Reliability vs Accuracy, whats more important to you?

If it's purely for the range, I'll let it fail to feed or eject every few boxes. Reliability is still important, but if my life (or a competition) doesn't depend on it, I'll deal.

For something I ever carry, it better feed, fire, and eject every time. I don't care if it shoots 6" groups instead of 1/2", it needs to work.

Absolutely both. If it lacks one or the other, it makes itself available to the industry. I've posted this before.... break-in periods are what people claim after paying too much for an unreliable gun.

Well, generally speaking.

A really accurate 1911 can be made 100% reliable.
Far more cheaply then a 100% reliable 1911 can be made really accurate.

You should have danced with the one who brung ya!

rc

For a carry gun, reliability. In defensive shooting, it doesn't matter if your gun shoots 1" @25 or 3. Defensive shooting isn't for precision. Making sure it goes bang every time is more important than needing calipers to measure the groups. Pretty much any gun you can buy these days is accurate enough for carry. More accurate than most shooters.

For some competition, that accuracy is more important.

That's why I like revolvers. You CAN have both.

Not that this isn't possible with a bottom feeder.......My 5'' Colt Government has never failed to go bang thru 4000 rounds and can easily hit a bowling pin @ 50 yards. Not a tack driver, but more than accurate enough for it's purpose.

Accuracy is relative to what the main purpose is. Most CCW handguns only need to hit a paper plate @ 7 yards, while a handgun used for hunting deer needs to be able to do it @ 50 yards or more. One must make their choices based on what their needs are and what makes them comfortable.

One of the tightest groups I ever shot was with a loaned STI Rangemaster. Considering that I only put two mags trough it and it produced a 2 inch round ragged hole with MOST of the shots being within 1.5 inches to say I was impressed would be an understatement. Consider too that I only got to shoot two mags. Up to then I had not even held the darn thing. Who knows what I could manage with a bit more time really finding its "soul".

In any event I still drool at the memory of that gun....

RC hit it on the head. You can make an accurate gun reliable far more easily than you can make a reliable gun accurate. You should have asked here before you sold it....


It's too late now of course but here's my hindsight smilie...

I get best of both worlds in my revolvers. Not one jam yet

If were talking 1911's then keeping it reliable is a little more important. Self defence ranges are usually up close and personal.

willbozz61 said:

I traded my really accurate 1911 that had a few reliability issues for a 1911 that is super reliable but not very accurate at all. So my question to all is what is more important to you reliability or accuracy?

I still don't know which is more important for me. I guess it demands on what I'm using it for.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

If we are talking about self-protection reliability is number one.

As long as you can put all your shots in about the size of a softball at 20 yards, slow fire, then the weapon will do fine for self defense.

If just target shooting, then as long as it is fairly reliable then accuracy is more important.

Deaf

willbozz61 said:

I traded my really accurate 1911 that had a few reliability issues for a 1911 that is super reliable but not very accurate at all. So my question to all is what is more important to you reliability or accuracy?

I still don't know which is more important for me. I guess it demands on what I'm using it for.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

If I lived in MT I would have kept the accurate one.

Reliability is always No 1. Very few guns are actually "inaccurate" unless the barrel has been damaged. Most guns will shoot very accurately from a machine rest. When held in a human hand all bets are off.

In a fighting weapon:

Reliability
Reliability
Reliability.

Now what was the Question?

Go figure.

Fred

And people wonder why I carry six...... you can have both!

I don't really understand that question... Why would you give up accuracy because of a couple double feeds? You are getting reliability issues for a reason if you are using a 1911, it has to be something that you are doing. Cheap ammo? Not cleaning the gun properly between uses? Something.

What good is accuracy IF reliability doesn't come along with it!!

DM

Reliability is easy to define: my SD gun has to fire every single time the trigger is pulled with safeties disengaged and ammo in the gun. 100%. Period.

However: what's "accuracy?"

Most people cannot "shoot up to their guns"--their ability to group is less than the intrinsic accuracy of their firearm/ammo combination. That would be especially true in a dynamic "I'm moving/he's moving" gun fight.

It is absolutely true that you might be called upon in a SD situation to deliver a hostage rescue shot, or a shot on a barricaded attacker who is giving you a very small target. And if you feel, in that moment with your heart pounding and your hands shaking, it is your gun that will prevent you from making that shot...

Well, that's an important thing to know. Consider getting a different gun, but make sure that one's reliable, too.

In a competition gun (action shooting like Bianchi, IPSC, Steel Challenge, etc.) reliability is the number one consideration. For a carry gun, reliability is the number one consideration. There is no reason why you can't have both reliability and accuracy in a 1911.

I think they are both important, but if the gun is at least acceptably accurate, I would rather have a 100% reliable gun that could hit a paper plate at 50yards, than a tack driver I could not trust to go "bang" when I pulled the trigger.

Would you rather be 4" off dead center of the chest at 7 yards or would you rather hear the LOUDEST "CLICK" you could ever imagine?

Accuracy. Why? Because my guns are for the range and competition and I can take an alibi if I have a jam. But obviously if I was carrying, reliability would be #1.

Having being shot at and having to shoot during my military carrer, I would have to go with reliability. I assure you if your firearm is going bang, bang, every time there will be people scurrying like cockroaches when the light is turned on. RCMODEL said it right. An accurate gun can be made more reliable a lot cheaper than the other way around.

There is an old axiom that states you could not hit the broad side of a barn with an M1911 and that’s when you are in the barn. With its loose tolerances, the M1911 was manufactured for reliability. Accuracy is a factor of the firearm and the shooter. I don’t believe Sgt York was using a Gold Cup when he shot and killed six charging German soldiers with fixed bayonets.

Limiting the decision to just the two factors, and assuming the premise that the handgun is being used for defensive purposes, then the most logical answer is reliability.

We can then add safety, grip, weight, firepower, and stopping power to make the discussion a little more refined.

'Minute of bad guy' is not an especially tight accuracy requirement.

If you have reliability problems you may hear one of the loudest sounds in the world, a click when you wanted a bang.