Disappointing S&W 1911 Accuracy

[alienbogey]

I've owned this S&W 1911 Pro Series in 9mm for some time, but have hardly fired it. I decided to take it to a steel plate match yesterday, and while I knocked down the 10 yard plates just fine, I couldn't hit the 25 yard plates to save my life (and once my opponents figured that out they made sure to include the 25 yard rack in the course of fire :grumble: ).

So, today I took it out to the range to get the sights dialed in. The following target is 15 rounds from 10 yards, rock solid from a sandbag rest, and carefully squeezed off from a perfect sight picture:

Folks, under those conditions with my Python I can shoot a group covered with a quarter, and with my P7 covered by a half dollar or less.

I wondered if the sights were moving with every shot but they're rock solid. With the exception of the flyer the elevation variation isn't nearly as bad as the windage.

Any theories as to what might be the trouble?

These are my reloads, 124 gr plated round nose over 4.7 grains of Unique, the same load that runs through my P7's by the thousands, and I have a hard time imagining that it's just the load, that the Smith doesn't like it THAT much. (I didn't have any other ammunition to shoot today.)

I know that S&W doesn't have an accuracy guarantee like some high end 1911's, but this seems outside of acceptable. Any opinions as to whether a return to Smith might be in order?


That group makes this $1500 S&W the least accurate pistol I have ever owned.

 

[novalty]

I would contact S&W and run it by them. Not sure why it is grouping so poorly even from a rest, guessing they will pay for shipping back to them--I'd send the target along with it if it goes back. If it was me, before I sent it back I would try a clip or two of factory ammo through under the same conditions.

 

[wantmoresmiths]

Let me suggest that you try some loads using 147 grain bullets. My son and I each have a 9mm 1911, and both guns hate both the 115 and 124 grain bullets, yet both shoot extremely well with 147grain bullets. I suspect that it might have something to do with the twist rate of the barrel. The next time you go to the range, take another gun since sometimes we just have bad days at the range. If your 1911 isn't shooting well try shooting another gun off that same rest. If the second gun shoots well, at least you can rule out a problem with the shooter. Still another option is taking a friend along. See if he or she gets the same 5 of 6" groups when shooting the 1911.

 

[Dragon88]

First, I would try running one or two brands of factory ammo through the gun. I'm not suggesting your handloads are bad, but you have to eliminate all factors, and ammo is an easy one to test.

Second, do you know how to check a 1911 for fit and tightness? Again I'm not suggesting you spend money on fixing the gun, but if you can find a possible issue it might help focus your request for service from S&W. Is the slide to frame fit sloppy? Does the bushing have a tight fit to the barrel and slide?

That "group" at 10 yards from any 1911 would be unacceptable to me. My $800 Springer 1911 would create a little ragged hole at that range. If you can't isolate the issue, send it back to S&W for inspection and service.

 

[Beans]

You might want to slug your barrel. I slugged my and found some loose spots during the slugging.
I am workin up load for mine and If I can't, it will be going back to the factory.

Updated range report
I just finished shooting 1000 rds throught my 1911 9mm Pro today, 900 Rd of handloads ( cast bullets) and 100 rds of Federal 9mm hardball. No problems.

I was trying to make the pistol fail and didn't clean it during the 3 week shooting session it took me to fire the 1000 rds.
Tomorrow it gets tore down and a complete cleaning is in order.

I was trying to find a suitable load with cast bullets. MY most accurate load so far was a Magma mold for 147 gr bullets, which actually weights 150 grs when cast from wheel weights.

The Load= 147 Gr Magma (water dropped) bullet cast from wheel weights, sized .356, lube was White label BAC
Powder 3.4 grains of Unique, CCI 500 Small pistol primers and assorted untrimmed brass, OAL 1.10

A 10 shot group at 15 yards measured 1 3/4 inches, a circular group. POA=POI,
I also tried the following powders Winchester WSF, Titegroup and bullseye. Those powders produced a large group.

I still have to fine tune the Unique load to see if I can reduce the group size. The group was fired off a bench being hand held.

For some reason the bulleyes load were like shooting black powder very smokey.

 

[heekma]

Maybe this is just me, but I see two fair groups, one low left, one low right and a flyer in the upper left.

When you pull the trigger, are you holding it all the way back after the trigger breaks, continuing to hold it back during recoil, then as the next round is chambered and recoil is finished, every so slowly releasing the trigger-about a 1/4" of forward travel-until the trigger resets, and then repeating this process for every shot?

To me it looks like you may have inconsistent trigger control. Just food for thought.

Best,

Heekma

 

[Arizona5906]

I think your problem could be with the bullets. Your loads are similar to what I have been using, but I had 5 gr of Unique. I have been using the Berry's plated RN bullets for some time and found that in a couple of my 9 MM pistols the accuracy was quite poor. I recently ordered 1000 of the Berry's flat nose bullets and they are WAY more accurate in the two pistols that did not like the round nose bullets. I think if you experiment with some different loads you will probably find something your 1911 likes.

 

[novalty]

I think your problem could be with the bullets. Your loads are similar to what I have been using, but I had 5 gr of Unique. I have been using the Berry's plated RN bullets for some time and found that in a couple of my 9 MM pistols the accuracy was quite poor. I recently ordered 1000 of the Berry's flat nose bullets and they are WAY more accurate in the two pistols that did not like the round nose bullets. I think if you experiment with some different loads you will probably find something your 1911 likes.

Interesting info Arizona5906, I just loaded my starter load of 9mm with 115gr RN Berry's plated with 5.0gr's of Unique, and my accuracy was not very impressive, which I attributed to me (still could be the case), but even with my Crimson Trace grips, I had expected better grouping than what I received at 10 yards.

 

[cwo4uscgret]

I know this is a different S&W 1911 (1911PD Commander sized) in .45 acp; this is the first target I shot with it. Thirty rounds beginning at the 3.5 yard line and ending at the 15 yard line. Not bad for an out of the box gun.

I tried to bench rest my two Coonan .357 magnum 1911s and was disappointed with the results...

Come to find out it was operator error; I was resting the gun on the rest; I should have been resting my hands on the rest instead. My accuracy was about on the par as yours when I did it that way.

 

[deadeyecharlie]

I have a pro series in 9mm. Accuracy was very disappointing. ( shot out of my Ransom rest) I sent it back to Smith twice. Both times they told me it met factory specs. I finally sent it to Clark Custom. Now it will shoot 1" groups at 50 yds. Clark didn't replace the barrel. They said that the cause of the inaccuracy was the barrel was poorly fitted at the factory.

 

[pinto]

I have one in .45 back at the factory with exactly the same complaint.
Expecting the same response, unfortunately.

Did you go for the whole $400 accuracy job from Clark, or just tell them to make it right?