Smith & Wesson 929: USPSA Revolver Rig

New Gear!

It's simple but it works.

In my previous post on the Smith and Wesson 929 competition upgrades, I discussed the parts that were swapped on my revolver of choice for USPSA. Purchasing new gear for firearms is almost as fun as purchasing new parts! I spent a long time comparing options from manufacturers before settling on these items to assemble my current set up. I tried to select parts that were effective and budget friendly. The total cost for this gear is right around $350.00, but there are definitely cheaper options out there if you shop around a bit! 

BMT Mooner

Empty brass to illustrate where live ammunition rest before loading.

Loading and unloading ammunition in moon clips isn't always the easiest thing to do. I've seen people bend moons trying to use pliers. There are several loading devices out there, but the best investment I have made is a BMT Equipped Mooner N9-8. The two piece design is brilliant! Small magnets hold the moon clip in place on the top piece of the device, while loose rounds are placed in the chute of the base. There is a metal post that goes through the center of the base that acts as an index pin for the top to rotate and spin. 

Loading is easy! The left hand holds the base at a bit of an angle and the right hand rotates the top clockwise. This forces the cases onto the moon clip as the top is turned. But what about taking the spent cases off of the moon clip? B.M.T thought about this too! Remember the pin that indexes the top portion of the loader? The pin on the bottom of the base is used to unload the moon clip two rounds at a time as it spins. The small magnets hold the moon clip in place, ready for the loading process to repeat. It is a pricey part at $100.00 shipped, but I will purchase one for every revolver that excepts moon clips that I own.
  

Belt

Inner and outer belt combo from Uncle Mike.

  

The foundation of every competition rig is the belt. In my experience a stiff belt is a requirement to both support the weight of your gear and keep it in the same place while moving through a stage. The Uncle Mike's Competition Belt, while not the flashiest design, sells for all of $22 bucks on Amazon. I actually received this as a Christmas present from my fiance. It is a great "starter" belt at a third the price of other competition belts. I may get one of the fancier belts down the road, but right now this is great.

Holster

A good kydex holster secures the revolver while moving.

Finding a holster for S&W 929 was actually a little challenging, especially for a lefty. I visited Comp-Tac's website because I have used Comp-Tac products with Glocks. There was about an eight day turn around listed on the website. Add in shipping and sales tax, the total was near $80 bucks. I decide to shop around and found a similar holster on the Speed Beez website. It turns out that the holsters are manufactured by Comp-Tac for Speed Beez. There are two different "cuts" available, one for IDPA and one for USPSA. At $64.95 it sure seemed like a bargain and there was free shipping over $100.00.

The holster ships with a TEK-LOK clip, a paddle mount, a belt mount, and a drop attachment. I opted for the belt mount for a super secure fit. The holster has several holes drilled so you can adjust the cant. I angled the muzzle forward for a slightly faster draw out of the holster. The draw feels a bit faster than my other holsters, but that could be in my mind. I'll run some drills with a timer and see which is faster. Pretty solid piece of gear for the money!

Moon Clip Carrier

That's a lot of brass.

Another important piece of gear is something to securely hold reloads. In the shooting sports, reloads must also be easily accessible so the process can be accomplished as quickly as possible. The moon clip carrier I chose is manufactured by Speed Beez. At $149.95 it is expensive, but it has several great features. I selected this model because of the eight post design that topped with magnets to securely hold moon clips in place and the TEK-LOK attachment system. 

This mount holds tons of ammunition: sixty four rounds worth to be exact. Eight moon clips is more than enough to ensure a stage can be completed, even if I manage to drop a reload. When I step up to the start position, the first moon clip will come from the third post on my right side. That leaves two on my right side for a right handed reload and five on my left side for my normal strong hand reload.

Maxpedition Rolly-Poly

A simple pouch.

On the occasion that I chose to shoot a bottom feeder in competition, I normally throw my empty magazines in my pocket as I follow the score keeper around to hear any points down. I would prefer not to fill my pockets with several moon clips so I purchased the Maxpedition Rolly-Poly to hold the empties. The website suggests an MSRP of $29.99, but I picked mine up off Amazon for about $19 dollars on sale. This is designed to hold a one liter Nalgene water bottle, so it is big enough to carry a handful of moon clips back to my pack to reload for the next stage. It may also find its way onto my belt to carry empty speed loaders back to my pack at IDPA matches.

Conclusions

Many of the shooting sports are very gear-centric. There are many of companies that make firearms related gear for competition such as belts, holsters, pouches, and tools. This is a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand there area  number of options, but there are so many options it can be a bit overwhelming. Well, most of the time.

Unfortunately, the majority of this equipment is for magazine fed firearms. Simply put, there are not nearly as many manufacturers that make gear tailored for the wheel gun enthusiast, due to a lack of demand from revolver shooters. This really surprises me, as I would guess that many people have at least one revolver in the stable. 

If you already have a revolver, there is no reason not to try competing with it. Shooting a revolver is a challenging experience, but one that will make you a better shooter overall. Lastly, if you are anything like me, assembling the perfect gear is probably as much fun as practicing and competing at your local match.

As always, if you have any suggestions for future posts or would like to share your experience on the current topic please post below!

Smith & Wesson 929: Race Ready!

Upgrades

For tinkerers like myself, upgrading firearms to increase performance is always exciting. As I pointed out in my first post regarding the Smith & Wesson 929, I wasn't particularly thrilled with the performance out of the box. The largest issue was the outrageous number of failures to fire. After further examination, I believe a loose strain screw was the culprit for that particular issue. Just in case my diagnosis was incorrect, I sent the 929 and a box full of parts to my gunsmith. A few weeks later, I picked it up after the club's monthly Steel Challenge match. Several shooters wanted to give it a try and everyone was pretty impressed with the results. Here is the rundown of the parts I selected!

Apex Extended Firing Pin

The pointy thing in the center of the picture. 

The ignition issues needed to be corrected as soon as possible. I searched online forums for a solution and came back with a couple potential fixes. The first was to swap to the mainspring in case the factory spring was out of spec. I purchased a Type 1 Wolff mainspring which has the same power the normal part. The other suggestion involved swapping the factory firing pin for an aftermarket pin and reduced power spring.

Apex Tactical's XP Firing Pin Kit was the most recommended part. The replacement is slightly longer than the factory pin and includes a reduced power firing pin spring. These two parts, working in tandem, increase the chances for positive ignition. Some of you might be wondering why I didn't select the Competition Firing Pin Kit offered by Apex. The S&W 929 was designed from the ground up as a competition revolver. The competition kit is designed for hand loaded ammunition and all of mine is factory. I may start reloading one day, but that is probably a few years down the road.

Apex Evolution IV Hammer

No hammer spur.

The next part I upgraded was the hammer. Nearly every revolver I've encountered that was built for competition sported a bobbed hammer. When I first started shooting revolvers, I never had issues with the hammer spur biting my hand. I attended a revolver-centric class where all the instructors reinforced the idea that double action revolvers should always be fired in double action. After learning how to properly grip a double action revolver, I found myself occasionally getting poked by the hammer. 

The hammer bite is was the reason I asked Steve to install Apex Tactical's Evolution IV K/L-frame hammer kit on my Smith and Wesson 66. As a bonus it also looks cool. After shooting the Model 66 with a bobbed hammer, I decided that a competition revolver needs to have a bobbed hammer. I purchased Apex's Evolution IV N-frame hammer kit and asked my gunsmith fit the new hammer. The kit comes with two trigger return springs, light and very light, and both times the heavier spring was selected to reset the trigger faster. The trigger pull is currently sitting right around 8 pounds and Steve said I can go lighter if I start hand loading.

Hogue Extended Cylinder Release

Smith and Wesson's factory cylinder release latch is relatively easy to operate, but it certainly isn't the fastest way to open the cylinder. Another upgrade I chose is the Hogue Short Cylinder Release. This design is beneficial as it changes the angle required for of your thumb to press the latch while shortening the distance the thumb travels to unlock the pistol. It also comes in a "Long" version. The geometry is especially useful for my left handed reload because my left thumb can actuate the release on the way to my reload. This part moves between my a couple of wheel guns because this part isn't cheap, I think the price just went up by $10, but it is super effective. Other companies, such as S&W and TK Custom, make similar parts and I'll probably try a few of them soon.

Muzzle Device

This isn't really an upgrade, but it is a change. The 929 ships with two removable muzzle devices. One of the devices is a single port compensator for open division guns and the other is a muzzle cover to protect the crown. This is really neat, but the down side is how dirty this makes the gun. There is a huge amount of carbon that builds up around the muzzle between the barrel and the device. It is incredibly dirty after a handful of moon clips, so I decided to just leave that part off. If I ever shoot open with this revolver, I'll throw the comp on and have a good time. I'll do my best not to mess up the crown.

Shooting Impressions

17/18 in the black.

Another issue I experienced with the 929 out of the box was chasing the zero. I've read that Smith and Wesson isn't actually using 9mm barrels and that is negatively impacting the accuracy of the revolver. I'm not so sure that is true. I'm 90 percent certain that my previous failure was my fault. I just couldn't settle on a zero during before installing the upgraded parts.

On my first trip to the range with the upgraded revolver, I shot a few groups at 25 yards until I was happy with my zero. The very next thing I did was shoot the Hardwired Tactical Revolver Super Test. The drill uses an NRA B8 target and a passing score is a 162/180:

• 6 rounds in 12 seconds from 15 yards.
• 6 rounds in 8 seconds from 10 yards.
• 6 rounds in 4 seconds from 5 yards.

I think the drill went well. I shot a 172/180 within the time limits. It seems like I can hit everything except the X sometimes, but I'm still happy with my performance. If you have never tried this drill before do it cold and see where you stand!

Conclusions

There you have it! I selected the parts to solve problems that I encountered shooting the S&W 929 out of the box. You may have noticed that I have not addressed the sights or the stocks. I may change these parts if I feel it will make the revolver better than it already is. I really like fiber optic sights and Hogue big butt grips, but I think I'll wait a bit before swapping them out. If the weather is nice, I'll be shooting this gun at USPSA in March. I'm excited to try it out!

As always, if you have any suggestions for future posts or would like to share your experience on the current topic please post below!

Back to Basics: IDPA 2-3-18

A New Year

The start of a new year is a great opportunity to revisit some of my revolvers that have largely remained unfired since I finished the S&W 66 Optic. After totally screwing up my last match of 2017, I decided to return to my first revolver, the Smith & Wesson 686-1. I shot an IDPA match the third week of January with this revolver and everything was alright...until the steel stage. Rather than reliving that debacle, I will share my experience at the February 2018 IDPA match.

Needless to say, this match went much smoother. It was a chilly Saturday morning on the range and the match director set up five short stages that we're completed before 1:00 p.m. Since last fall, I've spent most of my time shooting revolvers with red dots. This has made me extremely sloppy when shooting with iron sights. I realize that the red target labels are a bit difficult to see, especially with the orange clay in the background. I apologize for this oversight and will try a brighter color on the next match review. 

Stage One

  

For those that don't typically shoot competitively, the various sports have different ways to determine a shooter's skill level, referred to as a "Classifier." IDPA recently introduced a new classifier that is five stings of five rounds, totaling 25 shots. A shooters raw time plus any points down or other penalties produces a total time that is compared to an established rubric. IDPA's current classification system is: Novice (NV), Marksman (MM), Sharp Shooter (SS), Expert (EX), and Master (MA).

My first revolver classifier was back in April 2016. My time placed me on the lower end of the Marksman rubric. With the new classifier official in effect and the season just getting started, the MD decided that the first stage of this match should be the new classifier. At sign up, shooters could elect to have their scores submitted to IDPA as a classifier. I was in need of another REV division classifier, so I requested my scores to be sent. I bobbled the reload slightly on string three and only shot five points down total. I finally bumped into Sharp Shooter with an overall time of 36.05! All in all, I'd say the stage went well for me.

  

Stage Two

Follow the arrows!

   

Stage two required a seated start. Shooters began holding a large rock that was supposed to be a phone. At the buzzer, the "phone" was discarded and T1 and T2 were engaged on the move to the first cover position. Once in cover, T3 - T6 needed to be engaged while slicing the pie. Shooters then moved toward the targets obscured by the vision barriers, that felt like a hallway. The stage description required T7 and T8 to be engaged before T9. T9 was surrounded by Non-Threats with only the head visible. While there was no cover position at the barrels, EVERYONE kneeled in the same spot to avoid a shoot through on the Non-Threat. 

I loaded and made ready before being presented the latest "phone-rock hybrid". At the buzzer, I discarded the worthless technology and engaged T1 and T2. At the only official cover position, I engaged T3 and performed a solid reload. T4 - T6 ran the wheel gun dry again and I bobbled my reload on the way through the vision barrier tunnel. I engaged T7 first and then T8 while moving to "the spot." I placed two down zero shots on T9 without striking a Non-Threat. I finished this stage in 29.85 seconds with no points down.

Stage Three

This stage was borrowed from Silver Dollar 2016 but treated barrels as vision barriers. 

The MD has participated in several large matches and likes to hit us with his favorites from time to time. This stage was apparently borrowed from the 2016 Silver Dollar Match but adjusted to fit IDPA's current rules regarding fault lines and vision barriers. Shooters had the option to start at either position. T3 - T7 all had no shoots directly in front of them, so shooters engaged targets diagonally from their current position. T1 and T2, much like T9 and T8, were engaged second and third. This is because T4 and T6 were visible from their respective side's start position. Interesting, right? After engaging T4, followed by T1 - T3, shooters continued shooting targets as they appeared, reloading as necessary.

As most of the shooters were right handed, they chose to move from left to right. The two lefties, myself and another shooter in competing in CDP, chose to move from right to left. I drew and engaged T6 before taking two steps to the right to shoot T9 and T8. With the revolver empty, I reloaded and addressed T7. I started moving down the line shooting each target as it appeared in front of my sights. A couple shooters bumped their muzzles on the barrels because they crowded cover. I managed to avoid that. When it was all over, I finished this stage in 29.66 seconds clean.

Stage Four

The tactical broom was later replaced with a tactical stick.

This stage was designed by the MD's preteen daughter who has just started shooting matches with our club. At the buzzer, T1 and T4 become visible and must be engaged on the move to the first cover position. Once in cover, T2 and T3 must be engaged before a shooter proceeds to the next array. After leaving cover and heading toward the stomp plate to activate T5, T6 becomes an appearing target before shooters reach the plate. After engaging T6, shooters activate the stomp plate to reveal T5. Shooters move to Cover Position 2 to engage T7 - T9. 

She did a great job with the design! While advancing to cover, I addressed T4 first and then T1. From the right side of CP1, I engaged T2 and performed a reload while moving to the left side of CP1. Two quick shots on T3, one of them down one, and I was off headed toward the stomp plate. T6 became visible and I fired four shots to empty the revolver. I should have shot three on T3 and three on T6, but I figured four shots on a target while on the move was a safer bet. I bobbled the reload at the stomp plate, landed two shots down zero on the drop turner. At CP2, T7 and T8 were shot before my final reload. I dropped a point on T9. I finished this stage down two points in 31.25 seconds.

Stage Five

Note the tactical car seat. It had several holes by the end of the day.

  

This was the final stage of the day for my squad! There was quite a bit of movement between Cover Positions 1, 2, and 3. At the buzzer, shooters moved to CP1 and engaged targets while slicing the pie. Target 1 was 20 yards away, T2 was half that distance, but T3 was the furthest away. To increase the difficulty, the target hung partially obscured by a Non-Threat target. T4 and T5 were treated as appearing targets and everyone addressed these on the way to CP2. T6 and T7 were both visible from CP2 and were required to be engaged from that position. The steel popper, which activated a rising target, was engaged from that position or CP3. From CP3, shooters could make up any misses on T1 and T3.

T1 and T2 were both down one point. I aimed high right to avoid the Non-Threat on T3. I reloaded and shot T4 and T5 twice on the move, dropping another point on T5. I rushed the trigger press on the second shot. Once I entered CP2, I engaged T6 before reloading again. With a full cylinder, I shot T7 and ran to CP3. From CP3, a single shot downed the steel which fell and triggered the disappearing target T8. I shot it twice before reviewing T3. I couldn't see the hits until I reached the final position. I was actually down 8 points, so I reengaged it with my final shot in the cylinder. I should have shot the steel at CP2 then scurried over to CP3 before T8 rose and fell, but I was afraid of the timing. I totally could have made it! I finished this stage 8 points down in 36.19 seconds.

Conclusions

This was a great match! I still didn't do great, finishing 27th out of 36 shooters, but I was the only revolver shooter again. I feel like five stages is the perfect number for an IDPA match that starts at 10:00 a.m. One standards stage can assess skill, while four 18 round stages test both efficiency of movement and reload speed. I am still bobbling a reload with my Safariland Comp III speed loaders at least once per stage. I've found the issue to be my initial grip of the loader. If my index finger lands on top of a round, I tend to align the bullets with the chambers faster. I plan to focus more on the position of my hand when I go for a speed loader. 

So what is next for my IDPA journey? Well, now that I have another valid classifier under my belt, I plan to shoot a Tier 2 match in Summer 2018. In the mean time, I will return to the S&W 66 Optic now that IDPA has produced provisional rules for the Carry Optics Division. Just like USPSA's similar division, revolvers sporting a red dot have been left out of contention. Luckily, that doesn't stop me from shooting in the Specialty Division and comparing my scores with the other red dot equipped pistols. We'll see how that goes!

As always, if you have any suggestions for future posts or would like to share your experience on the current topic please post below!

Introducing www.RevolversOnly.com

Welcome!

The Revolvers Only blog now has it's own URL, www.revolversonly.com! I've updated the format slightly and  added some new features to the website. 

Today is my 29th birthday so I will have to keep this post short as I have to run errands with my fiancé. Please give them a quick look and let me know what you think.

I hope everyone enjoys the changes!

What's New?

Aside from the new URL address, I have added some new pages! 

These new pages include:

• A Home button to return to posts
• An About section explaining the story of Revolvers Only
• A Contact page for inquires and ideas
• A Favorites page to showcase my favorite wheel guns
• A Merch page (Coming Soon)
• A Links page to my favorite gear (Coming Soon)
• An Instagram link to the Revolvers Only Insta.

I may change the order and even add more pages in the future so don't forget to take a look ever few visits for any updates!
   

What's Next?

I have plenty of new content coming as I've been shooting several matches since the new year began. I've also borrowed several revolvers from friends and family for review. I am working with a friend on creating a YouTube channel with match videos and reviews so look for that in the next few months as well. 

I really appreciate all the readers who have keep coming back for content and hope that any new readers will like what they see and return!

As always, if you have any suggestions for future posts or would like to share your experience on the current topic please post below!

A Present from My Fiancé: Smith & Wesson 929

She wanted a sapphire instead of a diamond. I like it.

The Proposal

After seven years together, I proposed to the love of my life on October 15th, 2017. The best part? She said yes! Another couple helped me set up the plan for a photographer to be present. We've now selected a date, booked the venue, chosen a professional photographer, and she has started searching for the dress. The venue's Wedding Checklist List is extensive, but we are on track for our November wedding. 

The Engagement Present

Now on to why you are reading about all this. After I proposed, she asked me for my wish list so she could get me an engagement present. I obliged. At the top of my list was the Smith & Wesson 929, a Schofield in .45 Colt, a Colt Competition in .45 ACP, and a Charging Rhino in 9mm. Even though she preferred the 1911, she knew I wanted a 929 for USPSA and purchased one new for a song. As a bonus, she received the rebate from Smith & Wesson. I've now taken it to the range a handful of times, so I wanted to share my first impressions.

   

First Impressions

This thing is big. This is not my first 6 inch revolver, but this wheel gun feels heavier. It isn't any heavier than my S&W 617. In fact, Smith & Wesson's website has both revolvers listed at 44.1 ounces. Strange. The only changes I made was to swap the comp to the muzzle cover and exchanged the N-frame Hogue stocks to the X-frame Hogue stocks. These were in my parts bin after my time with the S&W 325 Thunder Ranch. I didn't adjust any screws or mess with any springs.

I did a bit of dry fire and the trigger felt better than other factory S&W revolvers I'd dry fired in stores. I ordered two ten packs of moon clips from Brownells, which was a nightmare because they shipped me 627 moons twice, and loaded them up for the range. This revolver performed well on the first trip, fine on the second, and poorly on the most recent trip. I've rated the trips because I steadily encountered more and more light strikes. I am surprised because this was a brand new gun. I  figured that the tension would have been set by the technician at Smith & Wesson.

Issues

That is a lot of light strikes.

Of the 136 shots attempted on my most recent range trip, the 929 had 22 light strikes. This was disconcerting to say the least. Once I returned home, I removed the Hogue stocks and examined the strain screw. It looked nowhere near flush with the frame. I was able to turn the screw three full rotations before it bottomed out. I guess the tech who assembled the 929 felt those last turns were unnecessary. It is also possible that the previous 200 rounds backed the screw out enough to cause failures.

My other issue was an afternoon spent chasing a zero. I started at 10 yards and shoot a 1.5 inch group shooting in double action. I'll take it. I walked down to the 25 yard board and hung a larger grid style target to fine tune the zero. Aside from the light strike issues, I could not reliably get on paper. I would shoot a four round group and only two would be on paper. So I hung a new target and began shooting groups in single action, finding similar results. I even pulled out the S&W sight adjustment instructions to ensure I wasn't adjusting incorrectly. I gave up to try another day. It must have been me.

  

Future Plans

Despite these issues, I am still excited to have a new revolver for USPSA and maybe even ICORE! I ordered more moon clips, an APEX extended firing pin, an APEX Evolution IV hammer, and a BMT Mooner Model N9-8. I put all of this, plus 8 loaded moon clips, into a box and brought it to the local revolver guru Steve. He said it would be a few weeks to get it all tuned up. I asked for a smoother trigger pull with a 7.5 to 8 pound double action pull to reliably ignite the factory Federal 9mm ammunition that I will be shooting. 

I'm currently hunting for a 6.5" left handed N-Frame holster with a little bit of a race style cant. Comp-Tac's International might work, but I'm very fond on Master-Tac Holsters. I'll give Bill a call and see what he can do for me. I think I've also decided on the Speed Beez's 929 Moon Clip Belt Rack with 8 posts as my ammunition carrier. I'm hoping my folks will pitch in on that for my 29th birthday next month. If all goes well, the February USPSA match will be shot with my new S&W 929. 

As always, if you have any suggestions for future posts or would like to share your experience on the current topic please post below!

How to Lose a Match in Six Shots: IDPA with the Chiappa Rhino

Not everyone shoots a good match every time. I can honestly say that the IDPA match the first weekend of December 2017 was the worst I've ever shot. Some people like to blame their equipment if the hits aren't where they need to be. We all know it is not the Rhino's fault my shots were not where I intended. The real problem is my lack of practice with this revolver. That is what led to my poor performance. Here is a break down of the stages and what I could have done better. 

Stage One

Ah standards stages. Many shooters seem to despise them, but I always find them fun. For my squad, this stage was actually toward the end of the match and man was challenging. The Match Director gave us a bit of latitude on how we shot the stage as long as each position saw the use of a different shooting grip whether free style, strong hand, or weak hand. After watching other shooters have some success shooting free style, to strong hand, to weak hand between positions, the next man up decided to shoot it differently. 

The course of fire was limited, demanding four rounds on each body and two on each head. Not wanting to miss any of the headshots, he choose to shoot strong hand at the back, weak hand in the middle, and free style up close. His scores were significantly better than those before him. Nearly everyone remaining, including me, followed suit. Although one of the headshots was outside the perforation and resulted in a miss, the rest of the shots were almost all down zero. I'll take it considering the earlier stages.
  

Stage Two

This stage required a table start with all shots taken from the seated position. The revolver was loaded to division capacity with three speed loaders positioned any way on the table. Since I load strong hand, I placed them to the left side of the table. I had to reach around them to pickup the Rhino at first, but it made for less awkward reloads. T1 required three to the body and three to the head. T2 - T7 were then engaged with two round each.

I always enjoyed seated shooting because I don't usually shoot sitting down when I go to the range for a session. The first six shots were fast and all down zero. I even heard someone say, "The thing doesn't even recoil in his hand" during my first reload. That's a lie. It does recoil, but it recoils back instead of up. I put two each on T2-T4 without issue and reloaded again. I pulled the last shot on T7 into the hard cover and decided to make it up. I think that was a mistake because the reload and trigger press may have taken just as long as the five second penalty due to a stuck case. 

Stage Three

This MD likes to run stages twice whenever possible to give the shooters more trigger time. Stage three required the gun to be holstered, loaded to six rounds only with all subsequent reloads performed from the belt. At the buzzer the shooter stands, draws, then engages T1 with six rounds. After a mandatory reload, the shooter must engage T2-T4 with the right hand only while the palm of the left hand was placed on the table for all shots. T5-T7 must be engaged with the left hand only while the palm of the right hand was placed on the table. This one was the most demanding stage of this match.

As the Rhino cylinder only holds six rounds, I would be reloading after each target array. Everyone else had a reload midway through the third target array. Sometimes it pays to play with a wheelgun, especially when the MD is often my only competition in the Revolver Division. He creates were revolver friendly matches. Engaging T1 resulted in more statements from onlookers regarding the Rhino's minimal muzzle flip. The left hand array went swimmingly with only two points down. Conversely, the right hand array saw a miss and several points down. The 10 pound trigger is significantly heavier than the 7 pound trigger of most of my S&W revolvers. I need to work on weak hand only.

Stage Four

Our squad started on the bay with stages four and five. This stage required holster handgun loaded to division capacity with hands placed on the wall. Shooters must engage target T1-T3 with three to the body and three to the head. It was unlimited so makeups were permitted. Looking back now, I should have taken a few make ups. The title of this post is a direct reference to this stage. I blew my match by missing four headshots total and shooting a pair of D zone hits on T3. What happened?

I said earlier that I am not going to blame the Rhino because this bad shooting is indicative of my lack of practice with this revolver. In my defense, there is a reason why my shots were high. I've been shooting my Smith & Wesson revolvers religiously for the past few months. The grip angle of the Smith's is different than the grip angle of the Rhino. I did not cant my wrist far enough to fully place the front sight post into the trench. This just shows that I need a lot more practice with the Rhino. I will definitely put in the dryfire at home, but recently received a new S&W N-frame from my fiance. As you can imagine, the majority of my range time will be dedicated to this new revolver purchased for USPSA.

Stage Five

After that terrible first stage, I started trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I walked to the safe area and performed a few draws. When I presented the revolver, I noticed the front sight was high every time until i readjusted my grip. Stage five was a straight forward engage while advancing in priority. The handgun was downloaded to six rounds. The stage began facing up range with hands on the brim of the hat. 

At the buzzer, I turned and engaged T1 on the move. No problems there. I stopped and reloaded to ensure I didn't run out of room before I got to T2. Although I'm pretty sure I put all six rounds into the down zero, the safety officer said there were only five holes on the paper. Welp. I reloaded a final time before engaging T3 on the move. A couple points down, but it was the miss on T2 that ruined that stage.

Stage Six

This final bay contained stages six and seven. This was a bit more of a run and gun stage and everyone was excited to shoot it. All paper targets of stage six required one shot to the body and one headshot. For a bit of a challenge, shooters had to engage T1-T2 while retreating. T3-T5 must be engaged from cover. The two steel poppers had to fall to score with a final array of targets to shoot while slicing the pie.

Shooting while advancing is challenging. Shooting while retreating is a bit more difficult. The weekend before, I was actually on the range working on retreating fire, so T1 and T2 were both down zero. I was careful not to break the 180 as I moved to the first cover position. I shot wide to avoid the non threat on T5 and was down two. At this point I had two round in the Rhino. I actually missed both poppers on the move and had to do a standing reload before moving to the final array of T6-T8 to engage from cover. Poor trigger control. The make up shots on the steel really hurt my time and threw off my reload plan. I had a final standing reload at the last cover position. Not great.

Stage Seven

This was the final stage of the match. The gun started loaded to division capacity, shooter facing up range with hands clasped on top of the head. T1-T2 as well as the steel poppers needed to be engaged while advancing. The start position was incredibly close to T1-T2 and these could quickly fall behind the 180 degree line. I engaged this array first before the steel. 

I guess I hadn't learned my lesson about trigger control because I missed both shots on S1 and S2 while advancing. As both steel had been engaged, I decided to move to the array on the right and come back to them later. I engaged T6-T8 quickly before reengaging the steel. This time both poppers fell and I engaged T3 on the move as soon as it became visible. A final reload at the cover position and the stage was over. So many make ups! At least I had fun running across the stage.

Conclusions

So there you have it. 21st out of 21 shooters. Abysmal. I may not be a great shooter but I usually end up around a little less than midway from the bottom. Although I realized my mistake relatively early, my shooting really didn't improve that much. The newest blaster and the neatest gear don't guarantee success in a match. Success comes down to practice with your chosen firearm.  

Despite my performance at this match, I still really like the Rhino and fully believe in the unique design. Several of my squad mates shot this strange little revolver after the match. Everyone who tried it was impressed by the lack of muzzle rise. I think a 4" Rhino in .40 caliber would be a monster in IDPA's revolver division. The reduced muzzle rise, coupled with the speed of moon clips, would seemingly make a great competitor. Maybe I'll get one and try it out!

As always, if you have any suggestions for future posts or would like to share your experience on the current topic please post below!