Bill Sahlberg

I have Hogue rubber grips on all my revolvers and like them best of all as the rubber design is a good grip and it absorbs recoil. The Hogue's help run the IRC and donate lots of time and money into the shooting sports, especially revolver matches. How about supporting those who support us? Bill Sahlberg NRA Life USPSA Life ICORE 28 years PPC

1. he is a true gentleman and exemplifies the shooting sports 2. decades of practice 3. decades of confidence 4. owns all the world records for revolver 6. if he is 55, he is in great shape, more like that of a 30 year old 6. his passion is that he still loves to shoot 7. practice practice practice 8. he has earned all his titles 9. his only known allergies are to Kyrptonite :-) God Bless the King of Revo!

I started seriously shooting 3 Gun at the 1991 3 Gun Nationals in Marysville, WA and I have been to many matches both as MD and as a competitor. The best shooters still win regardless of the scoring system because they practice, they are dedicated, and they are the Top Shooters because of the time they invested and the skills they have cultivated over the years of experience. I see the advantages of trying PK's scoring as there is not a perfect scoring system in place at any 3 Gun. Accuracy can be rewarded with Time Plus by hacking off points for 'C & D' hits. I have kept to the Time Plus / neutralized target at our matches for the simple reason that it is easy to score and easy to administrate. The disadvantages of Time Plus are shorter in time stages and low round count stages. Which brings us to the real crux of the matter and that is stage design. Good stage design is what any shooting should be about and with "Multi-Gun" we try to make 90% of the stages at least 60 seconds with the very difficult stages (called long distance rifle) being 120 seconds with a cap for newer shooters at 180 seconds. I still love to shoot 3 Gun and whatever anyone wants to do with scoring is fine as my love is the shooting of this game NOT how it is scored or administrated. I am all for trying something that may work better than what we have and then trying to bring it to the masses for approval. So far, Time Plus, though not perfect, with the right stages is by far the perferred 3 Gun scoring system because of its simplicity. Wasn't the 3 Gun Nats in Tulsa all 20 second IPSC pistol courses with 1-2 longer range rifle stages? The people that I heard talk that shot that match were not impressed with either the stages nor the scoring as the stages took longer to score than to shoot. I do think this needs to change and I for one would give any decent new scoring system a shot before I made up my mind. Just my .02

More parts are available for the S&W and not many parts are MIM but solid forged parts. The triggers on my Performance Center 625s and 627s all had to be smithed and it is a must for Federal primers. However, my Taurus, though heavier triggers from the factory, were very smooth and I could use any primers including CCI that are known to be hard. Tom Kelley at the S&W Performance Center has been great to work with and I have had to buy several parts for my new and older revos which S&W has available. I have never had to replace any parts in any of my Taurus guns and they do use MIM parts. S&W does support the shooting sports much better now. Afterall, they are charging more than double what a Taurus runs. Bob Morrison, now Pres of Taurus is also very supportive of the revos in USPSA/IDPA/ICORE?PPC. Remember that both S&W and Taurus were owned by Banger Punta for a number of years and this is when the Taurus revos took a huge increase in quality and they back every gun with a lifetime warranty.

Jim, I own several of the "mighty" Taurus 608 8 shot .357 revos, Taurus pioneered the 8 shot revolver in 1995 and the S&W copy was not available until late 1997. The Taurus is not factory cut for full moon clips but "The Old Gun Shop" in California cut my cylinder for $75 and sold me full moon clips made by Pan Pacific an EDM contractor. In 1996 I shot my 608 at the Open Nats against the likes of Tetsu Murado, a Japanese US visa holder who shot a Charlie Priest 'RPM' 8 shot .357 with a dot scope. Tetsu shot alot out of AZ & CA and was an accomplished revo shooter. In 1998 (withoput Jerry Miculek shooting revo) I shot my 608 in minor with .38 Colt Short ammo, now with a dot against 3 others with RPM guns shooting .38 Super in major. I won the USPSA Open Nats revo division with my 608 and wrote an article published in the USPSA Front Sight magazine titled "Winning Nationals with a $349 gun" The Taurus actions are not as smooth as my newer S&W 627s but they werre also $1000 guns. I still have my Taurus 608s and lots of the moon clips (which will NOT work in the S&W) In fact, one of them rides in my car everyday as my personal bodyguard. The S&W is smoother but a tougher gun they are not.

These 6,7, & 8 shot center pieces are originally made for the office furniture industry and cost between .25-.50 each. Find a furniture office supply store or a caster store for office equipment. These are called "caster connectors" and fit the casters (wheels) on office equipment between the casters and the round metal tubing that they attach to. Most are while or black and some are threaded.

I have shot .38 Colt Short in my 608 and 627 revolvers since 1995. The accuracy problems that you are having are the bullets and powder combination. My load is minor but shoots very accurately out to 50 yds. 130 gr Montana Gold RN .355 or .356, it makes no difference but I do use a tight crimp. 4.6 gr Universal Clays, 1.100" OAL and Federal 100 primers. 1130 fps This will cure your accuracy problems.

Stay with the 8 shot and learn how to count for revo class. I shoot mine in USPSA in all the divisions. Revo, Open, Limited, L-10, and production as long as the holster and mag pouches are behind the apex of the hip. I also shoot a .38 Colt Short and declare minor as my load is similiar to a 9MM. I shoot alot of steel too. Most important is to have fun and good trigger time.

I have machined in my revos a small set screw to lock the strain screw. I go to the range and shoot with the main spring screw only as tight as it has to be for whatever brand primers (Federal are the softest by far) when it starts misfiring I add 1/2 turn and set the screw.....waalaah...no more misfires and never have to worry about it backing outThis works better than Loctite and keeps me from the gunsmith each time I get a new revo :-)

Eric, Pigtail is correct, it is not the brass. Revos work best with Federal Primers. Any revo gunsmith will tell you to use Federal as all 100 in a box of 100 will fire off.

All my competition revos have the larger Millet rear sight and I filed them open to .250 (yes, 1/4") and I left the front sights alone. This gave me much faster target acquisition and sacraficed nothing in accuracy.

LeRoy, I have polished never cut away with a Dremel, champhor tool my cylinder with a drill, some cotton bore cleaning tips and cotton .30 Cal patches. Use JB Bore paste (or very fine jewelers rouge) and be patient spending some time 'honing' and polishing the cylinder holes. You can be more agressive along the star edges but what makes the bullets drop in faster is using a good round nose bullet with a tight crimp. I use Montana Gold 230 gr RN and these will drop right in. The Miculek spring kit from Bang Inc or Brownell's is the right one to buy. If you really want to get good with this revo, spend money on ammo and practice first, then start changing your parts by getting them to a competent gunsmith. I shot my 625 stock for 7 years before I had anything done to it. The practice is what makes you good not the gun.

Mark, None of these people have steered you wrong as porting in any revolver at best is a 5% advantage whereas a good trigger job can help you alot more and with lots of practice, help even more. In my quest for less muzzle flip, I had experimented with 6-1/2" bbls and all types of porting with holes at angles as well as straight up and down. The "jet blast" theory of porting is simply not effective beyong this 5%. A true compensator cut in a longer barrel where the gases hit the baffle work much better but ONLY in high pressure loads. I chose a shorter bbl and minor loads that not only accomplished all my goals, minor makes a revolver last alot longer too. I have more than 50K 130 gr RN Montana Gold bullets down my original 5" 627 in .38 Colt Shorts and there is still very little wear even on the forcing cone where it hits after 3/4" of "freebore" travel. Porting of barrels is definately a "placebo" effect, sorry gunsmiths but you will have to make your money doing real gunsmithing....like on triggers and timing :-)

Bobby, I came from a PPC background with lots of generous time so I too had to break my habit of closing my weak eye when shooting. The C-More helped me do just that and on all my iron sight guns I run a red fiber optic that helped me keep both eyes open. Set up lots of close targets with reloads and make yourself keep both eyes open then start moving the targets back at greater distances. Like Mike said above, at long distances like 50 yds I still find myself closing my weak blinker :-) Practice practice practice

.38 Super being a nearly rimless case, needs full moon clips to work as it was never intended for revolver use but auto guns. I agree too, this is a competition gun, not a gun that everyone would want. Most $1,000 revolvers take a very serious person that really wants this gun.

Bob Munden has to "fan" the hammer as do all single action revolvers to go fast. Jerry Miculek has set all his world record shoots usind a S&W double action revolver. Now S&W is paying him to represent their company and he does a great job for them as he is a true southern gentleman and truly a nice guy both at matches and at home.

I have bought 5 of the 627s without ever having any problems with the loaded moon clips dropping in or any alignnment / timing issues. All needed better trigger jobs and some deburring and all I used to "clean up" the cylinders was jewlers rouge' on a .45 caliber cotton brush in the .357 cylinders. The quality must have really dropped off the past few years to have this happen. I would contact Tom Kelly, the S&W Performance Center Mgr and send it back for factory repair, if something is not right from the factory it sure won't be right after you monkey with it :-) You may even get S&W to chamfer & polish the cylinders as well as put a better spring kit in from the factory if this is the same gun that you have had to send in before. They are great folks and bend over backwards trying to make competitors happy! "If you do not ask, you will not receive" Bill Sahlberg L1283

Jay, I shoot a .38 Colt Short in minor and have found both the costs and the accuracy of these cartridges outweigh the benefits of shooting major. The Starline Brass lasts 16+ reloads and there is alot less wear and tear on my 627. My load is with Montana Gold 130 grain 9mm (yes, .355) with 4.6 gr of Universal Clays and a Federal 100 primer loaded to 1.100" OAL I developed this load in 1996 and have won 2 USPSA Nats (1998 Open & 1999 Limited) with others shooting the old RPM .38 Super 8 shots in major. The cost of good bullets far exceeds the continual search for "cheap" bullets. "Why buy a drag car designed to run AA and only put regular gas in it?"

DM, Treasure these moments as soon they will be busy and gone. I too shoot a circle cycler but my 3 sons all stuck with bottom feeders. My oldest, Adam, now 23, is a SGT in the US Army currently stationed with the 5th Stryker Brigade at Ft. Lewis, he made GM when he was 18, Luke, my middle son, an 'A' class open shooter, is at Western Washington Univ as a Junior in their Homeland Security / LE class, and my youngest son, Jonathan, age 20 and a southpaw made it to 'B' class but his specialty is shooting steel and he is a Sophmore at Eastern Washington University studying girls and parties :-) All my boys started shooting IPSC when they were 10 and we traveled all over the country as a family shooting Nats and Area matches in Barry, Las Vegas, Medford, Missoula, Boise, Phoenix, and two Canadian Provincials. I have hundreds of hours of videos and play them for my two grand daughters trying to gain their interest. They are only 9 and 10 months old but I only have 9 years to get them ready for their first match! Keep up the good work! Like I said, treasure this time as it will fly by..... Bill Sahlberg L1283

Extra parts??? If you have a god gun all you need to pack is a bunch of extra full moon clips and ammo. I shot in 8 Area matches and 3 Nationals never bringing a spare part or back up gun for my revos! I always keep a spare bag of ammo in moonclips though! Bill Sahlberg L1283

These .38 Specials (Model 10) were specifically mfg for the Navy and Air Force with "lanyards" then in the 1950s the much growing police markets in the late 1950-60 was the Model 10, 19, and newly made adjustable sight Model 14 made (old sights werte known as "rain gutter" sights) In 1970s these sold brand new to PDs for under $200 as autos were still not considered reliable (same reasoning as pump shotguns in PDs today) Model 14s are reliable and accurate. I have shot PPC since the 1970s and a 148 gr HBWC with 2.8 grs of Bullseye will still group under 2" at 50 yds. My best score of 598 / 600 was done with a Model 14 with a Bo-Mar "wwinged" sight in 1976 at the Governor's Cup held at the Spokane Police Dept Range. I was 24 and my eyes wer a lot sharper than today :-) Bill Sahlberg

Any N frame holster should work on Taurus 608s. However with a scope I think only the Safariland Challenge Cup 002 will accept the scope mount and these are universal to fit all revolvers and all scopes.

I would like to also give some credit to the 7 shot Baumanized revolver in the early 1990s and to Charley Prest of RPM Guns that made up the first 8 shot revolvers in .38 Super! BladeTeck has made a Tek-Lok better than the Shoot the Moon clips that hold just 2 rnds but have room for 2 full moon clips in the same space as the Shoot the Moon clips. Radical new mounts for scopes, porting, comps, ball detents, fiber optic sights...........a few others :-)

Go to www.uspsa.org , members area, local match results, to Marysville Rifle & Pistol Club, then July 15th results Only 41 shooters came, but it was a great match and perfect weather. DPMS donated an AR15 complete upper as a designated prize to the "Crease Award" (closest to 50%) Open Joe DeSimone Tactical Carl Carbon Limited / HM Pat Kelley

For an all fun club match or good practice, rules can be bent for the fun factor. However, if there are more than one revo the playing field must be level. This is why I like the Steel Challenge, it simply cannot be shot any other way than is intended. I also shoot ICORE with both 6 shot and 8 shot revos but USPSA only with my 6 shot. I still shoot my 8 shot revo in minor in Open, Ltd, L-10, and in Production at USPSA matches. They leveled the playing field by allowing only 6 shots whereas IDPA makes you load only 6 with two empty holes that make reloading a bitch. At any competition, nobody should be penalized for thinking smarter to gain a competitive adavntage. With this said, severe gamesmanship may be borderline but leaving steel standing and shooting targets that are on the ground is just blatant cheating. We all shoot revolvers for the fun factor, it is never fun when someone cheats and can gret away with it. Bill Sahlberg 1996 Magna Cum Laude University of Jeruslaem as a 8 round revo gamester