Carmoney

Whoa now! Stop right where you are. Toolguy might be using a different tool. I use a 45-degree chamfering reamer (I believe it's a Clymer product I purchased through Brownells), and it absolutely will damage the ratchet lugs if you leave the extractor in place. Besides, if you take too much material off the ends of the extractor points, it can adversely affect the gun's timing. Much better to remove the extractor before chamfering the chambers. It won't make any difference in reloading speed--trust me.

Do yourself a favor and save up for a 625. Shooting in Revolver Division is tough enough as it is.

It doesn't matter. But like I said, round off the square end before putting it back together. That way there are no sharp edges to catch.

There's no reason to tolerate any misfires from a competition wheelgun. Get the ammo situation straight, and then increase the mainspring tension until the gun works 100%. You're letting yourself get distracted by the whole firing pin thing.

The squared end of the trigger stop rod should be rounded off and the whole thing polished before reinstalling it. The easy way to do it is to chuck each end of the rod in the drill in turn, knock the sharp edge off with an old file, and hit it with fine wet/dry paper. Here I go sharing yet another trade secret!

It's because we were allowed to write our own rules for Revolver Division this last time around. We got rid of a number of silly restrictions, including a prohibition on rounded and narrowed triggers (a prohibition that was rarely, if ever, enforced anyway). We did reach a strong consensus to limit it to 6 shots between reloads and no porting/comps. Otherwise, you can pretty much shoot any Revo you want. To address an issue that was brought up earlier--it is true that not all 625s are created equal. The 5" guns are great for USPSA competition, but you'll be better off avoiding the 625-2 Model of 1988s. They can be made into good shooters, but believe me, they take plenty of extra work. Otherwise, look for a good deal on a 625-3 through 625-8 and go for it!

Only nine women and two juniors shot the match last year! Sometimes you gotta wonder what people are thinking when they make policies like this. Unbelievable.

From the match book (Stage 5): "Preform a manditory reload, engage T2 Strong Hand only with 6 rounds, Weak had toughing a barrel." I have a suggestion for next year's charity beneficiary:click here

Oooooh, I don't know about that! The SSC always filled up quickly when it was a one-day format. Last year they went to a one-day format, which allowed more shooters to participate, and it did not fill up. They have announced they're going back to a one-day deal, and I suspect it will fill up again. I think it's unfortunate that they aren't willing to keep it a two-day event, knowing that would probably allow in everybody who wants to shoot the match.

Federals are readily available. The last time I checked, Midway, Grafs and Powder Valley all had them in stock. The Obama primer shortage is over.

Last year the whole group got together for supper at that barbecue place. We rented that upstairs room. Anything like that planned for this year?

You got that right!

The current "Cali drop test" S&W factory stock Ti firing pin uses a pointy tip, and it most certainly does not work better than the older version of the factory pin with the rounded ("domed") tip--not with Federal primers, not with anything. Whether that results from the pointy tip or the reduced length of the pin remains a little unclear.

Ah-ha! Another screw-loosener! The strain screw is intended to be fully tightened and torqued. It is not an adjustment screw. Left loosened, it is free to loosen up further and begin causing those intermittent misfires.

I'm not saying I disagree with you, Stan. But I think there are plenty of other inequities that deserve more attention than this. Starting with the fact that USPSA funds a Ladies Open World Shoot Team and a Junior Open World Shoot Team yet completely ignores our entire division. Besides, it would not surprise me if Josh gets moved up to GM the next time they run the calculator system, either as a result of an automatic computer bump due to his 95%+ performance, or manual adjustment by somebody out at Sedro. I seriously doubt if Mike Voigt has anything to do with it, and who knows if he was even paying attention to Josh's question during all that chaos. The middle of the awards and prize distribution process was probably not the best time to approach him with something like that, y'know? Josh is going to make GM anyway, sooner or later.

Ahhh, who cares? The classification system is so warped in Revo Division it really doesn't matter anymore--if it ever did. We're all shooting heads-up anyway, for practical purposes, aren't we? This topic has already been beaten to death in the other thread, anyway.....

Yeah? Well, there are right around 45 bottom feeder shooters who can't say that this week!

Exactly! (Yep, I shot Saturday.)

Chris, I see there were some overall champions awarded. Where can a person find the overall scores (with all divisions mixed together)?

Nope, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you pull the trigger, the hammer falls off and travels down at the same speed. The only time a slow trigger pull can contribute to misfiring is when there is a timing problem and a slow pull doesn't allow the chamber to carry up fully, creating an off-center hit on the primer. But I doubt that is what is happening here--timing problems on newer 625s are fairly unusual. If you're having misfires, and are only using good ammo with well-seated Federal primers, the mainspring tension is probably insufficient. The only other thing that might help is replacement of the "CA drop test" firing pin found in most of the 625JMs with an older .495" stock TI pin, or perhaps the Apex aftermarket pin.

I have only shot the IRC once--in 2007. I used a 5" 625. I finished 5th Limited out of 106, and if it weren't for the Near and Far Standards stage (which strongly benefits those who have the facility and time to practice it repeatedly and "groove it in"), I would have been 2nd Limited behind Nils. Botttom line--a 6-round revolver in good hands can be entirely competitive in ICORE!

Yeah, I would strongly recommend buying the original North Mountain Moonclip Holder, rather than somebody else's knock-off version.

Mike, What is the best way to identify S&W's in that range, 1999-2001, by serial number? Thanks, oldtrooper I don't know about serial numbers, they all seem to have different prefixes, etc. As a general rule, the guns made after the switch to the frame-mounted firing pin and MIM internals but before the internal lock system was implemented are very well made. I look for 625-6, 686-5, 629-5. The pre-IL 627s are also good. To keep this in perspective--there's not going to be a huge difference in the QC range of these guns versus the others--certainly not enough to justify any huge difference in value. Even the "good" generations are going to need work in order to make them competition-ready. And once the chambers are reamed and the action is done on a 625-8 (for example), it's going to be just as good as any 625-6.

I see some guns that are pretty well fit up from the factory...and some stuff that is really shoddy. The little old hens who collect the 5-screw P&Rs can say what they want, but the best QC era at the S&W factory was right around 1999-2001, right after the new CNC stuff was installed (and before the tooling was allowed to become dull and out-of-spec). As a general rule, the guns from that era are the smoothest and best revolvers S&W has ever made.

I just talked to Ranch on Monday morning. Lost all my brass and moonclips on the way back from Vegas on Sunday (long story). Called Ranch on Monday, 200 brand new moonclips arrived Wednesday. Net 30 terms. What a great company!