compact and a custom Colt 1911) was going from inside targets to outside targets. Single pistol shooting went from left to right. The result for dual shooting was at 2.8 seconds and 3.73 seconds for single pistol. Dual shooting was faster but not as accurate as with single pistol. However, for this test single pistol shooting with good sight alignment wins the accuracy test.

Mobile Drill

Starts out at a walk towards the target from 30 yards out and at the sound of a buzzer. Shooter engages the target while still moving forward. Dual pistols will be alternate shots between left and right. Single pistol lay down some lead rapidly. The verdict single pistol wins with accuracy and speed on this drill.

The Myth of Dual Handguns – Video Transcript:
Larry: The next movie myth we’re gonna tackle is the Dual Wield Handgun. You’re also seeing this show up in a lot of videogames. Essentially you’ve got a handgun in each hand, and you’re firing at multiple targets, with amazing accuracy on the silver screen. On the surface it looks like it might be a home run, because you can fire a lot more bullets in the same amount of time as one handgun, in theory. What do you think?

Dave: I think I’d go with one gun, because you’re throwing out sight line on it, and that’s the key to accuracy.

Larry: Well, we’ll see how it shakes out. Got two guns here, HK-45 compact 45 ACP, and a custom colt 1911 built by yours truly, 45 ACP. We’re gonna do a variety of drills, dual-wield, then we’re going to do the exact same drills single-handgun. We’l look at the timer and look at the hits, see how it shakes.

Dave: Alright Larry, we’re gonna shoot these targets, you’re gonna shoot simultaneously at two targets, working from the center out, one at each target.

Larry: Ok!

Dave: On the buzzer, shoot ready. Standby [beep]

[gunshots]

Dave: Let’s check it out.

Larry: What kinda time we got?

Dave: 2.81 seconds.

Larry: ok!

Dave: Well this target looks clean.

Larry: Don’t think we have to worry about pace, now remember this was the far-left target, left handed, with the HK-45, this is actually the last target I shot at on the left hand side. Same deal.

Dave: Clean target on the left on the second target.

Larry: This was double-action, the HK-45, the first target I shot. Was this it?

Dave: I believe that’s it.

Larry: Target’s clean.

Dave: Got a center hit on this target.

Larry: Now this was the target I was focusing in on. I was doing the thing that you and I talked about, actually looking at the targets, and kinda trying to do sympathetic movement.

Dave: Right.

Larry: Ok, we’ve got a shot here. Not a great one, still a hit. And I got a hit here.

Dave: So basically, you were point-shooting to the right, and you hit every one.

Larry: Right. Two very good hits, one mediocre hit, and three misses. 2.8 seconds. Now, same technique: Low ready, finger straight, one on each coming all the way across.

Dave: Alright Larry, so we can compare, we’re gonna have you shoot like you normally would: With one gun, two-handed, from the low ready, at the beep shoot from the farthest left to the right, one on each target.

Larry: Ok.

Dave: Shooter ready. Standby.

[Beep, gunshots]

Dave: Time is 3.73, so less than a second, but I’m betting we got better shots.

Larry: Yea let’s check out the test. Bad hit, but still outside the circle. Talking about an OK hit but not great.

Dave: Excellent hit.

Larry: Outstanding. This one’s in our circle.

Dave: Top of the circle.

Larry: So we’ll accept that.

Dave: Absolutely. About the same place.

Larry: Same thing here.

Dave: Inside the circle, ’bout one O’clock.

Larry: ‘Nother hit inside the circle, and another excellent hit. Well I think the verdict is clear on that. Clearly one handgun and point fire, using your sights and index on the target, firing one shot at a time and make that shot a good shot; far superior to any kinda dual-wield in that scenario.

Dave: Absolutely, because as we know, with any kinda real threat, the only way to get rid of it is this.

Larry: Bingo. Got another movie myth coming up, this involves two pistols, and shooting on the move while shooting forward. This one’ll be really cool, I guarentee ‘ya.

Larry: Alright Dave, what’s the drill?

Dave: The drill is, I’m gonna give you the command to walk, and at the sound of the beep, you’re going to alternately shoot at one target.

Larry: Alright, and three shots each, alternating?

Dave: Correct.

Larry: Ok.

Dave: Shooter ready?

Larry: Yep.

Dave: Walk.

[Beep, gunfire]

Larry: Hm. The hits are actually pretty decent.

Dave: And that’s what we were talking about. As long as you can acquire the target, point-shooting or the sights. If you’ve got sight-alignment on the target, it’s much easier, or you have much better accuracy.

Larry: Alright. Now I’m gonna try it with one gun.

Dave: Cool.

Larry: Alright dave.

Dave: Alright we’re gonna do the same drill with one gun, command of walk you move toward the target, on the beep you engage with the target six-seven shots.

Larry: Alright.

Dave: Shooter ready. Walk.

[Beep, shots]

Larry: Alright. Well. Can’t argue with those hits.

Dave: No, and it’s what I expected on this drill, because this is a common drill in training, shooting on the move. You have perfect sight alignment, you have one target, shouldn’t expect anything else.

Larry: Well I think we can kinda wrap up two guns Vs. one gun.

Dave: Absolutely.

Larry: I know what I’d pick.

Dave: You bet.

Larry: One gun. Every time.

[Vicker’s Tactical Outro]

Here’s Mythbusters take on the effectiveness of Dual-Wield shooting.

Source: Vickers Tactical Youtube, TAC-TV Crew, Larry Vickers, Mythbusters