Went out to Atlanta Conservation Club yesterday to get some practice in with my 625 before the upcoming IDPA Indiana State Championship. By the way, there are still slots available, so hit the ACC website to download a form to register. Anyway, I’m shooting the state match in the Enhanced Service Revolver division, which means I’m using my 625 in .45 ACP to shoot the match. I’m classified in this division as Sharpshooter, which is roughly analogous to USPSA “C” class.
So, like the idiot that I am, I figure “hey, here’s a fun idea. I’ll shoot the entire classifier match for practice and see where it comes out”. Why was this dumb? Because I shot a great classifier. I actually bumped myself up to Expert class right before the state championship. Now you’re probably wondering why this is a “bad thing”. Well, it’s because if I’m good enough to shoot “Expert” (which is roughly B class) then I had a very good statistical chance of winning the “Sharpshooter” division. By bumping myself, I now have to compete against a group of shooters where I am “middle of the pack”. No sandbagging for me, it would seem.
Of course, here’s the weird part. I was looking at my classifier score for my wheelgun compared to the last classifier I shot for Stock Service Pistol, and it was only 6 seconds slower with my wheelgun. The big difference is that with the 625 I was MUCH more accurate – 15 points down for the entire COF with the 625. With the SSP gun, I was much faster on my raw times, but a lot less accurate which lead to a lower class. This bears out my thinking that I’m more patient when shooting my 625, as the long trigger forces me to wait for shots and not just slap the trigger and run. The biggest difference was at the 20 yard stage of the match: usually I have a lot of points down on that stage, and while it was still my least accurate stage, using the 625 I had a lot better hits than I’ve ever had with a semi-automatic pistol.
Now I just need to find a bunch of .45 ACP ammo for the two major matches I have next month.
I’m confused? Why do you have to turn it in? Did you shoot it by yourself, with no witnesses?
SigBoy: two reasons, one it was witnessed by an IDPA certified SO (me) and two it’s the honest thing to do.
I find that shooting a 686+ vs a 5906 lead to the same thing. The sight radius is the same on both guns, yet the revolver’s sights are just easier to shoot with accurately. Not sure if it is the red insert or what.
To “yo” The sight radius is the same, but the entire sight assembleage is a couple or so inches further from the eye with the revolver. Also, the revolver’s rear sight is out ahead of the pivot point of the hand/gun interface, which is important.
Think of that pivot as being the narrow point of an hourglass, laid on it’s side. With the revolver, both the front and rear sight are on the “away” side of that pivot, both moving in the same arc-of-cone together, with only the front sight describing a larger arc in the same cone geometry.
With many semis, the rear sight will be on the “near” side of that horizontal hourglass, oscillating 180 degrees of opposite phase from the front sight.
I find revolvers much easier to shoot well for this, among several other reasons. Hope this helps?
Caleb. Congrats on the advancement in rank! Now, if you’re not using that “sandbag”, mind if I use it for a while?
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Never thoguht of it that way Jim, but I follow what you are saying.