Revolver Gear: Must have

Competitive shooting at any level has a significant “gear oriented” aspect.  Once you get the holsters, moonclip holders, guns, ammo, etc, a lot of shooters figure that they’ve got all the gear they need to go shoot a match, and in most cases they probably do.  However, as the round counts and matches start to go up, you find you start needing more and more tools and do-dads in your range bag.  1911 shooters need their bushing wrenches, everyone should have a set of screwdrivers, and Glock shooters need their creepy little portable Gaston Glock Shrines.

For revolver shooters, there is one item which in my estimation is an absolute “must have” piece of gear.  If you’ve shot enough matches with a wheelgun, you’ve probably had a stage where the carbon fouling in your cylinder caused a round to hang up on the way in during a reload, which throws off your entire COF.  The simplest solution for that, and something I carry in my range bag at all times is the Bore Snake from Hoppes.  I’ve mentioned them before on the blog, but that was primarly in the context of a cleaning tool.  As a field/match expedient cylinder cleaner, they can’t be beat.  Pull it through the six chambers one at a time, and you’ve solved your issues with carbon fouling.

The one caution is that if you’re shooting a revolver with a titanium cylinder, you might not want to use the bore snake, as the brass bristles built into the tool might abrade the magical cylinder coating on the inside of your wheelgun.  However, if you’re running a 627 or a 625, a Ruger Security Six/GP100, or pretty much any standard revolver with a steel cylinder, you need one of these in your range bag.  There’s nothing worse than slamming a Comp-III speedloader in place, and then looking at the cylinder to see one recalcitrant round just sitting there, half an inch above the cylinder, mocking you.  Take a minute every couple of stages to clean out that cylinder and you’ll be a much happier camper.

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