Miculek "De-Locked" his Competition Revolver!!!

[Steve_NEPhila]

I posted this on the Smith and Wesson forum as well. Love or hate the most, most people either hate it or do not care at all. Every Smith and Wesson fan has a position on the lock.

I would not believe it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. The 627 PC that Jerry Miculek uses for competing in IRC (.38 Special, with Bushnell Holosight) has had the locking flag removed.

Say what you will about the pros and cons, this is quite an interesting find. The picture is on his website:
http://www.bang-inc.com/store/index.php?main_page=page_3

Scroll down to the IRC revolver with the Bushnell Holosight on it and look at the close up picture showing the cylinder cut for moon clips here:
http://www.bang-inc.com/images/gunsgear.irccylinder.large.jpg

One can clearly see that the locking flag has been removed from the mechanism. I can spot this as I have done it to one of my frequent carry revolvers. The locking key hole is still in place, yet the flag that locks the hammer is gone... rock on Jerry.

 

[Atticum]

the links need to be redone.

 

[MrBorland]

re-posting the link.

http://www.bang-inc.com/images/gunsgear.irccylinder.large.jpg

So...what?...even Jerry hates or is afraid of the lock?

It's a competition gun, so removal of the locking flag as an unnecessary piece isn't uncommon. The hammer, modified for competition, may not even be compatible with the flag anymore. My bet is the hammer block's been removed, too.

 

[Steve_NEPhila]

Sure, so what is right.

So what if a factory endorsed expert with revolvers and a gunsmith decides to remove the lock that Smith and Wesson refuses to remove. So what.

 

[MrBorland]

So what.

So, all I see is a pic of a top competitor's gun, which only means to me that, Jerry, whose job it is to win matches, has at least one gun built to that end. Beyond that is mere speculation.

If you want to use Jerry as the standard bearer for the anti-lockers, a pic of Jerry's everyday carry gun showing a deactivated lock would be more useful.

 

[Erich]

Thanks for the link.

 

[18DAI]

He may be a company man, but he is no dummy.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I would say he is upping his odds of winning his next match by employing KISS.

Unfortunately gun companies are moving away from this approach in favor of more lawyer friendly alternatives. Oh well. Simple solution. Dont buy new guns to stimulate the economy. Buy used to stimulate common sense.

 

[Oyeboten]

Buying used goods 'stimulates' the ecomony among private persons or small businesses.

They are the true Back Bone of the Country anyway, and in my opinion, deserve first preference for anything 'stimulating'.

Sadly, the true wholesome common sense use of Civil Courts for seeking redress of reasonable grievence, has for generations now been so extremely abused and whored by clever lawyers and imbescile juries, it has had enormous inimical effects through out all dimensions of our Society and Culture, creating vastly more damage and added costs to consumers than anyone could begin to guess.

Companies need to re-think strategy for pre-emptive address of potentisl civil liability suits, and get back to common sense and or adding cogent multi-language disclaimer tags.

Without common sense, we are all on a road to hell.


Glad he pulled the 'lock' and I hope this was not lost on S&W.

 

[rcmodel]

I'd say match shooters being the jokers they are, Jerry took the lock out to keep one of his buddys from locking his gun before a very importent match stage, and sticking his chewing gum in the key hole!

Ya! That will mess up Jerrys mind!
And maybe then I can beat him by one or two points just once in my lifetime!!!

rc

 

[Quickstrike]

Cool, frankly the lock has kept me from buying a S&W. I would have gotten a 629 classic if they didn't have a lock.

 

[jhvaughan2]

If we take this logic too far we will believe that smiths all have worthless hammers, triggers, sights and stocks. JM changed them all!

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Here's a challenge: Why doesn't S&W give us the same revolver that Miculek has set up? Perhaps he could give them "recommendations" for a comp gun, based on his, and maybe they would listen? It irritated me enought when I read about the then new "Thunder Ranch" revolver , made at Clint Smith's request, and S&W sent him one without the lock (just for him), and then the rest of them were all WITH the lock (and don't be confused, S&W was producing the lock already standard on everythig else). I called Thunder Ranch and asked how we mortals could get a S&W without the lock, and how Clint got his. They stammered and stuttered a bit. I knew it would be a waste to call S&W.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Gang,

Miculek shoots more ammo through his wheelguns than the top ten people here do, combined! He puts huge stress on his guns. And because of that I have no doubt just to make sure there is no problems, he deactivated the locks.

Shocking? No. Why? Just to make it one less part that might fail, and Miculek doesn't need that 'child lock' on his competition guns anyway!

For many years people deactivated the grip safeties of 1911s, right? For years people took out the magazine safey from their Browning High Powers, right? So I'm not shocked Miculek did this. For all the ammo he shoots, it wasn't a bad idea.

Now my 640 Smith is an older one. No lock. But the 642 beside me has the lock. I never have even acculated the lock even once! Gun shoots fine.

Do I care for the lock? No. Is it a big deal? No. But if I shot like Miculek does, I'd deactivate it to.

Deaf

 

[evan price]

And racing cars don't have airbags, either.

There's a big difference between the "real world" and competition.

 

[Stainz]

More important to we 627 shooters - look at the healthy ejector star easing. That's a lot more than my PC627's or 627 Pro have! It'd be nice to know what .357M cases he uses - and which moonclips, too.

He often employs shortened/lightened hammers to assist his speed - they might interfere/drag with the IL parts. Keeping a light, fast returning, & dependable ignition trigger, I'm sure, is his first goal.

Stainz

 

[shockwave]

If I were to buy a S&W that had the ILS, I'd remove it and use the frame plug sold at the S&W forum to correct the appearance of the gun. This is so trivially easy to do.

 

[FLAvalanche]

I'm going to bet S&W removed it for him.

 

[Steve_NEPhila]

Stainz,

Both my Smith 327 M&P R8 and 327 JM have the same chamfering on the extractor that is seen in the picture. They are both cut for moon clips as well, yet they look identical...

 

[Spartacus451]

I'd say match shooters being the jokers they are, Jerry took the lock out to keep one of his buddys from locking his gun before a very importent match stage, and sticking his chewing gum in the key hole!

Surreptitiously applying tape to a magazine or mag well is an old favorite.

More important to we 627 shooters - look at the healthy ejector star easing. That's a lot more than my PC627's or 627 Pro have! It'd be nice to know what .357M cases he uses - and which moonclips, too.

Wow I hadn't noticed that. When Randy Lee moon clipped my competition 66 he said he couldn't do much with the .38/.357 case for safety and it ended up no where near as aggressive as that.

 

[918v]

And racing cars don't have airbags, either.

There's a big difference between the "real world" and competition.

Are you suggesting that removing the lock makes the gun less safe?

 

[highorder]

I'm going to bet S&W removed it for him.

I'll bet JM did the work; he is a master gunsmith himself.

 

[W.E.G.]

 

[18DAI]

Makes sense that S&W would do that for him. If Miculeks revolver locked up during a demonstration or competition, even the most ardent fanboy could not ignore that.

The S&W IL revolver, not good enough for Jerry, but OK for everyone else!

 

[Handgunner]

Why would I want to bet my life on an IL revolver, when Jerry doesn't want to bet a competition on one?