1911/2011 Day at the Range

[rdtompki]

I brought my Staccato C2 and a Kimber HD Pro Carry to the range along with my competition Springer 1911, all in 9mm. I just wanted to get a few mags down range with the C2 and Kimber before starting practice. The practice loads are relative soft, used in the Kimber and Springer. The C2 load was a bit stouter, 3.4gr Sport Pistol behind 127gr (still short of factory).

Staccato C2 - I had recently swapped out the red dot for the original iron sights. I like the red dot but don't need it and all my training is with the iron sight Springer. The jury is out. The C2 sight picture never budged in recoil; it's not that the sight picture restore during recoil; the sight alignment never budged. With a bit of practice I could run the C2 faster than my 1911 hands down. Granted the C2 has the recoil master spring, but it's still a very light gun - go figure.

Kimber - The Kimber has been fitted with a Primary Arms ACSS red dot. I find the Commander-size 1911s, particularly with a bull barrel, to be much better balanced than its 5" slide brothers. The Kimber was soft shooting with just a bit of sight rise. This would be fun to run in the IDPA equivalent of Carry Optics.

Springer -- Feels nose heavy compared to the Kimber with a comparable sight rise during recoil. Still, it's my old familiar and I'm wedded to it for Single Stack competitions.

Takeaway - There is no reason the Springer sights can't be as steady as the C2. Sure, the C2 has a larger grip providing a better purchase, but I wasn't even applying much grip pressure. I'm thinking that the Springer might be under sprung something us Steel Challenge competitors trend toward in an attempt to run the softest possible loads. I'm guessing the soft springing results in too much slide velocity. I'm going to bring 9 and 10 lb. recoil springs next week and see if I can sneak up on C2 behavior. That C2 is joy to shoot.

[wvincent]

I brought my Staccato C2 and a Kimber HD Pro Carry to the range along with my competition Springer 1911, all in 9mm. I just wanted to get a few mags down range with the C2 and Kimber before starting practice. The practice loads are relative soft, used in the Kimber and Springer. The C2 load was a bit stouter, 3.4gr Sport Pistol behind 127gr (still short of factory).

Staccato C2 - I had recently swapped out the red dot for the original iron sights. I like the red dot but don't need it and all my training is with the iron sight Springer. The jury is out. The C2 sight picture never budged in recoil; it's not that the sight picture restore during recoil; the sight alignment never budged. With a bit of practice I could run the C2 faster than my 1911 hands down. Granted the C2 has the recoil master spring, but it's still a very light gun - go figure.

Kimber - The Kimber has been fitted with a Primary Arms ACSS red dot. I find the Commander-size 1911s, particularly with a bull barrel, to be much better balanced than its 5" slide brothers. The Kimber was soft shooting with just a bit of sight rise. This would be fun to run in the IDPA equivalent of Carry Optics.

Springer -- Feels nose heavy compared to the Kimber with a comparable sight rise during recoil. Still, it's my old familiar and I'm wedded to it for Single Stack competitions.

Takeaway - There is no reason the Springer sights can't be as steady as the C2. Sure, the C2 has a larger grip providing a better purchase, but I wasn't even applying much grip pressure. I'm thinking that the Springer might be under sprung something us Steel Challenge competitors trend toward in an attempt to run the softest possible loads. I'm guessing the soft springing results in too much slide velocity. I'm going to bring 9 and 10 lb. recoil springs next week and see if I can sneak up on C2 behavior. That C2 is joy to shoot.

Interesting that you went back to the irons after going to the red dot. Do you see a time change in your first shot or your splits going back to the irons?
Basically asking, is your sight acquisition better or worse since the change?

[rdtompki]

Interesting that you went back to the irons after going to the red dot. Do you see a time change in your first shot or your splits going back to the irons?
Basically asking, is your sight acquisition better or worse since the change?

I didn't do much timing with the red dot but with way over 100K rounds of steel challenge practice it would take some time before my red dot draw would match that would irons. Probably ditto with splits. The Staccato, with these less than factory loads, was so stable with irons I can't imagine a red dot being any fast, but that's just me. Also, I don't have binocular vision (meaning I can't fuse left and right eye, which probably has a slight effect on performance with a red dot.