A Revolver, retro day.

It was a beautiful day for a match. I've been reading forum threads where folks decide that they would drop carrying a semi for CCW for a revolver with a whole bunch of reasons. Semis jam, for some reason they can't shoot semis well, 5 is enough - whatever.

I've had a significant stash of 38 SPL generic ammo. I saw no need for my daughter to inherit it if I don't shoot. I also have quite a bit of 32 SW Long. Thus, I decided for a revolver day. I shot two guns:

1. A SW 642
2. A SW 632 (that's a 327 Mag with a 3 inch, comp'ed barrel).

Shot the 642 as a BUG, and the 632 as revolver (this is in a gray zone as , 38 but this is a club match).

Great news, I won both divisions. Well, that's because all folks except me shot semis. Oh, well.

So, my thoughts.

If I was aimed at COM, I got 0,1 or 2s on most targets with both guns. Some fails:

1. Reloading is slow with the HKS speed loaders. They are definitely one or two opponent guns. I am not Jerry nor moon clipped.
2. The 632 has a White U outlined rear sight and front fiber optic. Thus, I could make all shots decently, the drop down target, head shots, etc. One screw up was that after a reload, I forgot which target I shot and proceeded to shoot the same one again, avoiding one for 10 points of fail.
3. The 642 - I shot it high and thus missed two mandatory head shots. Reason is that with speed, I didn't get a good alignment of the front sight (painted day glo yellow), in the little rear notch. Thus, I skimmed the top of the heads. I also missed the drop down - oops.

I noted that after reloads, I had to remember whom I shot - esp. with the 5 shot gun, which had an uneven odd number pattern. So some folks got shot a bit. Sometimes I emptied it to have a full gun when moving to another position.

Conclusion - it was a lot of fun and folks thought I shot the guns well. We all thought the limited capacity and slow reloads makes one accept that is to carry for the one or two opponent situation. It's not for the rare but higher intensity, event. At IDPA distances, I can hit COM easily. I don't agree with the folks who ditch semis as described above. The wheel guns are great guns for BUGs and if dress mandates such.

Next, we did a 10 target shotgun stage, with 3 runs. I shot a Winchester 1300 Defender that came with no rear sight but a front fiber optics. Shot #8 light loads. I don't shoot shotgun that much. First run sucked but I got in the groove and by the 3rd had halved my time which was still slow. My buddies who do shotgun all the time are orders of magnitude faster. One short stroke.

Anomalies:

1. One shooter shot PPC with an AR pattern which was a total fail. The gas key went awry. It's been a troublesome gun. Don't know the brand - sorry.
2. One shooter did not get a good cheek weld on his shotgun. He was shooting some heavy load and the gun had a fancy rear sight - which smacked him in the mouth - ouch. I had a friend who did a military/police match and didn't get the gun settled and dislocated his collar bone in a stressed postion shooting under a gun.