Carmoney

I would doubt if you will ever locate a factory 5" 610 barrel, so you're probably talking about a custom proposition. (Read $$$.) Cutting down a 6.5" 610 to 5" would be a more viable option, but that would require installing a Weigand front sight base. Still doable.

They won't post the stages, Pat. They never post the stages for the SSN and I'm sure this year won't be any different. But not to worry.....I've shot the last 6 or 7 SSNs and they never have any super-memory stages or anything so elaborate that you need a bunch of heavy-duty walk-through. The stages will be straightforward with reasonable rount count. Plan on a longer-range standards stage with a par time. They will use Bianchi-style turning targets, so you won't have to worry about overtime shots. Be sure you know where your gun is sighted out to 50 yds. They always have an all-steel stage--that one you will want to look over carefully, since they always hide small poppers behind the big ones and it's easy to move on to the next port and not realize that you still have one of those little ones standing there looking at you! (Don't ask how I know.....) They might (or might not) have a dark house, so be thinking about how to make a reload in the dark while juggling a flashlight. Otherwise, the match will be mixture of minimal-movement speed drills and moderate-movement field courses that are simple to plan out, yet deceptively tricky to shoot. They also love partial targets and no-shoots, so avoiding misses and no-shoot penalties is critical.

I would also add that I believe it wrong to categorize USPSA as a spray-and-pray sport that rewards reckless shooting. While there may be some basis for that perception at the beginning levels, it's important to recognize that accurate shooting is an imperative for any sort of success at the higher levels of the sport. Just sayin'......

Interesting concept. I am interested in where this goes. There are a multitude of ways that one relatively minor glitch on a stage can kill your entire ICORE match. At one of the IRC's I managed to violate some stage instructions that prevented firing extra shots (the ICORE version of Virginia Count). The ensuing penalties were killer, and knocked me down from what would have been 2nd Limited to 7th Limited. And I didn't even need the extra hits! My own stupid fault, obviously, but the ICORE penalties can be pretty heart-wrenching stuff. I also had a squib at the same match. Thank God it was on a multiple-string steel stage, and I was able to use that run as my throw-away. A squib on a field course would have sent me to the bottom of the list. Mistakes, equipment failures, and other miscellaneous melt-downs should certainly be penalized, but perhaps not so incredibly harshly. I can handle the suffering and keep coming back for more, but I'm not sure the same is true for the newer shooters we desperately need to attract to ICORE.

Ty, I enjoyed checking out the picture of your ICORE gear.......I gotta ask, is that an original Lew Horton 6.5" 627 I'm seeing? Like the one revoman desecrated a few years ago?

I will say this to those who use the "high-end" moonclips--make sure you have enough moonclips to make it through the day without having to strip and reload them, and then drop-test each loaded moonclip into the cylinder before arriving at the match. When you reload a moonclip and stick it on your holder during a match, you are hoping it won't hang up. You're hoping it didn't get bent when it was on the ground. You're hoping you don't have a bulged or slightly misshapen round of ammo in there. But unless you have put that loaded moonclip into the cylinder of your gun, you really don't know. I see guys who show up with 10 or 12 Hearthcos and think that's enough. And most of the time, it is. But when you don't check to make sure it will freely drop into the gun, it's on you. It's not the moonclip's fault, and it's not Tom Kilhoffer's fault. Or so it seems to me.

Ty, you had a very different experience than I did ordering from TK. For years I have owned 40 genuine Hearthco moonclips (.38 Short Colt -- Starline brass), and love them dearly. I recently ordered 40 more Hearth-style moonclips from TK, and they seem to be every bit as good. Tom is really good with customer service--I think you have should have given him the chance to address your concerns before dogging him on the internet.

Excellent choices. That's exactly the combination I use.

Looks like about $2K to me. Somewhere in that neighborhood, I would think.

I agree completely, and I suspect that is exactly what will eventually happen. We are better off taking the high road, and let justice prevail.

Naw, I won't pick up the XD until mid-June. Right now I'm shooting revos and single-stack 1911s. Gotta get ready for the back-to-back Nats, then the IRC after that.

Are U going to share the full version of your AVATAR PHOTO with us?

6.5 pounds would be good if it frickin' worked! I prefer 8.5 pounds and reliable.

Mike Carmoney is a mythical character like King Arthur or Paul Bunyan. He doesn't really exist. Bob Perdue (the guy who makes North Mountain Moonclip Holders) actually owns the rights to the name "Mike Carmoney." I merely license the fictitious name from Bob for use on various internet forums.

There was nothing "asinine" about my conclusion. Your comment was obviously meant to disparage an entire group of people--most of whom take their professional responsibilities seriously and conduct themselves honorably. What do you do for a living, Pat?

Handful? I doubt it. One court-appointed attorney? Perhaps. Not sure what point you're really trying to make, unless your intention was to convey your general bigotry toward lawyers. Apparently, you've never needed an attorney to defend your legal rights. Rudeness toward my profession seems to be one area where rudeness is tolerated here on BE.

Measuring depth is pointless for me, since I use a hodgepodge of mixed brass in my .45 wheelguns. But for those of you who have nice matching brass and know the proper seating depth for your primers, I am wondering if the K&M priming tool w/gauge would be a useful thing to have: http://www.kmshooting.com/catalog/primer-seater-tools/primer_gauge.html I

No effect.

That was a trademark of the late great revolversmith Andy Cannon. (It makes no meaningful difference....like lots of things....but it looks pretty trick!)

If you get that point, you gotta give this one up!?!? No inconsistency. The key phase in the second quote is "local club matches."

Let me try this again: Josh is one of our top GMs in Revo Division, and he was shooting a revolver (in Production Division). There were no Production GMs at the match. Josh finished 17th place at 79%. Of the 16 shooters who beat Josh, 9 of them were B- or C-class shooters!! Josh did a great job at the match, and he certainly beat a lot of shooters--but he did not beat anybody who is anywhere near his level of capability. Due to the equipment disadvantage he imposed upon himself, he gave himself zero chance of winning the division. He was literally doomed from the start. Proving my point.

Josh, I actually think you helped me make my point here. You're one of the best wheels in the game today, and you finished only 17th place. It sounds like you performed very well comparatively, but the handicap was still way too much to overcome. My challenge stands. The only person to take me up on it so far has been Rich Brethour, and we will face off at Area 2 in November.

Shooting a 617 is great fun, and pretty good training for the centerfire stuff. Of course, 617s always have heavier DA trigger pulls than what you need on a centerfire revolver--but that's OK by me. After running my 617 for awhile, the action on my 625 seems wonderfully easy and light by comparison. Kinda like swinging two ball bats in the on-deck circle!

At least from an organizational point of view, ICORE seems to be an intensely regional thing. There are a few hot spots where there's plenty of ICORE activity (notably CA and AZ), but most of the country remains unserved by that organization. Frankly, this is one reason why it makes sense for USPSA to adopt a more open and inclusive set of equipment rules for Revolver Division. People who would like to shoot ICORE but have no matches in their area can generally find a USPSA affiliate somewhere reasonably local to where they live. I don't think this whole discussion is really about "attracting the 8-shot ICORE guys to come over and shoot with us." And it's also not about "there's all these guys out there with 627s and no place to shoot." It's about making USPSA Revolver more fun for more people. For the 70-year-old guy with arthritis, or the ladies and younger shooters with smaller hands, who don't do well with N-frames firing major-power loads. For those shooters who want to shoot their local club matches and be able to put pressure on the shooters in the other divisions. People will acquire the equipment, and show up to shoot, if we make it more accessible. More shootable. More fun!

Here's the link, Roger: http://1911ssc.org/lists/entry_list.htm