Carmoney

No Rob, it's not the wobble, it's the length. Those stubby little moons really do throw into the gun faster. Try it man.

https://www.moonclips.com/cart/shopdisplayp...E38+Short+Colt+

Somebody on the USPSA classified has a gold 012 for sale for $75. (Tempted to buy it myself......)

Nobody on this planet can shoot an aggregate array of different types of firearms, particularly those with iron sights, better than Jerry Miculek. Over and over and over, he has walked away winning most of the side events at matches like Second Chance and the Steel Challenge. Set a strange gun out on a table and offer money to the person who can pick it up and shoot it at speed most effectively, Jerry will always walk away with the cash. If you haven't witnessed this, you can't imagine it. Not only is Jerry the most accomplished DA revolver specialist alive, he is also the most talented speed-shooting generalist out there.

Dan and Cliff are both using special cut-down ACP brass and Hearthco moonclips, both of which are theoretically supposed to slightly improve the speed of the reload. Me? I just use mixed range pick-up .45 ACP brass and bastard moonclips of various manufacture and vintage. When a crack in the side of a case approaches 1/4", I throw it away. When a moonclip bends, I bend it back with pliers. This shit ain't rocket science.

Easy money for Jerry. So who's everybody think will come in second place??

Bud's the best!! We sure enjoyed having him visit Iowa for the Big Dawg Steel Match, where he handily won the Open Revolver division. Bud puts on a great ICORE match near Ft. Collins each year. Sam and I attended this year at Bud's invitation, and had a great time. His draw from the holster is a thing to behold, let me tell ya.

Hell, underlug, most of us are closet auto-shooters.... (Dan and Sam have been outed recently.)

I'd like to see somebody run a "claims match" where every shooter agrees ahead of time that they will sell their gun/mags/holster for $300 or $500 (or whatever) to any other shooter on demand. Minor scoring only. Personally, I'd probably shoot a junky (but functional) old police revolver from a surplus duty rig, but it would be interesting to see what other sorts of firearms and gear would appear.

Cool, maybe it's a collectible rarity, like one of those buffalo nickels where the buffalo only has three legs.....

I'm adding a big smiley then too--Spiro Agnew quotes are always worthy of a smiley!

Gosh, I hope I didn't sound negative....I'm really looking forward to seeing the match! (Then again, I'm also looking forward to seeing the 2005 TOC National Championships.....the World Shoot DVD..... the 2004 Steel Challenge DVD.....the big money prize for a Steel Challenge score that has already been shot in the last five years......)

Should've bought a Safariland 012 a few months back when the red and gold models were being closed out for $85.....last time I looked, they were down to left-hand models only.

.....and we already have a "Big Dawg" steel match. The organizers of that great new event deserve the respect of not having their name swiped.

If your action feels right, the floating hand should not be a problem. Many of these guns have a bad trigger pull because of that hand, but obviously not all of them will exhibit that problem. If your gun says "Model of 1988" roll-marked on the barrel, it's a 625-2. There never was a 625 or 625-1. From 625-3 on up, they're marked "Model of 1989". If the moonclips don't want to drop in right (especially when the gun gets a little dirty), you'll need to ream the chambers. Then it should be fine.

You can also get a variety of .45 bullets in the 152-155 gr. range. These are excellent for steel shooting, when there is no power factor required. (Patrick will remember when these were "state of the art" for steel and IPSC shooting.....)

What's the best El Prez anybody's shot with a revolver in a major U.S. match?

Dave, if your 625-2 has a nice action, maybe it's been worked on. When the floating hand is replaced, they're usually fine. Biggest problem you might have is that the chambers on the 625-2s tend to be tight and sticky. Back in the day, everybody re-reamed the chambers to solve that problem--it was part of the standard "625 package" back then. When those things are done, the guns are just fine. These problems were supposedly resolved with the 625-3 upgrade, although I have heard of a few 625-3s that still had the floating hand.

Thanks, Randy. Husker, if you have the luxury of handling multiple 625s, get the one with the smoothest action from the box. For competition stuff, installing a spring kit can get you started (the stock actions on all S&Ws are unnecessarily heavy). Then, if you want to play the revolver game long-term, I highly recommend you invest in an Apex action job. Randy's action work is expensive, but when you experience it you will understand why several of the top revolver shooters in the country are convinced it's well worth the money. There are some great revolver shooters in Colorado--where are you located?? Mike

Tom, you better watch out for Phil....he's making a move..... He wants a shot at that brand new 2007 Lincoln Town Car they're awarding to the top left-handed revolver shooter at next year's USPSA Nationals.

(OK, Randy and company, gosh-dangit! I was concerned about this from the very beginning of the whole super-dooper-titanium-esoteric thread....I think you owe it to Husker and others who are considering shooting revolvers in competition to chime in here with some real-life perspective....) Husker, the current production 625 revolvers are perfectly fine, and your chance of experiencing any meaningful problems with one are nil. The gun I've been using in IPSC/USPSA competition all over the country this year, including the USPSA Nationals, is a recent-production 625 with MIM parts. Nothing has been done to it at all, other than an action job (done by me), a chamfer job (done by me) and replacement sights (done by me). And guess what--at Nationals Jerry Miculek used the same thing, a plain ol' non-PC current 5" 625, MIM parts and all. Do not worry about all that handwringing over on Randy's thread. He's a great guy and a talented gunsmith, but for the most part, he's talking about "holy grail" stuff that doesn't make a lot of real-life difference for most shooters. A few people have had trouble with cylinder peening and resulting chamber skip, but I honestly believe this is the exception to the rule. I'd bet good money that way over 99% of recent-vintage 625 owners have had zero problems. The current 625s are just fine, and if you're already set up to reload .45, you're gonna love owning one! Don't spend the money on one of the "performance center" versions--they are not any better, not any more reliable, and not a bit more accurate. My recommendation is that you scout the gun shows for a nice used 625 (just make sure to avoid the early 625-2 "Model of 1988", which were plagued with problems--not too many of these were made, thankfully), and when you find a nice gun at a decent price, don't worry about whether it's got a hammer-mounted firing pin, or a frame-mounted firing pin. Don't worry if it's got MIM parts, or flash-chromed carbon steel parts. Just buy it, shoot it, and enjoy it. Don't slam the cylinder open and closed a million times and you're not likely to have any problems with peening or anything else--ever. Pull trigger, gun goes bang, hole appears in target. That's it. These guns are fine. And if somebody tells you different, they're trying to sell you something. Mike

Hey Gil, Young Sam is getting faster with every match.....not only is he now shooting the old 25-2 (and benefitting from major p.f. scoring), Santa Revolver Claus came early this year and brought him a brand new CR Speed holster!! Better watch out....better not cry....better not pout..... Mike P.S. Click below for a candid photo of Santa..... Santa Revolver Claus

Thanks for the help, everybody!

Guys, the real way to get revo participation at club matches is this: Hold two matches a month. Designate one of those "race gun day" for L, L-10 and O. The other match is "factory gun day" for P, R, and the new provisional SS. Give modest plaques or medals or trophies out at the end-of-year banquet for all divisions. Our club did a variation of this last year, and we had no problem getting half a dozen wheels on factory gun day. This year we switched to a "shoot whatever you want" format, and while it is nice for the shooters to have more control, our participation in P and R has really suffered. Only other advice I have is make your kids shoot againt you in R division! :-)

Ron, sometimes just the smallest change can make it all feel brand new again. Maybe Tom Mainus can send you that other glove he's not using.....