[1911crazy]

Let’s say how accurate are you with a right out of the box 1911?

Brand of 1911?

Brand of ammo?

Distance?

 

[Rwehavinfunyet]

1911 accuracy.....

The question is a bit vague, since there are many mfgs and different calibers of 1911 pistols.

That being said, an average .45acp 1911 may average roughly a 3-4" five shot group measured center to center for each shot from a Ransom Machine rest, and often times, a 1911 may shoot better groups with a specific brand and bullet weight of ammo.

However, a properly built 1911 handgun in 9mm from a good gunsmith, may shoot more accurately than a .45 acp, since the 9mm cartridge has proven to have greater intrinsic accuracy.

 

[Striker2237]

Define out of the box? My Ed Brown came factory with optics and I can free hand it to under an inch center to center at 25 yards....

My full-size Wilson 9mm can do about 2 inches at the same distance and I can do about 3-4 inches with my carry gun. All guns are factory stock.....

I don't bench handguns since that's pointless in my mind and ammo used doesn't matter at these close of distances unless it's absurdly horrible then it would induce ammo related errors. At only 25 yards it's all user error, at 100 I switch to +P 185g ammo with low velo spread round to round since it's hard enough at that range without the ammo screwing up holdover.

 

[rbert0005]

Gee, I wonder why bullseye shooters don't use 9mm instead of 45s?

Bob

 

[Totally Tactical]

The standard WW2 1911 was fitted loose and speced for a 6 lb trigger pull.
So accuracy would be basketball size groups.

Something like a Wilson, Nighthawk with their tighter specs and lighter trigger pulls should do golf ball size groups.


Accuracy depends on quaility of parts, How well the barrel, barrel bushing and to a less extent slide to frame is fitted.
Next trigger pull, I have two 1911's with 3.5 lb triggers that can out shoot my carry 1911's with 4 lb triggers. But the light trigger is for target work, not carry use.

Last is ammo. Gun and that brand of ammo may give terrible groups and another barrel and brand of ammo may give awesome groups.

 

[FNHipowerluv]

My stock S70 Government shoot point of impact, and groups almost as good as my Gold Cup (1.5 to 2 inches with cheap hardball ammo)

 

[RandyP]

When I was shooting on the Army pistol team back in '71 I was able to keep 5 shot groups about golf ball sized with my Remington Rand at standard competition distances - one-handed shooting of course back then. Understanding that with age the remembered groups get smaller, the caught or lost fish bigger and the girls I kissed prettier.

Ammo? Whatever mil-surp crapola came out of the ammo bunker in North Carolina - lol

I always try to repost Hickok45's fine video on 'accuracy' when the topic comes up on forums -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVzSAm5VhfE&t=597s

 

[passx]

To me hickok45 is nothing short of amazing ! The fact that he can routinely hit the “gong” at something like 200yds with just about anything he picks up makes feel unworthy at my attempts. He hit the “gong” in the video with a Glock for cryin-out-loud. Just amazing.

Last year being able to hit 7 of 10 rds with my Thompson .45 on a profile target at 100yds is still one of my personal high points. But as said by many and in my opinion accuracy is more about the person than the actual gun in most cases. And it varies from day to day. My opinion only.

 

[dsk]

To me hickok45 is nothing short of amazing ! The fact that he can routinely hit the “gong” at something like 200yds with just about anything he picks up makes feel unworthy at my attempts. He hit the “gong” in the video with a Glock for cryin-out-loud. Just amazing.

He is an excellent shot, but the "gong" is actually 80 yards away and quite large, so with enough practice it's not a difficult target to hit. And there's no question he gets in lots of practice.

 

[green papaya]

hitting a large gong at 80 yards is not too difficult, you learn the guns trajectory and aim a little high , kind of like a mortar effect and walk the rounds in until it gets a hit.

 

[dsk]

The standard WW2 1911 was fitted loose and speced for a 6 lb trigger pull.
So accuracy would be basketball size groups.

You are correct that the trigger pull was usually around 6.5#, but it's a widely held myth that military 1911s were built loose as a goose. I own several military 1911s and they are just as tight as a box-stock Colt Series 70. The stiff trigger pull combined with poor training is what gave the M1911A1 a reputation for poor accuracy. One of my most accurate 1911s is a 1943 Colt that a previous owner apparently did a trigger job on, otherwise it's completely original. It easily outshoots most of my other handguns. However my most-fired GI 1911 is a mutt with a Remington Rand upper, Sistema lower, and 5.5# trigger pull. Despite that it obviously can still put them in there:

Had soldiers back in World War Two received the level of training that we shooters enjoy today the reputation of the M1911A1 and its accuracy would be very different.

 

[Prange]

Gee, I wonder why bullseye shooters don't use 9mm instead of 45s?

Bob

My B-E 9mm's will shoot 10 shots into .75-1.00"@50 yards with Atlanta Arms Match ammo.

Most use a .45 because you can use the same gun for CF and the .45 matches.

 

[RandyP]

He is an excellent shot, but the "gong" is actually 80 yards away and quite large, so with enough practice it's not a difficult target to hit. And there's no question he gets in lots of practice.

You owe it to yourself to check out Hickok45's shooting at his 230 yard gong then. He's done it with a 1911 and a compact Glock for starters.

 

[TRSOtto]

100 yd hits on a 12" gong aren't hard at all. With a tiny bit of practice, Ray Charles could score 80% hits.

200 yds is a different story as the drop of a 45 at that distance is on the order of 6-7 feet depending on the load. But even then.....once you figure out the holdover.....hits are relatively easy to come by.

 

[Frank Vaccaro]

Gee, I wonder why bullseye shooters don't use 9mm instead of 45s?

Bob

I shot NRA pistol bullseye for 20 years. Most 1911s could chew the X ring out @ 25yds. The .45acp is plenty accurate.

 

[Ingramite]

I do good with my 1911s

 

[dsk]

Gee, I wonder why bullseye shooters don't use 9mm instead of 45s?

Bob

For many years Bullseye shooting was based on the NRA service pistol rules which stipulated a 1911 firing the .45ACP round since the pistol and cartridge were the official military standard. Once the M9 was adopted it and the 9mm caliber was allowed, and the Army team shooters have been shooting much better scores on average with accurized M9 pistols than they did with the .45 1911s.

I do not believe 9mm 1911s are allowed although the rules may have been changed in recent years.

 

[JayhawkNavy02]

I do not believe 9mm 1911s are allowed although the rules may have been changed in recent years.

Legal since the 2018 CMP rule change. Not legal for “as issued” matches. You can get leg point and go distinguished with a 9mm 1911. Tragic. NRA other than “as issued” could care less what you use in a 1911 other than meeting the match requirement (22/Centerfire/45).

You’ll need a slow twist KKM 1:32 and 115 or 124 gr Hornady XTP or HAP bullets to take advantage of the 9mm performance.

 

[Prange]

With the changed ammo requirements, you can also use softball ammo in the 45's.

 

[Rwehavinfunyet]

NRA outdoor Bullseye matches.....

An NRA 2700 match has three gun divisions with 90 shots fired.....each gun division follows the same format: slow fire at 50 yards, a National Match course, timed fire at 25 yards, and rapid fire at 25 yards. All shooting is done using only one hand.

The gun divisions are .22, Center fire of choice, and the .45acp division. To my knowledge, there has never been a restriction on using a 9mm for the centerfire division in Bullseye, but the 9mm was not very accurate until they started making barrels that allowed the 9mm round to headspace on the case mouth....which greatly enhanced accuracy.....a well built 1911 9mm has the potential to shoot tighter groups than a 1911 .45acp round at 50 yards.

I don't bench handguns since that's pointless in my mind and ammo used doesn't matter at these close of distances unless it's absurdly horrible then it would induce ammo related errors. At only 25 yards it's all user error, at 100 I switch to +P 185g ammo with low velocity spread round to round since it's hard enough at that range without the ammo screwing up holdover.

To each their own, however, I always test my reloads for accuracy at 20-25 yards using some type of rest to eliminate human error..... I shot NRA Bullseye for over ten years and having very accurate ammo for 50 yard shooting was essential.....so we tested various .45acp loads and powder choices at 50 yards in a Ransom Rest to find the best shooting powder and bullet combination. It was not uncommon to find different lot numbers of the same brand of powder that did not shoot as well as a different lot # of the same powder. Once we found an accurate 50 yard powder choice we ordered 8 lb. kegs direct from the factory.....

My .38 super self defense gun will shoot a 5-shot group just under three inches from a sandbag rest at 50 yards. I have no idea what distance I may need to shoot to defend myself, however, I would rather have a very accurate handgun for ANY distance!
I once tested my .38 super using 125 gr. JHP bullets at 1,300 fps from the muzzle compared to my 1911 5" .45acp using 230 gr FMJ (hardball) ammo at a 100 yard USPSA target. All shots were fired from a sandbag rest and both guns had iron sights. Using the middle of the torso as the aiming point, the shots using the .38 super were at the bottom of the target, and the .45acp rounds did not hit the target.....so I stapled up two targets stacked on top of each other and repeated the test. The .45acp loads were on average 18" lower at 100 yards than the hot .38super loads.....the good news was the flatter shooting .38super loads all hit the target at 100 yards using a center torso hold..... If I were ever faced in a self defense situation, and the distance was greater than 50 yards, I would seek cover and use ANY rest available to prevent human error.....I know my gun and ammo is capable out to 100 yards......if I am up to the task! :rock: