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My all time favorite target and competition pistol is my Colt Series 70 Gold Cup National Match from the early 1970's. I have won a bunch of competitions with it and while I haven't kept track of exactly how many rounds I have put through it, I know it's been at least 3,000 a year so the round count has got to be up around 150,000 rounds - give or take a few. In that time the only thing I have had to do is to stake a new plunger tube on for the safety & slide catch and about 8 months ago the original Elaison rear sight gave up the ghost. Thankfully, the Elaison sights are still being made and I ordered a new one and put it in. Other than those two items, I have had no other issues and the pistol is extremely accurate, smooth and ultra reliable! I would shoot it against any of the high end custom 1911's! It is also my best shooting pistol.
I shoot mostly reloaded 230 grain RNL Polymer coated bullets that I load myself. The last time I ordered bullets, I ordered 20,000 of them. I used to use uncoated lead bullets but do like the cleanliness and no lube feature of the Polymer coating. So far I have gone through at least 60% of them - no issues at all. Normally I shoot about 100 rounds per range session, but sometimes more.
Yesterday at the outdoor range I was shooting the Gold Cup and all of a sudden my groups were moving up and to the left. They kept drifting farther & farther away from the bullseye the more I shot. I inspected the pistol and everything looked fine, including the Elaison rear sight that I replaced 8 months ago. When I tried to make adjustments with the screws, the groups really did not improve nor move much!
WTH??!!
Anyway, after shooting 150 rounds and getting nowhere fast, I put the pistol away and left the range in frustration thinking something is going on with the recently replaced rear sight.
So when I walk in the door, I called Kensight which is where I bough the rear sight from. I left a message and they called me back within 10 minutes. We spend a half hour on the phone and I admittedly told the Gentleman I could not really see anything wrong with the sight, but why else would my groups have moved so much and not be correctible? He suggested a few sight function checks and I did do them - could not find any issues.
I told him that I would clean the pistol and inspect it closer and more carefully, then report back. So I took the pistol apart, again the rear sight seemed fine and went over the pistol carefully. Everything was perfect BUT when I looked into the barrel I saw leading the likes of which I had never had in my Gold Cup! Now remember, I have shot at least 12,000 rounds of these Polymer coated bullets through the same gun and other guns - no issues at all. After a good Hoppes soaking, it took me almost 45 minutes using a Bronze Phosphor bore brush, a Lewis Lead Remover and plenty of patches but I finally removed all the leading. Apparently, there was so much lead and polymer build up in the last inch (muzzle) of the barrel, it was throwing shot placement off big time! I have never had this issue before and can only believe I had shot some defective polymer coated bullets this range session. Maybe the bullets were to large (I do spot check with a caliper, but not every single bullet), maybe they were not sized properly, or maybe the coating was put on too thick. The polymer formulation could have been a bit off, or maybe the process was a bit off for that bunch on that particular day - who knows! The Company that made them was around for almost 40 years but they are no longer in business - I believe the owner passed. They have always made good quality bullets however I have at least "some" that obviously have issues! How many I have is an unknown. All I can and will do is shoot them and at the very first sign of bullet drift I will check the barrel. I am hoping that this was a once in the batch irregularity as there have never been any other problems. Hopefully this was just an isolated incident and won't ever happen again! My 1911's normally never lead up!
I will call Kensight early next week after shooting the Gold Cup for a test outing and a readjustment of the rear sight. Normally a proper and high quality adjustable rear sight should not move by itself. I wanted to post his just incase this ever happens to one of you - with any firearm shooting lead or polymer coated bullets. I did not think to check the barrel as I never before had a leading or polymer build up issue with these bullets in many years of using them! I have also reaffirmed in my head that no matter how good a product is, how long you have used it or how it has performed in the past, there can always be a "bad batch" of whatever.
Hopefully, problems solved.
UPDATED 02/14/25:
After I thoroughly cleaned my Colt GCNM last week I took the pistol back to the range today to prove out my theory. It took me a half dozen rounds or so to sight the pistol in again after messing with the sight adjustments last week thinking that was the issue. Once I got the sights dead-on, I shot 5 or 6 targets (7 shots each) and the bullets hit exactly where I aimed at 50 feet. Here are the 3 best targets - 7 shots each. After 50 rounds of my Polymer coated lead 230 grain bullets, accuracy started waning once again. My groups started climbing high and right except this time I knew not to mess with the sights. After 80 rounds today I took the pistol home, stripped it and yup - the barrel was full of polymer and lead again. After cleaning it up I now know that the batch of polymer bullets I am currently using are faulty. I bought 20,000 of them and have shot at least 12,000 with no issues at all. I now must do some weighing, measuring and thinking why this is happening. I hope since this is the very last batch I reloaded a few months ago this situation will end soon and I can get back to normalcy. The bullet company I bought them from has always been reliable and made excellent quality bullets however the owner has died and the company is no longer around. I also know I can accurately shoot up to 50 rounds before putting the pistol away for the day. I have too many bullets left to just toss em! At the 50 - 60 round count the leading is easily removed with a bronze bore brush so no big deal. I simply won't shoot more than that in 1 session until I buy new bullets to reload - unless POI remains consistent with my POA.
In all the 50 years I own this Colt CGNM, I have never seen leading like this (always have shot plain lead bullets)- but this is also the first time I have purchased polymer coated bullets in 45acp. I also now see first hand just how severely barrel leading effects accuracy!
Well, at least I now the issue was not me, not the pistol and not the barrel - that in itself is a relief! Below are the first few targets 7 rounds ea. shot at 50ft.
I shoot mostly reloaded 230 grain RNL Polymer coated bullets that I load myself. The last time I ordered bullets, I ordered 20,000 of them. I used to use uncoated lead bullets but do like the cleanliness and no lube feature of the Polymer coating. So far I have gone through at least 60% of them - no issues at all. Normally I shoot about 100 rounds per range session, but sometimes more.
Yesterday at the outdoor range I was shooting the Gold Cup and all of a sudden my groups were moving up and to the left. They kept drifting farther & farther away from the bullseye the more I shot. I inspected the pistol and everything looked fine, including the Elaison rear sight that I replaced 8 months ago. When I tried to make adjustments with the screws, the groups really did not improve nor move much!
WTH??!!Anyway, after shooting 150 rounds and getting nowhere fast, I put the pistol away and left the range in frustration thinking something is going on with the recently replaced rear sight.
So when I walk in the door, I called Kensight which is where I bough the rear sight from. I left a message and they called me back within 10 minutes. We spend a half hour on the phone and I admittedly told the Gentleman I could not really see anything wrong with the sight, but why else would my groups have moved so much and not be correctible? He suggested a few sight function checks and I did do them - could not find any issues.
I told him that I would clean the pistol and inspect it closer and more carefully, then report back. So I took the pistol apart, again the rear sight seemed fine and went over the pistol carefully. Everything was perfect BUT when I looked into the barrel I saw leading the likes of which I had never had in my Gold Cup! Now remember, I have shot at least 12,000 rounds of these Polymer coated bullets through the same gun and other guns - no issues at all. After a good Hoppes soaking, it took me almost 45 minutes using a Bronze Phosphor bore brush, a Lewis Lead Remover and plenty of patches but I finally removed all the leading. Apparently, there was so much lead and polymer build up in the last inch (muzzle) of the barrel, it was throwing shot placement off big time! I have never had this issue before and can only believe I had shot some defective polymer coated bullets this range session. Maybe the bullets were to large (I do spot check with a caliper, but not every single bullet), maybe they were not sized properly, or maybe the coating was put on too thick. The polymer formulation could have been a bit off, or maybe the process was a bit off for that bunch on that particular day - who knows! The Company that made them was around for almost 40 years but they are no longer in business - I believe the owner passed. They have always made good quality bullets however I have at least "some" that obviously have issues! How many I have is an unknown. All I can and will do is shoot them and at the very first sign of bullet drift I will check the barrel. I am hoping that this was a once in the batch irregularity as there have never been any other problems. Hopefully this was just an isolated incident and won't ever happen again! My 1911's normally never lead up!
I will call Kensight early next week after shooting the Gold Cup for a test outing and a readjustment of the rear sight. Normally a proper and high quality adjustable rear sight should not move by itself. I wanted to post his just incase this ever happens to one of you - with any firearm shooting lead or polymer coated bullets. I did not think to check the barrel as I never before had a leading or polymer build up issue with these bullets in many years of using them! I have also reaffirmed in my head that no matter how good a product is, how long you have used it or how it has performed in the past, there can always be a "bad batch" of whatever.
Hopefully, problems solved.
UPDATED 02/14/25:
After I thoroughly cleaned my Colt GCNM last week I took the pistol back to the range today to prove out my theory. It took me a half dozen rounds or so to sight the pistol in again after messing with the sight adjustments last week thinking that was the issue. Once I got the sights dead-on, I shot 5 or 6 targets (7 shots each) and the bullets hit exactly where I aimed at 50 feet. Here are the 3 best targets - 7 shots each. After 50 rounds of my Polymer coated lead 230 grain bullets, accuracy started waning once again. My groups started climbing high and right except this time I knew not to mess with the sights. After 80 rounds today I took the pistol home, stripped it and yup - the barrel was full of polymer and lead again. After cleaning it up I now know that the batch of polymer bullets I am currently using are faulty. I bought 20,000 of them and have shot at least 12,000 with no issues at all. I now must do some weighing, measuring and thinking why this is happening. I hope since this is the very last batch I reloaded a few months ago this situation will end soon and I can get back to normalcy. The bullet company I bought them from has always been reliable and made excellent quality bullets however the owner has died and the company is no longer around. I also know I can accurately shoot up to 50 rounds before putting the pistol away for the day. I have too many bullets left to just toss em! At the 50 - 60 round count the leading is easily removed with a bronze bore brush so no big deal. I simply won't shoot more than that in 1 session until I buy new bullets to reload - unless POI remains consistent with my POA.
In all the 50 years I own this Colt CGNM, I have never seen leading like this (always have shot plain lead bullets)- but this is also the first time I have purchased polymer coated bullets in 45acp. I also now see first hand just how severely barrel leading effects accuracy!
Well, at least I now the issue was not me, not the pistol and not the barrel - that in itself is a relief! Below are the first few targets 7 rounds ea. shot at 50ft.
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Barrels are funny things.
