Revolver Division -- trigger/hammer mods

[Carmoney]

I'm looking to begin USPSA/IPSC shooting in the US Revolver Division.

My old 25-2 is essentially stock, except the original hammer has been bobbed (gun is internally modified to DA-only), and the original wide/serrated target trigger has been narrowed, contoured, and polished smooth (but no external trigger stop).

I was certain this gun would be perfectly legal, and there is no question that it fits the spirit of the rules, but so far I have not been able to find a firm answer on this, and I want to avoid all possible hassles.

Has anyone requested and received any sort of official interpretation on this issue?

Any thoughts or assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

[spook]

Modifications which are permitted are limited to:

Replacement or modified sights, hammers and cylinder releases;

These are IPSC rules (don't know about USPSA). You're good to go with the bobbed hammer, but the smoothed trigger seems to be a no go. No problem though. I'd get a factory smooth trigger (there are a bazillion trigger/model combo's out there. You'll be safe) or rip one off of an old blued smith K, L or N frame.

I changed my factory smooth 625 trigger for a wide serrated one and asked S&W if they ever produced 625 with wide triggers. Just mail them and they'll tell you it's no problem.

[DougCarden]

Mike, just remember, You dont have to use Pin Loads shooting USPSA.....since I am sure you will have plenty lying around! Good to see you back in the game. Folks, this is one of the Big Boys from Second Chance fame, please give him a warm welcome to the fold, and he is a big reason that I am involved in the Shooting Sports today. I remember that everytime I give him a hard time about taking time off to become a lawyer!

[Carmoney]

dangit Doug!!

I was wantin' to be a real honest-and-for-true ipsicker and now you went and ruined all my carefully laid sandbaggin' plans.

Now getting back to my USPSA rules question, I'm pretty sure I saw something on one forum or another (maybe this one, in fact) that this question had been definitively answered and the hammer/trigger stuff were considered cosmetic mods, so no problemo.

OK, I know that nobody at the local matches will give a rip, but I don't want to go to some bigger match and run into shooters from less-civil parts of the country who might get uptight. Now that I do confrontation for a living (much like yourself; albeit in a slightly different forum), I don't want to experience it during my recreational time.

I just want to use the nice old wheelgun I already own, rather than be forced to go out and buy a new 625 or 610. I'm certainly not trying to gain any competitive advantage by having trick equipment--you can attest that I almost always shot bowling pins with a stock revolver (back before pin-shooting matches went extinct--barring a few specimens still alive in captivity in eastern PA).

[Vince Pinto]

Hi Mike,

I missed the fact that this was your first post, so a warm welcome to the BE Forums, which I hope will prove to be a valuable source of friendly information for you.

Having said that, I cannot give you a definitive answer in respect of USPSA Divisions, but the guy who can is John Amidon at vpuspsa@aol.com - if you send John an email, I'm sure he'll reply in a day or so (and tell him Vinny sent you, so I can get some "Frequent Referrer" Points).

[Patrick Sweeney]

I asked the very same question to John some time back. At first he wanted to quibble about factory barrels, triggers and hammers. Once I pointed out to him that S&W had made some seven million K frame guns alone, and that I could find bunches of them in any configuration I desired, he relented.

(OK, so I wasn't the sole reason. This is my story, stop messing with it.)

Hammer and trigger mods, as long as they aren't unsafe, are mere cosmetic changes. Any barrel that the factory ever offered is kosher. And the Power Factor for Major is 165, not 215.

Welcome to the forum. Funny You should post to the forum during the week that would have been the 29th Second Chance Combat Shoot. (By the way, Jerry stills rules with a wheelgun.)

[Carmoney]

Patrick, nice to see your familiar name on here! I was looking through some of my old match stuff and realized that the last Second Chance I attended was '94. Hard to believe it has been that long! Occasionally I hear rumors that SC may return, but so far nothing has materialized. Man, the whole pinshooting game seems to have really fallen apart, other than the gool ol' diehards from Topton...

Regarding the IPSC hammer/trigger thing, I engaged in an email exchange with John, and finally received pretty much the same answer you got, so I printed off the last email and decided I'm leaving well enough alone. (I must admit that I began to get a bit frustrated, though, when I was informed that "some would say that removing the serrations on the trigger present a safety issue due to the trigger face being slippery.")

Anyway, I've really enjoyed "coming out of retirement" this year, and I'm having a lot of fun shooting Steel Challenge stuff and IDPA. The local USPSA group is a good bunch of folks, so I'm planning to add that to the agenda as well.

See you around,

Mike