cohland Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 (edited) Recently I finished upgrading a Springfield 1911 Range Officer 9mm pistol, to be used for USPSA Single-Stack Division competition. Since previous models of this pistol that I have owned have had excellent accuracy out of the box, I was somewhat surprised to have accuracy problems with this one. Try as I might, I could not get a decent group at 15 yards, which is the distance at which I set sights for USPSA guns. Now, my definition of "good group" is probably sufficiently different from most that I need to explain myself. To test a pistol, I shoot it from a table using a modified pistol rest that mitigates the effect of my ability to jerk the trigger. I use my regular (corrected) shooting glasses, and my eyesight isn't the best (I have trouble with sight alignment), so what I can get out of a gun is usually less than it can deliver to a better shooter with better eyes. While I didn't measure the group, I'd say it was about 4" across. Not good. My previous attempt at the same type of pistol gave me about a 2" group immediately. Clearly, if I was planning to use this pistol in competition, some improvement was in order. What was different? I recall that the previous Range Officer I set up had a particularly sharp and uniform pattern of firing residue at the muzzle, like a little star pattern. Until now I had never connected that with accuracy, but with the new Range Officer I noticed a difference: it produced a somewhat raggedy residue pattern. Examining the muzzle crown closely with a 30x loupe, I could easily see that the ends of some of the lands in the barrel were uneven at the crown, as if they had been cut at a very slight angle. So, I figured I needed a muzzle crown job. A call to a local gunsmith got me an estimate of $125 and three weeks' wait. Pondering this for just a bit, I thought I'd go look on the web to see what I could find. What I found was Bill Springfield, whose website offers barrel crowning:Bill Springfield - www.TriggerWork.net, among other services. After a quick exchange of email messages (the man answers email, people!), I shipped my barrel off to Bill, expecting to see it a week later. Four days later it arrived, with a new 11° target crown. The following day I took it to the range, and shot a couple of 2" groups at fifteen yards, well before my morning coffee had kicked in. Delighted, I took a photo of the residue pattern, so that I could show it off, and here it is: Yes, that's oil all over the front of the gun. When I'm breaking in a 1911 I run them pretty wet, with lots of oil on the barrel and bushing. If you are having accuracy problems with a pistol, look at the powder residue pattern on the muzzle after you finish firing 50 or 100 rounds, enough to leave a pattern. If it's not uniform, you might think of having the muzzle re-crowned. Chris Edited August 1, 2015 by cohland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowenbuilt Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Great write up and 100% true. The star formed on the muzzle of a gun can tell you a lot about what's happening to the bullet as it leaves. It will also tell on bullets with whacky bases too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPostman Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Target crown is very important for accuracy. I notice that your barrel bushing isn't a very tight fit, I would be willing to bet that is you replaced the bushing with a tighter fitting one that your groups would be much tighter than they are now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troupe Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 That is a shadow on the bushing, caused by the barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdcguns Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Target crown is very important for accuracy. I notice that your barrel bushing isn't a very tight fit, I would be willing to bet that is you replaced the bushing with a tighter fitting one that your groups would be much tighter than they are now. I think that's just a shadow you're seeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohland Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 (edited) Target crown is very important for accuracy. I notice that your barrel bushing isn't a very tight fit, I would be willing to bet that is you replaced the bushing with a tighter fitting one that your groups would be much tighter than they are now. I think that's just a shadow you're seeing. Correct. The bushing-to-slide and bushing-to-barrel fit are both excellent, straight from the Springfield factory. Chris Edited August 2, 2015 by cohland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mach1soldier Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Target crown and a barrel bushing that requires a tool to remove are both very important and not very expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohland Posted August 3, 2015 Author Share Posted August 3, 2015 PS: Bill Springfield charged $35 for the muzzle crown work, including return postage. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peplow530 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 $125 seems pricey for a barrel crown. My local smith charges me $20 - $30 depending on his mood, hahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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