Carmoney

Or, that particular C shooter may have certain very specific shooting skills that most of the GMs have never developed. Shooters with extensive experience in handling reactive targets (bowling pins, falling steel, etc.), and with experience in leading moving targets (skeet, Bianchi, pheasant hunting) may actually be consistently better at something like the T-star, for example, than many GMs whose entire base of shooting experience begins and ends with IPSC.

Chuck, it's a .wmv file. It should automatically open with Windows Media Player. Doug, I agree completely on the haircut issue. But sometimes you gotta choose your battles, y'know?

I'm not so sure Ron doesn't hate them for the exact same reason.....

I'm fairly confident that none of the 625 series were square butt guns. I bought one of the very first 625-2s on the market back in 1988, and it had was definitely a round butt. RogerT, my own 625-4 Model of 1989 is certainly chambered in .45 ACP, and I would think yours would be too.

Excellent, El Conquistador! With none of that hilljack sippin' whiskey anywhere in sight, I'm sure everything will be just keen.

Dave, the EGW revolver sight I've used is Brownells part number 296-000-039. We've got it on the 25-2 Sam shoots.

I remember that---I think it was on the forums at www.sixgunner.com

Thanks, Dave--I hadn't seen those yet! Yeah, we're switching over to plated bullets this year to solve that little problem, and to address the issue Waltermitty refers to. He knows I'll help him in every way I can, but he also knows I'll never give him an inch at a match. When he finally beats me, I'll switch him back to the blackpowder loads!!

Unfortunately, that process has already started. He spends a great deal of his time on the phone, talking to (or about) the 7th-grade girls. (sigh.....)

It will depend on the match. In thinking about this exact issue, I went back and looked at all my old match booklets from last year. Most of the time, the advantage goes with 8+1 round major. But I found a few major matches last year where I believe 10+1 round minor could have been the ticket, because enough standing reloads were eliminated to justify the scoring penalty of shooting minor. There's another thread on this exact issue buried somewhere here on the forum where we talk about this in more detail.

Guess you'd have to go MIM. You sell-out.

Sorry Dave, I think I'm the confused one here....I must be thinking of the EGW product. On the SDMs I have mushroomed the front of the rod just enough so it can be press-fit into the hole and stay put in on its own, then clip the other end off and mushroom it flush. No back and forth movement on this set-up obviously. After your reminder, I think I just decided I like the EGW design better!

There you go, Walt--a fantastic marketing idea--the late-night infomercial (hosted by Michael Bane with guest star Lisa Farrell) might go something like this: Listen up revolver shooters.....you've heard of the "Jerry Grip" and the "Randy Hammer".....now Mitty Enterprises and Hearthco Laboratories have teamed up to bring you the hottest new roundgun product since 1899...the "Spru Screws"!!.....custom made from lightweight titanium to eliminate nearly all that peening and rotational torque that you get from ordinary screws, the "Spru Screws" come with their own TORX wrench that works equally well as a screwer and an unscrewer.....what would you expect to pay for this REVOlutionary advancement??.....the "Spru Screws" can be yours today for just three easy payments of $19.95 each, plus shipping and handling....not available in stores. Dave drop-ships them straight to the customer, you retire tomorrow, your cash is wired to you each week as you travel from match to match in your 90-foot custom motorhome.

If they're staked, it's minimal enough it doesn't do much. No--no dremel for this little job--just nail clippers and a butane cigar lighter (I like the "flameless" kind). Clear out the old rod, install the new one leaving it a couple millimeters long, then use the lighter to mushroom just the ends of the fiber-optic rod. Keep the heat away from the center part of the rod or it will melt too. Leave it just loose enough that it will move back and forth a tiny bit, that will help prevent it from breaking. I think glue of any type is unnecessary and counterproductive. It takes about a minute to do, and can be easily accomplished at a safe area between stages of a match. (I don't think I've ever replaced one of mine during a match, but I've helped other people with theirs several times.) If you buy F/O rod by the yard, you'll have tons to practice and experiment with!

Here's Sammy at the Illinois match last fall. Thought you guys might enjoy seeing it! (Note--this may load too slowly for those with dial-up connections....) Sam at '05 Illinois Sectional You'll notice he does the "Ayoob Stressfire" reload technique, which is very reliable under stress (hence the name), but not as fast as other reload styles in the competition setting. I have suggested that he switch to keeping the gun in his strong hand and reloading Spook/Dan style, but so far he hasn't wanted to change his technique. This was the first major match he shot after moving from the L-frame 646 .40 (shooting minor p.f.) to the big N-frame .45 6.5" 25-2 (shooting major at 174+). He's strong enough and his hands are big enough now he's had zero problems adjusting to the bigger gun. This was also the first match he shot after switching from the Safariland 002 to the CR Speed holster. He complained it wasn't adjusted right, but I think he just wasn't used to it yet. Some of you will remember Sam was always pretty slow and deliberate in both his shooting and his movement through the stages, but usually deadly accurate. He's got enough experience under his belt now that I'm encouraging him to start pushing the speed, and it seems to be working! He's proud of the little cloud of dust in the video as he skids to a stop on his knees to shoot through the low ports downrange--you can hear one of our squad-mates commenting about it in the background. Now if I could just find a way to motivate a teenager (he turned 13 a couple weeks ago) to get off his lazy ass and actually practice.....

I believe Power Custom makes hex-head sideplate screws, but I'm not sure they ever updated it to the new-style plungered yoke screw.

I routinely put a little blue loctite on the threads, and once I get the gun set up right I usually don't run the yoke screw in and out very often. I also use blue loctite on pretty much all the screws, including the strain screw (which I also torque down hard), the bolt threads at the thumb latch, and the screw that holds down the front of the adjustable rear sight.

Absolutely--you can easily change the fiber optic rods on the SDM and EGW models. You can get F/O rod in many colors (including yellow) dirt cheap from these guys: http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Flourescent.htm

I know a little about these guns.....sounds like you have a mismatched gun and box. The Official Police model is fairly desirable because they were built on essentially the same frame and design as the Python. They were all made by little old men with loupes sitting on three-legged stools in the old factory in Hartford (i.e. hand-fitted). Colt made the OP from 1928 to 1969 when they phased in the Mark III stuff. Plastic grips means post-WWII. Pre-war specimens had checkered walnut. This gun was made in various calibers--you mostly see .38 Spl and .22, but they also made it in weird calibers like .32-20 and .41 Long Colt. Now, the Colt Police Positive is a completely different cat. Also very high-quality guns, hand-fitted and all that, but made on the much smaller D-frame (they spawned the Detective Special, if that gives you some idea of size). If your gun says Police Positive Special on the barrel, and it looks basically like a 4" Detective Special, it's not an Official Police, and that means the box is not original to the gun. They made these in various configs from 1907 to 1973. I'm not in touch with prices on older Colts these days, you'd need to check with a serious Colt collector. I'll bet there's a Colt collector forum out there somewhere.....

News flash -- Looks like we have a bona fide showdown shaping up in the Revolver division at this year's upcoming Summer Blast! Last year's Summer Blast Revolver Champion, Bob Perdue, is going to have his hands full defending his title from a bunch of dedicated wheelgunners, including such notables as World Shoot Team USA member Cliff Walsh, and last year's Area 8 Revolver Champion Rob Vlastelica. My trusty S&W 625 and I will be flying in from Iowa and shooting the match on Sunday morning. If you're thinking about shooting this match, this would be a great opportunity to bring your roundgun out and have some real fun! Hope to see you there!

Sorry man, it's now a non-refundable done deal. Sunday AM for me. I'll let you buy me a beer on Saturday night, though.

Well, you guys know how I feel about it, but in the long run it would be great to see revolver shooting thrive and grow in both IPSC/USPSA and IDPA (not to mention ICORE, and Steel Challenge, etc, etc.) A strong, active contingent of cross-over wheelgunners would be a good thing all the way around. Mike You might be shooting ESR right now, but I will always think of SSR as "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure."

Jerry had a green one in at the '05 USPSA Nats. But he switches them around fairly frequently. I usually shoot red, but I keep several colors of fiber optic rod in my range bag. Don't think I've ever changed colors at a match, though...

So how were the numbers at the IDPA Nationals this year, Bones? Or other major IDPA matches?

Yeah, I've installed a number of ball locks over the years, including several double-ball installations (write your own joke here), and I'm not real convinced it does a whole lot to actually lock the cylinder in place. Now, the bigger detent on some of the factory PC guns, I think that design works pretty well, although it makes opening the gun a little less smooth.