The best .45

What is the best out of the box .45 for bullseye shooting? I only shoot at the club level and only hope to get 270-280 scores. I don't want to do any work to it except maybe a trigger job and mounting a dot to the rail. I've been hearing a lot of good things about the SA range officer. Your opinions would be appriciated.

Search is your friend...

The best BE 1911 is a used custom one that a retired bullseye pistol shooter wants to sell. Of course, let the buyer beware.

Depends on your budget, a 1000.00 budget gets a range officer, 2k gets a Les Baer, 3500 gets a Accuracy-X , 5k gets a Acculock, chambers(4 year wait) and many other fine guns built by great gunsmiths then there are even more expensive but not guaranteed better ones out there. Then there are the pre owned that's where you will find the best deals, look for the ones built by the great builders of bullseye guns.

Flytrap1,

There are about 5 other threads with your same question in the Equipment Discussion.  Most of the threads concluded that the Springfield RO is the best value in an "out of the box" 1911 for bullseye, but there are many better guns that cost much more.

As a pistolsmith  know what goes into building a BE pistol; effort and money.  Too many people put too much emphasis on extreme accuracy. I strive for extreme accuracy in every pistol I build. But reality is a excellent trigger with marginal accuracy can win for 99% of shooters.the RO is an excellent starting pistol for BE. I personally believe that most shooters will shoot just as well with RO as a high end pistol. Can't buy points!
Jon

Flytrap1, 

If you shoot between 270 and 280 the Range Officer will not do unless you send it to a smith to be worked over. I am not knocking the Range Officer... I started with one and bought another. Neither of them will hold a 5" group at 25 yards... 

Brian

+1 on can't buy points.  The range officer is best deal for the money.  The trigger components will eventually need replaced with quality components by a gunsmith that knows what a roll trigger is.  You can put a good roll trigger on a RO but the metal is not hard enough to hold it for long.  A stock RO, a weaver rib, a fitted Clark bushing, and quality trigger job should get you to master class.  I'd also recommend a Marvel Conversion.  5" non lock back aluminum.  Now you have the same exact trigger pull for rim fire as you do for .45 stage.  Use one gun well and learn to win with it.  My advice based on what I think your goals are.  If those goals don't work for you then do something different.

Flytrap1, 

Where are you located? 

Brian

Flytrap,

Brian must be really unlucky to have found 2 ROs that couldn't hold 5" at 25.  I've tested several and they are all sub 3" guns at 50 yards.

BE Mike wrote:The best BE 1911 is a used custom one that a retired bullseye pistol shooter wants to sell. Of course, let the buyer beware.

+1

For a new commercial starter BE pistol check out the Springfield Range Officer and the STI Trojan. The RO gets a lot of attention. I like the Trojan.

...

...?

Well, I realized that I was out of line and withdrew my comments on the Range Officer.

I started out with a RO and made Master with it.

I agree with Jon about the trigger.  The man who does my triggers (Doug Hall) does not even build 1911's.  He only does triggers.  I have learned on my own that just because someone can build a sub 2" gun doesn't mean they can make a trigger that will allow you to shoot it that tight.  The other key with someone who does your triggers is communication.  He has learned to understand what I want when I talk to him and convert that into the trigger I asked for.

Sixftundra, 

What did you have done to your Range Officer? 

Brian

Astroimage2002 wrote:Well, I realized that I was out of line and withdrew my comments on the Range Officer.

If that was your experience with the RO then I don't know that you were out of line. Maybe the lesson here is that with a factory gun like the RO there is a risk there may be a an occasional lemon, while a custom gun has been tested and proven. Of course, you pay a price for that...

My wife and I both have RO's and our experience has been excellent. Mine also won't do any better than 5" at 25 yards but only when I'm the one holding it. In a ransom rest at 50 yards it will do significantly better than 5". I'm thinking a better gun isn't going to help until I learn to how pull the durn trigger.

At 270 to to 280 don't you think he knows the trigger? I don't, that is why I put my guns in the hands of a master shot BEFORE I shared my thoughts.

Astroimage2002 wrote:At 270 to to 280 don't you think he knows the trigger? I don't, that is why I put my guns in the hands of a master shot BEFORE I shared my thoughts.

Well, he said he HOPES to  shoot 270-280 so I don't know if he knows the trigger or not. Either way I was speaking only of my experience with the range officer...and I started by supporting your statements about the RO. As I noted I put my guns in a ransom rest, and have also put them in the hands of great shooters. Both of my RO's will easily shoot better than 270-280 if the right person is holding it, but that doesn't mean that every RO ever made will do the same.

My apologies if I offended you in some way.

Clay

Clay, 

You have in no way offended me. I just do not anyone to think that a Range Officer out of the box will hold a 270 to 280 score. I have enjoyed both of mine but there is no way either of mine will shoot 270 consistently.

I shot a 279 the other day with my Springfield--it's converted to ball but the barrel, bushing, and slide fitting is still bone stock.  If I hadn't shot only 93 at the short line for timed and rapid it would have been mid 280s easy.

a range officer that wont hold  5'' at 25yd should have been returned to SA, imo it would be more likely a ammo or user  related issue rather than the gun especially if you got the same results with two different guns.

Let me offer a change in my statement "money can't buy points"
I believe this to be true unless >70% of that money is spent on range time and reloading components.  A marksman shooter needs to learn reloading for accuracy.  Factory ammo is not going to cut it for long.  Be thankful  because 20 years ago not only did you have to learn reloading, you also had to learn how to smelt lead and cast your own bullets.

IMO, the saying money "can't buy points" is just not the way it is.   A guy starting out that buys the cheapest equipment he can and has limited training in target shooting has a lot of points waiting to be bought. Better more accurate guns buys points, better loading technique and upgrading his component's and presses buys points, better optics buys points, learning to load and shoot better buys points. so it all depends on how high on the ladder you start, if you start with the best equipment and a good amount of talent for shooting then you will have to search for what will buy a few points, where as you start with low end basic stuff almost every upgrade will buy points.

Sorry but I made Master in 6 months when I was 25 years old using a single stage press shooting my own cast bullets and using a GI US Army 1911A1 with stock barrel with a Dwyer group gripper. Rock bottom equipment but excellent coaching. Way too many excuses out there for poor shooting; blaming equipment, ammo, etc.
I regularly hear shooters complain and make excuses. I ask them how often they dry fire and it's almost 99% I don't dry fire or I need to dry fire. crap ammo will still shoot 3-4 inch groups at 50 yards. That's good enough to shoot 870's. How many people are shooting 870's?  Not very many. Most shooters have decent wad guns. Why aren't they at least shooting 870's? Fundamentals aren't there, but the arms race is! A lot of bragging about my gun shoots 1" at 50 yards. But they can't break 800 with the most accurate pistol in the county/state/USA. 

It's not a gun problem,  it's a people problem! 
Jon