Limited Gun Slide And Frame Fit

[Fox]

I had read this forum and others as well, that frame and slide fit must be tight to gun shoot good groups.I think that is matter of faith. I have brand new Tanfoglio Limited HC .40 and it is incredibly loose, I mean really, really loose. Only barrel-slide fit is quite good. Gun produce 1.5" 25 yard 5 shot. So what is all about this tight frame-slide fit hype, tell me please

[Julien Boit]

A real tight fit between the frame and the slide is only about 15 % of final accuracy .

But the fact is that a gun which is tighter than the other will last longer.

The less play it have, the longer it will live, when heavily used, loose guns tend to wear faster than tight guns.

A friend of mine is shooting an SV which already shoot more than 130 000 rounds !

The slide as some play of course but the barrel lock up is still perfect and the three major components are still the same.

The quality of the materials are also a big factor, I don't think a Tanfo will last 130 000 rounds !

[2alpha]

Slide to frame fit is not as important on a Limited gun where the sights are mounted to the slide as long as the barrel to slide fit is good. An Open gun with the sights mounted to the frame is another matter. BTW 1 1/2 groups at 25 yds are not outstanding.

[spook]

I had a class with Saul Kirsch giving us instruction on various things. He showed us his gun. That is one loose gun. He said: "doesn't matter how loose a gun is , as long as it produces good groups" That made sense to me.

[rhino]

That 15% is probably being generous (for a Limited gun with sights on the slide).

The accuracy battle is won in the fitting of the barrel (and bushing if you have one) to the slide.

[SRT Driver]

I've got an NRA Action open gun that has many tens of k rounds through and it still shoots 1.5" @50, if I do my part and it has the load it likes.

The barrel locks up like a vise but there is some movement laterally in the slide and a little less vertically. It does not rattle, but the movement is noticable. But it runs ALL THE TIME !!!!!

Granted, this is not shooting a major load either.

[Fox]

Julien Boit (or somebody) tell me why loose guns wearing faster than tight ?

Thanks for reply.

[2alpha]

Loose guns wear out faster because of the same reason a longer hammer swing will do more damage than a shorter one all other things the same. As far as a gun getting loose and still shooting good I've noticed this affect myself. If you start out with a good fit they seem to still shoot good after they have some wear on them. No way would I put up with a sloppy fit on a new custom pistol. Run as fast as you can away from any gunsmith who says " I build em looser so they are more reliable ".

[Julien Boit]

This is a fact in mechanics.

Any parts, mainly metallic parts but it does work for others too , which are in contact and when there is some friction will wear faster when there is too much play.

The parts while moving will get more and more amplitude (not sure if it's the right english term ?)and so will wear faster.

I do close fitting everyday in my job (lathe and mill) and I know that too less play won't work properly but too much play won't work good either.

This is the same for firearms, even if some play is required for reliability, you don't want to have too much.

Unless you plan to shoot thousands of rounds through your pistols, it might be no big deal for you, but I hate when pistols make noise when you shake them.

But that's MY opinion.

As I told before a close fitting is maybe 15 % (i'll check it in the Kunhausen) of final pistol accuracy.

But when you add all the "15 %" things, you finally have a 100 % pistol