Carmoney

And now I get to say.......Hell, I was there!

OK, bring it to Area 5 and show me!

Thinking back to the 2009 USPSA Nationals, did anyone on the Revolver Division super squad--including Annette--use anything other than an N-frame .45 ACP wheelgun? In the past, we've usually had a 610 or two in there, but this year I'm pretty sure it was all 625s and 25-2s. Why fight it? Why try to reinvent the wheel? (Pun intended.)

I had a 329. It's gone now. I'm not particularly recoil-sensitive, but I found it to be an unbelievably awful torture device with full-house ammo. As Steel suggested, make sure your strain screw is tight--I see loose screws sometimes even in brand new factory guns just out of the box for the first time! Good chance this is the problem. A drop of blue loctite is the answer. Another suggestion (if you must use CCI ammo)--try replacing the firing pin. They're shipping everything with those dang pointy California-drop-test-friendly firing pins these days, and they seem to require a huge amount of mainspring tension to work right. On my customers' guns, the California pins go right into the wastebasket and are replaced with a pin from my supply of older round-tip factory pins. If you can't find one of those, order the Apex Tactical ignition kit.

Wow, I would not be trying to make major .38 loads with heavy bullets and Bullseye powder. I could be wrong, but I think Bullseye is too fast-burning for that. I would stick with loads that others have used successfully. I'm not any sort of experimental reloader, but if you like the Hercules powders I would suggest you work with Unique and Blue Dot. Those are two powders we used extensively "back in the day" for our hot bowling pin loads. Since I'm offering opinions here--my recommendation would be to shoot your 686 with minor loads and work on getting those A-zone hits. Then, if and when you're serious about progressing in Revo division, switch up to a 625 or 610 and major ammo and you'll never look back.

I would hope that we wouldn't jump to any conclusions based on what appears in the complaint. Now I don't do criminal defense work, but I am a civil trial attorney, and I will assure you that complaints are often full of exaggeration, hyperbole, and sometimes outright falsehoods.

I've been installing a lot of the Weigand blades lately. I particularly like the .140" notch version. Everybody knows I like the Millett unit the best of any revolver rear sight. But the Weigand blade gives a nice sight picture, and the one I installed on my 646 over 5 years ago is holding up just fine. The LPA is a good quality sight, but too expensive for what it is. Plus the notch is way too narrow.

S&WIowegan has a couple of these. Maybe he'll chime in here. He also bought the reamer so I could ream a couple of his .32 H&R Mag revolvers out to .327 Mag chambering. They're noisy, I know that much!

K and L frames do use the same size hammer.

That surprises me, knowing the Dalai Lama is a golfer. Big hitter, the Lama......long.

A couple months ago, I set up a 4" 629 Mountain Gun for an IDPA shooter in FL. The owner supplied a Titanium cylinder cut for moonclips (I think Tom Kilhoffer at TK Custom did the machine work on the cylinder), and I installed the cylinder and did the rest of the action work. The lighter 329 cylinder shaved weight off the gun. It turned out great--in fact, I have a standing offer to buy the gun! Hugh's custom 629 also inspired a conversation with one of my local shooting buddies that led to a group of us getting together last weekend for an informal "Big Bore" wheelgun match--we set up three USPSA stages and shot them with the big wheels--629s, Redhawks, Blackhawks etc. Afterward, we ate chili and drank whiskey to warm up--it was a great day!

Yeah, out there in the Bay Area, they sure do have plenty of love for their fellow man!

Mission accomplished. Now the inside of Ari's snubby looks as good as the outside! For the folks interested in the technical stuff: I couldn't find a Rossi hammer nose in stock anywhere, but I was able to modify a S&W hammer nose and it works perfectly. The rebound and hand torsion springs were rusted almost solid, but those were easily replaced with S&W J-frame springs. I refit the cylinder to the yoke, and honed the action a little, and that's all it took to bring it back to 100% functioning. FYI Ari, I test-fired it with Winchester ammo. As with any firearm used for defensive purposes, you should test-fire it thoroughly with your choice of defensive ammunition before placing it into service. It will go out on tomorrow's Fedex truck, and should be at your door on Friday. One more thing..... As I was finishing up the work on your revolver, Ari, I couldn't help but be flooded with memories of times spent with family members of my own, some now departed. And it occurred to me that the real reason so many of us have been moved by your story, Ari, is that it touches a thread of common experience in all of us. Most of us will never experience the loss of such a cherished momento, followed years later by its unexpected and miraculous recovery! But we can all relate to the loss and redemption that happens between us and the people we care about as we go through our lives. I want to thank you, Ari, for allowing me to participate in the restoration of this very special handgun. It has been a real honor.

They actually will fuse if the empties are not demooned before tumbling.

Kim, you can legally ship a handgun to/from an FFL licensee via common carrier (UPS, Fedex, etc.) but the problem is the cost. UPS and Fedex have both declared they will only transport handguns via priority overnight service, and that typically runs $50-60 each way. Some have figured out ways to ship handguns by UPS ground service--this is not illegal but I doubt UPS would honor an insurance claim if the handgun got lost or damaged when their policies had not been followed.

Our buddy KennyD over at Speed Shooter Specialties has brand new 5" 625 barrels in stock as well. You can link to his website through his dealer forum here on BE: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=149

Does anyone happen to have a photo of one of those snatch holsters?

I agree. And you might not even need a machine shop. It sounds like you're talking about pretty basic gunsmithing work that a general gunsmith should be able to handle--you haven't described anything that would really need a revolver specialist. Where are you located? Maybe somebody here can give you a referral.

Yikes, I don't even want to think about the damage that could be caused by accidentally ripping off an early shot during a snatch draw!

Yeah, those 230-gr. .357 Lincoln Log bullets are friggin' great on pins. I've tried it all, and nothing gives better action (which of course is critical for matches where the clock stops only when the last pin hits the ground)on pins. One year at Second Chance (1993?), I led the main event all week long shooting those bullets out of my S&W 27. Jerry Miculek was right behind me (we actually shot the same aggregate time, but my tie-breaker was better) using the same bullets out of his S&W 27! Unfortunately, toward the end of the week, Ken Tapp (Mr. Personality) finally decided to shoot, and proceeded to set a new Second Chance record, beating everybody soundly.

Still....99% of the time, squibs are caused by error in the reloading process, where no powder (or just a little powder) is dropped into the case.

To clarify one other point.......the only light strikes that matter are misfires. A light strike doesn't cause a primer to partially ignite. If the primer pops, the round fires.

Misfires and squibs are totally different. Squibs are caused by having no powder (or grossly insufficient powder) in the case. Misfires are caused when the hammer doesn't transfer enough stored energy from the mainspring to cause the primer to detonate. Well-seated primers require less energy. Federal primers, with their softer cups, require less energy. Well-seated Federal primers require the least amount, obviously. Many of us use only handloads with well-seated Federal primers in our competition revolvers, in order to take advantage of the super-light DA trigger pulls that ammo will allow, and still achieve 100% ignition reliability. Here's how to solve the problem--first off, you will need to develop loading practices which ensure that consistent powder is dropping into each round. Then, do each of the following, in this order, test-firing after each: 1. Make certain the primers are very well-seated. Ideally, they should be seated to below flush and starting to flatten out. Some machines will not do this without special adjustment or modification. If this is the case, a hand-priming tool is recommended. 2. Use only Federal primers in your competition revolvers. 3. If neither of those does the trick, you will need to increase the mainspring tension. Depending on how your gun is set up, there are a couple ways to accomplish that. Be warned, however, that the springs in a revolver must be properly balanced to one another, and you often cannot significantly increase the mainspring tension without it creating a sluggish trigger rebound. There are other factors that come into play as well, including yoke alignment and cylinder endshake (to name just the first two that come to mind), that contribute to proper ignition.

I can't resist..... someday.wav

Heck, any of you guys would have stepped up to help out......this just happens to be my area, that's all. (Actually, I thought for sure a couple of my crazy-ass revolver buddies would have waded in here by now with requests for free action work, now that I've revealed myself as such a sentimental softy!) Anyway, here's a quick update: Ari's revolver is in my safe. I fully disassembled it and cleaned it up internally, and it appears that the major components are all in good shape. In addition to the problems Ari noticed, there are a few other issues that will need to be resolved before this gun can be returned to use. But nothing that can't be handled! I have located most of the necessary parts to get everything back in good running order, and I've formulated a game plan to modify a couple S&W parts to fill in the gaps, so hopefully within a couple weeks I'll be able to tell Ari his gun is up and running again, and on its way back home.