cnote Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Theory is to tighten up the slide to frame fit??? and thus accuracy. Only negative I have seen in search's may be that it gets sluggish when shot in dusty like conditions. Any opinions on the process, positive or negative. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Theory is to tighten up the slide to frame fit??? and thus accuracy. Only negative I have seen in search's may be that it gets sluggish when shot in dusty like conditions. Any opinions on the process, positive or negative. Thanks Many have had it done. If your slide to frame fit is not sloppy, don't waste your money. Once your frame is cut for rails, all your future slides will have to be fit. This means sending new slide and frame. In our sport (USPSA) that kind of accuracy is not needed. Yes, the gun will be sensitive to anything in the rails like dirt or cooper shavings. JMHO and experience with rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OperationHitFactor Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) What are you trying to accomplish? Does the gun have optics or iron sights? IDPA, Steel, USPSA, etc? How are your groups now? Is this a new build or is it a refurb? Bushing or Bull? Lots of variables to consider. I would call Doug Jones. He's a great gunsmith and been around for a very longtime. If you give him a call and discuss your expectations and give him some details he will help you. That being said, provide the forum with more details and you'll get some solid answers. Don't worry about dusty situations. If you find yourself shooting in the desert just maintain your gun. Walk over to a safe table every few stages. Pull the top end off, give the rails a quick wipe, and apply a little oil. Go to go At any rate, if this is a new build... No. If it is ironsight bushing barrel... no need. If it is a high dollar open gun... buy a new slide to fit to the frame. If it is a sloppy beat up gun with a blown out barrel or poorly fit barrel, accurail will not help you. Accurail does serve a purpose, but it's for certain situations. Again need more details Edited February 17, 2012 by OperationHitFactor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnote Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Its a used uspsa limited gun, iron sites, I would be the third owner. The first one states it was his back up and had Doug Jones do the work. The second owner stated he rarely shot it. Scheumann Classic AET barrel. I will give him a call Thanks for any input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshidaex Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 This is my understanding of accurails as far as wear is concerned. Since the rails are softer than the frame/slide, the rails wear first. Installing replacement rails will help tighten up the frame/slide fit after the original set of rails start getting sloppy. Purchasing a gun with accurails isn't a bad thing unless you need a slide replaced due to a crack, breech face erosion, etc, etc. That's when you have to send a new slide along with your frame to someone who does accurails unlike a regular frame/slide combo where you can drop it off at a local smiths shop. I don't think you need to accurail a gun when it starts getting sloppy. I don't know what it costs initially to accurail a loose frame/slide combo but I'm sure it wont be as much as having a new slide installed. But I do think it's convenient if you feel you need to tighten the frame/slide fit if you have spare rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnote Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 (edited) , Edited February 19, 2012 by cnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb45 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have a SV that is Accu-Railed. I purchased it that way. I have experience no downside to having them on the gun. It is tight, smooth, etc. There is no 'slowness' to the gun. It is not sensitive to dirt, etc. any more than any of my other guns. Mine has a Schuemann barrel in it. This gun is crazy accurate. If I want to change the slide out, I think it would cost me an extra $250 for the slide to be accur-railed again. In the giant scheme of costs that is not a big deal. I just looked into a switch over of calibers, basically $200 for a slide, $200 for a barrel, and $250 for accu-rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Another slide is less costly. http://www.acc-u-rail.com/prices.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 $215 to have a gun acc-u-railed. $40 or more each way in shipping. We are now looking at $300. I had it done once. IMO, waste of money and time. The rails should be removed whenever you clean the gun and it is a PITA. The rails will wear quicker than a slide and frame. If you do not buy an extra set of rails at the time of fitting, guess what--send the gun back to have new rails fitted. No way. Not needed. Save your money for ammo. Most used Limited guns would never need acc-u-rails. IF I bought a used gun and the frame to slide fit was so bad I felt I needed to have it acc-u-railed, I better have got the gun for $500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Action Pistolero Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I've been shooting railed guns since '99. I have had zero problems. I don't remove the rails everytime I clean them. Those that know me know that I clean my guns well and often. I rarely take them out. I have had a few guns where they would fall out. On an Open gun where the scope is mounted to the frame then I am a firm believer in rails. On open sighted guns the rails aren't needed unless the slide to frame fit is real bad. When I'm building a custom, you have to pay for fitting the slide to the frame anyway so the rails aren't very expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovbuild Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) Good timing on this subject. I have a 4 year old S&W SS 1911 that I bought to shoot pins with. As it progressed it got a c-more and a comped barrel as well as a few other things done to it. I have about 40,000+ heavy PF 215 loads threw it...For what I use it for it's been very accurate, I can in rapid fire mag after mag into a 2" hole at 30'. Being a contender at pin shoot was easy with this gun...Lately I have been "leaving" one and feel that my shooting was getting sloppy with this gun, thankfully my LB that I use in the iron sight division is still running very tight. So I decided to check my zero which has never really drifted in the three years it's been on the gun. I Did have to make changes when shooting different loads. First three shots were 2" high an 2" left, The next two were on...Hmm I might be getting ready for the "home". Now the slides been getting a bit loose over the last year and I noticed that the side to side sloppinessss was now joined with a quite a bit of play up and down at the forwardrd end of the slide...Was thinking of retiring it but decided to let Doug Jones tighten it up. I will get it back in a couple of weeks and hopefully it will put a few more years life back into the gun.... BTW Dougs price is 215, 25 for shipping back and I paid 10 to ship to him. Way cheaper that building a new beater.. Edited February 25, 2012 by hovbuild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whoops! Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I have a SV that is Accu-Railed. I purchased it that way. I have experience no downside to having them on the gun. It is tight, smooth, etc. There is no 'slowness' to the gun. It is not sensitive to dirt, etc. any more than any of my other guns. Mine has a Schuemann barrel in it. This gun is crazy accurate. I second this paragraph. The same is exactly true for me. As another has said, it is most important in a gun with a frame-mounted red-dot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPM8shot Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I had my Para P14-45 Accurailed in 1995, I shot it in IPSC for 10 years. The feel of the slide to frame fit is very solid. The slide is easy to move at any angle. (No binding what so ever)Cleaning is very easy. No more difficult than Non railed. Yes, you have to pay attention so as not to lose a rail but, After 80K rounds it is still tight and very accurate. I also had a switch top Caspian single stack 9mm/45ACP, Accu-railed. Again no big deal just send both slides. I agree if your frame to slide fit is already tight I would not do it. Regards, Randy USPSA A27966 NRA Life Member CVD5294 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotisiv Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 The purpose of the accu rail is tight groups at farther distances. Do a little trig based on the movement in the slide at lockup when the trigger is engaged and the greater the distance to the target the greater the angle will be and the less accurate the shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CocoBolo Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 I have an older open gun that has a bit of a lose slide, so I came across a real deal on one that had a real lose slide, by this I mean you tilt that gun from side to side and it rattled, that is what I call lose. So I bought it to learn about Acc-u-rail. I sent it off Doug Jones, and I ordered an extra set of rails. The turn around was fast, and it came back with the slide tighter than dicks hat band. As I intended sold the gun locally, and the buyer who had several open gun, took it out and give it a lot of testing and it is the most accurate gun period. Doug does a great job. Keep in mind the rest of the gun was all high dollar and in pristine condition. The gun has to be kept clean for it to run, that with a 9# recoil spring.. Fortuantely I have a good smith, he looked over my old loosey goosey gun and said the accuracy problem I had was with the cone being lose in the slide, I put on a new comp tightened up they slide to cone fit and that darn old gun shoots very nice. Is it as accurate as my new custom built gun nope but plenty too good for USPSA. The point is if the slide is a bit lose the gun can still be very accurate if the barrel locks up consistently and if the barrel bushing is good and tight (cone). While most of us are OCD about slide fit, sometimes we are whipping the wrong dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisMcCracken Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Would a accurailing an aluminum frame increase the longevity of the frame given aluminum's inherently softener nature? The idea being to have steel rails take the beating instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovbuild Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) Got my gun back yesterday from Doug Jones and it is a thing of beauty..Zeroed in the c-more last night and off a rest shot a five shot 1" group at 25 yards..........he did a bit more than railed it, new f p s ( I had a flat small radius one), 17 lb main spring, wielded and refit the barrel, new barrel link, 10 lbs recoil spring ( I had a 17#), new longer ejector and re crowned the barrel. The gun is like it is on tight ball bearings. Off hand the dot stays on target a lot better with my heavy pin loads and the rising of the slide is almost straight back. His attention to detail is what I would expect from a gun smith of his experience. Turn around time was just over three weeks. He recommends shooters choice fp10 for lube with SS guns, I have been using gun butter. Anybody else on this recommend? Thanks Doug Bill Edited March 29, 2012 by hovbuild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now