Carmoney

I'm with you on this, Cha-lee! Cash talks, bullshit walks.

Very fun to watch! Larry, was it your idea to get the Dakota Destinations guys to cover the match?

Regarding the elongated bullet issue, the far better approach would be to simply score any shot that fully penetrates the target, regardless of the angle, as a hit on the highest scoring area the bullet passes through. This one and a half diameters stuff is going to cause big trouble--(you gonna have one guy assigned the job during the entire match to objectively and fairly run the dial calipers?)--and the difference between an X and a miss is HUGE.

I agree with B.G.

I would recommend sending the gun back to the factory yourself, with a letter that specifically identifies the problem. Your gun dealer may not have explained the issue well enough. In my experience, S&W fixes these problems by replacing the damaged parts. But, perhaps they are starting to take a stand and not provide warranty repairs for firearms that are damaged by faulty handloaded ammunition.

Sounds like it's the firing in. None of that other stuff would affect ignition. I'm not familiar with the Power Custom extended firing pin, but it sounds like it might be counter-productive.

The problem may exist in all divisions, but there is no question that a few years back it suddenly became remarkably easier to make GM in Revolver Division. It happened because USPSA changed the way the HHFs were calculated. I am an honest M-level revolver shooter, and have historically shot to an 85% level a reasonable amount of the time (but certainly not always!), at a match that is attended by the best wheelgunners. And yet I can beat at least half of the revolver GMs pretty much every time. To me, this means those guys are overclassed. The majority of the GMs in Revolver will never hit 95% against Jerry or Rob. I suppose you make a valid point that there are bunches of "classifier GMs" in the other divisions also. Maybe we were simply the last division where this happened. There is no question that the classification structure has an upward bias. And we all know there are "stand and shoot" guys who do really well on classifiers compared to their overall capability. When we have enough Revolver Division shooters participating to make the classification system work in this division, this will become important. Until and unless this happens, it really doesn't matter much--when we only have a few people shooting wheels, don't we really compete heads-up anyway?

Put an eye patch on this guy and he would look just like Captain Ron!

Some like the serrations. I prefer smooth, and nicely contoured with my trusty Dremel.

The dino is raptoriffic.

We already had class inflation in Revolver Division (i.e. a bunch of guys who can't shoot to their class in actual competition). Looks like USPSA needs to adjust the HHFs on the affected classifiers to make sure this situation doesn't get even worse.

With careful component selection, you can make the supers pretty accurate. Mine didn't shoot all that well with factory WWB 115-gr. 9mm ammo when I relieved the extractor, but it was somewhat better with heavier bullets and their longer bearing surface. I think the 627-4s are never going to shoot all that great with .355 bullets as I think the barrels are designed for .357 bullets. Back when I was experimenting with shooting 9mm ammo in my super, my goal was to buy and shoot WWB (or equivalent el cheapo) ammo and avoid handloading for the gun. This was back when WWB was $10.66 per 100 pack at Wal-Mart all day long! We are informed that the 929 barrels are sized correctly for .355 projectiles. This is what S&W was saying at the SHOT Show, according to one shooter who talked to them. That will be nice, if it turns out to be true! Rob L. has posted some good information about why the true 9mm cylinders (with proper chamber and forcing cone dimensions) should allow the best accuracy, and I am confident he is correct. You cannot use supercomp brass in these, at least not with standard moonclips. However, I see no reason why a custom supercomp moonclip could not be fabricated, if the goal is to use supercomp brass. Check with Dave Hearth on that.

Two thoughts on that topic: 1. All it takes to "convert" a .38 Super 627-4 to 9mm is to mildly relieve the extractor--it will still function perfectly fine with .38 Super ammo. 2. 627-4s were pretty rare before Bangers did the second run--not so much any more. There was a point where Bangers actually discounted them pretty substantially because they weren't selling.

The frickin' guy has brand new knees. It puts everybody else at a complete disadvantage. My trusty old knees (which I use for daily carry, I might add) have been rendered obsolete.

Remember the heartwarming news clip where the whole football team gets together ahead of time and decides to let the special needs kid score a touchdown? (I better not say anything further.) ;-)

Good one, Larry!

It occurs to me that in most USPSA divisions, one particular type of gun has become dominant. For example, the STI/SVI 2011 platform rules Limited Division, and you could certainly make a strong argument that the heavy-frame CZ and Tanfo pistols are becoming dominant in Production. These options change over time, as new technology develops and shooters recognize (or at least perceive) a competitive advantage to adopting new equipment options. Back to the original topic--I'm going to be shooting multiple area and sectional matches this year in Revolver Division, after several years of shooting Production and Single Stack at those same matches. The 8-minor option has reinvigorated my interest in wheelgunning. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I like plenty of good competition--plaques and prizes don't mean much if they are uncontested--so I hope a bunch of you guys will push away from your keyboards and come out and shoot Revo with me.

Jon, you and I know each other and have shot together. I understand your viewpoint on the whole 8-minor thing, and although I don't share the same thoughts, I respect your opinions and recognize that you're not alone in some of them. But I don't think it's cool for you to come on here and make that comment about asterisks. I was squadded with the guys who finished in 1st and 2nd place and I'm here to tell you it was a battle worthy of a national championship. Nobody in contention would ever try to claim that shooting the Single Stack match the day before created an advantage. The top shooters are all at the point where they can figure out these stages fairly quickly. I have already explained why shooting both matches back-to-back was probably a disadvantage for me. I suspect the same is true for most of the better shooters.

Yup. That ridge.

The key is to get rid of those little ridges at the bottom of the cylinder stop lead-in ramps (visible in the first photo above). They are what cause the cylinder stop to jump the notch when you start cranking the trigger hard.

Those are caused by loose debris on the primer seating stem. Not a big deal, just be sure to seat your primers firmly but gently.

You have obviously not tried the BMT product.

Crippled?? Hardly. The 627 with short colts will continue to be completely competitive. If that is your preference, you will be perfectly fine with one.

I agree with this post--and appreciate the fact that it was written by a shooter who was actually at the match. I shot with Matt, and I think he was only forced by stage design to make one standing reload the entire time. Granted, that assumes near perfect execution, as Alec points out.

I would have been shooting somewhat faster with my 625, since I would not have been as worried about getting A hits. Except on the all-steel stages. I can hit my reloads slightly faster (on average) with my 625.