IDPA Gear: Stock Service Revolver

As a part of making 5-gun Master, I had several different IDPA rigs built up.  I actually try to keep all my gear as similar as possible, because when I was switching divisions all over the place it helped keep things consistent.  Here’s my IDPA gear for shooting my favorite division, Stock Service Revolver:

IDPA SSR gear

Going around the horn on the gear in the picture, you have three Safariland Comp-III speedloaders and one Buffer Technologies Jetloader to start with.  I always have four speedloaders on me for any stage, I keep one in my pocket for Load and Make ready, and then have two Safariland loaders as my primary reload and the Jetloader as my “ohsh*t” reload.  The max round count than any IDPA course of fire can be is 18 rounds, meaning that I have enough rounds in my gun and the first two loaders that if I shoot the course well, I’ll never need that Jetloader, hence its off-color name.

The speedloaders get toted around in Blade-Tech speedloader pouches, a double for the two Comp-IIIs and a single for the solo Jetloader.  I like Blade-Tech’s holsters, but I’m not really in love with the speedloader pouches.  The belt runs through the “tail” on the pouch, which means to get the rounds to seat correctly you have to make sure that the nose of the cartridges goes around the top of the belt.  I am likely going to switch up to the Ready-Tactical holders in the near future.

The ammo in the speedloaders is American Eagle 130 grain FMJ.  With the lowering of IDPA’s power factor for SSR, I can use the same round indoors and outdoors.  The factory specs show this round making a PF of right aroudn 115, which leaves me room to spare at a major match where I need a 105 or better.  The round nose cartridges load much easier than hollow points, and with the exception of a couple of rough pieces of brass I was able to stick all my loads at the most recent match I shot.

The holster is a Comp-Tac belt holster.  I think Comp-Tac makes some of the best kydex holsters on the market today, and this one is no exception.  It’s rugged, fast, and most importantly bright red.  In all seriousness though, the holster is an extremely important part of the competition rig.  A good fast holster will help draw times and enhance your safety.  Don’t spend $700 on your gun and mags to throw them in a crappy nylon sausage sack.

And of course finally there is the gun; my 686SSR Pro Series.  I had the single action notch removed from the hammer and all the internals polished up; the gun is legal for Bianchi Cup Production division, IDPA SSR, and ICORE Classic division.  This is now one of the easiest shooting guns I own.

That’s a look at my IDPA gear for Stock Service Revolver, next week we’ll look at ESR, CDP, and ESP.  Big surprise coming for SSP, so stay tuned!

15 Comments

  1. Caleb,

    What sights are you running on your revolvers? The sights on your 625 don’t look like the factory units on my 625……

    Thanks.

  2. So why two different kinds of speed loaders? It seems odd to mix types up. If one is faster than the other kind, I’d think you’d just use that kind. So there’s obviously something I’m missing here.

    1. The Blade-Tech single pouch doesn’t retain the Safariland very well, so I switched to the Jetloader for my “ohsh*t” reload.

  3. “I had the single action notch removed from the hammer”

    Off-topic, but what happens if someone else uses the gun and tries to cock it and run it SA? Doesn’t lock back?

        1. For Bianchi Cup Production division, the gun can’t look different than it would from the factory. So, the hammer spur has to stay intact on that gun.

          1. Really… strange. That you can remove a major function like single action but not bob the hammer.

          2. It’s an “internal” modification. The thing is, I had this gun modified to be compliant with the 2010 Bianchi Rules. At the time, the rules said that no production gun could have a trigger pull in any mode of less than 3.5 lbs, my 686 from the factory had a 3lb trigger pull in SA. So I had the SA notch removed from the hammer. Now for 2011 they’re saying that revolver triggers must be more than 3.5 lbs in DA mode, and that you’re just not allowed to use the SA mode on a DA revolver. Which makes more sense.

  4. I have a 7 shot 686 and I love it. I don’t compete but am interested. Does my cylinder have one too many holes for your type of competition? Any comments on speed of reloads for 5, 6, 7 and 8 shot revolvers using speedloaders? Is one easier?

  5. This is my first year to run revo in idpa,and Im running the same setup as you and am not happy with the bladetech speedloader holders either.I ordered 2 doubles(leaving 1 empty on the rear) so my comp3 would work.They seem to flop around too much.

  6. Caleb I think I’ve read before that you do not prefer front strap treatments or grip tape on your semi autos. Aside from that I’m wondering why it seems that most wheel gun shooters seem to prefer after market smooth wood grips rather than some sort of textured finish as many semi auto shooters seem to like.

Comments are closed.