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From: marko@hutch (Mark O'Shea)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Revolvers in IPSC
Message-ID: <35255@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 5 Jun 91 14:27:58 GMT
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.Joe Harper writes:

.Does anyone on the net compete or have you seen anyone  
.compete with a revolver in IPSC?  The several times that I  
.attended an IPSC shoot it seemed to be populated with  
.10mm, .45 ACP, .40 S&W and .38 Supers.  Yes, I read the  
.magazines and I knew that's what a majority of people  
.shoot.  Those guns being there didn't surprise me.  What  
.did surprise me was that there was not one revolver  
.shooter.  Am I missing something? 

There are a few wheel gun shooters, but they are in the minority.  For what
it is worth, the classification matches are "revolver neutral" a term that
means you can be competitive with a revolver.  I shot a match yesterday
in which the most fun and longest stage was revolver neutral.  In the "best"
solution to this stage a reload after 5 shots was the ideal.  If you shot well
you were moving after 5 shots anyway.

.If I did my math right, a 180 grain bullet should only have  
.to go 975 fps or get a 158 grain to 1105 fps to get to Major.   

Yes you are right.

.The ammo can do it, and the revolver is accurate,  
.inexpensive and quite durable.  So why aren't there more  
.wheelguns competing? 

In a word "capacity".  The more capacity you have the better you can compete
with the big boys.  The term "spray and pray" is a catchy phrase, but it 
doesn't do justice to what really happens.  A case in point.  In yesterday's
match one of the stages had a station where you were required to get six hits
on a static target (cardboard silhouette) at 50 yards with your weak hand.
I had nine in the gun and shot it dry-I got one scoring hit, that translates
to 50 penalty points.  A member of my squad with a Glock 17 shot his dry and 
had 5 scoring hits.  Only 10 penalty points on his run.  BTW no one got all
six scoring hits in my squad.

.The guns I saw at the shoots made me think that IPSC may  
.have to change their name to  "International IMPRACTICAL  
.Equipment Race."   Some of those men and women had  
.weapons Flash Gordon would have killed Emperor Ming  
.for.  The guns with compensators, scopes, extended  
.controls and speed draw holsters do not seem to be  
.something you can carry everyday much less concealed.   
.And they were talking about picking up other guns at a cost  
.of $2,000 the way I talk about buying a box of ammo.   
.Wasn't the idea behind IPSC to offer realistic testing of you  
.and the gun you carry everyday, the gun you would have  
.with you when going to convience stores, banks or the  
.park?  Or do you actually carry your race tuned gun around  
.with you?  If you use a different gun for carrying, why aren't  
.you shooting IPSC with it? 

There is a movemnt a foot within USPSA (US IPSC) to divide up the classes
into stock (pretty much as the gun comes out of the box) and open.  They
do this technically now, but there is no pay off for being best stcok
in your class.

The equipment race is much criticized within the the membership.  I shoot
stock and will continue to.  I think if Dave Stanford (USPSA Pres.) makes 
the move and emphasizes stock like he says he might you will see two things 
happen.  More people shooting matches and more wheel guns in competition.

.But am I going in just for the fun of it with no chance of a  
.being more than bottom of the pack?  Is the competition so unbalanced 
.in favor of the autoloader that I must get one to compete. If I must,
.then I may get one. Just don't hold your breath.  I like DA revolvers 
.and will probably get several of them before I get a self-shucker. 

Do it.  Many of the race gun competitors use equipment to cover up for 
sloppy shooting.  When I keep up my practice I can shoot as good as any
class C shooter with a race gun.  BTW, I am as yet unclassified, but should
wind up in C when I finally get mine.

.I am shooting a very effective round out of a reliable,  
.sturdy, accurate gun that fits me to a "T" and I'm not about to give it  
.up.  Does this mean I should give up on IPSC instead? 

No.  Come on out.

One more thing.  I recommend against worrying about major/minor until
you start to get proficient.  After 5 matches I have decided your mental
work is as important as your shooting ability.  One more example.
In a match two months ago I watched the first five shooters take the left side 
targets move to the right, reload and finish.  The targets were a mixture of
steel and paper.  I decided that it made more sense to get all the steel
with four rounds then reload and have 9 rounds to make 8 hits on the paper.
This worked for me very well.  I had no misses and got a respectable time.
Every shooter who followed me did it my way.  This included the match winner,
who told me, my solution was better than the one he had worked out.  

Most of the time I watch the good shooters and try to figure out how to use
their solution with my ability.

.Joe Harper 
.joeha@microsoft.uucp 

Gun Control Means Being Able to Hit Your Target
Mark O'Shea
marko@ijf1.intel.com