Carmoney

Ah yes, Skip Chambers paid me a visit this weekend too. After about 300 rounds without cleaning I started getting some "clicks" with some off-center primer hits. I'll clean things up and see if I need to take a little more off of my oversized cylinder stop. Was this your gun with the retrofitted Ti cylinder, Walt?

......guys so cool they left behind their brass (and moonclips) for us to pick up.....?

If we're talking traditional Second Chance main event style pin matches, where you need a lot of poop to move the pins back and off the tables, the round-nose stuff just isn't going to work all that well. If you try to do everything with one bullet style you're going to have to compromise the performance somewhere. Round-nose stuff loads the fastest, obviously, but it's really not very good at moving bowling pins when the hits are a little edgy. I guess I would recommend using a 230-gr. FMJ or RNL for everything but pins, and use the 255-gr. lead SWCs for pin-shooting. If you really want one bullet to do it all, I suppose my recommendation is the 230-gr. XTP, but that's too expensive for volume shooting (for most of us, anyway)....

Sam used one for his Model 10 back when we shot a little IDPA. Heck, it worked just fine.

Think you need those trigger grooves there, Jer?

Common sense tells us that humidity would cause problems with powder left out in a non-airtight powder measure. And yet, in this instance, common sense would be wrong! Last year I defended a lawsuit that was brought against a shooter who had stirred several pounds of Bullseye into a 5-gallon bucket of water and then dumped the whole mess onto his compost pile in the backyard. A year later, another guy happened to drop a cigarette onto that exact spot and was instantly consumed in a 10-foot yellow fireball, which burned him within an inch of his life. The investigators initially shook their heads, thinking that surely the powder would have chemically broken down from a year of laying out in our varied Iowa climate (plenty of rain and snow). The area had experienced soaking rains just a couple days before the incident. But then we began taking depositions of the expert witnesses. We deposed an interesting fellow who had retired from the Hercules company after 40-some years of working in production and product management and marketing, and we took testimony from a forensic chemist. Both explained that smokeless powder is designed to be extraordinarily "non-hygroscopic"--meaning it does not readily absorb moisture. This is why the stuff remains usable virtually indefinitely, and only safe way to dispose of smokeless powder is to burn it under controlled conditions. Long story, I know, but it explains why Merlin had no problems even after leaving the powder out in his measure in the garage for 14 months. In fact, he probably could have left it out there for 14 years and still loaded ammo that chronoed right at 169 p.f. One other thing I learned from the experts in that case--oddly enough, light has more potential to break down smokeless powder than humidity. So if you're going to keep the powder hopper full all the time, it would be smart to have your press set up in a room that's dark when you're not using it, or put a cover over it when you're not using it. Otherwise, it's not something to worry about.

I'll agree that a true round-nose profile is the fastest. Back when I shot pins a lot, I used two different loads in .45 ACP. For the main event and the first gun-full in the 8-pin mandatory reload event, I used a 255-gr. cast SWC at 900-1000 fps. Nothing in the caliber works better on bowling pins, in my experience. Then my "fast reload" bullet was a 230-gr. XTP at around 1000 fps, which I found still had good performance on the pins, but was pretty fast reloading.

I would have to think the best possible SSR option under the current rules would be a 4" 686 with cut-down "Bubberized" Comp IIIs. Edited to add: OK, COF, I get it....you're thinking about having one revo that would qualify for both ESR and SSR divisions. Hmm....wonder if the HKS loaders for the .45 AR can be cut down Bubber-style??

For some reason, when I shoot the El Prez I always wind up with a pretty fast time and an RO that can't quite see well enough to detect that I've achieved another "perfect double."

I'm your huckleberry.

OK Dave, I've been thinking about this all day, and I think I may have an idea.......it involves a spiral-shaped .401"-diameter Dremel cutter with a nice long shaft......!

Yep, not so sure the 25-2 might not be the best USPSA revolver out there. Most of 'em don't like lead bullets, but otherwise they are just excellent. A nice coat of hard-chrome would make a 25-2 even look like a stainless gun, for those who prefer that look. I am very happy with my current brace of 625s, but if I were starting over again I would probably work up a pair of 25-2s instead. Saw a beautiful one, as new in presentation case, at a local gun dealer about 2 years ago for $500--let it sit there overnight while I thought about it, when I went back the next day it was gone. I still have two 25-2s down in the gun room. Sam shoots one, and the other isn't eligible for USPSA use since it has a fancy ported Shilen bull barrel installed by the late, great John Nowlin himself. Enough thread drift.....Dave, to answer your original question, yes, you're nuts.

That number 55 reminds me of a pair of cards I should've folded before the flop the other night......ouch, expensive! Anyway, Happy Birthday, RGS!

I have 8 older Shooting Star 10-round .38 Super mags, and they all work flawlessly in my Kimber and in my compensated Caspian steel gun, loaded to full capacity of 10+1.

I'm not at all sure this is true. We've been discussing this same essential issue at length as it relates to the new provisional single stack division. A few people believe that a 10-shot .38 Super 1911 at minor would be an unfair advantage over the harder-kicking 8-shot .45 at major. Most, however, believe that the advantage of major scoring would be more than the extra two shots could overcome, in the long run. Personally, I believe it depends on the match, and in particular the round count and layout of the various stages. Moving back to revolver--the guy with the 8-shooter would have two more rounds per load, but the disadvantages of minor scoring (which is significant) and a slightly slower reload, on average. Even with .38 Short Colt, or 9mm in a 627-4, the 8-shot guns cannot be reloaded as consistently at full speed as a 625. Yeah, there would certainly be stages where the 8-shooter would be better--saving a standing reload or whatever. But there would also be plenty of stages that would be basically "six-round neutral" (at least as compared to having 8 rounds available), and then the edge would definitely go to the 625. I have toyed with the idea of allowing this option in the Iowa Revolver-Only Championship (October 8, 2006), and then setting up the match to try to eliminate any obvious advantage to one platform versus the other. But, at this point most of the shooters I've talked with seem to prefer that we use USPSA Revolver division rules (even though it will remain a non-sanctioned match) and keep it 6-shot only. Overall, I'm fine with the division rules staying the same--I just don't think it's true that allowing 8-shooters (at minor scoring only) would automatically obsolete the 625. I suspect it would create a situation where several of us would bring both guns to the match and look at the stages before deciding which gun to shoot. Although "gaming the equipment" that way does not bother me at all (I have several guns that fit either category), I suspect it would turn off a lot of shooters and would be perceived as being somewhat unfair to new shooters and the wheelgunner who cannot afford to set up two complete equipment rigs (guns, back-up guns, moonclips, reloading dies, etc.) in two different calibers. So, I guess I would vote "leave it alone," but somewhat reluctantly....

Mine's already mailed back in. Doesn't look like Sam's going to be able to get a slot locally, so I'm going to get him on the waiting list as soon as it's available.

But did you inhale??

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...25entry392654

"The Carden Maneuver." I like it. Besides sounding slightly like the next Tom Clancy novel, it's got a nice ring to it, I think we'll have to start calling it that. At matches overseas, we can refer to it as "The Spook Move."

Larry posted the stages over on the Match forum. I'm getting excited about this one!

Just remember there, Mr. Clean, skeletonizing the hammer is low-tech old-school stuff, and totally free if you're handy with a dremel. Here's one gunsmith Bob Day did clear back in the '70s:

Am I wrong??

You could always shoot it Saturday!

Nemo, my "main" 625 is exactly what you described. It's a 625-6. MIM guts, frame-mounted firing pin, no lock. Some people have reported seeing 625-6s that still have the hammer-nose, so apparently they're not all the same. (BTW, I wouldn't worry too much about the lock, it comes out easy!)