What Is Reasonable Accuracy For Handguns?

The problem with a question like this is "normally" people are shooting the guns and then comparing accuracy. To see what the gun is capable of it has to be done off a good solid rest, by a shooter who knows how. Most are FAR more accurate than people ever realize until they see it done. After you see what the gun can do, then it's all up to the shooter so work on making the gun better in their hands.

Hitting where your aiming is a good start.

Depends on what the handguns intended purpose is and taking in to account my realistic expectations base on what I know about the company who made it and the typical quality of the offering.. With my snubbys, I am happy with a fist sized group at 10 yards. For most of my full size semi auto pistols I expect double that range, same group size. With my 1911s and 10mm EAA Witness Match Elite I'd like a fist size group at at least 25 yards, preferably 50. same thing with my 686, match champion, model 29, 629, Redhawk 44, Raging bull 454 ect.

With my Dan Wesson 445 SM, and my DW 357 max, and Ruger 357 max, 500 mag smith, blackhawk hunter 41 mag, Desert Eagle 50 and my 500 mag and 475 Linebaugh BFRs I want a fist at 100.

With my 460 S&W, and my TC Encore pistol (various barrels), it bothers me I can't make them all clover leaf at 100.... these are also the only handguns I use a bipod or sand bag pistol rest with. Its all relative.

It might be unrealistic. If one gun is categorically more mechanically accurate than the others, the other guns will always shoot larger groups, except by chance. This assumes they are equally easy to shoot. If one is hard or difficult to shoot, any mechanically accurate advantage that gun might have can be lost.

Check out the link below for a accuracy comparison of three 9mm guns. One gun (a 1911) shot all types of ammo better than the other two. Think of it as your 22 compared to your 9mm guns. The 22 will always produce smaller groups.

https://www.shootingillustrated.com...mo-accuracy-15-loads-in-three-different-guns/

DMW1116 said:

That makes sense. I was just talking to my brother about how much more difficult it is to shoot a handgun than rifle. What I can do with a handgun at 25 yards, I can do with a rifle at 200. My M&P pistols have an accuracy rating based on barrel length. Something about barrels less than a certain length meeting a minimum standard. I can't get close to that yet.

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Yep anything hand held is normally much harder to shoot well. Shorter the barrel the less sight radius which makes it more difficult. Add to that the trigger. Many hand guns do not have the kind of trigger you find on a rifle for easy to see reasons. All this adds up. Often when some shooter can't even stay on paper with some new to them hand gun, then someone shows them there is nothing wrong with the gun??? Well often they are shocked. Both of my cheap full size .22 pistols can shoot dime size groups with most ammo at 50ft. Now with my aging eyes I can NOT shoot like that when I am standing there shooting them of course but, I know it's me, not the pistol.

Depends on what you are doing. Plenty of people consider chest sized at 15 feet to be adequate for a combat gun.

Personally I want mine to be about fist sized at 10 yards for defence. If I'm target shooting with my 22 I like to be able to hit shotgun shells at 10 yards pretty regularly.

Which btw .....the above is very fun lol

A good question.

First of all, shooting a pistol/revolver is a different set of dynamics than shooting a rifle. Every little thing about how you handle the pistol/revolver makes a big difference. Trigger discipline, for example, is much more critical with a pistol/revolver than a rifle, because you don't have the advantage of anchoring the pistol to your shoulder for one.

Two things:

1. Actual accuracy of your pistol itself. This is best determined from a solid bench rest and very slow fire paying excruciating attention to your sight picture. This helps to eliminate/minimize factors not intrinsic to the weapon itself.

2. Actual accuracy of your pistol when not using a solid bench rest. This is representative of YOUR influence on the accuracy of the pistol when you're shooting it. Trigger control, grip, stance, and more are all external factors which come from YOU and determine how well YOU are shooting your gun.

From there it boils down to what you consider "accurate". For competition, that's one matter determined by the objective scoring rules and the subjective performance of everybody in comparison. For some competition, it's scoring based on scoring rings on the target. For others, it's number of hits in a timed event.

This is six shots at 25yards from my 41 magnum Blackhawk.

Any groups larger than that are my fault. Big difference between mechanical accuracy and offhand shooting.

RKRCPA said:

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This is six shots at 25yards from my 41 magnum Blackhawk.

Any groups larger than that are my fault. Big difference between mechanical accuracy and offhand shooting.

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I’d say that’s pretty much perfect accuracy from a handgun. My Blackhawk in 45 Colt shoots equally as well as yours. I’d say “reasonable” is subjective knowing what perfect can be.

I never tried comparing accuracy from a rest, so that's something I'm going to do as I'm always looking for ways to make a range trip more interesting. It so happens I have 3 similar M&P compacts but in different calibers, .22, 9mm and .45. I do know that shooting them offhand the .22 is the least accurate for me with the 9mm most accurate but the .45 is almost as accurate as the 9mm.

I don't claim to be a marksman. If all my shots are on an 8" plate at 10 yds I'm satisfied with that.

I often ask myself this question. I shoot offhand with open sights. I can shoot my S&W Victory waaayyyy better than any other of my CF handguns, and I know they shoot well off of a rest. I think it's because the .22LR has lower recoil mostly, and also because I shoot it much more than my larger caliber firearms because the ammo is less expensive. I think I can't shoot my M429 and 460V as well because I am still developing standard loads for them.

DMW1116 said:

I've been concentrating on pistols a bit lately. I use my S&W Victory 22 pistol as the accuracy to strive for with my other pistols. I have a Shield and M&P 2.0 both in 9mm. Is this an unrealistic goal? I'm holding shots on 8" targets at 20 yards, typically in a 4" to 5" group, but those are 9mm hand loads tested from a bench, not off hand. I can hold smaller groups at longer ranges with the 22.

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I’m happy with off hand, two handed groups of 1-1/2“ at 25’ with any hand gun. My good ones will do one ragged hole.

As a retired LEO, POST Certified and NRA Firearms Instructor and competition shooter for over 30 years I have observed and categorize firearms usable accuracy into three categories, Combat, General range toys and Precision.

Each category has it's own range of "acceptable" accuracy that most people can agree on.

Standing, unsupported:

Combat, 3" groups inside 15 yards
General range toys, 3" groups inside 25 yards
Precision, 3" groups inside 50 yards

The "purpose built" handguns will easily exceed these observations!

Cheers,

Take a kid shooting!

DMW1116 said:

... Is this an unrealistic goal? ...

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Various posts here have provided quantifiable accuracy standards based on category, range and group size, so you have something to measure your results by. But, IMO the answer to your question quoted is "yes" when you're comparing pistols of different calibers and different uses. For example, if you want to compare two .22 LR long-barrel target pistols, or if you want to compare two 9 mm sub-compact short-barrel pocket carry pistols, then your "reasonable" accuracy results are meaningful. But not if you compare one against the other, because what's reasonable for one isn't for the other.

One of the range associations I was member of, the handgun range lines were 25 & 50 yards. I approached the range chairman with the idea of putting a 7yd line segment in. At first the chairman was reluctant as that person was a bullseye shooter of some note. We eventually prevailed. The 7yd line became more popular in usage than the 25 & 50yd lines. People like to talk accuracy there is a substantial difference when most shooters transition from slow fire to rapid fire as shooting fundamentals become somewhat flawed.

Hangingrock said:

One of the range associations I was member of, the handgun range lines were 25 & 50 yards. I approached the range chairman with the idea of putting a 7yd line segment in. At first the chairman was reluctant as that person was a bullseye shooter of some note. We eventually prevailed. The 7yd line became more popular in usage than the 25 & 50yd lines. People like to talk accuracy there is a substantial difference when most shooters transition from slow fire to rapid fire as shooting fundamentals become somewhat flawed.

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I'm sure it was mentioned in your defense but the 7 yard line is going to be important for a lot of modern defensive pistol users. The 21 foot rule gets a lot of discussion and remains a distance of distinction to be familiar with even if you are shooting further.

It is always embarrassing bringing a new pistol to the range and begin shooting at 5 yards, but so is missing all of my shots at 15.

As a rough rule of thumb I expect "service" handguns to be capable of 1" per ten yards and target guns to be good for 1" per 25 yards. That seems to hold about as true for .22s as for centerfires.

It also seems to me that incredibly accurate guns are available both rimfire and centerfire - guns that are far more accurate than a shooter could ever hope to be - but that .22s often seem more accurate because they are so much easier for most handgunners to shoot. I think it is quite rare to find a man who is no more affected by the noise and recoil of a 9mm than of a .22 LR.

Beyond that, I'd be careful about placing too much faith in either handgunners or fishermen, when it comes to results claimed online.

My blood pressure has been a lot better since I quit worrying about stuff like this.

If Im hitting about where I was looking when the gun when off, Im happy. If Im shooting at little pieces of blue rock on the berm and miss, I just say, "scared the hell out of that one" and move on.

Other than zeroing something, Ive pretty much got away from trying to shoot groups. Age and eyesight is catching up with me anymore, and if I can keep things in the black on a SR-1 replacement center at 15 yards shooting offhand, Im happy. If I can keep them all in the black at 25, Im "real" happy.

Most target 22s are straight blowback action. Very few moving parts and good triggers. They tend to be accurate and easy to shoot.
I expect 3 inches or better at 25 with my carry guns offhand with a bit of speed. I have some snub nose revolvers that wouldn't do that in a rest though.

The only time I rest a handgun is load development for my guns or when someone brings me a gun and says accuracy is a problem with the gun. With semi autos its rarely the gun.

Antihero said:

Which btw .....the above is very fun lol

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Id like to have all the hulls ive wasted over the years shooting at them. Lol

Depends a lot on the gun and sights. I'm way more accurate out further with my Colt Woodsman than I am with my Shield, for example, but I think both are acceptable for their intended role.

"What is reasonable accuracy for handguns?" From a mechanical standpoint, I think a handgun with a 2 or 3 inch barrel should be putting rounds within an inch of the aim point at 7 yards, with a 4 or 5 inch barrel at 15 yards, and with a 6 or 8 inch barrel at 25 yards. Add the shooter into the equation, add another 2-3 inches to that, for a serious competitive bullseye shooter. For a defensive shooter, on a B-27 target, anywhere on the 8 ring or inward, at any range out to 25 yards, with any barrel length you'd carry as a defensive weapon.

I think being able to hit something repeatedly at a distance and stance youd try to hit the target at is reasonable enough.

Same as anything else that goes bang, if you cant make the shot practice more