ITS NOT THE GUN: Its YOU!

[Ben_hutcherson]

I've had one gun that had legitimate accuracy issues out of the box.

It was a Ruger Single Seven in 327 Magnum. I was getting no discernible group(and even some off the paper) at 7 yards. There were also a lot of noticeable bumps and "catches" in the action. Several other people shot it, and no one was able to get the gun to group.

After 100 rounds, I looked the gun over, and there was a noticeable amount of wear in one side of the forcing cone. I called Ruger and sent it back(on their dime). As per the report, they replaced the pawl and recut the forcing cone. They also test fired it at 15 yards with the ammo I specified, and included the test target(about a 1.5" group with 6 of the 7 shots making a big hole). They also had it back to me in a week and a half(I wish S&W would take some lessons from them). Since then, I've been able to shoot it much better, and feel pretty confident that any issues are my fault.

I recently bought an S&W m52(c. 1978, but new in the box) that shot terribly on my first range trip. With that gun, I'm positive that the problem is related to the "nut behind the trigger" as the saying goes.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Training newbies, especially with semi-auto pistols, after two magazines, I often hear the cry that "My gun is no good, so and so told me to get it and it is no good, blah, blah, blah". I then take the newbies gun, load it and rapidly fire off a tight group. Carefully, making sure the gun is unloaded, I put on the safety (if any) and return the gun saying "Doesn't look like the gun. Maybe you are still shaking your wrist (in fear) and anticipating the recoil?" Take your time, practice slowly, following your set up steps and firing procedure and finish your box of ammo before you blame the gun. There is a certain amount of coordination required on your part even if you are not playing tennis. A few boxes later, they are usually ok. Sometimes it helps to let them fire a few through your gun (loaded by you!) to confirm that the results are not varying with the gun, but the person. If they want to go off and buy a compensator or trigger job that is their business.

 

[jspick]

I have shot many peoples guns so they could see it was them and not the gun. I remember when I was a teen, a gun and his boys bought a new Remington 1100 and shot at a half a box of skeets and didn't hit a one. The guy asked me to try it and I picked up the "beautiful, good feeling" shotgun. (At the time my shotgun was a Marlin Goose Gun-so anything felt good in my hands compared to that). I shot three skeets in a row and said do you want to sell it? I handed the guy back his 1100 and went on shooting my goose gun. He and his boys kept on trying to hit the skeets.

I'm not a good shot but sometimes I am a lot better than some of the people I see wasting ammo.

John

 

[LostintheOzone]

If a shooter's having accuracy problems-and Im not immune to this dilemma myself-an honest appraisal of one's skills and some extra time at the range will do a lot more good than blowing stacks of money at the Apex trigger webpage and moaning about a "defective" firearm which is shooting exactly where the owner pointed it at when the shot broke.

This can't be right. I could have retired 10 years ago if it is.