needknees

I spoke with Bob today and with the advice of everyone here and the moon clip holder man himself I'm going to go with a four poster and one single post. I also ordered some moon clips from Ranch Products... I was surprised when I asked for payment information and got "oh we'll just send an invoice with the clips. What's your address?" I can't believe they just send their product out without payment in this day and age . Major trust in the revolver community - that's pretty cool . By the end of the week I'll be completely geared up! Thank you to everyone who recommended these great companies.

After feeling bad about borrowing Carmoney's backup (or was it a backup of a backup ) North Mountain moon clip holder for damn near a month I'm finally ready to order one. I'm now debating between the four and five post models - the one I'm borrowing is a four post and honestly I can't *really* see the need for a fiver but I'm sure it could be possible, like with a bunch of two target + one steel arrays or something that makes it advantageous to reload after 5 shots. Help me get over indecisiveness! Any major reason to pick one over the other? I'm also considering a single post carrier to stick somewhere else on my belt for an emergency reload, how many of you carry extra rounds in a non-standard belt position "just in case"? And this goes without saying - the NM holder has been fantastic in the time I've played with one. It seems like a lot of money but for the thought that went into design and the outstanding quality it seems to be very much worth it.

As of now it looks like I'm still in! I put in for the time off on Monday and it wasn't rejected (yet) so we'll see... Hopefully the weather cooperates a bit better this time and the drive over from central Iowa results in a whole lot of good shooting instead of a blurry eyed trip back . See you guys there!

Good point, thanks! The range is very easy to get to. Coming from I35, take the 13th Street exit (exit 113) and head west on 13th. Go past Zylstra Harley Davidson and down a hill - Stagecoach Rd. is on the north side right before a bridge. Follow Stagecoach Rd. North about a mile - the entrance to the Ikes is on the east side of the road. Follow the Ikes road up past the chapterhouse, the outdoor range is just a bit further down the road. Here is a Google maps link to the range. You can plug your address in and get detailed directions. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...&iwloc=addr If anyone has further questions about the match or where the Ames Ikes is located please let me know.

It's almost time for the Ames Steel Challenge! A few more notes on the match. Start time is 9am, I will be up at the range around 7:30 or so to get things going. Help setting up is never a bad thing... Registration fees are $20 per entry. Bring lots of ammo. We should be able to shuffle plates around and get the whole 8 stage match in. It's 200 rounds if you don't miss - plan accordingly. If anyone has questions or concerns let me know. See you on Saturday!

I don't think I'm going to use Precision Delta bullets again. They were fairly cheap on that group buy *but* both the 9mm and .45s I got have not been very consistent. The .45s are substantially better than the 9s but I was getting pretty big variations in COL when loading with them. It took awhile to narrow it down but I found out the bullets had HUGELY different profiles and lengths. Not great for consistency. They do shoot well though. Next time I buy FMJs for match loads I'm going to go with either Montana Golds or Zero bullets if I can find them. One thing I've noticed about the MG bullets is they seem to run slower than other brands - probably not the greatest thing when I'm already pushing pressure limits with Clays (Carmoney - I chrono'd some more match loads with 4.1gr Clays at 1.260" COL and got 172PF, but I was getting the slightest hint of primer flattening. Not worried *yet* but it's getting up there.) However, all the Montana Gold bullets I've shot have been extremely consistent. And they're "reasonable"... but what FMJ bullet is reasonably priced these days? For steel loads and most of my other shooting I'm running a 230gr lead round nose from Missouri Bullet Co. They're pretty dang nice for lead bullets and are very decently priced.

I picked up a 5lb can of SR7625 awhile back to use for loading shotgun and well, I haven't been loading (or shooting) shotgun much at all lately. Since this powder is just sitting around I figured I'd play around with it for pistol stuff. Hodgdon has it listed just under Viht N320 for burn rate so I figured it'd be somewhat similar... and significantly less expensive . I'm looking for a major .40 load using both 165gr Montana Gold FMJ or 180gr LTC bullets. This will be fired out of a G24 with a KKM barrel. It looks like I'd be pretty close to the minimum listed loads for PF with either bullet. It also looks like it could be used in 9mm and .45 as well. Does anyone have experience with this powder in 9, .40, or .45? Is it even worth messing with?

Well, here's a little update: Apparently everything went back into the gun correctly, it worked! I was a bit intimidated seeing as this was the first time I've ever had a revolver apart. When the sideplate came off I just kinda stared for awhile... then had to wipe the drool off my chin that accumulated while I was zoned out looking at all the parts that could (and a few of them did) end up on my floor. I'd heard horror stories of the bolt spring and plunger flinging out when that was removed so I was sure to be careful taking it out. But then I promptly forgot about them when I picked the piece up to clean it off . That little bugger took awhile to find. No light strikes, which I wasn't really expecting since I didn't do anything to the mainspring. Everything seemed to work fine! I'm quite happy I didn't bugger anything up. I'm certainly not qualified but I have seen the master Dremelsmith in action. Truly a sight to behold. Craig - thanks for the info, I'll be tearing into it again at some point to tweak the mainspring. Are you guys able to make it to the Wednesday match this week? If not, see you next Saturday . Fauxmonized . Congrats on your performance at nationals, Mike! Apparently I'm one of TWO people shooting revo at Milan this weekend. I like my odds of placing either first or second!

+1 I'd like to try one of those holsters out but the owner never returned my emails . I've been EXTREMELY pleased with Ready Tactical holsters and mag carriers. I've got one of their G34/35 holsters and it is the *slickest* kydex holster I've ever used. Well made, great for both USPSA and IDPA (although there is no drop, but you don't gain a whole lot of speed from a DOH holster for many situations. How many draws in a match do you experience that are a straight on draw and shoot ? You're either moving and drawing or doing something else with the gun like picking it up off a table or whatnot. I like having it in the same position on my belt for both games.) and reasonably priced to boot. SKDtactical is the sole distributor of Ready Tactical products and my dealings with them have been pleasant and trouble free. Link: http://www.skdtac.com/index.asp?PageAction...amp;ProdID=1618 Here's the RT holster in a few different shots with/without my g34 Worn profile They recently dropped the price 15 bucks too. Hard to beat!

Last night I took my 625 apart to locktite the side plate and sight screws (because my damn rear sight almost fell off at a steel match last week) and this piece just kinda fell out. What should I do? I'm not sure but it may have come from this area of the gun: Looks like a pretty clean break. Are the MIM hammers that cheap? This probably wasn't the best time to do this considering I'm shooting this in the upcoming Milan, IL match but I couldn't resist Fauxmonizing my hammer when I had it apart. I don't know if I'll do anything with mainspring tension or not, I certainly don't want light strikes. Those of you with lightened hammers - how did you reduce your mainspring tension and how low can you go and still get consistent ignition with well seated Federal primers? Just take material off the bottom of the strain screw or what?

Registration forms are in the mail The courses look like a ton of fun, two stars with a revolver is a bit brutal... it's going to rock.

A bunch of the Central Iowa guys have been telling me about this match and it sounds like a blast! Right now it looks like I'll be shooting both days, I should be able to get my entry forms sent out next week .

It's time to make your practice at the weekly steel shoots pay off. On Saturday, September 20th the Ames Izaak Walton League will be hosting a full Steel Challenge event. One day, all eight stages. Each stage will be run a total of five times. The slowest time dropped and the sum of the remaining runs equal the stage's total. All eight stage times are combined for your match total. Each stage consists of 5 plate arrays which can be viewed here: http://steelchallenge.com/media/stage-diagrams.html We have space to run four bays at the same time so the shooting should flow fairly well. We'll break for lunch and rearrange plates for the remaining stages in the afternoon. The minimum round count is 200 so bring plenty of ammo for each entry. You may enter more than once if you wish. At this time I think we'll divide classes up like we do for the Ames steel shoots, unless someone would rather have it broken down further. We currently run the following classes: "Stock" auto - Similar to Limited in USPSA. No optics or ported/comped barrels allowed. Any safe internal modifications are fine, exterior mods such as grip stippling/reduction or magwells are ok. No round limit but mags are limited to 140mm in length. Race holsters allowed. Open auto - Optics and comps are ok, 170mm mag length, any safe external and internal mods allowed. Stock revolver - Iron sights, no ported/comped barrels. 8 round guns allowed. Open revolver - Optics and comps ok, 8 round guns allowed Stock .22 - same as stock auto Open .22 - same as open auto Because there is no movement involved with the shooting this event should appeal to many shooters. It's purely based on accurate, speedy shooting... and hearing that steel ring is a ton of fun. We should be able to make this one great event! We should be able to get some stuff in to serve lunch at a reasonable price right at the range. Let me know what you think, and hope to see you all in September. If you have any questions or would like to get further involved with the match, please post in this thread or PM me. And last but not least, a HUGE thank you to Doug C. for making this event possible! S.A.

All shot a week ago: SSP - EX 108.44 CDP - SS 118.62 ESR - SS 122.91 Less than a second away from expert in ESR! I really need to pick a gun and stick with it. They're all too much fun to give all but one up though Edit: IDPA # A32686

I'm a huge fan of Ready Tactical's mag pouches. I've got a few for my G21 and four for my small frame Glocks. They work great for production and IDPA, and I'm going to use them in limited as well because I'm used to loading from my side instead of in front. They have an amazingly slick draw yet retain a fully loaded mag even when violently shaken upside down. Here's what they look like: Notice the cut in the side of the pouch. The entire pouch is made from one very well molded piece of kydex, with a cut in the side to aid in drawing the mag. You exert enough outward pressure on the pouch when grabbing a mag that it drastically reduces tension and makes for a smooth draw. I've been extremely impressed with them so far, although I've not had them long enough to really say how durable they are. I've only been running them for 3 months. skdtactical is the sole distributor of Ready Tactical products, here's a link to the pouches: http://www.skdtac.com/index.asp?PageAction...amp;ProdID=1623

Sounds good, I'll try to get it to you on Monday (although I don't know what schedule I have to work with as of yet :-/ ). Have fun during your time out of the office!

I ran an IDPA classifier with my 625-8 for the first time today (did much better than I expected considering how little I shoot that gun - probably not the best thing to say in a revo forum ) and experienced problems reloading after only about 25 rounds. I had to push the clip into the chamber to get it to seat properly. This was with 230gr Precision Delta FMJ bullets, I run a factory crimp die to make sure they're sized consistently, a moderately heavy crimp, and polished in corn cob after loading. The gun wasn't really dirty at all at this point. I'm thinking the whole tight chamber issue may be affecting my 625 as well. Mike, are you going to be at the steel match this week (or the one this weekend, for that matter)? How involved is it to ream the chambers? If you would like I could drop the gun off at your office sometime this week. Whatever works best for you. Sam

I'm a huge fan of Warren Tactical Sevigny sights. I've got the front lamp only carry version on my G23 and like them quite a bit. It's a real simple sight picture, and the front lamp really gets your attention at night. It's a nice sight picture for competition too since the front post is quite thin for one with a tritium lamp. You may have checked them out already but I'll bring it with me to the steel match this week if you'd like to look them over again.

Last year's postal match was very enjoyable, I would definitely shoot it again this year.

I've gotten two sets of Sevigny sights from CPWSA and was very pleased with the transactions. The Sevigny Competition sights have a GREAT sight picture with or without the fiber optic front. Here's how the FO front looks on my G34: It's a fantastic setup.

Lead build up in a stock Glock barrel can indeed be tough to see. I would suspect you're getting more leading than you think as well. Take a chore boy pad, cut it up, and run it through your barrel with a cleaning jag. I bet you're surprised with what comes out the other end.

I agree. If you don't want to front any more money with the cert just go with a 17. Great for competition, good for winter carry if you can work around the longer grip.

I run a G34 and have found Frontier plated bullets to be pretty accurate, reasonably priced, and have great performance in a stock Glock barrel. I personally shoot 115gr bullets for cost reasons and have not noticed a problem knocking steel over. ...Just don't try to push that power floor too much . Titegroup shoots well under a 115gr bullet. As a bonus, its charge weights are fairly low and it meters great in most powder measures. And best of all, it's cheap. I ran 4.3gr of titegroup at 1.122" COL for quite awhile. One thing you need to remember about plated bullets is you can't use the same data as jacketed - it's going to fall between charge weights of jacketed and lead. Titegroup is pretty clean but the best thing about it to me was how economical it is. Recently I've switched to Longshot. The charge weights are higher and the powder is a bit more expensive but I think the difference in feel is worth it. It seems much softer shooting than Titegroup, it's a slightly slower burning powder. I'm running the same bullet with 5.4gr of longshot at 1.122" COL and have been quite impressed. That's the fun with reloading, you never know what's going to feel the best for you - playing with loads can be fun!