AzShooter

That's the man. Great guy to tell story, an excellent shot and very good gunsmith to ask questions of. I miss him.

I shoot RFPO with a Volquartsen Black Mamba most of the time but for about 1/2 the year I shoot my 10 shot S&W 617. I just love the feel of the revolver. I'm more accurate and my times have been faster. I'm stubborn. I've been shooting Revolver for almost 50 years and for me, it's hard to switch. I have been using a 6 inch 617 but wanted a 4 inch. I just found one on another board for a decent price. I sold my safe queen Mark III Hunter to finance my new purchase and came out o.k. in the deal. Trigger pull is a little heavy at 11 pounds on my Lyman digital scale but I intend to put a RevUp Action kit in it when they become available. For now I'm just going to replace the rebound spring with an 11 pound one and play with the mainspring. I just want to smooth it out a bit. Smooth is better than light. Here's the 4 inch sans red dot for now. I have a Bushnell Fast Strike 2.0 for it with a 3 MOA dot. I also have a C-More Railway with 12 MOA that I may uses if I can't get use to the smaller dot.

David leather use to be great stuff. I hope the new owner does it justice. Look on E-Bay for Ernie Hill Leather. There's a lot there and he made great leather holsters. At one time for USPSA that's about the only holster on the line.

I like the Guba Riba for my 929 and it will nicely work with your 686 Plus with 7 inch barrel.

I was a little apprehensive about shooting today's Steel Challenge Match knowing it was going to hit 113 degrees but I think I went prepared. One of our local clubs, The Deer Tribe, hosts the SC match on the 2nd Sunday of every month. Cactus Match League shoots their SC match on the third Sunday so I get to shoot twice a month and I try not to let the weather bother me. Last month it was 113 and beat me to death. I drank water and had a chilly vest on but it wasn't enough and I got heat exhaustion by the time I made it home. This morning I prepared. I started drinking water at 4 a.m., the match started at 9. I added a few salt tablets and some electrolytes. I packed 4 bottles of Gatorade, 4 bottles of water and a few packets of electrolytes to put in the water. I also took my chilly vest, ice vest cooling towels, do rag, fan hat and lots of ice. One of my vests gets submerged in water over night and is used as an evap cooler during the day. It helps a lot and I use one of the bottles of water at the end of the match to pour over the vest for added protection. I also wear whetting shirts and today I wore a long sleeve shirt and long pants to help reduce the effects of heat. I still need to ride my bike more to build up my legs because there is a lot of walking involved with the 8 stages stretched out across the desert. I have to remember that it was only three years ago I was wheelchair bound and one of the club members rolled me around from stage to stage. I'm getting better but I ride a stationary bike about 20 miles a day to build up my strength. Thanks David Richerts. When the match was over I sat in my van and had another bottle of electolytes before even thinking of driving. It worked and when I got home I was refreshed enough to empty the car instead of having to wait until the next morning. Next week is supposed to be as warm.I have to thank Paul Piernaccini for letting me sit under his umbrella and using his portable air conditioner throughout the matchs. I'm sure that without his help I would have to not shoot in the warmer weather. I hope everyone keeps hydrated at their summer matches and uses whatever they can to eliminate the dangers of heat stroke and exhaustion. I get my equipment from My Cooling Store and they have a very good selection to choose from.

I've had a few blown cases in my 617 so I like the added safety of the recessed chamber. These happened with Aguilla SE ammo. I had two with the 617 and two more with my Walther Colt Gold Cup Trophy so I sold all the remaining Aguilla I had after segregating the bad brick. Blown cases (3).jfif

Start with what you have, from what you've stated there is no reason to buy another gun. I used to shoot a 69 at our local matches and had a ball. I used .44 Specials in Comp I Safariland's because that's all they made except the HKS' I don't like HKs because bullets would slip out it the nob was touched by accident. I too shot Rio Salado years ago. Eventually I had Tom from TK Custom convert my 29 for moon clips. Then I used .44 Russian ammo because it was faster to load then even the Specials. I forget who made them but there use to be carriers made from spring steel that held the moons, HKs and Comps. https://www.ebay.com/itm/274708982462?epid=1400205248&hash=item3ff5ee6abe:g:O1sAAOSw6zlgQrZp I found these on E-Bay and there are a few others there. Have fun and good shooting.

You're the little innovator David. I'm sure you will give us a good review once you get your new toy.

Sophie, you handled yourself with class. Don't get discouraged by Range Lawyers it's easy to make a mistake as a beginner and I've seen higher rated shooters do the same thing. Running with your finger in the trigger guard is something everyone knows about but I've seen a lot of shooters do it. I don't criticize them but will explain what they did afterwards. There is no reason to belittle a shooter. Hope you are not turned off. Keep coming out and watch the better shooters. You will have fun.

I picked up some Norma Tac 22 recently directly from Norma for $43 a brick. At that price I ordered 1000 rounds. Forgot I ordered it and ordered it again. Tough being senile. I tested it yesterday out of my 617, my Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite and my Black Mamba and I'm very pleased with it. Functions 100% in all three guns and shoots great. I've already loaded my magazines for Sunday's Steel Challenge with the Tac 22. It goes through my McFadden Ultimate Clip Loader like water.

I found out it is for me. Yesterday we shot one of our monthly Steel Challenge Matches. I do enjoy it and thought I was prepared for the day with plenty of water, Gatorade and Chilly Towels for around my neck. I even had a vest filled with ice. Still I managed to get cramped up with three stages to go. I dredged myself along and made it. Last stage is Smoke & Hope which is too much fun to not miss. I ended up shooting 40 seconds slower than my average. Finally made it back to the car, turned on the AC and waited 10 minutes to cool off. Drank another bottle of water and headed home. When I got into the garage and out of the car I nearly fell to the ground. Fortunately I held on for a few seconds, made it to my chair and started drinking more electrolytes. Next week's match is only supposed to be 103. Let's see if I learned anything.

I agree with revolver45. Shoot anything for practice, but choose the good stuff wisely. I've found that CCI Clean is the best choice. I can run an entire match without having to put a brush to my cylinder. Mini Mags get me about 10 reloads which is pretty good but then it takes using a brush. My favorite is Federal BYOB but I'm running out and don't find any on the Federal website. I can run about 500 rounds before I have to clean the cylinder. Remington Golden Bullets also work great and don't require a brush for an entire match. CCI- SV are very clean as well. Even though they are not plated or coated I can shoot my entire Steel Challenge before cleaning. Hope this helps.

Our club pays the setup crew $50 and a free match. I think the crew gets more money for teardown but I'm not sure about that.

Dave you do fantastic work. Good luck with your new cylinder. BTW your DS-10s are the best speed loader I've ever used. I like the new model a lot and they are much faster to load with.

I've just switched to a set of JM grips. I'm using a very sturdy hold but the biggest advantage is that they fit my style of purchasing the gun. Hogue Big Butts also work great. I have rubber and wood and have filed the finger groves off of the rubber grips.

Best rear sightI've ever used. I mated it with a Dawson Precision front sight and it lets me pick it up very fast. It's especially good for Steel Challenge shooting. Makes it easier to see the front sight.

I'm with ToolGuy on this. Blue bullet 160 grain Coated Lead Round Nose. They load very fast and are most accurate in my 627. I also use N 320 at just under 3 grains. ( I don't like to post loading data ) These work well in .38 shot colt, .38 special and even 9 mm.

It only managed to make 101 degrees today by the end of the Steel Challenge Match but it was the first weekend with such high temperatures and I wasn't ready. I had my Chilly Vest and Hat with a fan as well as a 6 pack of Gatorade. I needed more. I did manage to win my class and had a couple of personal bests. I did blow Pendulum and Outer Limits. They were my first two stages and I was still a little nervous. Trying to get to B class, the only stage I've made it with so far has been OL. Very close on the rest. I tried a new pair of Altamont grips today instead of my normal Hogue Big Butt grips. I like the purchase and was able to get my little finger on the grip better. I also had my strong side thumb better and it felt like it was going to pay off. Only problem was at the end of the day I had a blister on my strong hand. Either I'll sand them down or just return them. I did find a pair of Pachmeyer Signature Grips in my old grip box. They feel good so I'll take them out later this week and test them.

I appreciate your response, Warren. I know what it's like to prepare for another venture. I can wait with no problems. Another month or two isn't something I can't live with. Thanks for letting me know. Steven

I appreciate that. Since I'm going to have the RevUp hammer kit I'll get a new stock mainspring.

I've been using Hogue Big Butt grips for years without the finger grooves. I find them to be very comfortable and have a number of pair. Playing with my grip I found that I couldn't get a really good purchase of my gun. My strong hand was slipping and I never felt that my pinky was doing any good. I ordered a set of grips from Altamont to try and they are a big improvement for me. My had seems to naturally fit and when I'm shooting I do not have to reseat my grip.

Topic says it all. What's your fastest Steel Challenge time with your revolver? Long time ago before I became handicapped my fastest time was 119 seconds OSR. I averaged in the 120s. I no longer shoot centerfire and am not even close with my RFPO shooting my 617 but I'm having lots of fun. So far my best time is 150. I'm getting better every month but have a long was to come back.

Then let everyone shoot from the center box and let's see some real time breaks. Just because one shooter shot from the center and won the stage doesn't mean the majority of handicap shooters have that capability. Most are there just to beat their own performance.

I don't get it. If we are trying to increase participation why not let handicapped people shoot without penalizing them. That's the real reason to eliminate movement on OL. Do we want to lose our older shooters and just tell them to find a different type of shooting? Look at this years WSSC. I'll point out the one shooter that was brave enough to shoot from a wheelchair and had to use his feet to hold and fire his gun. Do you think it was fair to penalize him 4 seconds per run? Are you afraid he may win a stage? Now I hear that people want Rimfire Revolver. PCC was only added a few years ago and look how it's grown. Test Rimfire Revolver at least and see how many people will enjoy it.

How doyou lose 30K on a match? Something is seriously wrong there.