American Handgunner July/August 1977

By WALTER L. RICKELLHE PPC (Practical Pistol Course) has replacedT the standard NRA bullseye course for police pistolmatches, and as with any new game a whole newbreed of firearms, and the smiths who build andmaintain them, are created. One of these new breedis Bob Day, of Day Arms Corporation, 7715 StagecoachLane, San Antonio, Texas.The PPC course requires a revolver that hassmooth double action, excellent accuracy and a muzzleheavy balance. Since there are no factory revolversavailable in this configuration except the Pythonand if one likes the shorter action of the Smith& Wesson 'K' frame, a custom job is needed. MostPPC conversions are made in two styles, one with aheavy bull barrel utilizing the existing adjustable rearsight and another with a heavy barrel with full lengthrib which feature target sights, generally a Bo-Mar.The Day Arms 1500 conversion is a much simplerpackage and uses a rib and sights of Bob Day's owndesign. There are two package deals offered: one isfor the Model 10 or like revolver (with fixed sights)which cost $129.95; the other uses a Model 15 or 14S&W or like revolver (with adjustable sights) whichcost $119.95 to make your revolver into a PPC revolver.Both packages include your barrel and rearsight in exchange.To check out this conversion, I followed a Smith &Wesson Model 10,W through the Day Arms factoryone day last spring. First the barrel and cylinder wereremoved and the barrel was replaced with a 6 inchheavy (one inch in diameter) Douglas round one withthe sides milled flat to the width of the frame. Then aDay Arms heavy rib with a large square fully adjust-Standard six Inch version of the 'f1500'fconversion with heavy barrel and ribnow 58. ounces compared to normal 34Neatly designed retainer latclfor ejector rod is shown hereAMERICAN HANDGUNNER 0 JULY/AUGUST 1977