I'd like to share a couple of my own observations and comments regarding accuracy and barrels for 1911's.
First, every decent match barrel out there, Kart, Bar-Sto, Storm Lake, Schuemann, Nowlin, ect, is capable of outshooting 99.9% of the people who will ever fire them. I also believe that within 10 barrels from any one manufacturer you will find as much variation as you would from one barrel from 10 different manufacturers. I simply believe that if you're building a 1911 for carry or combat type competition there are more important considerations, or perhaps I should say other considerations that will have a more noticable impact on the guns performance, than how potentially accurate the barrel is. For instance, would you rather have a gun that shot .5" at 25 yards with a barrel that will last 25,000 rounds, or one that 'only' shoots .75" but will shoot that well for 75,000 rounds? For the competior who is trying to make a given power factor a barrel that runs faster than most is going to allow for full power loads with less powder, equalling less muzzle flip and recoil, for every shot. Is that not more important that a couple of hundreths of an inch at 25 yards?
Then there is the matter of bullets. It is a simple truth that when it comes to being designed for maximum accuracy pistol bullets suck. Any real argument as to the accuracy of 1911 barrels is moot given the quality of the avaliable bullets with wich to test them. There are no pistol bullets that are manufactured to the standards of your typical match rifle bullet. Most are designed for either terminal preformance or economy of manufacture.
It is certainly desirable to have an accurate pistol but one needs to keep in mind what the gun is for and what level of accuracy is really needed. I garentee all of my guns to shoot 1.5" at 25 yards or better but they will almost always do an inch or better. But if someone thinks they need a gun that shoots better than that they don't really have any idea of what a 1911 is for.
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Tim Bacus
Bacus Custom