spacecoast
New member
I shot a Bullseye match with my new Springfield Range Officer 1911 pistol today and did OK, scoring on par or slightly below what I usually shoot with centerfire revolvers. I'm very happy with the way the gun performed, and attribute my less-than-expected score to it being the second match of the day, being really hot in Central Florida, shooting a brand new gun (my first centerfire 1911), etc.
On a very positive note, 95 rounds went through the gun flawlessly even though I was nervous about the mags, which seemed to be sticky (discussed here). Before the match started I shot five rounds at 25 yards to get the gun sighted in, and to my surprise the first shot was an X. So I didn't mess further with the sights and ended up tweaking them one click to the right and one click up during the Slow Fire part of the match.
After the second Timed Fire round, I switched from my 200 gr. LSWC reloads to 185 gr. LSWC reloads and benefited immediately from the recoil reduction, my score going from an 89 on the prior round with 200s to a 95 with the 185s. I didn't notice much if any change in the point of impact, so that was nice. Both rounds contained 4.3 grains of Titegroup powder.
I struggled a bit today with Rapid Fire, averaging only 82 points. I think the increased recoil compared to my very lightly loaded revolver rounds definitely made a difference in how fast I can (or can't) get back on target during Rapid Fire. I'll definitely have to work on that, and will also see if I can get away with using less powder in these reloads as well.
I am most definitely not experienced with 1911s, but if I had any criticism of the gun I would say that the trigger is perhaps not as light on this gun as I expected. I haven't measured it but reportedly it's between 5 and 6 pounds on most Range Officers, with a small amount of take-up. Someday I may make the investment to lighten the trigger a bit.
On a very positive note, 95 rounds went through the gun flawlessly even though I was nervous about the mags, which seemed to be sticky (discussed here). Before the match started I shot five rounds at 25 yards to get the gun sighted in, and to my surprise the first shot was an X. So I didn't mess further with the sights and ended up tweaking them one click to the right and one click up during the Slow Fire part of the match.
After the second Timed Fire round, I switched from my 200 gr. LSWC reloads to 185 gr. LSWC reloads and benefited immediately from the recoil reduction, my score going from an 89 on the prior round with 200s to a 95 with the 185s. I didn't notice much if any change in the point of impact, so that was nice. Both rounds contained 4.3 grains of Titegroup powder.
I struggled a bit today with Rapid Fire, averaging only 82 points. I think the increased recoil compared to my very lightly loaded revolver rounds definitely made a difference in how fast I can (or can't) get back on target during Rapid Fire. I'll definitely have to work on that, and will also see if I can get away with using less powder in these reloads as well.
I am most definitely not experienced with 1911s, but if I had any criticism of the gun I would say that the trigger is perhaps not as light on this gun as I expected. I haven't measured it but reportedly it's between 5 and 6 pounds on most Range Officers, with a small amount of take-up. Someday I may make the investment to lighten the trigger a bit.
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