Springfield Trophy Match

Hi Everyone,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all. New member here and new to bullseye. I told Santa I wanted a Springfield RO to try out the sport of NRA Bullseye, but Santa brought me a Springfield Trophy Match instead (Santa said range officers were all sold out) Will that be an ok gun to get my feet wet in the sport and if so is there anything else I would need to do to it at this point?

Thanks,

Chris

Great pistol. Now get a good .22 a bunch of ammo (reloading I hope) and have fun. Nice present

Definitely a good pistol to start with. Basically the Cadillac version of the range officer. I'm just starting on the 45 now and using a range officer. Still testing but pleased with initial results especially for the price range of a RO. Depending on how the factory set it up you may or may not want the trigger lighter. 

I got to double up on OldMaster65. Get into reloading, get a bunch of Ammo and practice up. Get a good .22 and practice with that too. I will recommend you find a copy of The Pistol Shooters Treasury by Gil Hebard and read it cover to cover. Then read it again.

+1


I waited a year to reload.  The money I spent on factory ammunition could have paid for A Dillon 550, especially a less expensive Rock Chucker.  I bought a 650 this year and I've already paid it off effectively.

Also, here are some great, free things online, the Pistol Shooter's Treasury is an incredible reference.  However, more important, dry fire, its cheap....because its free, and to find a mentor and coerce them into coaching you

http://www.saveourguns.com/Ar_Marks_Un_Pistol_Train_Guide.pdf

http://www.bullseyepistol.com/

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/articlesand.html

I went from a Range Officer to a Trophy Match with a RRA rail installed by the Springfield Custom Shop early this year and it has served me well. After I made Expert outdoors with it I sent it off to Dave Sayler for a fitted barrel and bushing. However, with the stock barrel I did shoot an outdoor 98 slow fire with it:) Great gun.
I won the Ohio Service Pistol EIC this year with the Range Officer. Its mostly stock with the exception of the sear which is a Wilson that I worked with an Ed Brown sear jig and a Wilson leaf spring that I tweaked. 
Springfield are fantastic in my experience. Congratulations!

I bought a used Springfield Trophy Match a while back. The trigger had been "worked on" by an amateur. I replaced the parts with a Cylinder & Slide sear-hammer-spring kit and the trigger now is fantastic. I replaced the stock bushing with a Wilson. Both these operations required fitting. I haven't done any serious 50 yard accuracy testing yet, but the pistol shows promise. I also replaced the recoil spring guide rod, with a standard one.

Hey thanks for the welcome and encouragement guys. Ok then guess I just need some ammo to start with till I get a die set. I have a Rock Chucker and a Lee Turret press that I also use as a single stage. Guess I'll need to study up on the nuances of reloading for accuracy. Can you recommend a couple boxes of factory loads to get in the meantime? Ohh and as far as dry fire, I do dry fire practice quite a bit with my Morini 162 EI which has an electronic trigger, and occasionally do dry fire practice with my Ruger revolvers with their transfer bars which make them safe to do so without snap caps, but with this new Trophy Match from what I've read I don't want to do repeated dry fire without snap caps, is that correct? Are just plain Snap Cap brand .45 ACP'ers fine? Thanks again, Happy New Year, and God Bless.

Chris

Nope, dry fire away, you won't hurt it.

The transfer bar is not a dry fire feature, it's a safety feature unless I'm totally off base and allows you to carry 6 in your wheel gun vice an empty cylinder.

JayhawkNavy02 wrote:Nope, dry fire away, you won't hurt it.

The transfer bar is not a dry fire feature, it's a safety feature unless I'm totall off base and allows you to carry 6 in your wheel gun vice an empty cylinder.

Yup ^

Enjoy the journey.

Clarence

Try Federal Gold Medal Match in 185 grain.  Might not be THE most accurate in your gun but it is a good place to start.  Another to get you started is Magtech 200 gr SWC LEAD.  The Magtech is a decent If hotter variant of what a lot of shooters use for practice.  Black Hills also load a 200 SWC but I haven't seen any of that in ages.  The first two are available from grafs and son.  www.grafs.com

Don't worry about nuances of reloading. Just get some brass, some 200gr lead semi wad cutter bullets, and some powder. Let's get you off on the right foot.

Bullseye, Titegroup, and most other .45acp or shot gun powders can make good ammo that will keep you on the right path.

Oh, and you don't need any snap caps for that gun. Dryfire away!

Just don't slam the slide shut on an empty chamber. ...that's really the only 1911 no no

This ammo will work for bullseye: 
http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RZD&Product_Code=R703-A&Category_Code=ZBA-45ACP
http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RZD&Product_Code=R723-A&Category_Code=ZBA-45ACP
http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RZD&Product_Code=R701-A&Category_Code=ZBA-45ACP
When you get started reloading, they sell bullets too.

JayhawkNavy02 wrote:Nope, dry fire away, you won't hurt it.

The transfer bar is not a dry fire feature, it's a safety feature unless I'm totally off base and allows you to carry 6 in your wheel gun vice an empty cylinder.

Yes correct the transfer bar was definitely designed as a safety feature, but also allows dry firing without harm to the gun as per the Ruger manuals. I've got over two decades of large bore handgun hunting and reloading behind me, but am a total noob not only to bullseye, but semi-auto handguns in general as well. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply and help me out. Thanks again!

Chris

cloudswimmer wrote:

JayhawkNavy02 wrote:Nope, dry fire away, you won't hurt it.

The transfer bar is not a dry fire feature, it's a safety feature unless I'm totally off base and allows you to carry 6 in your wheel gun vice an empty cylinder.

Yes correct the transfer bar was definitely designed as a safety feature, but also allows dry firing without harm to the gun as per the Ruger manuals. I've got over two decades of large bore handgun hunting and reloading behind me, but am a total noob not only to bullseye, but semi-auto handguns in general as well. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply and help me out. Thanks again!

Chris

No worries, I have several revolvers, but never found one I loved except for two I couldn't buy from another BE shooter   My Ruger book just says, "Transfer bar is connected directly to the trigger. The transfer bar safety system provides that the hammer blow can be transmitted to the firing pin only when the trigger is pulled all the way to the rear. This is a positive internal safety feature." 

The revolver guys would know, and we have some super stars on here.  Correct me if I'm wrong, and I probably am, but I thought, it was the hammer mounted firing pin revolvers that you want to be careful with.  Again, that's for people smarter than me to answer and I'm not sure.  Jerry's a revolver genius so he would know and without a doubt forgotten more than I will ever know.

Hammer mounted firing pins are cushioned by the primer.