What Is Reasonable Accuracy For Handguns?

Match grade target handguns can be made to be as accurate as any 22LR pistol. Many 9mms are just spray & pray. Made for close range.

In general, revolvers are more accurate then autos.

DMW1116 said:

I found my old target from a few months ago. There was a reduction in group size of about 25% from then to the 4" circle target I tried a couple of weeks ago. That might well just be the difference in shooting a 4" circle vs a full sihouette target. However, its improvements so I'll take it.

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are you shooting offhand or benched?

aim small hit small,

murf

and when you get good at 100 go for 200! [yes, i am long range handgun biased]

aim small hit small,

murf

troy fairweather said:

Hitting where your aiming is a good start.

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This is my basic standard haha!

Reasonable?
That's going to vary quite a bit since everyone has different expectations.

Hitting where you want to hit - is a good start for sure. I'd add to that - doing it repeatedly would be the goal.

Alex Clayton said:

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.

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Absolutely true. Saw a guy on a youtube video, obviously a very accomplished shooter. Shooting a Jframe 38 special and ringing 8" steel plate at 100 yards. He actually hit it offhand a couple of times as well. Most guns are far and away more accurate than the person shooting it.

Oldschool shooter said:

Absolutely true. Saw a guy on a youtube video, obviously a very accomplished shooter. Shooting a Jframe 38 special and ringing 8" steel plate at 100 yards. He actually hit it offhand a couple of times as well. Most guns are far and away more accurate than the person shooting it.

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man oh man is that ever true. Have watched a few real pro's and they make it look almost like magic. One guy who may not be around any more, can't remember his name, used to work for S&W. Would travel around doing shows. He was so damn good it looked like it could not be real. Its like any real "talent". Most of us could practice days on end and not get as good as he is. Have an older MKII .22 that long ago I put a mount on to use a Red Dot one day to play. Using bags at the indoor range I could suddenly make dime groups with it. So after that I knew those "patterns" I made were sure as hell not the pistol or ammo's fault

troy fairweather said:

Hitting where your aiming is a good start.

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This pretty much sums it up

Zerodefect said:

2" at 25 yards.

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That is my standard for a carry pistol. 5-shots, with a rest, using defensive loads. If a gun will do that, then it is perfectly capable of delivering adequate accuracy for just about any self-defense scenario you can imagine.

Took my new Glock Gen 5 G23 to the range today in hopes of achieving that goal. Weather was crappy with 40 mph wind gusts, so I didn't even bother with bench resting. Shot it off-hand a bunch and I believe I can meet the 2" standard.

Got a 3" group shooting off-hand at 20 yards using 200gr Speer Gold Dots, so I think it will do just fine with some more trigger time in better conditions.

Modern Glocks are more accurate than people give them credit for. A huge part of accuracy with an auto, is that every thing has to load and close in the exact same spot every time the pistol cycles. Glocks do this well.

My 34.4 keeps up with my 1911's just fine, if I'm careful with the trigger. Took a bit of mild trigger work, but it's capable now.

23 is my favorite ccw now. I think I want a Glock 35.5 next.

Zerodefect said:

Modern Glocks are more accurate than people give them credit for. A huge part of accuracy with an auto, is that every thing has to load and close in the exact same spot every time the pistol cycles.

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Thats the issue when you have such loose tolerances. I own plenty of Glocks, but every single one of them has play side to side and up down @ full lockup = will never return to the same position.

They are what they are and I have no problem with that. They fill a roll just as dozens of others fill a roll

Zerodefect said:

Modern Glocks are more accurate than people give them credit for. A huge part of accuracy with an auto, is that every thing has to load and close in the exact same spot every time the pistol cycles. Glocks do this well.

My 34.4 keeps up with my 1911's just fine, if I'm careful with the trigger. Took a bit of mild trigger work, but it's capable now.

23 is my favorite ccw now. I think I want a Glock 35.5 next.

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All of my current Glocks will do 1.5" or better at 25 yards. I had a Gen 4 G19 that couldn't do it so now it's gone. My S&W M&Ps are notably less accurate and only one has been barely able to get 2", once. My P365 can get 2", but it's close. My XDS 40 does it easily, which was a surprise. My Taurus G2c can't. Been trying to give it away to either my son or son-in-law.

My barrels and slides have no play at all. That's pretty odd.

Accuracy is a relative term.
The standard that I hold myself when shooting standing unsupported single handed is with a service pistol is 2'' at a distance of 50 feet and 1" at the same distance with a target pistol. I don't achieve that standard every day. It gets much harder to close in on smaller groups for sure.

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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5"... at whatever range you can hit every round, rapidly, while transitioning between targets, while moving.




GR

For me, I like the rounds to hit somewhere within the area that my front sight is covering, when shooting for accuracy (slow fire) (So, what im aiming at)

At 5 yds this is about an inch
10 yds, maybe 2"
30 yds, ideally 6" but more realistically 8" for me.

Depends on the gun.

Revolvers w/6" barrels maybe a bit better
CCW w/ 3" barrel, a bit worse.

Ive heard of people who can shoot 2" groups at 35 yds off hand, but ive never actually seen it in person. Ive really learned to ignore what others say on this topic, because lots of times its grossly exaggerated, and it doesnt matter to me anyways. If i were to actually really see or meet someone who can shoot a hell of a lot better than me, then id be inspired.

If i fire 10 rounds and create an 8" group at 25 yds, often there are 3 or 4 or 5 shots in a 4" group, but i could care less... Cut my 4" Quasi-group in half again and take away my support hand, take away my 6" 586 and give me a GI mil spec 1911 .45 and then Id be keeping up with the Internet Rangers.

I try to achieve accuracy when working on loads based on the thought process that more consistent ammo will be better than inconsistent ammo. After I have the load I want it's 4" steel every shot, fast as I can shoot at 10 yards. 6" at 15 then 8" at 20 and 10/10 hits in under 10 seconds is the goal. Or a combination of 10/10 hits switching targets. I'm not in a precision pistol shooting frame of mind though.