David S.
The Apex barrel upgrade is guaranteed to tighten up the pistol’s accuracy but it won’t improve the pistol shooter’s accuracy. Step 1, as previously mentioned is shooting good groups at 25 yards to get a baseline with the factory barrel. Good groups, meaning with the pistol resting at a bench to eliminate human error. It sounds like you are dedicated to improving your accuracy skills. In that case it mostly makes sense because you are either at the level now, or will be in the future, where your skills will enable you to take appreciative advantage of the Apex barrel. If you do decide to invest in the barrel, best of luck, as I haven’t seen them in stock recently.
Thank you to all for your barrel upgrade input. I am unable to shoot out to 25 yards at either place I shoot, 50 feet may be the maximum at the outdoor range. That range is seldom used, so there is no one to ask to shoot my gun. I usually shoot at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 feet, but haven't measured my groups. I merely walk up to the targets and become disappointed when I see where I hit. I think I can safely say I'm no where near ready to upgrade my barrel. I'll continue my current practice routine and start measuring and recording my groups.
IDPA: When I attend indoor practice sessions with IDPA shooters, I have a lot of fun. I learn a lot, and it's quite challenging for me so I always have a great time.
Thank you, Danko--
You are 65yo, I am almost 64yo, and the thing that helped me more than my Apex barrel is going to a red dot optic.
IMO the order of enhancement is probably:
1) Optic
2) Enhanced Trigger
3) Apex Barrel
Originally Posted by mmc45414
You are 65yo, I am almost 64yo, and the thing that helped me more than my Apex barrel is going to a red dot optic.
IMO the order of enhancement is probably:
1) Optic
2) Enhanced Trigger
3) Apex Barrel
Thanks for chiming in. I'm aware a lot of people successfully use red dots, but I don't see the need for adding expensive technology to a gun that is rarely fired beyond 50 feet. I know a trigger upgrade would help my shooting as I fired a gun with a flat faced Apex trigger and it was really nice. I'm on the fence on upgrading my barrel, but a trigger upgrade is on my list.
Old guys like to have fun too!
I agree, I resisted for a long time!
You mentioned being disappointed, but didn't really quantify it. Are you shooting 4" groups or 10" groups?
ETA: Because I cannot shoot four inches without a red dot, a barrel will take you from four inches to two.
Hell Yeah!
Thank you for all the barrel upgrade input. I admit to wallowing around like an idiot. I should have been measuring my shot groups at every distance I shoot. I've bee using a large commercial target that has eight, five inch red circles on it. I shoot one five inch target for each distance I shoot. I also do some one hand shooting, and a little with my support hand too. At my age I should know better than to change or upgrade anything until my shooting improves and I measure my groups so I have basic science guidelines to refer to and gauge my improvement.
Something just came to mind: Even reasonably intelligent people sometimes revert to idiocy. I'm certainly guilty of it!
As someone suggested earlier, shoot the pistol for groups off of a steady surface such as a bench. If you don't have a shooting bag to shoot off of, I've used my range bag stuffed with a jacket after removing everything from the side pockets. You want something at a comfortable height that kind of 'forms a little bit to your hands as you rest them on the support. Take the time to get as comfortable as possible. Don't pay attention to where your rounds are hitting - maintain the same point of aim for all the shots. You are looking for group size, not whther the pistol shoots poa-poi.
Additionally, have a known good shooter fire some rounds for group out of the pistol.
IMO, if your pistol can shoot four-inch groups from the rest at 25 yards, as a newer shooter you are probably good barrel-wise for a while. If that is the case, as time goes by, you might think about re-barreling when you can shoot that four-inch group unsupported. At that point you would be shooting to the potential of your barrel and a fitted barrel would help you advance.
OTOH, a more accurate pistol certainly won't hinder you at this point in your journey.
JMO
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
2.0 trigger ain't bad and gets better with break-in.You are 65yo, I am almost 64yo, and the thing that helped me more than my Apex barrel is going to a red dot optic.
IMO the order of enhancement is probably:
1) Optic
2) Enhanced Trigger
3) Apex Barrel
I have multiple guns with both APEX and stock triggers and I'm gonna go ahead and say that the APEX is not that big of an improvement on the 2.0 guns.
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