festus1

Where is the match this Sunday? If this is an inside match Jeff, well, count me in.......I like it when the playing field is a little more level with less running and more gunning. I don't suppose you suggested a lot of low ports and kneeling starts?

The cylinder of a S&W 45 long colt revo can be cut for moon clips for the use of 45 acp ammo in moon clips only and can also still be shot with 45 long colt. (45 Auto Rim will not work at all.) A friend has one like this and accuracy is same with either round. As far as your accuracy there are lots of variables though - every gun is different.

I agree with you on the speed thing - I can go faster with the 4" gun. I think 6" is the best compromise. The 3" gun you fixed up for me is the most fun to shoot though. mwx40x40, the grips are Nill grips that I have cut down some. They will eventually be open backed instead of closed. I bought the gun new in the box - it started out as a 45 Colt. I put a box of those thru it off hand before sending it off and it was not very accurate at all. After having it changed to ACP, adding a Ti cylinder in it and having the barrel Taylor Throated the accuracy is great. I can't say what part Taylor Throating the barrel or adding the Ti cylinder played alone but the sum of the work turned out great.

This 25-5 weighs just about the same as my 4" 625 V-comp and has a lot less muzzle flip. Accuracy is not much different between them but the sight radius on the 8" gun is great. The Ti cyl has the birdsong coating and I don't get any sticking problems.

Amen and Amen.

Any caliber gun .355 or larger that can safely make 165 PF is ok for ESR. Per HQ 9mm is NOT allowed in IDPA in ESR OR SSR. It is fine to use .357 mag, 38 super, .40 etc. making 165 PF with moon clips for ESR. Most of these horses have been beat to death and then some. There are not that many edges to be gained any more. Shoot what you enjoy most. I never look at the scores and glory in the fact that I won or was competitve against my little class - I check out how I compared to the ESP and SSP Masters. Now if I had fun and came even close to them on a stage it was a good match. Sorry for the drift.

Hey Mike, that $0.0064 number sounds like a good number to drop when discussing shooting costs with the Mrs...... I'll write that down.

Do they even make a revolver that sells for less than $500??

The key for getting past the "low bullet velocity problem" when shooting minor is to crank the load up to "just under" 165 PF. Then you will get along just fine. Last year our club hosted a world shoot qualifier and had a charity match the following day. I tried that out (shooting just under major PF) at both matches and it worked out fairly well. Jerry shot minor in the world shoot qualifier and major in the charity match. On one of the matches I figued out my score as if I were shooting major and like Bubber's results I also would have been only about 4% higher than what I was shooting minor. It is hard for me to make myself shoot very fast so I don't think shooting minor would make much difference. I have a 9MM revo conversion I am getting fixed up to try next year so I am going to give that a try. Bullets for it are about 1/2 the cost of 45's so that part is appealing.

I bought an old model 15 for very cheap that had an 8 3/8" barrel from a model 14 installed on it. The finish was like new. I thought about that same thing - 9mm w/ moon clips. I talked to a local smith about it and he said that he did a whole crate full of victory model conversions in the 1960's for the Israeli government when he was just starting out. Britain had given Israel a whole lot of cutting edge victory model smiths – but no ammo. Israel had no 38 S&W but had a boat load of 9MM. It was a long story but to cut to the chase I rounded up a 38 S&W cylinder from a generous collector on the S&W forum and now have a 9MM 8” K frame. The smith said that the conversion works way better with a 38 S&W because it is so short. I think the cost was about $100 plus $20 for the cylinder. I’m going to send it out for Carmonizing after the Nationals this weekend. Using short colts is probably a cheaper / easier option as Doug and vrmn1 said. I feel more peaceful reloading 9mm and I’m certainly not looking to push the envelope in speed – I do well to just hobble thru a whole match on the same day. After hearing the story and then finding a cheap 38 S&W cylinder, it seemed like a cool thing to try. I’ll let you know how it turns out when Mike gets done with it. Chris

As the add says they move much more with 45 RN. Hollow pts really tear them up. We tried the ones on hinges that stay down when hit. 22's will knock them over but on the ones that reset I don't think you'll see too much movement. The best thing would be to just set them on a board and knock them off. That would work well but also give you some exercise resetting them too.

HitEcRedNek, No need to retain a moonclip on a reload IF there are no live rounds in it. Same goes for loose rounds - if no live rounds then dump on the ground. I tried my 625 in SSR with Auto Rim brass just for fun this past spring. One match spent picking brass was enough. The 125 PF was pleasant though. With a Ti cylinder and spurless Randy hammer my 625 V-comp weighs in at 38.9 ounces.

For clarification, would the Blade-tech dropped and offset holster be ok for a 627?

I tried my 625 last month in SSR class. I have a lot of arthritis so a lot of recoil is not pleasant. I bought an AR shell plate and some AR brass from Starline and loaded up some 185 gr Berry bullets at 125 PF. Very comfortable to shoot. My 4" 625 weighs 39 ozs. w/ the Ti cyl. I used Longowitz speed loaders that I found on the internet. HKS loaders work almost as well and are about $65 cheaper each. It worked out pretty well except that I forgot one very major thing. My hips and knees are so bad that picking up a few moon clips is all I want to do. Chasing after 18 or so brass cases on each stage was almost beyond the beyonds for me. So....... I think that will be it for my foray back into SSR. I enjoyed shooting 125 PF ammo in the 625 more than shooting the 686 like I started IDPA with many years ago but to me nothing beats using a 625 w/ moons.

I have a narrow serrated case hardend trigger that I'd sell for $38 shipped. Let me know if you are interested.

Here is a link to IMR's data. I have used trail boss and it is easy to work with and not much chance of a double charge because it is so bulky. It seems to meter fine on my dillon 550. http://www.imrpowder.com/data/handgun/trailboss-feb2005.php

Can you tell me some more about trailboss? Was designed for cowboy shooting (the name seems to imply that)? Would you put the same amount of powder in a .357 case? I'm basically trying to keep from developing that ring at the end of the cylinders. Thanks, WM Here is a link to IMR's data. I have used trail boss and it is easy to work with and not much chance of a double charge because it is so bulky. It seems to meter fine on my dillon 550. http://www.imrpowder.com/data/handgun/trailboss-feb2005.php

I've considered IDPA and to shoot with a revolver it seemed a 67 with "Bubberized" Comp III's was a good way to go. K-frame minor. I like full moons but not if they require Major. The 67 with CompIII's also seemed economical. In IDPA if one uses moon clips you have to shoot in ESR AND are required to shoot major. If you choose speed loaders you shoot in SSR and may shoot minor. To me, major in a 625 is a whole lot more comfortable than in an L frame.

My 8" model 25 w/ a Ti cylinder weighs 44.8 oz (2lbs. 12.8 oz.). Not much different from the 5" full lug. I have not shot it in a match yet but we'll see what happens next month. Major loads seem a lot softer than in my 4" gun and I can even back off .1 gr of powder from the 4" and still make major.

I did not have a very good 'ruler' so I had a smith measure it before I sold it and he said it was one of the "good" cylinders. The Colt ammo I shot was just factory cowboy.

Throats that are too small are a problem but that's not the case here. 25-2 throats measure consistently huge, that's why I was wondering how the 625s that have had 25-2 barrels installed shoot. Are the 25-2 throats the issue or the barrels? My experience may answer that somewhat round about, but I bought a 25-5 w/ an 8" barrel and sent it to Randy for a make over to 45 ACP with a Ti cyl. The gun was supposedly only factory fired when I bought it and it looked it. I shot one box of 45 Colt thru it before shipping it. I could keep 6 rounds on a piece of notebook paper at 15 yds, but it looked more like a buckshot pattern than a group. I was a little worried. Anyway, in ACP garb it shoots as well as my 625. The odd thing is that the Colt cyl measured OK (not oversize). Lots of variables involved.

I always thought that the "smoke" was a conveinient excuse for shooting slow.......until this past Sat. Due to the price of platted bullets I went over to the PB side and sure enough I found myself blowing at the sights to find the targets. Well, I think I'll spring for plated bullets at least for matches from now on.

Quick question - Which brass works best for Hearthco L frame 7 shot moons? I know Remington works well, but does Starline? Thanks, Chris

I'm in the process. My local gunsmith said he did over 100 for some outfit in Europe some years ago because they had a lot of 38 revos and a slew of 9mm ammo but no .38 ammo. Conversation got cut short so don't know the whole story yet. He said to get a .38 S&W (victory) cylinder which works way better for the conversion and use .357 bullets. Not sure about brass - probably trial and error. I ordered one from NUMRICH gun parts - it is item # 358020. I have an 8" k frame for the setup.

Doc I'd also engourage you to shoot both IDPA and USPSA. I enjoy both games. It is all good trigger time. I would not worry at all about being competitive with your 64 in USPSA. Last spring I missed major by just a few fps at 2 back to back major matches with my 625 4". I went back and figured my scores out using major scoring and there would have been very little difference in the outcome of either match had I made major and there probably would have been no difference at all had I been shooting on the low end of minor PF. I have a lot of arthritis and this year I may try shooting minor on purpose in some matches and see what happens.