2017 - The Year of the Wheelgun

Well, it looks like 2017 is gonna be a good good year.

Shot Show isn't even here yet, and so far, the following revolvers have been announced as coming out in 2017:

S&W Model 69, 44 magnum 5 shot L Frame with 2.75 inch barrel
S&W Model 66, 357 magnum 6 shot K Frame with 2.75 inch barrel

Ruger Redhawk, 357 magnum 8 shot with 2.75 inch barrel
Ruger GP100, 44 Special 5 shot with 3 inch barrel

Kimber releasing the K6S with additional finishes

and Colt has announced a steel frame 6 shot 38 Special snub they're calling the Cobra, but appears to be a resurrection of the Detective Special. Also said this is "just the beginning."

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. The hard part is gonna be waiting until the guns are out, have been tested and reviewed by actual purchasers, and proven worthy.

That new Model 66 is really calling my name. With the new 2 piece barrel it can fire the legendary 125 grain magnum JHP rounds, otherwise known as the backfist of God himself.

It's gonna be a good good year.

Yeah, I'm really excited to see if colt can make some good revolvers once again. I'd love to see them succeed. I'd also love to get my hands on one.

CPD requires retirees shoot the type of handgun they plan on carrying. So if you switch between autoloader and wheel gun, you have to shoot each one (an autoloader and a wheelgun - not necessarily the one you plan on carrying).

So I have a couple friends who are retired CPD, and I loaded up some Cowboy .38 SPL that I created to shoot in my Navies. One guy has qualified with them and raved about how accurate and easy to shoot they were. So I now have to insure they have enough to qual for a couple years. Ergo I have reloaded until I ran out of Sm Pistol primers. Just ordered 5k more.

Yeah man, just made some similar rounds with the full wadcutter mold I have.  So fun to shoot. I might have posted this already, if I did, sorry. But it was so much fun shooting them.

That's a great video Corn.  Dev, that project sounds like fun, but honestly, I'll bet shooting that ammo our of your Navies is an absolute blast.  You guys always come up with the coolest things.

In the interest of furthering the good tidings of The Year of the Wheelgun, I'm posting a random photo from the range yesterday.  Big brother (S&W 629) and little brother (S&W 642).  

Over the holidays, I broke out the Dremel to radius the trigger on the 629, because it had some sharp edges that wore out my trigger finger with hard recoiling ammo.  The radius job made a huge difference, and having narrowed the trigger a bit, made it a bit easier to shoot double action.

While grinding things down, I also attacked the bottom edge of a Pachmayr grip for the 629.  It previously flared out at the bottom, which made it print slightly under a light cover garment (like a t-shirt).  I rounded out the bottom, so now, in an IWB holster, I can't make it print no matter how I lean or turn.  (Insert diabolical laugh here.)

The 642 remains good to go as-is.  I'm trying to learn how to shoot it accurately with my off hand.  Getting better, but not great yet.

Hmmm. I've spent some time putting a new Apex trigger spring kit into my lightweight S&W snubby. It was a task mostly because I didn't have the right tool to remove the trigger rebound spring. I plan on getting one of those Wheeling kits with everything. Darn spring tool is stupidly simple but it makes pulling out and reinserting the spring much easier. All those little tricks.

Loved your wadcutters, Corn. They remind me of the old target ammo; it was .38 Spl Midrange wadcutter and it worked in my Model 52 - and it was ACCURATE! But no green bullets.

I picked up a tip from the Smith & Wesson forums about that rebound spring that was very helpful over the weekend.

When putting the rebound slide/spring back in, use a phillips screwdriver. A screwdriver flute goes over the pin as you push the slide/spring back in. Worked like a charm.

Yeah, wadcutter ammo is so weird. It looks like it shouldn't work.... but it does. I wonder why it is as accurate as it is. Maybe because it has less air space with the bullet seated deep like that? Who knows.

As far as changing springs out, are you guys doing that to lighten up the double action pull?

I let a gunsmith cut a couple of coils once, and I regretted it. So I don't mess with springs at all anymore. I just fire the gun until I'm strong enough to work the trigger smoothly.

I use big (200 grain) dual end wadcutters in my 44. They look like small lead soup cans. But it is weird how very accurate they are. They shouldn't be. They're cylinders flying through the air, but I do love them.

Flying soupcans! Yeah man, that's what they look like. One thing about doing lots of double action revolver shooting--it sure makes me a better shot with all my other guns. Trigger control, trigger control, & trigger control.

I understand TJ's reluctance to mess with revolver springing. There are SO many traps there. I replaced my springs in a S&W Airweight to change the trigger pull, but it was part of an Apex kit. Overall I like Apex and trust their products. My Shield is SO much better with the Apex kit, albeit I hear Smith finally changed their trigger to come close to an Apex out of the box for the new Shields.