Carmoney

Good question. If you look at the results for the other stages, the top shooters tend to be all bunched up together, with only a second or two difference between all the top contenders (and perhaps even less). On the Far & Near Standards, you have top shooters scoring 11 or 12 seconds, and other top shooters scoring 20 or 24 or 32 or 37..... The differential is much, much wider. Part of it is the instrinsic difficulty of the stage, but an equally big part of it is the "groove factor" I keep harping on.

Wouldn't it be better if you didn't know exactly what the stage would be like, and instead of grooving in one particular thing, you were forced to become generally proficient at getting good fast hits at all practical distances, achieving fast and consistent reloads on demand, shooting strong/weak-hand-only when necessary, shooting on the move, and all the other general shooting skills it takes to become the best possible all-around revolver shooter you can be? Instead of just setting up one stage and shooting the goddam thing over and over?

Johnny Robbins. One shot wonder, I think. Not sure anybody's heard from him since. He'd be just another middle-aged guy with bifocals by now!

We had a big discussion on this topic back before the last USPSA rulebook came out, and there was an overwhelming consensus to keep the USPSA Revolver Division limits of six shots, and no ports/comps. Although many of the top guns in the two sports happen to be the same guys, USPSA Revolver is a different game than ICORE. I really enjoy both, although when it comes right down to it, I prefer USPSA Revolver. Over the past twenty years, I've competed fairly seriously in almost every handgun competition discipline out there, and have never found anything quite as challenging as USPSA Revo. To my way of thinking, there's nothing quite like running a 32-round freestyle field course with an iron-sighted six-shooter, and finding ways to beat bunches of guys who are shooting hi-cap bottomfeeders. Just thinking about it makes me smile inside! But I love a tough challenge, and a sport that forces the shooter to think and make strategic decisions--and as we all know, you won't really find that in ICORE, or IDPA, or Steel Challenge. That being said, I sure wish we had ICORE available in my area, but we just don't have the population/shooter base here to support it.

Yep, Power Custom sold those (and still might, for all I know). I have them on a 4" M13 I have in my little bedroom vault. I don't think they made one for the new-style yoke screw.

Yeah, I know. I just never seem to get tired of that gag. It makes me laugh every single time. I'm really childish that way.

Hmmmm....why would the brand of mainspring make any difference?

Hmmmm.....how often do you remove the strain screw?

Bob Marvel's shop does the most gorgeous high-gloss bluing I've ever seen. (And I've seen a lot of stuff.)

First off, there is no need for loctite (of any flavor) on the extractor rod threads. Not blue, and certainly not red. Second, there is no need to pay good money for the Wessinger tool when a drill chuck (as Pat mentioned above) is so much faster and easier to use anyway. You simply chuck the rod in there as deep as you can so the knurling on the rod doesn't get buggered, then (and here's the key) tighten the chuck up very hard so it doesn't slip, then pop a moonclip into the cylinder to give it support, hold the drill in a fixed position and gently turn the cylinder to the right--i.e. the opposite way you would ordinarily turn a fastener to unscrew it. Third, very rarely is there a need for a revolver shooter to take out the extractor rod. Unless there is a problem, leave it the hell alone. There are only two reasons I can think of: to add a shim to reduce endshake, or to replace a bent rod or center pin. If you are not extremely careful, you can dick things up real quick, for example cracking the extractor by overtightening (like Doug mentioned), or bending the rod, or stripping the threads. I can't remember the last time I had the extractor rod out of my 625--in fact, I'm not sure it's ever been unscrewed. Seriously, leave it alone. (Rick, call me if you need any further help, OK?)

Nope, I got a whole box full of MIM hammer appendages I've lopped off. The MIM hammers cut, grind, smooth, and polish just fine. Oh, one cosmetic thing to be aware of.....if you try to polish the sides of a MIM hammer, the sprues and lines really stick out like a sore thumb. I usually use a fine sanding drum to remove those before doing the polish work. Or else I just leave the original finish in place on the sides of the hammer, it does a pretty decent job of hiding the sprues/lines. Both my match 625s have MIM guts. Nothing wrong with MIM for revolver parts.

One of the pre-eminent lefty wheelgunners, Tom Mainus, wears a glove on his right hand for the same reason. Here's a recent photo of Tom, you can see his glove pretty well in the picture:

Out of curiosity, I checked gunbroker just now, and there are a couple of 5" 625s with actual bids at $750 and $735 and both of them have time to go. There's a used 4" 625JM that's been bid up to $811. So there's your real price range right now, fellas. The last couple larger gun shows I've attended, I haven't seen any 5"ers for sale at any price.

Uh, you can't readily obtain decent used 5" 625s for much less than $700 these days. Once in awhile I get lucky and pick one up cheaper, but that's happening less and less all the time. As a point of reference, my distributor cost on a new 4" 625JM, which is the only variation being made now, is $710.44 plus shipping. (They are currently out of stock, interestingly, like pretty much everything else that is shooting-related.)

Let me give an example of a situation where only one procedural should be assessed. The stage requires you to shoot one-handed while holding a briefcase, with the handle of the briefcase below your beltline. But you inadvertently allow the handle of the briefcase to go a couple inches above your beltline and rattle off six shots. Now, that clearly violated the instructions and requires a penalty, but obviously it should only be one procedural because no significant competitve advantage was gained. This is all a purely hypothetical situation of course......

In Limited Division, the actual 2007 results were: 1. Nils 2. John Bag. 3. John Burk. 4. Elliot 5. Mike If you took out the F&N, they would have looked like this: 1. Nils 2. Mike 3. Elliot 4. John Burk. 5. John Bag. So I guess that supports the overall point that the same shooters are going to finish "at the top" regardless of whether the standards are part of the match or not. But within that group of shooters, it made a substantial difference to everybody except Nils.

What statistics, John?

It's hard to say. If in fact the photo was retouched, it's obviously a professional job.

I'm almost certain that photo has been very subtly altered.

C'mon Vince, "running all field courses" has never been suggested as a serious option here. Long-range standards, fixed time pressure, anti-hoser stages, whatever you want--bring it all on. Just mix it up so it's not always the same thing, for chrissake.

Just get on the wait list right away, and you'll get in. Be waiting online with your credit card at the stroke of midnight, and be ready to type fast. Do that, and you're virtually guaranteed a slot.

I never understand how ICORE has things organized geographically. This "New England" regional isn't being held in New England, and the "Midwest" regional was never held in the midwest. Oh well.

What's a heeled bullet?

You could always cut a 6.5" 610 down to 5" without too much effort. This is the kind of scenario, by the way, that led a group of us here to campaign the BOD to change the Revolver Division rules to allow replacement barrels, modified barrels, and aftermarket barrels. As long as it's not ported or comped, you can pretty much put whatever tube you want on your Revo and have at it!

There's a huge difference between working hard to develop excellent shooting skills, and setting up one particular stage and running it over and over until you have the timing down perfectly. What if they allowed shooters to show up a week ahead of time and shoot all the actual stages, and practice the entire match over and over? You know some guys would do it, in order to give themselves an advantage. But would that really make them the best shooters? No way. This is what Bianchi and Steel Challenge have become, in effect. If you don't have access to shoot the entire match over and over ahead of time, you might as well not bother showing up unless you just like to shoot for fun. A few years ago, Steel Challenge was won by a Japanese dude who can't even own or fire a handgun in his home country. He did it by coming over here a month early and shooting all the Steel Challenge stages over and over and over with borrowed equipment, doing nothing else for literally a month. Talk about getting grooved in! I guess you could applaud his desire and dedication, but put him in any other kind of competitive shooting situation, and he wouldn't even know what to do. Or so it seems to me.