Bob R
Single-Sixer
We had our Bi-monthly Defensive Pistol match today. Our match is loosely based on IDPA. For revolvers we only have a single Division SSR. No ESR for Moon Clip Guns. No barrel length restrictions either. We shoot 4 Stages in the match. Each Stage is either 6 rounds and a reload on the clock, or 6 rounds and repeat the Stage a second time. For those buying ammo you can shoot a match with a 50 round box and have 2 left.
My main SSR Gun (Stock Service Revolver) is an old S&W 64 that I have slicked up some, and Ron Power (Power Custom) has slicked up some. It is nothing fancy to look at. Plain Jane old 64-3 with a Green painted front sight, and Hogue rubber grips. It has Ball Loc and Chamfered Chambers, and a set of Wolff Springs, everything is slicked up and adjusted into perfect alignment. A K Frame Swiss Watch.
I carry it in a Lobo Enhanced Pancake with Inner Hamer Shield, my normal everyday carry holster for every revolver I carry on a belt.
I reload using Safariland Comp III speedloaders carried in a North Mountain IDPA compliant speedloader carrier.
The Course of Fire today was fairly simple.
STAGE I: You are on your knees changing a tire when 2 thugs come up from behind you to do you harm. You are holding a Lug Wrench in both hands when the Buzzer Sounds. You drop the lug wrench draw and fire 3 rounds on each badguy behind you. Do this Stage twice.
STAGE II: You are being attacked by 3 bad guys infront and to your Left with barrels blocking your view of the targets. You are behind a starting line. At the Buzzer you advance forward to 2 plastic barrels and take cover. You return fire on the 3 bad guys who are exposed from your position of cover. You fire two rounds on each bad guy, reload from behind cover and again engage all three badguys with two more rounds each.
STAGE III: You are seated in the car "simulator". You have just driven into your driveway and stopped your car. You see three badguys are abducting your neighbor who is a diplomat. Two targets are to your left with the "No Shoot Target" neighbor, and the third is to your right front. At the Buzzer you draw and engage all 3 bad guys with two shots each. Repeat this Stage a second time. (5 point penalty for hitting the Hostage)
STAGE IV: You are fired on by 3 bad guys infront of you. At the Buzzer you advance forward to cover (A multi port wall simulator) and fire through whichever port you choose. You engage each badguy with 2 rounds each. Reload on the clock, and reengege each target with two rounds a second time.
Stage I worked out better to draw and fire with one hand.
Stage III worked out best (Right Handed) to draw and fire one handed on the Badguy out the passenger side window, then go to a two hand grip for the Left side Badguys. You had to lean back in the seat to get a better view of the Left bad guy who was partially covered by the hostage.
I ran this course two times with my model 64. No problem with the 4" gun. On Stage IV the last target to the right was a little long, requiring a well aimed shot for a Zero Score.
Remember I said loosely based on IDPA. We also have a BUG (Back Up Gun) Division. This is for 3" and shorter barrel revolvers, and compact semi auto's. In BUG we shoot the same course of fire as all other Divisions. One change is that 5 shot revolvers only shoot 5 shots with no penalty for not firing a 6th round on the target. In other words a 5 shot revolver fires 5 and a reload of 5 or shoot the stage a second time with 5 rounds each pass. No caliber specified in BUG, so 22 can shoot in this Division with centerfire (This Division ONLY).
I had to shoot my new LCR 22. I have No speedloaders for it, so I improvised. I borrowed a couple 10 round Tuff Products 22 LR Speed Strips from my brother for on the clock reloads. I used my 4" K frame holster for the LCR which worked out fine for the match. The LCR 22 is stock except for the Green Sight Bright sight paint on the front sight. The first run with the LCR 22 went pretty well. The LCR 22 shot very well. The trigger pull was no problem. My only issue was the reload with 10 rounds in the speed strip. The speed strip did not have enough clearance fully loaded. I was shooting Federal Lightning ammo round one.
My next entry in BUG I was shooting the LCR 357 with XS Front Sight with 105+ Power Factor 38 Special ammo. Again using Tuff Products 8 Round 38 Speed Strips loaded with 5 rounds. The long speed strips gives you something to get ahold of when reloading. They work much better long. NOTE: You can also locate the Orange ones on the ground easier after a reload.
No surprises, the LCR 357 shot great, and I had no problem making good hits on all targets. I shot about a 4 Inch group on the Long Target which was not bad, just a little low in the Minus 1 scoring area. If I had been shooting my normal BUG Gun a S&W 638 I would have not shot any better at all. I either had a better day than normal shooting the LCR 357, or I am shooting it better than my 638 already.
The last run of the day was with the LCR 22. This time I went to Stingers for ammo. I loaded the Orange Tuff Products Speed Strips differently this time. I loaded 2 rounds skipped a shell, loaded 2 rounds skipped a shell, and loaded the last 2 rounds. This arrangement worked out very well. The reload went very well. After getting all 6 rounds in the cylinder I dropped the Speed Strip and indexed the cylinder with the empty chambers up. Being in a hurry some times I got a perfect index, and some times I had an empty chamber under the first hammer fall. No problem with this. The Stingers extracted a little sticky a couple times, but not a problem. Getting the muzzle vertical dropped all the empty cases out with none under the ejector star. Something that you have to watch on a 22 revolver.
AFTER GAME:
The LCR 357 did very well. I see the LCR 357 replacing the 638 S&W as soon as I get my Lobo Enhanced Pancake holster for it. Which is on order, and about 4 weeks out. I have a couple boxes of Speer Gold Dot 135 Short Barrel 357 Magnum on order also. I like the LCR and I like the XS 24/7 front night sight.
The LCR 22 was a real success. The trigger pull is a hair stiffer than the LCR 357, but not by much. No problem to shoot with one hand at all. Very accurate for a 1.87" snubnose revolver. The speed load went well enough with the Tuff Products Speed Strips loaded in 2's that I may stay with this loading method instead of a speedloader. It worked way better than I would have thought. My 22 speed strip load was about twice as fast as my 38 speed strip reload. The shells strip off better on the 22 speed strip. The Green Sight Bright sight paint was very visible. Big improvement in picking up the front sight over the factory Black sight. I just painted it last night, so this was the first outing with the sight paint.
Everyone at the Match today looked over the LCR 22, and all comments were very positive. Almost everyone snapped the LCR and was very impressed with the trigger as compaired to a factory J Frame. Everyone liked the Hogue Tamer grips. By the way the grips feel very good. I have no plan to change them to anything else. GREAT GUN, Its a Keeper.
UPDATE: The scores have been posted. My 64 S&W SSR Gun took first place in SSR Division with a best time of 76.13. That was third place in all Divisions combined. I was beaten by 1 Custom Defensive Pistol (1911) entry, and one Stock Service Pistol (Combat Tupperware) entry. This should help with some perspective on the scores the LCR's turned in.
Run Number 1 with the LCR 22 using the speed strips with 10 rounds resulted in a score of 101.97.
My second run was with the LCR 357. My speed strip reload was a hair slow, and I was shooting it a little low on long targets. My score was 109.39.
My last run of the day was with the LCR 22 this time with the speed strips loaded correctly. This run took first in BUG with a score of 95.91.
For some perspective the LCR 22 score of 95.91 was ahead of 5 Stock Service Pistol entries. Not bad at all for a 1.87" barrel snub nose revolver.
I am even more impressed with the LCR 22 now. I will do better with the LCR 357 as I get a handle on the sight picture using the XS 24/7 front sight. This was my first time firing the LCR 357 with the XS sight installed.
Bob
My main SSR Gun (Stock Service Revolver) is an old S&W 64 that I have slicked up some, and Ron Power (Power Custom) has slicked up some. It is nothing fancy to look at. Plain Jane old 64-3 with a Green painted front sight, and Hogue rubber grips. It has Ball Loc and Chamfered Chambers, and a set of Wolff Springs, everything is slicked up and adjusted into perfect alignment. A K Frame Swiss Watch.
I carry it in a Lobo Enhanced Pancake with Inner Hamer Shield, my normal everyday carry holster for every revolver I carry on a belt.
I reload using Safariland Comp III speedloaders carried in a North Mountain IDPA compliant speedloader carrier.
The Course of Fire today was fairly simple.
STAGE I: You are on your knees changing a tire when 2 thugs come up from behind you to do you harm. You are holding a Lug Wrench in both hands when the Buzzer Sounds. You drop the lug wrench draw and fire 3 rounds on each badguy behind you. Do this Stage twice.
STAGE II: You are being attacked by 3 bad guys infront and to your Left with barrels blocking your view of the targets. You are behind a starting line. At the Buzzer you advance forward to 2 plastic barrels and take cover. You return fire on the 3 bad guys who are exposed from your position of cover. You fire two rounds on each bad guy, reload from behind cover and again engage all three badguys with two more rounds each.
STAGE III: You are seated in the car "simulator". You have just driven into your driveway and stopped your car. You see three badguys are abducting your neighbor who is a diplomat. Two targets are to your left with the "No Shoot Target" neighbor, and the third is to your right front. At the Buzzer you draw and engage all 3 bad guys with two shots each. Repeat this Stage a second time. (5 point penalty for hitting the Hostage)
STAGE IV: You are fired on by 3 bad guys infront of you. At the Buzzer you advance forward to cover (A multi port wall simulator) and fire through whichever port you choose. You engage each badguy with 2 rounds each. Reload on the clock, and reengege each target with two rounds a second time.
Stage I worked out better to draw and fire with one hand.
Stage III worked out best (Right Handed) to draw and fire one handed on the Badguy out the passenger side window, then go to a two hand grip for the Left side Badguys. You had to lean back in the seat to get a better view of the Left bad guy who was partially covered by the hostage.
I ran this course two times with my model 64. No problem with the 4" gun. On Stage IV the last target to the right was a little long, requiring a well aimed shot for a Zero Score.
Remember I said loosely based on IDPA. We also have a BUG (Back Up Gun) Division. This is for 3" and shorter barrel revolvers, and compact semi auto's. In BUG we shoot the same course of fire as all other Divisions. One change is that 5 shot revolvers only shoot 5 shots with no penalty for not firing a 6th round on the target. In other words a 5 shot revolver fires 5 and a reload of 5 or shoot the stage a second time with 5 rounds each pass. No caliber specified in BUG, so 22 can shoot in this Division with centerfire (This Division ONLY).
I had to shoot my new LCR 22. I have No speedloaders for it, so I improvised. I borrowed a couple 10 round Tuff Products 22 LR Speed Strips from my brother for on the clock reloads. I used my 4" K frame holster for the LCR which worked out fine for the match. The LCR 22 is stock except for the Green Sight Bright sight paint on the front sight. The first run with the LCR 22 went pretty well. The LCR 22 shot very well. The trigger pull was no problem. My only issue was the reload with 10 rounds in the speed strip. The speed strip did not have enough clearance fully loaded. I was shooting Federal Lightning ammo round one.
My next entry in BUG I was shooting the LCR 357 with XS Front Sight with 105+ Power Factor 38 Special ammo. Again using Tuff Products 8 Round 38 Speed Strips loaded with 5 rounds. The long speed strips gives you something to get ahold of when reloading. They work much better long. NOTE: You can also locate the Orange ones on the ground easier after a reload.
No surprises, the LCR 357 shot great, and I had no problem making good hits on all targets. I shot about a 4 Inch group on the Long Target which was not bad, just a little low in the Minus 1 scoring area. If I had been shooting my normal BUG Gun a S&W 638 I would have not shot any better at all. I either had a better day than normal shooting the LCR 357, or I am shooting it better than my 638 already.
The last run of the day was with the LCR 22. This time I went to Stingers for ammo. I loaded the Orange Tuff Products Speed Strips differently this time. I loaded 2 rounds skipped a shell, loaded 2 rounds skipped a shell, and loaded the last 2 rounds. This arrangement worked out very well. The reload went very well. After getting all 6 rounds in the cylinder I dropped the Speed Strip and indexed the cylinder with the empty chambers up. Being in a hurry some times I got a perfect index, and some times I had an empty chamber under the first hammer fall. No problem with this. The Stingers extracted a little sticky a couple times, but not a problem. Getting the muzzle vertical dropped all the empty cases out with none under the ejector star. Something that you have to watch on a 22 revolver.
AFTER GAME:
The LCR 357 did very well. I see the LCR 357 replacing the 638 S&W as soon as I get my Lobo Enhanced Pancake holster for it. Which is on order, and about 4 weeks out. I have a couple boxes of Speer Gold Dot 135 Short Barrel 357 Magnum on order also. I like the LCR and I like the XS 24/7 front night sight.
The LCR 22 was a real success. The trigger pull is a hair stiffer than the LCR 357, but not by much. No problem to shoot with one hand at all. Very accurate for a 1.87" snubnose revolver. The speed load went well enough with the Tuff Products Speed Strips loaded in 2's that I may stay with this loading method instead of a speedloader. It worked way better than I would have thought. My 22 speed strip load was about twice as fast as my 38 speed strip reload. The shells strip off better on the 22 speed strip. The Green Sight Bright sight paint was very visible. Big improvement in picking up the front sight over the factory Black sight. I just painted it last night, so this was the first outing with the sight paint.
Everyone at the Match today looked over the LCR 22, and all comments were very positive. Almost everyone snapped the LCR and was very impressed with the trigger as compaired to a factory J Frame. Everyone liked the Hogue Tamer grips. By the way the grips feel very good. I have no plan to change them to anything else. GREAT GUN, Its a Keeper.
UPDATE: The scores have been posted. My 64 S&W SSR Gun took first place in SSR Division with a best time of 76.13. That was third place in all Divisions combined. I was beaten by 1 Custom Defensive Pistol (1911) entry, and one Stock Service Pistol (Combat Tupperware) entry. This should help with some perspective on the scores the LCR's turned in.
Run Number 1 with the LCR 22 using the speed strips with 10 rounds resulted in a score of 101.97.
My second run was with the LCR 357. My speed strip reload was a hair slow, and I was shooting it a little low on long targets. My score was 109.39.
My last run of the day was with the LCR 22 this time with the speed strips loaded correctly. This run took first in BUG with a score of 95.91.
For some perspective the LCR 22 score of 95.91 was ahead of 5 Stock Service Pistol entries. Not bad at all for a 1.87" barrel snub nose revolver.
I am even more impressed with the LCR 22 now. I will do better with the LCR 357 as I get a handle on the sight picture using the XS 24/7 front sight. This was my first time firing the LCR 357 with the XS sight installed.
Bob
