Carmoney

Keith should weigh in on this topic. The Minnesota Section has had an active point series of its own, complete with online results and plaques and stuff. I get the impression from Keith that it contributed to more local shooting of the smaller divisions, including Revo. Definitely something to explore.

I've also found that the vast majority of ROs and other shooters on the squad seem to enjoy seeing the wheelguns do their thing. People enjoy teasing, that's part of the fun--I'm not sure I've ever heard a truly mean-spirited comment in my direction for showing up with a revolver. The "revolver squads" I've been on this past year tend to be animated, boisterous, and irreverent, and I think most people find that fun and entertaining--I know how much I enjoy it. And I do think it rubs off--several times people have come up to me to say, "Man, if I knew you guys were going to be here, I woulda brought my 686...." So getting the word out ahead of time, like Hopalong has tried so hard to do, is a key factor for continued growth.

This is a biggie. In just the year and a half I've been back in the competitive shooting game, I've managed to come full circle on this. I used to whine about making it all six-round neutral. Now, as long as there are other revolver shooters to compete with, the longer and more "revolver-unfriendly" a stage is, the more I find myself enjoying shooting it! Everybody needs to understand that we USPSA revolver guys shoot our own little match within the match. But it only works when there are several wheelmen going at it. When I'm the only one with a revolver, I find myself wishing I'd signed up to shoot a different gun.....

Sam, you need to quit being so hard on yourself. You are not slow or blind.

I don't use aftermarket springs in my S&W revolvers, but instead I alter the factory springs to create the lightened and balanced tension I'm seeking. Easier to demonstrate than to describe, but basically it involves shortening the rebound spring and bending the mainspring. Done correctly in conjunction with a light action hone, a great DA trigger pull can be created that will last indefinitely.

I think Dave's trying to get us talking about something other than rehashing all the would/could/should division stuff...... My first thought is to work harder to convince S&W (and perhaps Taurus and Ruger) to get behind our sport. S&W puts quite a bit of energy into sponsoring ICORE--which is great, except ICORE is a distinctly regional activity (i.e. regions where there's an active club!) S&W sponsors that big indoor IDPA match every winter. They even contribute prizes and send their reps to the Steel Challenge each year. Who is campaigning S&W to have a meaningful presence in USPSA? Or the other manufacturers? I'm not talking about setting up a factory team with silly jumpsuits and all that circa-1990 stuff. Just a meaningful presence at our bigger matches. We're not even seeing Jerry out and about all that much in USPSA matches, or so it seems.... On the club level, I believe the single best way to promote revolver shooting in USPSA is to hold separate monthly matches designated as "racegun" and "non-racegun" (on separate weekends). On NRG day, Limited and Open guns stay at home in the safe, if you want to shoot, you bring your Production, Revolver, or Single Stack. The format should be like any other match, no need to make it 6-round neutral or anything like that. Guys will show up with revolvers that you never expected to see with one!! And the revolver shooters can play with their blasters on RG day, which is fun too.

Randy Lee's revolver work is awesome. www.apextactical.com

No 8-shot revos in IDPA. Great gun for steel shooting, though! Doesn't Berrien County Sportsman's Club do a big "Wheelgunner's Revenge" match (or something like that) every year?? If I remember right, it conflicted with the USPSA Nationals in '05.

If USPSA would implement the "execute the guy who finishes last" rule and the divisional fistfight showdown, both of which have been proposed here, we might just have ourselves a sport with enough mass spectator appeal to make it on ESPN and attract real corporate sponsors!

Bjorn and Patrick, Very cool of both of you to handle this in such a smart, reflective, and mature way. I would not have expected anything less--you're both top guys in my book! I'll buy you both a beer next time I see you. In fact, if it's the night before the match, I'll buy you 12 or 15 beers! Mike

Syme, I have 627s in both .38 Super and .357 and like them both. My kid will probably shoot the Super when we head back out to Bud Bond's Rocky Mountain ICORE match next spring, I'll have to decide whether to shoot the .357 (with Short Colts) or whether I want to take on ol' Six Shot in the (appropriately enough) 6-shot subdivision, using my 625 and those poofer ICORE loads! Y'know, if you're already loading for .40, that 610 idea might be a really good option for you. The only possible disadvantage is a very slight reduction in potential reload speed, but I do mean very slight. This is not a gun I have ever owned, but I believe the word on the street is for IPSC you want to find a 5" model, rather than the more common 4" or 6.5"--others with 610s can chime in on that. Anyway, great to see another guy gearing up for Revo! Mike

I think Hop's just "barking from the front porch" again. But on the bright side, at least we're finally talking about something other than titanium cylinders.....

Good example....and that's double the number of revolver shooters at Area 2 last year! Plus, once again, we don't know how many more might have shown up if the dang match didn't fill up so fast!

That's right. I'm talking about the Main Event. The real deal. The big show. (Don't know if he was quaking in his shoes or not. Guess he should have been that year, huh?)

The sad part of them discussing dumping our division (if that turns out to be true) is that Revolver seems to be in a definite growth trend. We might have had plenty more than 20 at the USPSA Nationals in '05 except that virtually no slots were awarded in our division, and in order to make the waiting list, you had to jump on the computer shortly after midnight on the night the waiting list became active. A bunch of international wheelgunners are now talking about attending our Nationals in '06. Revolver participation at most of the area matches and other big USPSA matches was up significantly this year. Interest and activity on this very forum is way up this year. We are getting lots of new cross-over and dual-discipline shooters from the IDPA ranks. And the latest issue of Front Sight had more Revolver coverage and wheelgun photos than probably any issue that's ever been printed! It would be a real shame to kill this thing just when it's ready to blossom. Mike

Dave, I know you're an Airedale man.....do you happen to know anything about these line-bred bird dogs coming out of Tennessee that everybody's talking about?

If we really want to have multiple divisions growing and thriving in this sport, we need to abandon the whole concept of "proportional" awards, whether they be 3-5-7 or whatever formula. My suggestion is to announce ahead of time that 50% of the entry fees (or whatever the pay-back percentage might be) will be paid to the shooters who finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each division, divided equally between all divisions. If first prize is $400 for Open, then it's also $400 for Revolver. Let the shooters decide where their best chances are, and pick a division accordingly. Lots of people would switch over to the smaller divisions, figuring they would have a better chance of finishing in the money. Same with plaques, trophies or whatever. As it currently stands, the proportional payback creates a self-fulfilling prophesy, and very little incentive for competitive shooters to shoot in those "other" divisions. Gaming the divisions would be a good thing! As it stands now, the majority of USPSA shooters are gaming the frickin' class system, which is a very unhealthy thing, in my opinion.

Patrick: Better go back to your archives and look at the results from Second Chance 1993! There was one young wheelgunner that year who managed to knock Jerry down into third place (unfortunately, Ken Tapp beat them both). Mike

Alex, I hear what you're saying about the whole thing getting spread too thin, but in my opinion we should keep all reasonable equipment divisions until the ridiculous class system is killed off. (1st D? 2nd C? Gimme a friggin' break.)

Well, DON'T DO THAT, for gosh sakes. Anybody who finishes at 90%+ of JM is one hell of a revolver shooter. Maybe you don't feel that way right now, but those of us who've competed against Jerry know what a big deal that is. Your finish at the WS against Jerry proved more to us than 100 other matches you may have won without him there, Spook. Part of shooting wheelgun in a universe where JM exists is that you have to find a way to stay balanced between the realism of knowing what he can do, and yet keeping the competitive spark alive and continuing to work in his direction. Welcome to our world, brother! Mike

syme71, the 627 in .38 Super is a really cool steel gun, but it won't work very well in IPSC, since you're limited to 6 rounds between reloads (although it is technically legal to use, as long as you can remember when to do your loads). If you're mostly a steel shooter, and you're limiting yourself to one revo, then get a 627. If you're at all serious about shooting IPSC, get a 625 and then you can make up some downloaded 152-gr. steel loads for it. The downside is that you will never have more than 6 rounds in the gun, which can be a real disadvantage. Obviously, the best answer is to buy both!

I guess I don't see how anybody could truly miss L-10. If you're shooting a wide-body, then just be a man and shoot Limited already. If you're shooting a single-stack, then the new Single Stack division will be perfect for you. The problem with shit-canning Revolver is that there is no other division where the wheelguns can compete with any degree of fairness, unless they do something really interesting like limit Production to 8 rounds and allow the 8-round revolvers to play (with reasonable adjustments to accommodate moonclips in front of the body). A much better solution is for USPSA to decide it's going to respect the fact that Revo is a full-fledged bona fide division, award comparable prize tables at Nationals, etc., and really encourage more people to participate. How about a stand-alone Revolver Nationals, sponsored by all the players in the industry, instead of just sucking our entry fees over onto some other division's prize table, like we saw this year? HEY! Maybe (here's a wild idea) USPSA's board of directors should always be comprized of 2 shooters from each division, instead of the current geographical Area thing!

Keith -- one and the same! (We'll get him next year!)

The following post from Spook just appeared in the "WHAT I HATE" sub-forum: "I read the last Front Sight. There was an article about the World Shoot and revolver shooters. It said Ricardo Lopez and I got so close to Jerry Miculek because Jerry had an inner ear infection (and that Jerry was going to kick our asses a little harder next time on Bali). That f%cking sucks, because it is not true. We got so close to Jerry because we both worked our f$%king asses of dry firing and spending every hour we had on the range. And we didn't work hard enough, because we did not win. While Jerry suffered from an inner ear infection I puked my guts out for two days, had to run to the toilet every half hour and had the worst fever I had in years. Well, guess what? We don't measure that stuff. All that counts is you time and your points and I don't care how you earn them as long as it's done in a sportsmanship fashion. If you have a peg leg and pink eye on match day, tough shit. The three of us were all good sports and we all worked very hard to beat eachother fair and square. I hate being put down like that. You work for years and someone insinuates that what you did is not thanks to you, but because the best guy didn't perform that well. BS! BTW, don't think I blame Jerry. I talked to him and he seems like the last guy to blame anything or anyone but himself." For the record, the revolver portion in Patrick Sweeney's article starts with the following: "The big surprise was how close it was at the top. The Ecuadorian champ, Ricardo Lopez, had been practicing for some time. He even came to matches in Florida, where he caused Cliff Walsh a lot of worry. Not to be outshone, Bjorn Dietrich had been working hard, too. They did what no one has done to date: shot over 90 percent against Jerry Miculek with a revolver. Jerry's comment; 'Those fellas been practicing.'" But since those kind words in the official journal of the United States Practical Shooting Association obviously fall way short of satisfying Bjorn (Spook) Dietrich's expectations and needs, let's all congratulate Bjorn yet again on his phenomenal third-place performance at the World Shoot. Great job, Spook. And thanks for sharing your feelings with us here on the forum. It really helps us to get to know you a little better. Mike