BIG groups on 1911.

Have a custom 1911. Had a Bushnell Trophy dot. Have several of these dots on various guns and they've worked great for me.
Am shooting 860's with a 1911 .22. At a 2700 last week, I shot a 864 .22, a 815 CF wi .45, and a 760 .45 match. Gun getting much worse as I shot it during the match. The last two matches with the .45 had several flyers, as in calling a low right 5 ring, and shooting a high left 0. Common to call a 9-10 and shoot a 6. After the match, we benched the gun at 50 yds and had about a 6-ring group. Changed scopes to a buddy's Aimpoint, but the back ring was barely grabbing the Weaver mount (frame mount). Shot 8 rings then. I swapped scopes to another another .22 I had. Groups stayed 'bout the same from scope to scope with the .22. Also, at the range, we swapped 45 ammo with no real changes in groups, ammo-wise.
Question: Is the .45 recoil changing the impact point on Trophy #1?
I checked my ammo press and removed the wax, as there was a bunch....And I also ordered a Matchdot, here in a week or so.
Am I barking up the right tree? Bases, barrel, bushing, slide....all tight. Kart NM barrel.
Anything else I should try? Thanks a bunch for listening to me whine for a while.

Have you cleaned the barrel of any leading? Id say mount the new dot, clean the barrel very good, load a good known kart barrel load, like 185gr, with 3.8-4.0 of BE or clays and foul the barrel with 10 shots before checking for group size. What load are you using now?

Have you recently changed the bullets you're using? What load are you shooting? Sounds like the barrel is getting leaded very quickly and VERY heavily.

Has this gun shot well for you in the past? Need to know more information to try and help.

An experiment...

First, completely clean and de-lead the barrel. Of course there are quite a few ways to do this, but a good scrubbing with a bronze brush soaked in Hoppe's should do for this test.

You'll need about 60 rounds for this test.

After the barrel is clean and patched out, shoot a NMC with it. Do NOT clean the barrel. Note your score. (By the way, you can use 50 yards for SF, or shoot the reduced target at 25 yards. Either will work.)

Now, completely clean the barrel again, and re-shoot the NMC--but this time, between each 5 shot string wrap a clean patch around a bore brush; put some Hoppe's on it, and run it through once. Then, put a good clean patch through it once. You can achieve the same result by using a Bore-Snake--wet the first part with solvent, put a bit on the brushes and a little right behind the brushes. Just drop the weight through, and pull it through once after each 5 shot string. Note this score as well.

This should shed some light on the problem, and aid in isolation.

Eagle

I shoot 200 gr magnus leading 3.8 gr Bullseye. One of the shooters here, checked the barrel for lead, and said it looked pretty good. . I cleaned the gun with Hoppes and Butches anyway.. I'll have to take note of the experiments, and give them a whirl. The gun has shot good in the past, but not great. The Trophy has been the only dot ever on it. 815-825 is about the range of the gun. I shot better with my old gun, which has since been turned into a hardballer.

Thanks for the help. I'll keep checking on the lead issue and see if that's the culprit. Gonna wait till the new dot comes. Nothing like fixing stuff a month before the Natl Matches!!

Not to criticize the dot, but i wouldn't even bother testing it again till you get the matchdot installed and zeroed.

Having experienced the Trophy Dot I would say that it might be the problem...I've seen some good ones, and I've seen some not so good ones...

I'm with David on this one, wait for the new dot and then see what happens. And for goodness sakes don't use the rings that come with the UD...throw them away and get either some Burris Z rings or some Weaver Top Mount rings so that you can be sure the scope is secure.

Respectfully,

Was kinda hoping for that kind of advice. And yeah, I wasn't planning on doing much else until the dot showed up. Probably won't get into a set of good rings until I get to Perry, but will definatley keep that in mind. Thanks for all the help!

Greg Oldakowski wrote:Was kinda hoping for that kind of advice. And yeah, I wasn't planning on doing much else until the dot showed up. Probably won't get into a set of good rings until I get to Perry, but will definatley keep that in mind. Thanks for all the help!

Order them from brownells.com...order part number 955-491-210 if you are getting the 30 mil match dot...you won't be dissappointed...they are like $27.00 plus shipping...

Respectfully,

I'll have to look those up! This place is AWESOME!I'm telling my BE friends. Thanks.

Check to make sure your scope rail hasn't loosened. That happened to me in a match a couple weeks ago. Vertical stringing big time!

Dot showed up. No change in groups. 50 yards off of bags groups average just outside the black. I know it's not a ransom, but its all I got. Frame is supported on the bags, but the barrel was not. Rings and Weigand frame mount are tight. I don't want to start a discussion about frame vs slide mount. I don't like the rolling recoil of a slide mount, I much prefer the straight back push of the frame style.
Anyway, my next step will be to pull the mount off, put the iron sights back on and bag it that way and see if it gets better. Won't do that till after Perry, but the writing is on the wall that I may not get to go for reasons I can't control, and I may not get to go anyway. So, if I ain't heading for Ohio on Saturday, I'll just settle for working on my gun. Good luck at Perry. If I ever get this figured out, I'll let you know so others may avoid the hassle.

Ok, looks like you can rule out the dot, The next I would check is your load, i would change my load and try something different that is known for good groups. Id try something like gunny zins ammo, or atlanta arms match or nsk match, one box would tell you quick if its your gun or your load. If these shoot big groups, just resign yourself its time to get a new kart barrel and bushing fitted.

Well, it may well be something with the load. I switched to some 185's and the groups shrunk to about 4.5 at 50 yards. I may have some tweeking to do, but I think I'm getting somewhere.



Thanks for the help guys.