Carmoney

I've seen that happen with other mildly-abrasive cleaning compounds too. Some of the rifle guys use Flitz to get the copper fouling out of their barrels, and the patches keep coming out black forever.

No, afraid not. Haven't attended in at least ten years. Sure would be fun, though!

I really enjoy running high-round-count stages with a wheelgun or 8-round 1911. It's kinda like bow-hunting. It's more gratifying because it's not easy.

At the very least, shouldn't all the division teams be funded to the same dollar amount? How could anything else be fair? If some teams are funded and some not, the membership should be advised of this well in advance, in order to plan accordingly.

+1 to the above with an addition. I have met Vito and had him work on a couple of my revolvers. Great guy, excellent mechanic/machinist/Gunsmith as is Jimmy Rae in spite of what CARMONEY may say. I'm not saying they're not great guys. Shit, with names like Vito and Jimmy Rae, they've almost gotta be great guys! And I'll agree that for your $125 you'll generally get a yeomanly action job that will be suitable for all-around use, and that is certainly an improvement on the stock action. (Then again, these guns should really be set up better from the factory.....but that's another whole issue, which I suppose invokes all sorts of economic and marketing considerations.) But, I have never seen anything out of that factory that I couldn't improve upon myself, if the goal is to create the best action for competition use--and I've tried several revos that were sent back in for the "master" action package. Maybe it's a lawyer thing, Hop, but I personally believe the S&W PC is completely out of touch with what serious competitors are looking for. As an example, they showed up with their little dog 'n' pony show at the Steel Challenge in '04, with a table-full of PC guns with the worst frickin' actions on them you can possibly imagine. Meanwhile, Randy Lee was 20 feet away with some examples of his phenomenal S&W action work for people to try. The PC guys didn't even know enough to be embarrassed. All I can say by way of analogy is that a woman who's an 8.5 looks awfully good......until a 9.9 walks into the room! Mike

Wouldn't it be the same MIM hammer as, say, a current production 686?

Another reason to go with the Super--it already has a good action. (If you were to order a "PC" 627 in .357, you would probably not be pleased. Mine had about a 25-pound pull from the factory.) Other than a brief stint of carrying a .38 Super SIG a long time ago, I went for a lot of years without ever owning a gun in that caliber. Then I bought DougC's .38 Super 627-4 last year, found some used Dillon dies, and now I find myself with two more guns in that chambering (both bottomfeeders)! Last time I looked, Cabela's (of all places) had a great price on Remington .38 Super brass.....

Allison, check this out: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31870

I haven't been shy about saying this in the past, so I'll lay it out again here: There are several guys who around the country who know how to consistently create an excellent competition action job on a S&W revolver.....and none of them work in Springfield, Massachusetts. Chuck, if anything, the frame-mounted firing pin will help allow the action to be lighter and still 100% reliable. If you're using Federal primers only, you can probably lighten up the mainspring tension quite a good bit more. Try the Wolff, or try bending the stock spring. I suppose you can call S&W and ask them to send you a UPS label and to re-do the action, but they'll probably just BS you. If you have any mechanical aptitude, I'd recommend you use this opportunity to start learning how to do your own revolver actions. Good luck, Mike

I'm also a believer in CCI Mini-Mags. Used 'em for years in anything that resembles competition. Mike

On the brighter side, I was pleased to see the word "Revolver" appear twice in paragraph 7, even spelled with a capital "R"!!

A specific protocol has been established for US team selection for the 2008 World Shoot: http://www.uspsa.org/members/online_meetings.php?indx=96 I've only looked it over briefly, but at first glance it appears to be a pretty decent system. Thoughts?

I really like shooting cast bullets, and I used them in competition all last year, but I will admit I'm getting sick of the extra cleaning hassles. Most of the time the smoke from the wax lube doesn't bother me, but there were a couple stages at big matches last year where the smoke really hung in the air to the point it was noticeable. Plus, my 625 shoots great with cast lead, but the 25-2 (like every other 25-2 I've been around) spits 'em sideways, to the point of keyholing at 10 yards! I don't want the extra cost of shooting jacketed stuff, plus I'd kinda like to maintain the softer recoil impulse of shooting lead, and would prefer not to change my load. I've shot some plated bullets in the past through my revolvers, and I don't remember having any particular accuracy problems, but then I'm not always very careful to bench-test stuff--I tend to just step out back and if I can keep a cylinder-full on a small plate at 30 yards off-hand I call it good. What kind of experience have you guys had with plated bullets, particularly in terms of accuracy? Mike

I like the plain ol' rubber Hogues.

Golly, can't quite remember for sure, but I don't think Jerry won the Point Series in '05.......

mikey, I cleaned up both sides, and cleaned up the ratchet also, and when that helped but wasn't quite enough I took a little width off the right side of the hand (easier to stone with no legs sticking up!) Jamie's right--make sure it's nothing else causing the problem first. On mine, it was definitely the hand jamming itself.

It does sound like it will be the best Limited match ever--I would dearly love to be there! But my credit cards are still warm in my wallet from being overused during the 2005 shooting season. Unfortunately, that means I won't make several great matches, including the Florida Open (which I shot last year), the Steel Challenge (which I shot in '04), and the IRC (which I have never shot, but hope to someday!) On the bright side, I'm very fortunate to have a whole bunch of great USPSA major matches available within a half-day's drive of my house this year, including two area matches and the USPSA Revolver Nationals.

I had this exact problem with 627, it was absolutely ridiculous. Must've had a 20-pound trigger pull. S&W should have been ashamed of it. Anyway, my solution was to take out the hand, very lightly file the window and then stone the whole hand narrower (not just the corner) until it worked right. Now it's still got plenty of what I call "pre-time" but the trigger is nice and smooth. (I did a few other things to the action while I was in there....) Just go slow--it doesn't take much.... Good luck, Mike

Yep, I agree it looks like a close race in Limited, with no runaway favorites. I was really hoping to attend the IRC this year, but I'm still primarily a USPSA competitor at heart, and Area 3 (my home area match) is just down the road in Kansas City the same weekend. A3 was an excellent match last year, and the same capable staff is running the show again. I'll be very interested to hear how things go at the IRC, particularly in Limited!

Jim, that looks pretty frickin' cool!! (....ol' Randy better hustle up that patent application....)

(Fun looking through my old shooting photos!) Unlike most gunwriters and instructors, Mas is a very competent shooter, and he's not afraid of puttin' his money where his mouth is! Here's a picture of him at Second Chance around 15 years ago. Note the cocked-and-locked .45 on his belt. We had a different idea of what constituted a "safe area" in that time and place....

The hammer's off getting plated with the rest of the gun. I'll weigh it after it gets home. Kinda curious myself. (Remind me if I forget, OK?)

Any entry forms or online information available yet? (I know Bud likes to keep it lo-tech...)

Sounds about right to me, although I have to admit I use 17# mainsprings just to give a little extra leeway on ignition.....

Absolutely! But it would be great to get him out where the non-revolver crowd can see it.