Folks:
After I retired, I had the opportunity to carry a full sized revolver as my primary defensive handgun. I wrote a series of short articles do document my experiences (they are being published on my website as well). Since there is a bunch of interest in using revolvers, I asked Dagga Boy is he would be okay with me turning these articles into posts here in the Revolver Sub forum. He gave me the green light, so here goes. There are currently 5 articles and I will post them from time to time. Thanks to Dagga Boy for the opportunity to do this.
Wheelgun Challenge I
In 2017 I spent a glorious fall day in Idaho shooting revolvers with several good friends and one of my mentors. While all of the attendees recognized the utility of carrying a modern “plastic fantastic”, we also remember the days when a revolver was the iron to carry. My mentor mentioned that revolver shooting was becoming a lost art. During my time as an FBI Special Agent I witnessed the transition from revolvers to soulless plastic pistols and had to agree. My interest in revolvers had been reignited about 2 to 3 years prior to this specific shoot. I have haunted many old gun shops for prime specimens of the breed. Once you could find all manner of used, but good condition, revolvers, holsters, speed loaders, and stocks, now those items where conspicuously absent. During one of our breaks, one of my friends mentioned that he wanted to get better at running a revolver. Then he threw down the gauntlet: He challenged me to carry a revolver as my primary defensive handgun for a year-365 days. He would do the same. I’m retired and can carry what I want. That said, I have carried 1911s and plastic pistols for close to 30 years. I broke in on revolvers, but they have not been my main carry guns since the mid-1980s. Well you can’t really say no to something like that, so I accepted.
Caveat Up Front: By mutual agreement, my friend and I ended our experiment after six months. We pretty much proved our points to ourselves.
What follows are a series of brief articles about my experiences running a wheelgun for an extended period.
First though, here are the specifics about my hardware: I love Smith and Wesson revolvers but decided to carry a Ruger GP-100 Match Champion in .357 Magnum. Ruger’s are built like anvils and can withstand stupid amounts of abuse and shooting. If someone hands you a five-gallon bucket of full power .357 ammunition and challenges you to shoot all of it, the Ruger can withstand it. The Match Champion has been refitted with a set of factory Ruger compact stocks. They tend to be much more concealable and fit my hand very well. They remind me of Pachmayr Compac stocks of yesteryear. I am apparently the only person that does not like fiber optic sights. As a result, I removed the plastic fiber optic tube from the Match Champion’s front sight and repainted it in blaze orange. I zeroed the gun for Federal 357 Magnum 125 grain jacketed hollow point ammunition.
I carried the Match Champion in a Slate Creek Tactical (
http://www.sctactical.com/) Inside the Waist Band kydex holster (Caveat: The owner of Slate Creek Tactical is a dear friend). I have traditionally used leather holsters for my serious carry rigs. That said, Slate Creek Tactical of Hayden Idaho makes superb holsters. I have used Slate Creek Tactical holsters for other platforms and have been very impressed with their products. In light of, my success using Slate Creek Tactical’s gear, it made sense to use one of their holsters for my revolver. I have been delighted with the holster and how well it works. Give Slate Creek Tactical a hard look for serious kydex.
I started with HKS speed loaders and then I shifted towards Safariland Comp IIs. Once I saw how well the Safariland Comp IIIs worked, I obtained several and have been carrying one or more of them. I carried the Comp IIIs in coat, vest, and pants pockets. Likewise, I carried a pair of Bianchi Speed Strips filled with my carry ammo.
Ammunition was Federal 125 grain jacketed hollow point. Yeah-I know this doesn’t pass FBI ammunition protocols, but it is what I had on hand. Besides, lots of coppers put bunches of bad guys in graves using this round.
I started the Wheelgun Challenge officially on 18-October-2017. More to follow.
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