Yesterday I attended the USPSA Classifier Match at Fredericksburg Rod and Gun Club. I decided to take a break from the 625 and give a good solid match test to my 610. I ran the same North Mountain Moonclip rack I always do and the same cut up Safariland self made speed holster. My first impressions were that the gun itself was very accurate, but awfully slow to load. I estimated my reloads to be in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 seconds. This is pretty slow seeing that I can speedload .38's in about 3 seconds and reload the 625 somewhere around 2 seconds. I did wonderfully horrible on the classifier stages striking NO SHOOTS left and right it seemed. So much for zeroing the gun in ahead of time right? It all came down to a no shoot and a miss costing me first place at the match.
Preparation is everything. I ventured to see my parents and just happened to carry my 610 with 4 moonclips of match ammo with me. The plan was to stop off at my shooting place on the way and quick zero the gun on a six inch plate at 15yds. It works really well when the gun is firing....the first cylinder fired 2 out of six...the second 3...the third 2 and the fourth 1. The Apex competition firing pin just doesn't like my superlight hammers. Gun unzeroed with no tools to adjust the strain tension, I visited my folks and returned home. The gun was cleaned and the firing pin changed back to a conventional design that I knew would function.
The match day came and I stepped to the line with a calm and relaxed attitude. I knew the reloads would have to be carefully made. The buzzer went off on the first stage and the fun began. It was an unloaded table start. "Crap...quick weakhand reload and off to the races. 1.2.3.4.5 Reload and double up the last paper. Done. Gee that was slow....I miss my 625....I'd settle for my .38 snubby at this point. Unload, show clear, put it away and go check the damage. Not too bad." This was how my day started. I quickly adapted to the weakness of my reload with the best planning and rehearsal I could devise and that made up a lot of the difference on the particular field I was facing. The one time the slow reload really bit my butt was in the El Presidente stage where the shells bounced off the cylinder and almost landed on the ground. 8 second reload. Measure the powder, pour it in, and then ram the bullet home....ok so it felt that way. Only when I deviated from my plan did I pay dearly with deltas, white targets, and where'd my bullet go's. At the end of the day I performed very strongly on the two field courses of 32 rounds each winning one and losing the other by a miss. Not bad for a skinny kid with slow reloads.....
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