Glad to see my comments stimulate such enlightening conversation. Some further thoughts on these subjects:
One mans slop is another mans tight. One mans accuracy is not acceptable to others. What I call slop could be just what the rest of you are looking for. What I desire in accuracy may be more than what you require.
When I mentioned barrel to slide to frame fit ... Every gun is like a finger print and One p85 isn't just like every other p85 etc. each has their own quirks, cause invariably, one was made by a person with a hangover and one wasn't or whatever. But quality control is quality control and some companies do a better job than others.
Ruger makes some fine firearms. Please buy and shoot them if that is your thing. I have often said it isn't what you drive but how you drive it that most determines if you are going to get were you are going.
Personaly I have A hard time cocking the hammer back without serioulsy changing my grip on the gun. This I find totally unsatifactory. Another thing that made me upgrade to a real combat handgun was that the model I had didn't have any grooves in the slide to aid in racking it with slippery, bloody or sweaty hands. The decocker was the only thing to hold on to. This is a riduculous feature in a "combat" handgun. Newer versions do have this though I think. No cocked and locked feature on double actions available is another reason to leave this gun to those with limited budgets. Enough about why I wouldn't buy a ruger when I can get a cz75 at the same price.
Next, lots of factors affect accuracy in handguns. The fit between the moving parts is only one of them. I could mention things that would cause this thread to spiral of into infinite but I won't.
Now as it has been pointed out here slide to frame fit isn't neccesarily important concerning accuracy. Barrel to slide fit is important. The sights are on the slide, so if the barrel and slide are pointing slightlty in different directions every time you shoot you can expect that the bullets will end up in different places.
Bullet44, I thank you for your comments and agree with you. But, however, I would choose a reliable handgun that was accurate over a reliable handgun that is less accurate every time. You may never be called upon to use the extra accuracy but it is nice to know it is there just the same. Many guns are highly accurate and highly reliable but I agree that target or match grade guns tend to be picky.
This is going to be a beautiful weekend to be out shooting. Be safe and try to bring a nonshooter along and bring them into the fold. Peas -ddt
