wlktheduk

In the mid-1980's I was shooting mostly PPC, with a few bullseye matches thrown in. I had read about "Combat Shooting", IPSC, and Practical Shooting in Guns & Ammo and American Handgunner. Most of my shooting buddies were not impressed by what they had read about IPSC. Everybody knows that all that running and gunning, quick draw, speed shooting, race guns, etc, etc, etc, was dangerous at the very least, and would ruin your shooting skills at the worst. So when a local gun club, known mostly for trap and skeet, offered a "Practical Shooting Division" it sounded different, and my curiosity lead me astray. They didn't laugh too much at my PPC revolver, complete with bull barrel & BoMar rib, although they did point out that my .38 special ammo was a little below minor power level. (2.8 grs. Bullseye, 148 gr. HBWC) But shooting an "El Presidente", the "Jim Loveland Assault course" and the "Los Alamitos match" made for a very different day at the range. Next time I brought a .357 magnum revolver, full power ammo, my duty rig, and began to learn the mysteries of the Milpark target, Comstock scoring, Major/Minor power ammo, Pepper Poppers and all the other fun things of Practical Shooting. The people that I was shooting with were a different bunch (in a nice way) and I was hooked on this type of shooting. I've used race guns, duty guns, wheel guns, combat tupperware, shotguns, rifles, all manner of toys to play the variety of shooting games this Practical Shooting sport offers. I've stayed a club level shooter (very C class) but I've had plenty of fun doing this. FWIW...the local club is the Ashland Gun Club, which boasts among it's members Gary Stevens, Area 5 Director. He was and still is one of the guilty parties in addicting me to this powder burning pastime.

Mike, if you've had that pistol for 5 years, and are using the same three magazines (Shooting Star's) you might want to also consider that the magazine springs might be getting weak. If you can borrow a new magazine from one of your shooting buddies, try that. (Wilson/Shooting Star/Chip McCormick/Metalform magazines have all given me good service) I had some (older, not Power Mag's) Chip McCormick 8-round magazines that began to give me problems. I replaced the magazine springs with Wolff extra power magazine springs, (available through Brownells) and the magazines went back to working well.

I'll second/third the nomination of Lee Van Cleef in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", but I think that a better choice for sneaking up on and (tactically, of course) engaging from the rear would be Jack Palance, as Stark Wilson in "Shane" Both of those villians remind me of the line attributed to the Grand Jury Foreman or the Sheriff (I think) of El Paso, Texas, talking about the death of John Wesley Hardin, one of the real bad guys of the Old West: "If he was shot from the front it was good shooting, if he was shot from behind it was good judgement."

Bucky: Gun Parts Corporation (formerly Numrich) does have the Stocks, Square Butt, Service, checkered walnut, part # 299090 (www.e-GunParts.com) These do hug the grip frame outline, and do not extend past the bottom of the grip frame.

Hello, Bucky Pachmayr had the Compac grip for the J frame square butt, I think that it's still available. Gun Parts Corporation (www.e-GunParts.com) had the Pachmayr grip adaptors for the J frame square butt, in medium and large, part #538670 and #538680 respectively. These use your existing grips, the adaptor just fills in the gap between trigger guard and grip strap. This doesn't change the size of the revolver. Another alternative, if you're good with wood working tools, is to buy the target grips and cut them down to fit the configuration you want. Again, Gun Parts Corporation has the grips, part # 299130, Stocks, square butt, target, checkered, GA wood.

I thought I'd toss in my .02 worth, starting with saying up front that I'm a C class shooter (in all 5 USPSA classes). I spend most of my shooting $ on club matches and have not been to the Nationals, or many other major matches.(but someday I will I have shot up a lot of targets in PPC, and a fair number of targets in IPSC with a revolver. When I chose to bring the revolver to the IPSC match, I know up front that I am behind the power curve compared to the typical limited gun, let alone an open gun. So what? I chose to shoot the revolver, and I usually have a blast doing it. I know what the course of fire is beforehand (if I've read the match bulletin) and "hopefully" I have a plan to make the best run on the targets that I can. Speaking for just myself, I don't expect the course designers to make the course revolver neutral, at the expense of the other 4 classes. I'd rather not see 5/5/5 or 7/7/7 problems, as they are tougher to do with a wheelgun. But I'll try them, as long as the others in my squad are patient with my times (usually measured with a sun dial, or so I have been told ) Maybe I should be more serious about it, but I shoot IPSC for fun, and shooting a revolver is fun for me, and I have a good time doing them both together. Just my .02

a-44978 & 300lbGorilla: back in the dim, distant past, (mid-1980's) when I first started playing at IPSC, there were some "Standard Exercises" aka classifiers, that did call for a 1-handed reload. Magazine base pads were not quite as large. With a magazine for a 1911, either without a base pad, or with a small pad, and the right magazine pouch, you could reload from the belt pouch. Using either a SNIK magazine pouch (see Mel Tappan's book, "Survival Guns" for pictures) or early Safariland single pouch's with the split front. insert the magazine base pad down, rear magazine side to flat side of pouch, and front of magazine to split front of magazine pouch. This puts the top of the magazine extending from the pouch. (is this description clear as mud, or what???LOL) Drop magazine from pistol. Push pistol (Carefully!!!!!) onto magazine in pouch. When magazine has gone as far into the pistol as possible, rotate pistol forward and down, breaking the magazine out through the front split lips of the pouch. Pull pistol and magazine free of the pouch. You will need to finish seating the magazine, (usually) by pressing the pistol butt against your belt/stomach/table/whatever to fully seat the magazine. Use your imagination to see how many ways you can muzzle yourself, break the 180, etc, etc...... Still, if it can be set up to help someone compete in this sport, who might otherwise be unable to, it's a good thing. My compliments, A-44978, and good luck and good shooting. FWIW: most law enforcement firearms training that deals with one-handed reloading (presuming the other arm has been injured) starts with dropping the magazine and then: a)putting the pistol back into the holster, or..... wedging pistol into waist band, or...... clamping pistol between knees/legs, magazine well out, or...... setting pistol down (chose one based on situation) b)get spare magazine c) insert spare magazine d) grip pistol again, close slide if needed (press slide release or push slide back against body/belt until slide is released and goes forward) Revolvers are harder to do, but it can be done with one-hand, just a little juggling practice required.

Erik, don't forget the magazine safety that usually won't allow a magazine to drop free (unless it's one of the new magazines with the mouse trap spring on the base pad ) But....the Browning does feel good in the hand, and points very well indeed (at least in my paw) A very good pistol

Bucky: this might be a different approach to the question of S&W auto quality, and the 9MM 5906 pistol. I hope it might help. I work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and we adopted the 9MM S&W 659 in 1988, for special duties and our tactical teams, (S.O.R.T.) In 1989 the 3rd generation 5906 came out, and in 1990, my institution bought 20 5906's, with adjustable sights, for our S.O.R.T. As I was/am a firearms instructor/armorer and a member of the S.O.R.T., I got to see how they did, first hand. I also heard how other teams used/abused and liked/disliked them. My institution used the 5906 from January 1990 until February 1997, when we changed over to SigSauers. We fired between 200 to 400 rounds per month through our assigned pistols. All ammo was factory, either 115/124 grain ball/fmj or 115 grain JHP. 1 pistol began to fire 2-round, 3-round and then full auto within the first 500/600 rounds. Cool, but since we already had submachineguns on inventory, we didn't need a machinepistol S&W repaired that problem quickly. In 1994 we replaced all the recoil springs (preventive maintenance) but since the springs were only $2.00 each, no big deal. I extractor chipped or rounded off the edge, and was replaced, when it stopped extracting rounds reliably, from that pistol. The usual cop use and abuse problems were noted, plus some odd ones. Example: the grips will not survive a 65 foot drop onto concrete. (however, that pistol's sights were not knocked out of adjustment, and after the grips were replaced, and the hammer spring strut straightened, the pistol worked fine) Several ambi-dextrous safety/decock levers lost the right side lever (ejection port side) This lever is held onto the safety drum/shaft by a spring loaded detent pin, and sometimes the pin allowed the lever to pop off. The pistol could still have the hammer decocked and be put on safe with just the left side lever, so we kept spare parts on hand, and replaced as needed. Other then that, we had no "mechanical problems" with the 5906's Reliabliity was good, with most problems being related to dirty guns, and some magazines with weak springs and followers that wore down quickly (which were replaced) Accuracy has always seemed (to me at least) to be more a function of the user. Anyway, our standard/qualification COF's have targets out to 25 yards, (with one COF with targets out to 45 yards) All of our 5906's could keep all rounds inside the 5 ring (about 6" wide by 10" oval) of the TRANSTAR II targets we used, at 25 yards, if the shooter did their part. Trigger pulls were good enough for service use. The double action pull was long, but smooth. The single action pull is short, with a very short trigger reset, compared to other pistols, such as SigSauers, Beretta 92's or Ruger P89's. When we transferred our 5906's in March 1997 to another institution (replacing them with SigSauer P228's) they were still in good servicable condition. While there was some wear noticeable on frame, barrel and slide bearing surfaces, none of the pistols were "worn-out" IMHO Talking with other's, most institutions got good service out of the 5906's, and only replaced them because of the desire for "NEW GUNS" not any real problems with wear & tear. Overall, the Bureau of Prisons was satisfied with the 5906's that were on issue. There are still several hundred on inventory. As for myself, I bought a 5906 for personal use in 1991 and used it for ISPC & PPC and enjoyed it. Foolishly, I let it go in 1998, for some new toy. Finally IMHO, if you like the feel of a S&W 5906, I do not think you will be disappointed with one,

But Steve, I like idiotic criminals. They're what has made my line of work one of the growth industries in America. The Corrections Industry !!!!!!!!!!!(Federal Bureau of Prisons specifically) If they were smart....they'ed be sooo much harder to catch and convict PS: I'm thankful no one was hurt

I hate shooting the Falling Plate Event, in NRA Action Pistol. Actually, I hate shooting at specific plate racks in central Ohio (and Flexmoney knows where these racks are at) These plates have been equipped with acoustic sensors, so that when I fire at them, they instantly turn 90 degrees, leaving me with only the 1/2" thickness, rather then the 8" width. Then, as my speeding bullet passes harmlessly by, another sensor sees the shadow of the bullet, and turns the plate back 90 degrees, facing me again. All this happens faster then the eye can see (of course) Why else, after I have fired my 6 shots at each array, do soooooo many plates stay up. It can't be my fault (and don't even let me get started on that bullet dodging mover)

The "wasting their time on PPC, Bullseye, etc?" was meant to be sarcastic. (Should have put LOL after wasting, maybe?) The people I named did very well indeed, without the benefit of the latest techniques/fad/equipment/schools,etc They did have one thing in common, they all shot in competition, and some of them shot a lot. Askins, for example said that he fired 334,000 rounds in a 10 year period, while he won the US individual pistol championship, national pistol and revolver grand aggregate, and a host of other trophies (bullseye/National Match courses) (from "The Pistol Shooters Book", by Charles Askins, The Stackpole Company, copyright 1961, Chapter 20, pg.234) IMHO, whatever you're shooting, if you enjoy it, if you are accurate, safe, competent with your gear, and fast enough, then you are a practical shooter, if the standard for being a practical shooter is to be fast and accurate. Since this thread started with a reference to a type of shooting that claims to be the only practical shooting sport, I just wanted to point out that you can shoot another sport, and still do well, when it comes time to be "practical"

SmittyFL's post describes my opinion on practical shooting. Any type of shooting that helps you to shoot "fast and accurate" is practical. I try not to knock any of the shooting sports. Claiming that (fill in the blanks) is the only "true" way to learn practical shooting, and that doing anything else leads you down the path to defeat, doom, disaster, etc... leads me to this question: Just think how well people such as Jim Cirillo, Bill Allard, Charles Askins, Bill Jordan, (to name a few examples) would have handled their "practical shooting" problems had they been "properly" trained, rather then wasting their time on PPC, Bullseye, etc?

Professionally or personally carrying? In almost 28 years of law enforcement, what I've carried has changed with the times, and who I was working for. I started with a .38 revolver, and have used Colt, S&W and Ruger, loaded with anything from a 158 grain lead round nose, to 110 grain +P+ jacketed hollow points. During a 2-year period, I was allowed to carry a .45ACP 1911A1, with 230 grain FMJ ball. Since 1988, I've used a 9MM automatic, and depending on the duty, either a double action only or a traditional double action (DA/SA) with usually 115 grain JHP's The 9MM pistols have been Smith & Wesson, Ruger & Sig-Sauer. On my own time, I've carried everything from a .25ACP mouse gun to a .45ACP Usually, a Sig-Sauer P228 9MM or a Walther PPK/s .380 can be found on or about my person these days. IMHO, it's not as much about what you carry, as it is about what you bring with you.