Optics for Accuracy Testing?

As I don't have easy access to a Ramsom rest, I intend to test my 22's and 45 supported by sandbags.  What optics do you use to test your handguns for accuracy?  Do you use your 1x dot sight? If  you use magnified optics, what power do you use and what brand?

I use the gun as its set up, with a dot, just try and center each shot in same place on target, having a 25 yrd target gives a smaller black and imo lets you put the dot closer to the same spot each shot.

I use a Tasco 1.25-4x cross hair scope (set on 4x), but you have to be very picky on how you hold the gun on the "sandbag."  Any change in tension from shot to shot will affect the hit.  And, it's very difficult to recover from a shot back to an exact hold.  Still, I have achieved groups less than 2 inches with one of my .45s.

I will offer a slightly different opinion
I did testing with sandbags and ransom rest along with a chronograph years ago.
I thought I would get some magical answers as to what my guns would shoot the best.
Armed with this magic I thought my shooting would improve accordingly.
I put a fair amount of effort into the project and found.
1.) flat base bullets shot better than bevel base.
2.) the loads that I shot best were not the same ones the ransom rest shot the best.
my conclusion was that I appreciated having the data however,
I decided to continue to shoot the loads that I shot better.
I no longer bother with resting and test my loads offhand the same way I will be shooting them.
I find something reasonable and stick with it.
My sense is that sticking with a well known load and working on my fundamentals has served me well.

my advise, go for consistancy
use a good quality gun
use good quality optics on a good quality mount
use a well known typical good load
work on the shooter
practice, practice, practice

IMO don't worry so much on bench testing

I second the above; chased my tail for unknown number of groups and loads for a whole summer, to find out on a whim, borne of frustration, that all loads were quite accurate when I tossed out the "rest" idea and shot as I do in matches.  I realize that groups are bigger but using ten shot groups rather than some lesser number, you can still evaluate.  you are just looking for those "five inch" groups among the 6-10 inch groups (just picking numbers) and you've got the load that your gun likes.

Shooting offhand is ok if you have a decent hold and wobble area but if your wobble area is larger than the black and  your hold has the pattern of a housefly caught in a bottle then some sort of support is necessary for testing.

don't worry so much about the gun moving around
it's a question of timing everything so the trigger breaks when you are in the right place
stance, breathing, sight alignment, trigger control, snap
getting it all to come together at the magic moment, and then repeating

get a couple other folks to shoot your gun and load, and try a couple other guns that have been sorted
handgun at 25/50yds, there are probably a dozen loads that would be just fine

timing a 3.5lbs trigger is impossible if your wobble frequency is about 100Hz   But having a better shooter try your 45 is a good idea.

There is nothing like a solidly mounted machine rest to test a pistol.  Removes all human error.  But one can get a good idea of one's reloads/pistol accuracy with a scope.  If the gun has an Ultra dot or similar one inch scope a better test would use an 8 or 10 power scope mounted in the rings.  Paste a one inch white square of paper in the black of the target and dissect the square with the cross hairs.  lots of luck.   John

IMO this is how bad ammo has to be before it causes serious accuracy problems.
Notice that even with the bullets key holing I could still maintain a core of something or another.
You don't need a machine rest or a 4x scope to find a bad load.
I was helping a friend use up some undersize bullets today.
I continue to suggest sticking with a traditional bullseye load and focus on the shooter and basics.
 

I test my revolvers in an old Lee pistol rest. My 1911's, I mount a grip mounted scope and shoot it carefully off bags

I got my Lee rest on ebay for $35 and I MADE the 1911 adapter for testing hardball loads.  I just traced a grip slab on some steel, drilled holes to mate with my grip bushings, welded it to some angle iron.  I added a steel "thumb rest" when I noticed the rig had a little flex to it.  It works great!

Rob, that's a much better way than Lee had planned. I have the 1911 adapter, but, you have to pull the extractor to use it.. I like yours better.

$35! They are not easy to find! I bought mine, new, in 1975 or so... 

You can also change magazines without messing up the zero on the rest with my rig.

Yep.