Accurizing the Colt Officer's .45

S

SplorerTom

Inactive
I have a Colt Officer's model .45, series 80 and I would like to improve its accuracy. Right now, it shoots around 4 inch groups at 25 yards. I'd really like to cut this in half.

The gun has a bit of barrel-to-slide play and some side-to-side play between the frame and the slide. I wouldn't characterize it as loose, but I think it could be a bit better.

Sights are fixed, but have the 3 dot system and are pretty decent. I have adjusted for windage by sliding the rear sight, so it is pretty close to center.

The feed ramp has already been polished, and it appears that the ejection port is already enlarged or came that way from the factory.

The trigger pull is pretty tight, and has a small amount of creep. I replaced the trigger to improve its position relative to my hand size. I didn't expect that to improve the pull, but it does help me better position my finger on the trigger.

Since its the officer's model, several parts differ from that of the full sized models. That concerns me, since I don't know what parts may be available.

Any recommendations are appreciated.

BTW, I'm not a machinist. I will and have taken the bottom apart to replace parts, I'll polish parts, but I won't do anything too intense myself. I don't have the tools or the background. I'll let the gunsmith tighten the slide if that needs to be done.

Thanks in advance,

Tom
 
A good barrel will do wonders along with a good trigger job. Proper barrel lockup is more important then a tight slide to frame fit.
 
I tried this about 10 years ago with a SS OM but never achived good accuracy with Colt barrel. I was getting 3-4" group at 25 yards despite a trigger job and having the barrel and bushing fitted by a gunsmith. I finally had a King's barrel installed and the accuracy improved to about 2" but I started having reliability problem unless the gun was clean. I gave up after that.
 
This will get a response from some, but exactly why are you trying to get better accuracy out of pistol that was designed to be used as an up close self defense weapon? This is not a target pistol. Most folks would consider 4" at 25yds plenty accurate for what the pistol was designed.
 
I'll agree with most of what everyone else said. If you can shoot 4" groups with the gun at 25 yards, then it is plenty accurate. If it shoots to point of aim, and it goes BANG every time you pull the trigger, then you have a weapon you can bet your life on. If you want a do-it-yourself accuracy improvement, try an aftermarket bushing. Some of them require a guide rod and slide modifications, so stay away from those if you're trying to not spend too much money or get into gunsmith territory.
 
You can have both worlds, accuracy and reliability, but it will indeed cost more money, and some special work. The newer "drop-in" barrels and bushings offered in Brownells, for instance, do a lot to help the Officer's ACP, and a clean breaking, albeit liability conscience 3 + pound trigger goes a long way towards putting them where you want. For my CCW permit, I went a bit overboard, and assembled a Caspian Officer's ACP, using a shortened Kart NM barrel, with a tapered cone lockup borrowed from the page of compensated race guns. Note the flange at the end of the barrel, after we did this for the gun, I saw it appear as a feature of the commercial custom guns, I dunno if it was Ed Brown, Les Baer, King's, or whomever, but I thought it was interesting that folks decided go with the same technique and get rid of the barrel bushing altogether.

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Thanks, all, for the response.

I guess the sky's the limit for what one can do. I am probably thinking along the lines of a tighter bushing up top, before going through any expensive alterations there. And, I'll let the slide, well, err, slide for now. :)

I think RickB hit the nail on the head WRT do-it-yourself accuracy improvements. I realize it isn't a target pistol, but if I can improve it relatively easily, I'll do so.

As far as the trigger, I don't expect a 3# match setup, but I'd like to lighten it up a bit and get rid of the creep. I haven't measured this pull, but its got to be pretty high. I rekon I'd better see what I have before deciding on what I want. I know it'll never match my revolver, and I wouldn't expect it to.

I know that the trigger pull is contributing to my own inaccuracy when I don't have some type of support or a rest. Granted, I'm not the best shooter around by any stretch, but I can hold my accuracy much better with other pistols when standing than I can with this one.

BTW, any recommendations on reading material and parts suppliers?

Tom
 
Brownells has the parts and the books. If you want to get serious about your OACP, get both volumes of the 1911 Shop Manual by Kuhnhausen.
 
Thank's, RickB. I'll be ordering a Brownell's catalog. I'm not the only person I know that likes to tinker with these 1911-type pistols. :) I'll look into the shop manual as well.

Tom

Oh yeah, BTW, Gewehr98, that Caspian in condition one looks great in its modified state. I must say, I haven't been around enough as I've never seen the Caspian that I know of. :)

[This message has been edited by SplorerTom (edited August 30, 2000).]
 
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