A couple of days ago I was extolling the virtues of the (genuine) GI "short" trigger with the checkered face, for 1911 autos. IMO said trigger “tucks” the pull right up against the frame, where it belongs. This minimizes the trigger-finger's sideways leverage on the gun, which I suspected was causing me to group left with this gun, in offhand shooting. That suspicion grew into certainty when the same gun and loads printed center, when fired two-handed from a solid rest.
"Ol' Dan" graciously provided a gen-u-wine GI trigger, which plugged into the Auto-Ord GI like it had been born there. I noticed right off that the weight of the gun was back in my grip, and it felt natural again. Dry firing felt pretty good. It was time to experiment, and it was going to take some offhand shooting to prove my theory.
The National Match Course of fire is the best yardstick I know of, to measure the successful marriage of the shooter to the gun. Condensed, it is-
Ten shots slow fire- ten shots in ten minutes, at 50 yards, fired on the NRA B-6 target.
Ten shots timed fire- two, five-shot strings, twenty seconds for each string, at 25 yards &
Ten shots rapid fire, i.e. two, five-shot strings, ten seconds for each string, at 25 yards.
Both fired on the NRA B-8 target.
The gun is held in one hand, “standing on your hind legs like a man.”
300 points are possible, if you can hit a baseball-sized ten rig, offhand, every shot at both distances. You need to be properly skilled and equipped. I was neither, and I knew it. It haven’t shot bullseye in years, and I never shot it seriously- which is at least some of the reason I was never good at it. Equipment was the smaller part of my problem, and I knew that too. Shooting is always fun, but I found myself dreading the reporting of this event.
I reminded myself that I was trying to prove a point, and so I gritted my teeth and shot it anyhow. The load was a 200 grain SWC over 5.0 grains of W231, in mixed brass and using WLP primers. It typically shoots a little high from this gun-
25 yards
50 yards
Score was 223/300, one lonely X- sad by any standards. But here’s what’s important- I had fired a few strings with this same gun and load last week, at 25 and 50 yards. Groups were left of the bull at 25 yards, and on the left edge of the paper at 50. The sights have not been touched; the only thing changed was the trigger, which had been a medium-long one with a sharp, serrated face. If you are shooting off for windage with your 1911, you just might try a short smooth trigger. I think I proved that in my case at least, the longer trigger was a detriment to my shooting.
Well that, and that I really need to do a LOT more offhand shooting.
"Ol' Dan" graciously provided a gen-u-wine GI trigger, which plugged into the Auto-Ord GI like it had been born there. I noticed right off that the weight of the gun was back in my grip, and it felt natural again. Dry firing felt pretty good. It was time to experiment, and it was going to take some offhand shooting to prove my theory.
The National Match Course of fire is the best yardstick I know of, to measure the successful marriage of the shooter to the gun. Condensed, it is-
Ten shots slow fire- ten shots in ten minutes, at 50 yards, fired on the NRA B-6 target.
Ten shots timed fire- two, five-shot strings, twenty seconds for each string, at 25 yards &
Ten shots rapid fire, i.e. two, five-shot strings, ten seconds for each string, at 25 yards.
Both fired on the NRA B-8 target.
The gun is held in one hand, “standing on your hind legs like a man.”
300 points are possible, if you can hit a baseball-sized ten rig, offhand, every shot at both distances. You need to be properly skilled and equipped. I was neither, and I knew it. It haven’t shot bullseye in years, and I never shot it seriously- which is at least some of the reason I was never good at it. Equipment was the smaller part of my problem, and I knew that too. Shooting is always fun, but I found myself dreading the reporting of this event.
I reminded myself that I was trying to prove a point, and so I gritted my teeth and shot it anyhow. The load was a 200 grain SWC over 5.0 grains of W231, in mixed brass and using WLP primers. It typically shoots a little high from this gun-
25 yards
50 yards
Score was 223/300, one lonely X- sad by any standards. But here’s what’s important- I had fired a few strings with this same gun and load last week, at 25 and 50 yards. Groups were left of the bull at 25 yards, and on the left edge of the paper at 50. The sights have not been touched; the only thing changed was the trigger, which had been a medium-long one with a sharp, serrated face. If you are shooting off for windage with your 1911, you just might try a short smooth trigger. I think I proved that in my case at least, the longer trigger was a detriment to my shooting.
Well that, and that I really need to do a LOT more offhand shooting.