For the last couple of years, we have been shooting Action Pistol using, well, pistols. Every year though, a special match is held using revolvers only. Other than the gun, which must be a revolver with very specific limitations, the rules are the same except for one important one: all shooting must be done from a standing position. No going prone in this match. While I think that sounds great, it certainly makes an already difficult sport even harder.
The revolver must be a fairly basic one. 6″ or less barrel length, no external gun modifications, no oversized stocks or a barricade shroud, no compensator, and certainly no optics. Iron sight only and those sights must not extend past the gun in any way. To my mind, this means only one gun: The justifiably famous K-38 from S&W.
If you are unfamiliar with this gun, this is the time to rectify that. Though I have always been an N-frame man at heart (too much Keith, no doubt), the truth is that nothing fits my hand better than a K-frame and within the K-frames, nothing hangs in my hand better than a 6″. Not to mention, they look fantastic.
Shooting them is a whole other experience. A very smooth trigger pull, excellent adjustable iron sights, and a grip frame that is adaptable to any hand make for a very satisfying experience. One other caveat about the match. All shots must be fired double action. This of course necessitates a nice DA trigger pull, and the K-38s tend to have very good trigger pulls. You do need to know how to work a DA revolver though. This is not a problem with even a small amount of dedicated work.
The holster I’m using for this match is the OSH from G-Code. G-Code was kind enough to send me this holster specifically for this match. There are not a lot of choices in competition revolver holsters today, and so far, the OSH has turned out to be excellent. The fuzzy overlay is a nice touch to dull the sound of the kydex, which is a pretty long piece given the 6″ barrel length. Action Pistol requires a fully covered barrel and at least 50% of the cylinder, so the OSH fits the bill nicely.
I’ll report more after the match, and will hopefully get a little video of my training for it.
have you seen MidWest Competion Works Moon Clip holders ? The guys who have designed and make these are friends of mine, John Scoutten had a product segement on Shooting USA on their products a couple years ago, Mark Mandrell is the designer and he shoots revolver https://www.midwestcompetitionworks.com/shop
I think I have seen them, but have no experience with them.
Welcome to ICORE….ICORE Light, actually. We do have classifications for red dots, compensated guns, etc. But most of us shoot the basic wheelgun, and out stages canget quite a bit mor complicated.
Just pure Action Pistol. I’ve shot some revolver matches in the past, but have not yet tried ICORE.
That’s awesome! I’m hoping to shoot an action pistol match this year. The nearest one is at Pickaway in Columbus, OH but i’m going to try and get a room and stay for the October match. I’ll be running a wheelgun in open, 686 ssr with nills and a 507comp or sro. So cool to see a k38 with safariland/rogers stocks!
That sounds like a great plan. We’ve been meaning to visit Columbus for a bit now, maybe we will see you at the match!