List of Accurate Guns

[Johnkard]

My recent endeavor to find and purchase a serviceable high performance handgun illustrated one major point:

Some guns are just plain more accurate than others.

Discipline and tactics asside, it's hard to find a handgun that can shoot a 1" grouping at 25 yards. A large part of this seems to be the modern barrel production style. Hammer forged barrels are a rarity, very few weapons are designed to use a barrel over 4.5," and standard 3 dot sights are simply not designed to discern targets at that range. I would thus, like to compose a list of guns and sights that members of the site have actually used to shoot a "good" group at 25 yards (say ~5").

If it was modified in some way to drastically affect ballistic performance or if you have to use a specific sight arrangement (front post and rear notch width are data points I would LOVE to get my hands on) to successfully do so, please explain.

[Nephrology]

Most production handguns that are working properly will be able to do this.

due to variance in production lines (and ESPECIALLY) in shooter skill levels, an opinion poll is not really going to tell you very much.

If you want a bullseye pistol, you should buy a bullseye pistol. They are usually marketed as such.

[orionz06]

The M&P issue is not as big of a deal but it has ruined perception on this. If you want to shoot bullseye buy a bullseye gun. If you want a super accurate service pistol you might be looking for the wrong thing.

Note that one M&P I tested from a bench shot a 1.98" group with duty ammo.

If looking for an especially accurate gun you are likely looking at a P30, HK45, or a G17 with a fitted barrel.

In response to the OP:

G17RTF2 (Nov 2010 mfg), 25 yards, from a rest with unknown weight Speed Gold Dot:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/orionz06/IMG_1806.jpg

M&P 9mm FS with Storm Lake barrel, Winchester Ranger-T 124gr +P:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/orionz06/IMG_1788.jpg

[Matt O]

+1 on G17 RTF - Trijicon HD sights w/ regular old Aguila 124 gr practice ammo shot freestyle @ 25 yards.

Honestly, given your standard of 5" at 25 yards, I'd say the vast majority of quality modern pistols, be it HK, Glock, S&W (excluding those M&P's which have the early unlock issue), etc., are all capable of this provided the shooter is skilled enough to take full advantage of the pistol's mechanical capabilities.

630

[EMC]

2nd grouping looks good, I have been extremely impressed with the accuracy potential of Winchester Ranger T 124 gr +P.

[orionz06]

2nd grouping looks good, I have been extremely impressed with the accuracy potential of Winchester Ranger T 124 gr +P.

I still need to try them with some ASYM and some 147gr stuff, just to see what they can do.

[Failure2Stop]

The most accurate pistols I have fired:
SA TRP Operator
P30
M9
Gen 4 G17

They are all relatively small sample sizes (except for the M9, having shot 50 to 75 different guns) compared to broader experience on other pistols.

[guymontag]

DotW#1 in the Drill of the Week sub-forum may contain pertinent information, a 'snapshot' in time of forum members and their accuracy at twenty five yards. I know my Walther's accuracy capabilities exceed my own, I presume the majority of the members in the aforementioned thread share the respective sentiment.

A more direct answer (standing, freestyle):
Walther P99 - 3.3" group, 10 rounds, Federal Champion
CZ 75B - ~4.5" group, 10 rounds, unknown ammo (around a fist sized group, occurred before I obsessively recorded performance).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Long tom coffin]

My recent endeavor to find and purchase a serviceable high performance handgun illustrated one major point:

Some guns are just plain more accurate than others.

Discipline and tactics asside, it's hard to find a handgun that can shoot a 1" grouping at 25 yards. A large part of this seems to be the modern barrel production style. Hammer forged barrels are a rarity, very few weapons are designed to use a barrel over 4.5," and standard 3 dot sights are simply not designed to discern targets at that range. I would thus, like to compose a list of guns and sights that members of the site have actually used to shoot a "good" group at 25 yards (say ~5").

If it was modified in some way to drastically affect ballistic performance or if you have to use a specific sight arrangement (front post and rear notch width are data points I would LOVE to get my hands on) to successfully do so, please explain.



In reference to your title, all current major firm production handguns are "accurate". There are plenty of guns out there that can shoot 1" groups at 25 yards. There is a MUCH smaller group of shooters who can accomplish the same.


I'm also highly in disagreement with your analysis of three dot sights.

By way of example, I just got back from the range, shooting a sub 4" group at 25 yards with a 20 year old Gen 2 glock 19 equipped with an NY1 and an Ameriglo Hack front and pro-operator rears (as a side note, this is definitely my new hotness sight combo. It will be equipped on all my guns). I did the same on a Gen 4 19 with MEPS! (blech). Slow fire, to be sure, but still doable. That Gen 2 rattles like a maraca, but to say it shoots great would be an understatement. I'm also quite sure that those groups are the result of my own inadequacies at longer ranges, and no defect of the pistols. As I train and practice more and more, I'm quite sure those groups will get smaller and smaller.

[JHC]

For 5 shots at 25 yards rested:

I have seen under 2" from the following semiautos:
Gen 4 G17 #1 with Ranger 147 grain (see Avatar).
Sig P220

2"-2.5" from
SA TRP
Dave Sams built 1911 (only a few loads tried so far a very few occassions. I think it's got much more in it)
Gen 3 G21 with Fed 230 gr HST
Gen 4 G17 #2 with Win NATO

2.5" - 3" from
Gen 3 RTF2 G17
Gen 3 G17 OD frame
Gen 3 G34

Pretty much all of my S&W revolvers 4" and 6" have printed sub 3" or sub 2.5" and a few under 2" groups at one time or another.

I've never managed anything so pretty from a G19 of any Generation (all on me)

[Robert Mitchum]

JMO on guns I owned or still have..
I have or had 1911's that are very good.
Bob Marvel Custom Classic
Les Baer Thunder ranch 1 1/2" upgrade
Les Baer Ultimate Master 1 1/2" upgrade
Les Baer Premier II 1 1/2" upgrade
Had a Les Baer Monolith Heavyweight 1 1/2" that was a great shooter
5 Wilson Combats
5 Nighthawk Customs
2 Ed Browns

Polymer Wonders that I think are very accurate shooters at 25 yards
HK 45
HK P 30L
XDM 45
XDM 5.25 (45)
FNP 45
A good friend lets me shoot his pistols
PPQ 9 & 40
HK p30 40
XDM 5.25 40
All his glocks are accurate at 25 yards

[10mm]

Most tight 1911's will shoot 1 inch at 25 yards.My 45 has and once in a while I've got 3 inch at 50 yards.Can't do it all the time but the gun can do it.I've got 3 inch 5 shot groups at 25 out of the new M&P 9mm I got for my wife but that is with carefully loaded handloads and I think that's mainly because I haven't got use to staple gun triggers yet.10 shot groups go around 4 inchs and seeing what others are getting with theirs I guess I should feel lucky.If I ever try out another plastic pistol it will be a HK.I've been tempted to get a glock 10mm since I like the round so much.My colt shoots 3 inch groups at 25 easily even with loads pushing 155 xtp's over 1450 fps.I've always stuck to 1911's because the revolver triggers have spoiled me so much that it's hard to shoot anything else quite as accurate for me.I am getting a kick out of trying to shoot my plastic gun as well though.The light weight is a lot easier for carry.

[YVK]

Every 1911 I've owned - full custom Colt, light custom Kimber, almost stock Colt, stock Kimber - all have shot very well. You're not going to hear me say good things about Kimbers often, but they do shoot very well in general. A rental 9 mm Springfield EMP put 9 out of 10 rounds in one hole at 7 yards. Those were first 10 rounds I shot from that gun. I have not been able to do anything like this before or after with any other gun.

Every HK I shot could easily hang in with 1911s. I have shot about 5 different P30s and they all were very accurate. I have not heard about inaccurate P7M8; something to be said about HK barrels and a fixed-barrel design. Mine is exceptionally accurate.