A friend of mine had a M1991A1 that he was using to break into IPSC matches. The accuaracy wasn't what he wanted and he deduced that a large part of the problem was in the Bbl. bushing. So he ordered a oversized bushing from Dare Gun Room. Of course it wasn't a drop in fit, so he proceded to 'fit' it to his weapon. A drill with a split dowel holding a piece of 400 grit took down the inner diameter (bit by bit) and a thin strip of 400 grit with a piece of rawhide wrapped around the outer diameter and 'shoeshined' took down that surface. He contrived a way to hold the bushing on a sort of mandrel while he worked the outer surface using his bench vise and a dowel that tightly fit the inner diameter of the bushing. Very tedious work, as it was cut and try the whole way. When the bushing was just barely able to fit into the slide, he then started to 'polish' it with (believe it or not) some tooth polish. Can't remember the actual name, but it was that stuff that you brush on your fangs in a attempt to remove the brown coffee crud. It is a very light abrasive. He's put a touch of this stuff onto the surface that he wanted to polish, and slowly work it in. A bit of water to assist. It would also clean up with water. The end result was a .45 that would keyhole like a bad dog at 25 yds.
I know that this isn't the 'smith recommended way to fit a bushing, but for us folks who have more sense than dollars, I think that it's a decent alternative. Incidentally, this bushing HAD to be turned in and out with a (bushing) wrench.
Another thing, our Match armourers always told us shooters that we were to not remove the bbl. bushings under ANY circumstances, as this would start to ruin the accuracy of that particular weapon. We'd take the .45's down the same way as the previous posting, and use a bunch of CLP and Acetone to clean the weapons. There was a point where the weapon NEEDED to be completely taken down, and all in all, I think that in a year of practising for and shooting in matches, I only completely took down that pistol about three times. After that third time, I started to see enough slop that it was starting to affect me. Not that I was a National Match winner! There were others (who I think were bigtime prima dona's) that would demand a new bushing EVERY time that they took their weapon down.
To sum up a long posting, I'd stay with the tight bushing. As I understand it, it is that fit there at the bushing, and the way that the Barrel locks up into the locking grooves that really have a great effect on the accuracy of that type of pistol. If it's tight in those places, and given a decent trigger, you should have a really accuarate weapon. As they'd say on the team, it's not the dope on the weapon, it's the dope BEHIND the weapon!
Unkel Gilbey
[This message has been edited by Unkel Gilbey (edited September 22, 1999).]