"Hawke" wrote in message
...
On 2/5/2011 8:46 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 2/2/2011 11:56 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:
"Brian wrote in message
...


Due to his sudden disappearance from RCM, I was wondering about
Gunner's health, so I was in contact and conversed with him earlier
in the evening. He told me his computer won't log-on to the internet,
and he's been busy.

He did give me the old Swartzeneger line...you know...

"I'll be back!"

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

He e-mailed me from a friends house today but the basterd STILL didn't help
me with my quandary. I wanted to know the advantages and disadvantages
between a S&W 617 in 6 or 10 rd.


You need Gummer's help with something like that? What's your problem? The gun's a
big honking revolver that looks like a .357 magnum except it shoots .22 rimfire. I
think it only comes with a ten shot cylinder too. I know people who have this gun.
It's ridiculous. It weighs over 40 ounces and list price for it is over 800 bucks.
I
can't imagine why anyone would want one. It's an overpriced brick that only shoots
a
.22. What it is for I haven't been about to figure out. There's no advantage to
owning one.

Hawke


It comes with a 6 or 10 shot cylinder in Al or SS cylinder...depending on the dash
number.

I see it as a big advantage to my students to start them with a heavy .22 that has
very little recoil and a revolver is much simpler so they don't get caught up in
too
many distracting actions. Also, loading is very simple and straight forward,
especially one round at a time. Then, transition to low-power .38s in the same
frame
revolver assures a smooth transition. And, those 617s are extremely accurate which
makes it easy to correct a new shooter, they quickly build confidence with success
and
it's a big gun so it's easy for an instructor to maintain control of the gun and
the
shooter. I've only been a Certified Instructor for a short time and have a lot to
learn. So far my students have all done well and have all passed to become safe,
competent shooters or CCW carriers and quite a few have booked me as a coach on a
continuing basis. Cost isn't an issue, I'll be buying a few. My first day of
teaching, I netted over $1k and word of mouth has already got me over 15 referrals
for
this month plus coaching time. The only student that I had problems with was
because
he had a "Bubba-Big-Bore" mentality and thought he knew way more than he did. I
broke
him and kind of used him as a bad example. A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing.




You need to move into the 21st century. Most of the people you are teaching will
wind up buying semi autos. Revolvers are just not nearly as popular as they once
were. Spending time teaching with a revolver is a waste of time. Go right to the
semi auto. Any .22 you use has little recoil so there is no advantage to a big heavy
revolver. Also you're teaching beginners so great accuracy in your gun isn't that
important either.

Like I said, I know people who have those things. Believe me, nobody uses them in
the bullseye leagues. They're just not very handy anymore. It would be different if
it was 1950 when everyone was buying revolvers but now most everyone buy a semi
auto. Personally, I still like revolvers a lot so I'm not against them per se. I'm
just saying that even for the purpose of teaching other guns work better. Don't
believe me? Take a poll and see how many other instructors use those. My guess is
you'll be the only one. Get an inexpensive Ruger. You'll save a lot of money and
time.

Hawke

I use 2 Mark IIs now, revolvers are simpler and less intimidating to people that have
never handled a handgun before. Since we must teach revolvers as well as
semi-automatics, we don't have the choice to exclude revolvers.