On Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:10:44 -0800, Hawke
wrote:

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

Actually, in the small bore pistol matches I never saw a revolver once
Colt sold the first Woodsman.

However I did see an old fellow shooting the slow fire matches with a
S&W single shot pistol.