Gunsmithing ? for 1911 shooters out there

[TKCattle]

I just bought my 1st 1911. Sig 1911 Fastback Nightmare put a little over a 100 rounds through it this weekend and it shoots left 75% of the hits are in the left lower quarter of a 8 in. plate at 50 feet. Sights are fixed. My question is should I buy a sight pusher and move it my self or take it to a gunsmith and have it done?

 

[CRT2]

Make sure it isn't you first - have someone familiar with 1911s shoot it or shoot it off a rest.

 

[Sniper266]

Sight pushers are easy to use if you have a way of measuring, but for the cost of a sight pusher you can just pay someone to do it.
A gunsmith will be best ae to adjust the elevation of the front sight.

My fist question though is, are you sure that its not you? A lot of people shoot low left and it could be a grip problem with the new pistol. I always question myself first, and dont make adjustments to the gun for shooter error

 

[wilson1911]

I use a bag to rest the gun on to check the sights. If its a new gun, and your first 1911, more than likely your grip is off. Try shooting with the other hand to see if it changes position. It takes lots of rounds to get your grip correct. semi-relaxed with shooter hand, and a bit more pressure with off-hand. If your coming from a plastic gun, shoot more rounds changing pressure.

 

[TKCattle]

I will get to shooting and shoot form a rest and see if it changes. What is a good sight pusher if I need to go that route . Have shot a Glock fo years.

 

[ballistic64]

For me, when I go low left, I know my support hand isn’t doing it’s job

 

[wilson1911]

ballistic is very correct. Most of us grip too tightly, and do not let the support hand do more of the work. Your driving a porsche now, not a gremlin/brick glock.

Congrats on the purchase btw.

 

[Hoser]

Have someone else shoot it to be sure it isn't you.

 

[TKCattle]

No I am the only one that has shot it. Thanks for the help I will work on these pointers and see if it is me or the Sig.

 

[DaleGribble82]

Congrats on the purchase. Just went through this exact same scenario with my dad. Bought him a Colt Combat Elite for his 50th birthday. My dad hasn’t carried a 1911 on duty since the early 90s. He’s carried either an HK USP or a Sig 229 with a Sig 239 on his ankle.

We got to the range, and he started firing it and was grouping extremely well but off to the left like you described. After a few mags consistently the same he assumed the sights needed to be pushed. I told him to take my Baer and shoot it, exact same results except the groups were even tighter but still to the left.

After he saw this he agreed it was his grip. It was just the fact he had been shooting Sigs for over 20 years since the last time he fired a 1911. Didn’t need to move his sight, and at the end of the day he was grouping center mass POA/POI.

Hope this helps. How do you like the nightmare so far? I’ve always been intrigued by the nightmare commander myself, but haven’t ever pulled the trigger on one.

 

[Sam Dunham]

John Moses Browning’s 1911 is widely considered the gold standard here in the USA when it comes to naturally fitting your hand and pointing at the target. It has a grip angle of ~18* off of square.

When Gaston Glock designed the G17, he gave it a grip angle of ~22* of off square. If you could leave your grip in the exact same position and exchange the 1911 for a Glock, you’d be aiming high. But measuring from the front of the grip really doesn’t tell the whole story, you really need to account for the hump at the bottom rear.

 

[308pirate]

Have shot a Glock fo years.

There's your problem

 

[George P. Burdell]

That's the most common place to miss for most shooters. Consistency is a good thing though. Once you identify the issue you will be in good shap

 

[bax]

TK, as you can see, nobody here likes the 1911. The trigger sucks. It doesn't have enough parts. There are very few after-market parts for it. It's hard to shoot well. It's ugly. There aren't enough variations. It is hard to tune.

Okay that was fun. The only things actually wrong with the 1911 are (in my opinion) the magazine is too small and it weighs too much. When you can get your technique adjusted, I predict that you will like it and you will shoot it well and you will agree that all of the stuff in the previous paragraph are backward.

 

[SporterII]

And to the latter paragraph;
I have a new Dan Wesson lightweight Govt model. 9mm , Nolan style and 10 rd mags.
Does not pull my pants down ammo is lighter as well and no Beaurocrat 10 rd mags needed.

 

[bax]

When I shoot low left,

1. I was dipping - At the moment of firing, I push the gun forward and the muzzle dips. Usually happens during the first few pistol sessions in the spring. Overly sensitive to recoil.
2. my strong hand was not far enough around the gun so my trigger finger was pushing on the right side of the trigger

Everybody is different so I am probably doing what the chart says, too.

 

[troupe]

Grip pressure. 60% weak/support hand 40% strong hand and relax. Keep your grip high on the pistol

 

[clcustom1911]

Since you're used to shooting a block, er, Glock, you may be using too much or too little finger on the trigger in combination with gripping too hard. That will cause a low-left impact.

Do LOTS and LOTS of dry fire. That was the one thing which really improved my 1911 shooting.

Additional info: I CCW a G45, good gun, but definitely not any any league near my Les Baer or my other custom 1911's I've had.

 

[Slo cat]

Yes, dry practice can tell you what is happening. Remember, press the trigger straight to the rear. If you have even a little angle in your trigger press, the hit will be off. In dry practice, watch the front sight when the hammer falls. It should remain stationary. Any movement indicates a trigger press is not exactly to the rear.

 

[Spdy]

TK congrats. 1911s are like chips, you can’t have just one. Shooting off a rest will quickly show if POA and POI are off.

The aluminum frame 1911s will knock a few ounces off. I have hundreds of rounds through my Wiley Clapp Colt with minimal wear except for holster rash.

 

[Decoy]

He is a lesson in gripping the pistol that I give shooters to help with their accuracy and precision.
Hopefully this will help you, I used to shoot 25-35K rounds a year and it was the one thing that I always kept in the forefront on my training sessions.

Hold your finger at 90 degrees with your wrist straight and elbow down out if front of your body.

You will see that when you do pull your trigger the result is a angled pull which results in a lower left hit. If you are doing the same trigger pull on a a rifle it is effected less due to the extra weight.

Now try the same with a slight bend in your wrist.

The bend in your wrist is necessary to give you the "more" correct angle to have the trigger come back clean. As you grab your gun, do everything the same but angle your wrist out about 10-20 degrees, it makes a huge difference in the angle of your trigger finger.

For me I only have the pad of my finger on the trigger, I see others all the way through due to hand size. The important aspect is to have your finger coming back at the correct angle.

The most important part of the trigger is maintaining the correct angle of the wrist/finger. As you shooters adjust their grip when learning something new they tend to go backwards. To see if your wrist/finger is in the right position, look a small gap in between your finger and the gun. Whether I am shooting long range or pistol I try to maintain this gap. It also allows you feel the trigger break better without resistance.

Jerry Miculek would build his grips up at this area to maintain that position since the revolvers had a heavier pull. Try it and see if it helps your groups.