Forrest Halley

The first time you see/saw an open or limited shooter fidgeting with their all of a sudden not so functional raygun....that's why I shoot a revolver. Reliability. Maybe it's slower past 12 and maybe it's old technology, but I pull the trigger a second time and my malfunction is cleared!

I've heard that some RO's/SO's will nail you for muzzle direction if you go full vertical when emptying the revolver. Haven't shot revo in a match in quite a while, so I don't know if this is true... All the more reason to make your reload speedy. That same RO/SO will call auto shooters on pointing the gun above the berm when the shooter is seating a mag in front of his or her own face. Go figure. Some people have peaked and are making up for it by knitpicking on others. Incorrect and improper comment removed.

Yep. That's a roger. I am apparently the last person to find out that its a good idea to had seat them after the machine. Any revo greats out there with ammo loading tips feel free to PM me. Another note I polished off the protruding bit at the base of the striking head of my hammer(which contacts the frame) and it seems to have increased performance greatly. Feels like I'm back in the sixes or even lower.

I would look at your ejection technique more closely before hacking away at the grips. I would also suggest trying nickel plated cases for more positive ejection. If the gun is not completely vertical you may catch the inside one or two on the grips. The ejection stroke needs to be quick and firm and don't forget to release the ejector rod quickly so the cases can fall away. All in my limited experience. Forrest

Today I finished a 120 roundish USPSA match with my Apex tactical competition firing pin. I had about 20 light strikes. I have just gotten a Dillon 550 and I will give it the benefit of the doubt and go through the rest of the 350 rounds I have loaded in practice. I am using federal gold medal match magnum primers. My friend has been experimenting with the Apex comp also and is having similar results. 9 out of 10 are now light strikes with the strain screw all the way in. This gun was 90% reliable before with winchester primers with the factory firing pin. Will evaluate further and re post.

That's what you get for practicing. Only Bob Perdue would write that...The one and only time I shot with him he was telling me "Oh I havent practiced in all these months" and sure enough took some auto shooters to school. Not all of us are as naturally gifted as you sir.

Buyer beware! Not all 625's are created equal...some are more addictive than others. I have a 625 JM and love it, but it took me some tinkering to get running to my liking. I just picked up a fiver the other day just because and am sending it to my gunsmith The Revolver Armorer just as soon as my new sight arrives. He's a local guy in VA and I like keeping good guys in business. That being said, Mike Carmoney is a great guy from the forums who is highly recommended and has been very helpful and supportive in my personal tinkering efforts. Basically if you can find a decent specimen that runs jump on it. Find a good smith ahead of time because no doubt you will end up shooting the daylights out it. I never shot any one gun with any frequency or dedication until I got the revolver bug. Welcome and enjoy. Forrest

+1 to this. I was a complete newbie to progressive reloading and the folks at Dillon talked me through the buying process to get what I needed, not what I thought I needed. They seem like great people and willing to stand behind their products. Thanks for the tip about the priming system mine was running a little spotty as well but the bar trick fixed it up. Sure beats a single stage no matter how many little things I have to tweak. Look at it a little more relatively and life is good with Dillon....or I could just go back to my singel stage...nah!

I believe that the best method of checking loaded moonclips is dropping them in the cylinder of the revolver for which they are intended. Strikes me as the best way to do it. The money you spend buying the checker could be better spent on components or something else to make the gun go faster.

It's probably been official for some time now that Bill Nesbitt rocks. It's bordering on ridiculous that these guys are shooting speedloaders this fast. Anybody done any research on par times with 45 ACP versus 45 GAP?

I have enjoyed this thread highly. It's been some five months since I shot last due to work and the very issue I was debating was whether or not to go back to SO'ing at the matches. The main concern I had was that it hurt my performance and it distanced me somewhat from non SO friends that I used to squad with. The So's are always a decent group of people and there is always something to learn. I have come to the conclusion that despite performance effects the best idea is to suck it up and carry the torch again to ensure that the "sport" will be around for new shooters yet to start. Thanks.

Anybody know if either is IDPA Legal under the new rule addendum?

Quick and dirty method: Two rubber mallets. Place moon clip on face of one mallet and tap firmly back into shape. The second rubber mallet has enough give to allow the clip to be bent back to flush with a little effort. Somebody makes a tool to do this also I think, but I had the tools laying around to fudge it so why spend the money on a .35$ part? Forrest I would invest in a demooning tool although one can be fashioned out of a piece of pipe in the appropriate diameter and schedule.

I'm not plugging for anybody here. Some facts: Cylinder and Slide extended firing pins....I've been through two of them in about 10,000 pulls of the trigger(Between dry fire and live fire). Both sheared right at the base of the pin. Gun would still fire, but jammed the cylinder until the pin was able to wiggle back into the recoil plate. The timing of the gun was right on so I don't believe it sheared due to the cylinder turning after the hammerfall. Apex Tactical: I talked to them the other day and they informed me that they would stand behind their firing pins and if it was to break they would replace it. I was informed the following: Competition is for lighter strain spring settings as the sharper pin could possibly pierce the primer at a heavy setting. XP is for duty guns with a heavier hammer strike (and is more rounded like the CnS but differing in the flat hammerstrike area...CnS is more rounded over). Both kits come with a noticeably lighter(IMHO) return spring. I purchased two competitions for my game gun and one XP for my carry gun. I have not tested either as they just arrived yesterday, but I would be more than happy to share my results if there is an interest.

Anybody know of any good prices for 38super or 38spec thats not 6 bucks a copy. 35 per hundred of those would be nice also. TSA is a wonderful group to deal with aren't they? I don't travel with firearms, but as a merchant mariner I refuse to let them fiddle with my navigational equipment except under the direct supervision of myself and their supervisor.

HA! I'd have to agree there. The hose fest is not a good thing to attend for skill building unless your next stop is dave and busters... Glad to hear someone braved through it with a revolver. Congratulations on your endurance. I have been to a few matches with shots set up in my face and I have to say that it smears the competitors together. Not much of a skills test and sounds like a doubtful expenditure of ammunition. Reminds me of an "Action Rifle" match I attended with my trusty 625...despite the disparity in sight radius it was so easy that I never went back.

Sorry for the late reply. Brass had been scrapped by then.

What's the red stuff thats falling away? Speedloader for moonclips?

Thanks I was thinking that, but the 1994 headstamps caused me to hesitate.

I shoot the same loads as this man in the same gun. I used to have a problem with my powder measure throwing as much as .4 over and under and I was set for a mean charge of 4.0 and never had pressure signs. I use an RCBS and after cleaning I have no problems other than the occasional sticky handle on the upstroke. My crimp is pretty ridiculous also as I am slightly roll crimping with a taper die to avoid pulled bullets and I think it gives a slight reload advantage. Again no pressure signs. I calibrate my scale and check the measure every hundred rounds. It's usually confirmed accurate. When I check the weight of the charge I usually throw ten charges...dump them back into the hopper and then weigh the next ten and go with the average before loading.

I recently came into a quantity of mixed 7.62 NATO brass. A large part of it has two smaller flash holes in the primer pocket instead of the one I am accustomed to. I am assuming I cannot reload this, but I figured I would check with the wisdom of the forum first. Can I do anything reasonable to use this brass again or is it to be scrapped/trashed? Thanks.

Man that's some expensive speedloaders...how'd you go about that? Just drop them on the ground or try to retain them somehow?

I don't have nine dummy moonclips, but I have three and practice off each post 4 to 6 times. I am looking the reload from the belt into the gun so I don't have the problem of if I will hit the right post or not. I believe there is a big difference between snap and bang as well, so don't forget the live fire reload drills. Another poster made a great point about practicing loads on the move as well. As far as restocking the belt between strings I just shift ammo from left to right. I look at the match as a good performance if I remember seeing a lot of the sights and not remembering any reloads as I tend to only recall the sloppy ones.

Haha ok so I will admit to taking seven and change seconds. Sorry I was trying to see the sights since the penalties are so high...who shot the SSR 9 second run? Lou? The fast reload is not as hard as the solid reliable reload. It took a while to get fast, but even longer to get reliable and not toss the durn thing across the room. This is solid advice. I am a one belt guy and it took me a while to realize I needed to move my belt buckle over to the weakhand side quite a bit. I now put it just forward of the midline. The doubled up galco gun belt holds my Calcomps in place for sneak and peek and my north mountain in place for all else. I have so much time in practice on the calcomps that I am still fast out of that rig, but I totally love the repeat grabs in the north mountain as its a touch faster and solid on the belt. This fella makes a good point about in match conditions being around two is great. 1.3 and I'd have a pretty blue and white jersey to shoot in...

Nice video Bill. Is that an IDPA setup without concealment? I see you reload WHO, but the loaders are over in front of the holster. I didn't make this a PM because I figure the answer is relevant to the topic. While we're on the subject does anyone that shoots multiple games see a big difference in concealment reload times? I would think it would be a split second or two longer swatting the vest back. I don't use the same ammo carriers for the different games. North mountain for speed, Calcomps to hide.