Springfield 1911 9mm Target version

20" groups at 25 yards from a rest.  The shooter consistently shoots expert or better with a decent pistol.  

He let a local smith work on it, unfortunately.  I would have told him to send it back to Springfield.  I have not looked at it.  Unless it is the worst rattle trap on the planet I'd guess defective barrel.  The local guy says it needs to be "broken in".  I say BS.  

In California, what would you do about it next?  ....Other than move about of California

Send it to Mr Eulette  

Hiya,

I have one of the loaded type SA's in 9mm, it's very choosey as to what bullets you use. If I use Hornady HAPs it will group a lot better than any open base/FMJ bullet. (In a Ransom it's horrible no matter what bullet as the frame/slide fit is sloppier than either of the Remington Rand I have from WW2) I get a TC 130g lead from a caster somewhat local that I can get some decent 25 yard groupings as long as I don't try to push them, still working on that but it's showing promise.

I would also look at the crown to see if it has any defects or one of those crowns like someone used a deburing tool on it, I've recrowned several pistols, including ones that had no defects, just the factory chamfer and each responded with better groups/scores. 

That's the easy stuff to look at first.

I have two friends who recently purchased new SA Garrison Models. At 25 yds they were 6-8" at best guns. One of the guys purchased a KART EXACT FIT Barrel. I fit it in the gun and now it is a 1.5" gun at 25 yds. If I knew what I was doing, I think it would be 1" @ 25 yds gun. About $250-260 including the installation kit and some patience and a 3-7hrs and you will have a good gun. I have done 3 Kart Exact Fit barrels now, and one was a ramped barrel. All turned out pretty good. Hoping to get better and faster at it. Learning all the time.

JHHolliday wrote:Send it to Mr Eulette  

+1
Added a 38super barrel and it's a HAMMER.

My SA RO9 5" is pretty finicky digesting ammo.  Fortunately I hanload 125 HAP and get 3" groups at 50 yds manual rest.  20"@25 has serious issues no matter the load.
Dave

How does it do from a machine rest? What ammo is he feeding it?

Definitely talk to Mr. Eulette, if he cannot fix it, then nobody can.
Or if he's too busy, you can send it to me. Normally I would say fitting a new bushing is an easy fix, but 20" is a lot for 25 yards distance, even an average mixmaster CMP mil-spec 1911 would shoot better, so I'm afraid the only solution is to fit a new barrel.

I have one from say 6 years ago…slide fit and appearance were awesome but performance was horrible even at 25 yards. Excessive throat clearances.. could load 148 hbwc sticking out over .25” of case. I rebarreled. Fire control parts were bad too so plan on that.