Bad Loads, or Bad Shooting?

[Jon]

I went to the pistol shoot at the range today, and had a strange target. Normally, I'm scoring somewhere in the black, but today was odd. 25yds 1911 230gr Lee TL RN 4gr Bullseye
I don't match cases or weigh bullets, but I know my powder is consistently measured with my turret press. There wasn't any noticable difference between the rounds. Now, I know my front sight is a bit loose on my 1911, but it shouldn't make that much of a difference should it?

[Chihuahua Floyd]

Where all 5 of the out-of-black rounds from 1 mag? if so I would check to see if you still have a front sight. LOL
But the sequence, if known, matters.
Check the front sight. Can you shoot with sandbags or some other kind of rest?
Differences in case or bullet weight would need to be extreem to cause this at 25 yds.
If the front sight is no worse than before, I would mark it up to a bad day.
Some days I can't hit the ground.
CF

[Wolfer]

I've never considered myself a good pistol shot although I've been practicing for 40 years. Some days though I shoot worse than other days. If I'm working up a load and not happy with it I'll go get a known accurate gun and run a cyl full. Then I know if I'm just having a bad day.

[Jon]

Well 5 were out of one mag, and 5 were out of another. I don't know the sequence since I forgot my spotting scope.

I'll take it out next weekend with a rest, and see if that makes a difference.

In the meantime, I'll weigh some bullets to get some the same weight, and load them up in same brand cases. I know that shouldn't matter that much, but it might .

It's probably just a bad day, but I thought it was odd, that half were great, and the other resembled more of a shotgun pattern

[gasboffer]

I have "helped" a friend shooting groups before. He never did figure out why he was shooting the wild shots.

[Shiloh]

I went to the pistol shoot at the range today, and had a strange target. Normally, I'm scoring somewhere in the black, but today was odd. 25yds 1911 230gr Lee TL RN 4gr Bullseye
I don't match cases or weigh bullets, but I know my powder is consistently measured with my turret press. There wasn't any noticable difference between the rounds. Now, I know my front sight is a bit loose on my 1911, but it shouldn't make that much of a difference should it?

How loose is it?? It sure could.
Did you mix different lots of boolits that may have been sized differently?? Was it outside and cold?? That is, when my eyes water up from cold and a breeze, My shooting suffers. You live in Maine,
My guess is, it a bit brisk this time of year. It is here.


Shiloh

[cbrick]

Now, I know my front sight is a bit loose on my 1911, but it shouldn't make that much of a difference should it?

Oh . . . Sorry, I thought you were joking.

Um . . . yes it can and depending on how loose it can turn a nice group into shotgun patterns.

Rick

[Jon]

I'll see if I can stake it back in place. It's been loose for awhile, but haven't picked up a staking tool. Maybe a punch can get in there and tighten it up a bit.

The bullets are all from the same casting session. It's cold out, but we have an enclosed building with a stove. It's not too bad, but doesn't get toasty in there.

Thanks guys, I'll see what I can do with the sight.

[Cherokee]

The cold may be impacting you grip. I know when my grip is not right, I will shoot high and low. And yes, a loose front sight can make a big difference, I learned from experience.

[mpmarty]

A drop of crazy glue may solve your front sight problems without butchering the slide.

[geargnasher]

Looks like my shooting most days. Fix that front sight first.

Gear

[44man]

A loose sight on a short gun---YES it can. Your talking thousandths of an inch. Maybe why I hate little guns so much because I can no longer see in thousandths!
Yet I can not see that at 25 yards from a loose sight, just too close. You could remove the front sight and do as good.
Same as boolit weight, too close to see a thing.
I have to blame you in this case and I almost never blame a shooter. Your vision and the light on the sights can do that.

[High Lord Gomer]

A loose front sight can give you right and left variation but not up and down.

[Jon]

Any suggestions on restaking that front site without the $60 staking tool?

[captaint]

If you have a punch that's not real sharp at the point. Just support the sight on a flat surface - hopefully not steel - you won't have to hit it real hard. Couple of solid taps ought to do it. OK, a little harder than taps..... Mike

[Jkallen83]

may wanna weigh the bullets before loading. ive noticed the bullets cast in a cold mold are alot lighter than the average bullet once warmed up. it was giving me some fliers that i couldnt explain, after weighing, i learned there was about a 10gr weight difference. when i started weighing and culling or separating the different weights, the groupings tightened up.

for me, it only took about a 3+grain different before i noticed it not shooting where it should. might be worth checking out.

[waksupi]

Any suggestions on restaking that front site without the $60 staking tool?

Look at a picture of one, and grind one out. I used an old file to make mine.

[wv109323]

The poor mans front sight staking tool is a 3/8" bolt about 4" long that has a double kink bent into it. The end is ground to the size to stake the front sight tenon.
Your group is puzzling. It appears that none of the flyers were keyholing. What did your other groups look like on that day? If you had other targets (groups) that were acceptable it was probably you. It would be nearly statically improbable that 5 bad bullets would end up on the same target.
You could weigh some bullets to see if there is an obvious weight difference. ( Void in bullet).
Mixed brass will not in itself cause the problem in this target. If there was a powder difference then you would have noticed in the recoil or a malfunction.
The accuracy of a cast bullet in a .45 ACP is in the base of the bullet. You can not have a void where the sprue is cut and you can not have a rounded or dinged base on the bullet.
As a Master Class Bulleye shooter that is trying to get back in the game after a 7 year layoff I shot some miserable slowfire targets. I shot more visible misses this summer than in the last 20 years.
As wild as these shots are you should have been able to call a bad shot. One of the things that could cause this is not extending or locking your elbow. The other thing is retina burn. If you look at the target long enough The bullseye will burn in your retina and you can not see the actual bullseye.
Also a loose front sight can destroy a group. My guess is that it is your loose front sight.

[bigboredad]

I had a few targets look like that a couple weeks ago. I'd be shooting good the *** why is that shot 5 inches away. I finally decided it was my reloads. Then a friend showed up picked up my gun and shot a 2 inch group off hand at 25 yards. I like when he shoots my ammo except I have to accept some days I just suck

[BLTsandwedge]

Cold temps do strange things to fine motor movement and muscle memory. If it is cold out (I can't even imagine Maine cold after living this far west of the U.S. for so long) I don't expect nearly as much out of myself with golf, shooting or whatever (that's why the golf 'season' starts in HI). The front sight issue won't help things a-talll......