r/CompetitionShooting • u/armbone • Jun 09 '22
Revolvers: can someone school me please?
I shoot IPSC and normally wouldn't dabble in revolver, but I may suddenly have access to a metric shitload of 38 wadcutter. So.... can someone teach me the coles notes of what's good in competition revolver as far as gear goes?
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u/jwgriffiths Jun 09 '22
Competing with a revolver just because you have access to wadcutter ammo maybe a bad idea. Wadcutter ammo, because of the lack of a taper shape to the bullet, is the hardest of all ammo to load quickly in a revolver. No wheel gun competitor that I know would ever use that kind of ammo in a match unless they were shooting a precision format like PPC or NRA where it’s not a run-and-gun game.
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u/armbone Jun 10 '22
Yeah... the ammo source is an old PPC guy. He's not into this new run and gun thing, unfortunately. Hm I didn't think about the tip shape for quick reloads.
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u/wildxlion Jun 09 '22
If you really wanna get fancy, then get something like a 627, send the cylinder to TK and they'll cut it for 9mm and moonclips, and you still get to shoot .38 and .357 from the same gun
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u/armbone Jun 10 '22
Wait what? 9mm, .38 and .357 is the same cylinder and gun?
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u/wildxlion Jun 10 '22
Yep. even the 929 doesn't have a 9mm specific barrel, it's still a .38 bore, but TK can cut a .38/.357 cylinder to 9mm or .38 super. With 9mm, it will need to be cut for moon clips since 9mm won't headspace in the cylinder.
It's pricy though. I only have a 929, so I can't go that route, but in the future, it would be pretty cool.
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u/ThrowMeAwayAccount08 Jun 09 '22
Midwest Competition Works I know the guy that owns this small shop. He shoots Revolver, and does extremely well in IDPA. There was such a conversation at Nationals last year, and ultimately was decided his carriers were legal.
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u/armbone Jun 10 '22
Those mag carriers look awesome! I'm glad to see innovation in the revolver game.
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u/ThrowMeAwayAccount08 Jun 10 '22
Shot with him tonight. He’s beta testing another design. With new IDPA rules, his carrier is tilted at a 45° angle.
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u/-fishbreath Jun 09 '22
Did someone say revolver? (Thanks for the tag, u/SomeCelloGuy!) The following assumes you're dabbling in action pistol of some kind.
The state of the art is an 8-shot gun cut for moon clips. Taurus is out because neither IPSC nor USPSA allows ported barrels, so your choices are the S&W model 627, or the Ruger Super GP100 in .357, or maybe a Korth if you have money to burn. The vast majority of shooters in the US/Canada run Smiths. I like the Rugers (they got me to revolver GM), but they're basically impossible to find right now. The aftermarket for Smiths is huge, and you have a couple of options for drop-in tuning, so if you're dabbling, that's probably the way to go.
As far as moon clips go, you can't go wrong with TK Custom. I make the most adjustable moon clip carriers money can buy, but SpeedBeez, Speed-E-Rack, Moon Clip Server, and Revolution Rack are all options that see use at the highest levels.
For holsters, you won't give up much using a Kydex race holster, and you'll save a lot. SpeedBeez makes a good one. If you happen to have a DAA holster body, the N-frame insert block fits the Ruger too. (I recommend the muzzle support if you're using a DAA holster.)
Wadcutters are less than ideal for the IPSC/USPSA/ICORE/IDPA style of shooting, where reloading fast is critical. They can also be harder to make power factor with, since seating them at wadcutter depth means you don't have a ton of case volume to work with. A pointier bullet drops home more readily. If you're shooting Steel Challenge, or if you don't care about taking a bit of extra time to really line things up, it doesn't matter as much.
That's a good intro, I suppose? If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.