Carmoney

+1. And if you do decide you must have a 646, do NOT get the Performance Center version, those things had drastic cylinder problems (very, very sticky extraction in most specimens) which were apparently somewhat better in the later run of non-PC guns.

....like a giant cut-off wheel, right?

I always heard Tapp spent a bunch of his earlier years trapping up in Alaska, going for months without ever talking to anyone....which sorta explains his brevity for words. Man could he ever shoot, though--Judas Priest could that guy shoot. Well into his mid-60s he was a serious force at any sort of stand-and-shoot handgun match. He would also put more prep time into shooting a match than anyone else even considered, often arriving at the range several days early and shooting thousands of practice rounds getting ready. His wife (bless her heart) would spend most of her time in the camper loading bucket after bucket of ammo for him. I shot pin matches against Tapp many times over those years, and had to settle for second place so many times I was starting to feel like the perpetual bridesmaid. Then finally I managed to knock him off on the main event at one of the later NAPSA Nationals, another one of those "brief but glorious moments" for the memory banks....

My first several Second Chance matches were shot with my 25-2s, but then a bunch of us started shooting those big flat-fronted 230-gr. .357s that some people call "Lincoln Logs." Not only did those things really do a number on pins, but you could stick seven of 'em in the gun if you had the original "hi-cap" revo, the Baumannize custom M-27. Baumann lent me one to shoot the old Kansas City Pin-Blasters match, and I wrote it up in an article for one of the gun mags, I forget which one. Then I had a chance to buy BE's Baumannizer the next year at Second Chance during one of his "gun purges," and shot that gun on through the remainder of my pin-shooting career. There are still a few die-hard Iowa pinmen who get together once a year and put on our own "invitation-only" match, and I still shoot that gun. I have a couple big ammo cans full of loaded pin ammo, which I suspect is more than a lifetime supply.....

Think about it....our world rotates, our solar system rotates, even our galaxy rotates....and so the ultimate expression of rotation, the dremel tool, is at the center of everything. It's a Zen thing. Being one with your inner dremel.

Hog Sniper?!?! There's gotta be a good story about that one... Great having you aboard, Gary, looking forward to shooting the Blast with you guys.

Spool on back up and take a look....both sides of my switch-top rig are pictured above. The Armscor .40 slide I bought (from some guy on ebay who had a bunch of other Armscor stuff for sale at the same time) is an internal-extractor version. However, I believe the .40 widebodies which I have seen pictured on gunsamerica.com and whatnot are external extractor guns.

Only if he's highly selective on which Revo classifiers he shoots and/or submits. Many of the 03-series classifiers cannot be shot at a GM level with a 6-shooter. (It sure would be cool if he pulls it off, though!!)

Dave, it was not a "whip up" situation, that's for sure! I've got the '93 Second Chance results buried in a big envelope full of old shooting results and photos at home. Sometime I should go through and organize all that stuff into a scrapbook or something, lots of fond memories! Anyway, I do remember that Jerry and I both shot the match early, and we tied on the main event (they used stopwatches, timed to the nearest 1/10-second), and I got him on the tie-breaker. This put me in first place overall, and Jerry in second. All week long, my time held up, I finally left and came home, thinking I might just have won the whole shootin' match. Then word filtered back that Ken Tapp had lurked around all week, not talking to anybody and not shooting until he "felt right", then on the last day he finally shot the match and smoked Jerry and me both, beating us by a margin of about 20%. Tapp shot a compensated .45 pin gun, don't remember who built it for him, probably Les Baer because both of them worked for Springfield Armory at the time. Jerry was with Team Smith & Wesson, back when they wore the full race uniforms, complete with Smith & Wesson logo tennis shoes (he always acted a little embarrassed to wear that get-up). Jerry and I were both shooting Model 27s with 8-3/8" barrels, basically stock, with heavy cast bullets. Pin shooting was big stuff back then. There were big matches all over the country..... Garden City, Texarkana, Kansas City, Waterloo, you name it...... Second Chance in its heyday drew well over 500 shooters, and the prize tables and cash pay-outs were incredible compared to anything being done today (although Steel Challenge is doing a pretty good job at it....) I'll always remember the fun I had, traveling around the country and shooting those pin matches with my friends.....wonderful stuff. Then again, I'm having every bit as much fun now, even though I'm still sort of a "new guy" in the world of USPSA competition! Yikes!! Something's definitely wrong. With decent ammo, a 625 should easily do 5" at 25 yards fired offhand!

Dick, I'm not aware of Bud Bond ever taking Jerry down at a major national match, but nevertheless, Bud is unquestionably one of the best revolver guys in the game. Particularly in stand and shoot matches with no reloads on the clock (e.g. Steel Challenge, where I first saw him shoot), Bud is just awesome, and that scoop draw of his is astonishing to watch. I actually think Bud may be faster than Jerry to the first shot. Bud's also a really great guy, and he's gone way out of his way to be considerate of me and Sam since we've gotten to know him over the past couple years--as have our many many other revolver-shooting friends here on the forum.

Well, the real point I was trying to make is that even Jerry, who is undisputably the greatest wheelgunner of all time, past and present, would not be able to beat anybody with a revolver that had its firing pin stuck forward, hopelessly misshapen in its channel, preventing the cylinder from opening and closing correctly. (This was only one of my several bad experiences with the C&S extended pins before I finally swore them off.) Walt, I'm gonna have a chance to finally shoot a major match this weekend (the Wisconsin Sectional)--my first of the 2006 season--so maybe that will snap me out of the cabin fever that's been causing me to post obnoxious comments about your favorite brand of firing pin. So I'll try to keep any controversial thoughts to myself in the meantime.

Here's a fun trivia question for the gang....which other shooter has beaten Jerry Miculek at a major national match while both were shooting revolvers?? Anyone?? (Walt, please try not to use the word "spanked," it only gets Cliff all excited....)

Hey, can you guys please convince Jerry Miculek to start using a C&S extended firing pin??? I need all the help I can get.....

Sam and I were each fortunate enough to win one of pskys2's Moon Caddies last year. They're really nice (we treat ours like semi-trophies) and practical too. If you're not able to shoot for one at the Sunflower or Area 3 this spring, send pskys2 a PM and I'm sure he can work you a deal!

So exactly what is it about the MIM hammers and triggers that makes you little old ladies so worried?? (I've done action work on a number of newer production Smiths with MIM parts and they slick up really nice, never had the slightest problem. And I know for a fact that at least two of the top four finishers at the 2005 USPSA Revolver Nationals were shooting plain ol' 625s with MIM guts.)

Yep, there's a certain intrigue to shooting tough USPSA matches with a wheelgun. Don't worry about changing your BE name to "impulse drive" just yet, with a little practice on the reloads you'll be back up to "warpspeed" in no time!! In any event, glad to have you aboard.

Dennis, I don't think those two are on the forum yet.....I sent you a PM with some information, including their email addresses. Thanks for anything you can do to help them get off to a good start. Always good to get some new shooters in the game, particularly if they're brave enough to shoot revolver!

Thanks guys! I would encourage everybody to play the Point Series this year! It's only $25 to sign up, and it looks like there's going to be some hard-fought competition down through the various classes in the Revolver division. Revolver participation in the 2006 Point Series is already more than double the previous year, and it's not too late to jump in and participate!

Les shot A3 last year. He's a good revo shooter, I think from Nebraska, we bump into him now and then. I don't know him well, but he always seems like a pleasant, low-key sort of guy. I don't think he posts here on the forum, but there are lots of lurkers! So Les, if you're lurking, it would be great to have you jump on the Sunday revo squad with us!

Hey everybody--great news!! Glenn and Gary can't resist a good challenge, and are stepping up to shoot the Blast with us!! Linda's got spots for them on Sunday AM, and we're officially over 20! Now.....these guys are experienced shooters, and have competed in other shooting disciplines, but they are new to the world of USPSA competition. As I mentioned, they live in central PA. They are going to want to shoot some USPSA club matches between now and July, and it would be really great if some local shooters, particularly other wheelmen, would be able to help them get rolling. Dennis, can you help out with this? Anybody else? Glenn and Gary--we're glad to have both of you on board, and we'll all be happy to answer any questions you might have as you get started in a great new sport!

You got it Cliff! I'm working on recruiting a couple of additional shooters who would take us to that magic 20 if we can get them in....and these guys just happen to live fairly close to the range at York, PA! They haven't experienced any of the "fraternal order of the USPSA revolver" in person yet, but I'm pretty these guys are the right stuff. And I know this is going to be a fun match! So I've issued the official challenge. Glenn and Gary, are you in??

I believe if you were to take 10 regular production S&W revolvers and 10 Performance Center revolvers, you would find that (on average) the actions on the regular guns are smoother. That's because there is nobody left at that factory who knows how to fit up an action, and the MIM parts on the regular guns are smoother and more consistent when the guns are simply assembled with no fitting. Or so it seems to me.

I didn't bother filling it out, last year or this year. I think it's mainly for shooters who don't do the computer thing.

I believe Ivan indicated that the "Armscor" name is being phased out in favor of "Rock Island Armory" on all the pistols.....

Jim, your loads sound just about like mine, which will be very similar to those used by most of the USPSA revo guys. I wouldn't change a thing if I were you. Don't be afraid to give them a good tight crimp (don't overdo it to the point that you cut through the plating, obviously), and make sure you're using Federal primers that are consistently seated to below flush.