"Reasonable" 1911 Accuracy

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schmeky

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I have been doing some 25 yard sandbag shooting with my "home-made" 1911, a Norinco with an Essex slide. I can get 6-7 rounds into a consistent 2" group, with 1-2 rounds opening (out of 8) the group size up to 2.5 - 2.7 inches.

For some reason I want more, but I don't think this particular pistol is capable of doing much better. Then there's my eyesight, which is a limiting factor; I use weak reading glasses to see the sights which makes the target blurry, but visible.
 
That is plenty good shooting for anything but a bullseye match. The most tightly clustered strikes are probably a good indicator of what the handgun (excluding any inconsistency of the shooter or ammo) is capable of.
 
What ammunition are you using? Some brands of ammo may (or may not) give tighter groupings than others. Premium JHP ammo is often more accurate than "generic" ball, as is "match" ammo.
 
I use weak reading glasses to see the sights which makes the target blurry, but visible.

This may be why you're doing as good as you are. You know you can't see the target clearly so don't bother. Many people screw themselves up by trying to see the target and how they're doing.
 
I only shoot my handloads which is usually WW231 or Bullseye with a Wolf primer pushing a Missouri 200 LSWC bullet in mixed cases.

Lone Haranguer,

That was my thinking with the outlyers being attributable to my visual acuity.
 
9mm, I can't believe that many .45's will shoot 50 yard groups of 4" even from a bench. Surely you are thinking 4" at 25 yards.
 
nope it was yards...Jeff Cooper from Cooper on Handguns. also consider that a Les Baer option offers a guarrantee of 1.5" @ 50 yards. you really need to get to the longer ranges to determine the accuracy of a handgun...21-25' (feet) doesn't tell you much, as i would expect the rounds to be on top of each other

i know not many folks try shooting out that far anymore, but... when i got into LE, part of our regular qualification course was 12 rounds from the 50 yard line. and this was with untuned a 4" S&W M-15. now i should say that i am talking about a 1911 with a properly fitted trigger and useable sights, which isn't always the case nowadays with lower-end 1911s. but i qual'ed the first time out with my box-stock Colt Combat Commander...of course this was back in the early '80s. most guns will shoot better than their owners, that's why i specified the prone position...or from a bench rest.

at the end of a 3 day class, we usually try a little long range shooting...if there is enough range...and all out students can hit 8" steel plates from 50 yards. we're doing this with regular 9mm Sigs and HKs and their shots aren't all over the plates either. they are actually more inpressed with their being able to cut a playing card edgewise from 7 yards (21')
 
If you're getting two at 25 with a homemade gun, and it cycles reliably, that's about as good as it gets.

The only thing I would try to improve it, is NEXT TIME, hand fit the slide to the frame, (which takes many hours,) or order a set pre-fitted, use all match parts. See if that squeezes another 1/2-1" out of it.
 
I use weak reading glasses to see the sights which makes the target blurry, but visible.
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I know exactly what you are talking about. Sometimes I just shoot with blurry sights, but if I want to shoot better, 1.0X reading glasses are what I use. Some of my pistols have Red Dot sights on them. I hated them at first, but when you can't see the sights, something has to give. Now I like them because it enables me to shoot better.
 
If you're getting two at 25 with a homemade gun, and it cycles reliably, that's about as good as it gets.
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That was my thought too. I need to stop trying to get it to group any tighter.

Walkalong,

The +.75 glasses have helped me significantly, can't shoot without them now. I am contemplating a Burris FastFire (tried the lazer) since I should be able to shoot with only safety glasses. Just don't have the spare change right now.
 
Seems right thats what I shoot with my cheeper guns the only ones that I have that do considerably better are my Baers and my one wilson combat. Oh my new Para shoots a bit better than that too.
 
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