Potential accuracy of a 1911 45 and Girsan Regard

[terr92]

Hi, I am trying to find the ultimate "load" for the two above pistols. Thing is, I really don't know just how accurate they can be, so I wonder if I will know when the load is the most accurate it is ever going to get. The 45 is a Colt/Caspian. The slide is the Colt part. I bought this used and know the frame was built in 1982. The Girsan is stock. I shoot these from a rest in an indoor range.

At the moment I am shooting them at only 10 yds and to my eye the groups have been disappointing. I got a couple of 1 inchers with the 9mm and one 1.5 inch with the 45. Compared to what you have achieved, how acceptable are these groups?

 

[BCRider]

In my rather limited experience shooting from with the gun in hand and from a rest I've found that I suck. Or rather I'm not in tune with the use of a rest by any means. I certainly can hold a better and steadier sight picture but I don't get groups that are any better than shooting the same distance by hand. And often they are worse. Oddly enough when I attend practice nights where a lot of the others use rests on a regular basis I found I can shoot from the classic one handed bullseye posture as well or better than many of them.

All of which is to suggest that if you want to find out how good the gun CAN be and to find a perfect load for it I'd suggest you need to use a Ransom rest or similar and remove the shooter from the equation. Otherwise I feel you're chasing down too many factors.

I also found that range lighting and visual contrast of the target to the shooter counts for just as much or more than the actually ammo load. Even what I have for dinner before going to the range. I found I shot consistently better if I had no dinner or at most a light dinner before the shooting session. Blood sugar levels you know.... And not diabetic. Just the normal rise of the blood sugar in any of us following a good size meal affecting our nerves and steadiness of our hold.

Again the answer to actually testing the gun and ammo vs how the shooter is for that session points to the use of a Ransom rest or similar. Take the shooter out of the question until those things are determined then add the shooter back in to see how they do.

I'm not sure I could do it now but 10 years ago I could achieve 1.5" groups at 15 yards with my 1911. My CZ didn't do quite as well until one time I tried it with cast lead loads and it tightened up the groups for that batch of a couple of hundred to about the same 1.5" at 15. Then it opened up again to more like 2.5 when I went back to plated bullets in my loads. These days where I shoot at classic targets our indoor range is 20 yards and I'm happy if I can do 3" with allowances for a flyer or two. About what many of the rest shooters do as well.