HarrishMasher
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***PICS ADDED*** TK Custom Review & Reducing Inconsistencies Among Your Carry Guns
Unless you are a law enforcement or para-military professional who trains with many different types of firearms on a daily basis, I generally don’t think it is a great idea to have all kinds of different guns in your carry rotation. It is probably best that the guns you carry are similar and you train with them often.
That said, as of late I find myself with four very similar guns in my carry rotation. They are all S&W L Frame 357s….a 386NG, 386PD, 686PC 2.5”, and a 586PC L-Comp. Not only is similarity among my carry guns important to me, consistency is also equally important. What I mean by that are variables like trigger pull, type of sights, and how the gun is reloaded. The more consistent these variables are, or the less they vary, the easier it is to train for a time when you might have to use one of your carry guns.
While my carry guns are very similar in terms of size and dimensions, they are a number of inconsistencies among them. The 686PC and the 586 L-Comp both came from S&W cut for moonclips, the 386s did not. The 686PC and the 586 L-Comp also had Performance Center trigger/action jobs, while the 386s did not. All four of them have different sighting systems.
If the day comes when I might have to use one of my carry guns for something other than punching holes in paper, it is probably best that I know exactly what to expect from the gun I am pulling out of my holster. Having four similar, but DIFFERENT guns in my carry rotation can present potential problems or confusion at that critical moment when un-holstering my gun.
To avoid this potential problem I decided I had two options: Either carry the same gun everyday, or minimize the inconsistencies among the four guns. I went with the latter option, and took my first step toward eliminating the inconsistencies among my carry guns...
Since revolvers typically carry considerably less rounds than many semi-auto pistols, and reloading a revolver can be a very slow task, getting the reloading situation straight was the inconsistency I wanted to tackle first.
Moonclips are by far the fastest way to reload your revolver. With some practice you can reload a revolver with a cylinder cut to accept moonclips, just as fast as a magzine fed semi auto pistol. Since two of my four guns had cylinders cut to accept moonclips from the factory, all I had to do to eliminate this particular inconsistency was have the cylinders from my 386NG and 386PD cut for moonclips.
Turns out this is generally not a service provided by your local gunsmith. I turned to the internet and did some research. I found there are a few companies out there who specialize in cutting cylinders for moonclips. After reading this review from American Handgunner about TK Custom, I decided this was who was going to work on my cylinders:
Web Extra: The Rise Of The Full Moon? Clips That Is! | American Handgunner
Welcome to TK Custom.com & Moonclips.com
The TK Custom website says turn around on cylinder work is usually 7 to 10 days. We all know how anxious we get about parting with our firearms and sending them out for work. It is always unsettling. On Monday I sent my two cylinders off to TK Custom using FedEx Overnight delivery. On Wednesday I emailed Tom, the owner of TK Custom, to confirm that he received my cylinders. Not only did Tom tell me he received them, he informed me the work was complete and they would be shipping back to me today! I included a return FedEx Overnight shipping label in the box with the cylinders so I would get them back quickly, So I will have them back tomorrow.
Monday to Thursday is all it took. Four days! That’s pretty incredible customer service. I just sent my 65 LadySmith to S&W to have it refinished and tuned up. I sent it in two weeks ago and I have still not even received an estimate for the work. They told me to expect the work to take 3 to 4 months from when I receive the estimate. I would much rather be on the TK Customs' turnaround program than S&Ws!
Thus far I could not be happier with my decision to use TK Custom to perform the work on my cylinders. When I receive them tomorrow I will post some pics of the work Tom did. If the work is half as good as the customer service I have received from TK thus far, I will be very happy!
Now that I have the reloading situation squared away, next week I am going to have a trigger/action job performed on my 386s to further reduce the inconsistencies among my carry guns. Then I will deal with the sights.
Unless you are a law enforcement or para-military professional who trains with many different types of firearms on a daily basis, I generally don’t think it is a great idea to have all kinds of different guns in your carry rotation. It is probably best that the guns you carry are similar and you train with them often.
That said, as of late I find myself with four very similar guns in my carry rotation. They are all S&W L Frame 357s….a 386NG, 386PD, 686PC 2.5”, and a 586PC L-Comp. Not only is similarity among my carry guns important to me, consistency is also equally important. What I mean by that are variables like trigger pull, type of sights, and how the gun is reloaded. The more consistent these variables are, or the less they vary, the easier it is to train for a time when you might have to use one of your carry guns.
While my carry guns are very similar in terms of size and dimensions, they are a number of inconsistencies among them. The 686PC and the 586 L-Comp both came from S&W cut for moonclips, the 386s did not. The 686PC and the 586 L-Comp also had Performance Center trigger/action jobs, while the 386s did not. All four of them have different sighting systems.
If the day comes when I might have to use one of my carry guns for something other than punching holes in paper, it is probably best that I know exactly what to expect from the gun I am pulling out of my holster. Having four similar, but DIFFERENT guns in my carry rotation can present potential problems or confusion at that critical moment when un-holstering my gun.
To avoid this potential problem I decided I had two options: Either carry the same gun everyday, or minimize the inconsistencies among the four guns. I went with the latter option, and took my first step toward eliminating the inconsistencies among my carry guns...
Since revolvers typically carry considerably less rounds than many semi-auto pistols, and reloading a revolver can be a very slow task, getting the reloading situation straight was the inconsistency I wanted to tackle first.
Moonclips are by far the fastest way to reload your revolver. With some practice you can reload a revolver with a cylinder cut to accept moonclips, just as fast as a magzine fed semi auto pistol. Since two of my four guns had cylinders cut to accept moonclips from the factory, all I had to do to eliminate this particular inconsistency was have the cylinders from my 386NG and 386PD cut for moonclips.
Turns out this is generally not a service provided by your local gunsmith. I turned to the internet and did some research. I found there are a few companies out there who specialize in cutting cylinders for moonclips. After reading this review from American Handgunner about TK Custom, I decided this was who was going to work on my cylinders:
Web Extra: The Rise Of The Full Moon? Clips That Is! | American Handgunner
Welcome to TK Custom.com & Moonclips.com
The TK Custom website says turn around on cylinder work is usually 7 to 10 days. We all know how anxious we get about parting with our firearms and sending them out for work. It is always unsettling. On Monday I sent my two cylinders off to TK Custom using FedEx Overnight delivery. On Wednesday I emailed Tom, the owner of TK Custom, to confirm that he received my cylinders. Not only did Tom tell me he received them, he informed me the work was complete and they would be shipping back to me today! I included a return FedEx Overnight shipping label in the box with the cylinders so I would get them back quickly, So I will have them back tomorrow.
Monday to Thursday is all it took. Four days! That’s pretty incredible customer service. I just sent my 65 LadySmith to S&W to have it refinished and tuned up. I sent it in two weeks ago and I have still not even received an estimate for the work. They told me to expect the work to take 3 to 4 months from when I receive the estimate. I would much rather be on the TK Customs' turnaround program than S&Ws!
Thus far I could not be happier with my decision to use TK Custom to perform the work on my cylinders. When I receive them tomorrow I will post some pics of the work Tom did. If the work is half as good as the customer service I have received from TK thus far, I will be very happy!
Now that I have the reloading situation squared away, next week I am going to have a trigger/action job performed on my 386s to further reduce the inconsistencies among my carry guns. Then I will deal with the sights.
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