Buying a used 1911 for bullseye worth it?

[moparmatt383]

Hello all,

This is a question for any bullseye shooters out there. I started a doing the 50 ft 22 gallery match shooting about a year ago and found it to be a lot of fun. That being the case I eventually would like to try shooting the centerfire matches with a 1911/red dot combo so I am starting to do some research on wad cutter 1911's. I have talked to a couple pistol smiths here in Mass and it seems like basic tuning of a 1911 for bullseye with a match barrel can run from $700 to $1000 dollars. I already have a nice Para Ord single action/single stack 1911 that I was thinking about having set up, but then I was thinking about getting a used bullseye gun. I have come across a couple of used 1911s over the last few months that have already been set up for bullseye around the $700 to $1000 dollar price range. These weren't collector guns, but older customs. The problem is none of the gun shop owners know any history on the pistols so my question is what can you look for in one to reduce your chances of getting a lemon or is it just better to have something tuned from new by a pistol smith. I figure if I could buy a used one for the price of having mine set up then I could leave my para alone and have 2 1911's and the more the merrier, lol.

Any thoughts on this would be great,

Matt

 

[marvelshooter]

Tough question answer without seeing or preferably shooting the gun but here goes. As long as they are in decent shape your price range sounds good for a Bullseye ready 1911. About all you can check without firing it is the slide to frame fit and the barrel to bushing fit. Both of these need to be checked with slide forward - not locked back. The bushing is not hard to replace so even a loose one is no big deal. The frame to slide fit is more work but it only needs to be really tight if you are using a frame mount for a red dot. It is less important when using open sights or a slide mount for a scope. Good luck.

 

[TonyT]

A good used bulleye 45 for the price range quoted would be very reasonable. It is difficult to judge the performance without seeing how well the gun shoots. I found a Springfield Armory Trophy Match which was very accurate but required a new set of innards (sear, hammer, dissconnector, mainspring and sear spring) since the factory ones provided a very long and hard trigger pull. The Dan Wesson Pointman was accuarte and reliable right out of the box with a great factory trigger. I used both mostly for IDPA and UPSA matches. I have a S&W945PC set up with a Docter red dot sight which I use for bulleye pistol - super accurate, excellent factory trigger but it's not a 1911.

 

[moparmatt383]

Good info so far. Anybody else want to weigh in.

 

[Mike-Mike]

Remember when you see those wear marks, and it looks like it was used A LOT. It didn't get like that because it was giving someone a hard time. It got like that because it was fun to shoot and did its job. The LNIB guns scare me.

 

[bbarer]

I would just add that bullseye is all about accuracy, very different from action shooting matches. A good action shooting gun may be useless in bullseye competition. Things to look for is a good trigger, tight smooth slide to frame fit and tight barrel bushing. If using a red dot (I shot 50 yard outside NMC with iron sights for years very sucsesfully) the sight mount needs to be frame mounted and very rigid..

Then again if your just getting started any 1911 will be fine while your learning and gaining experience. I would say shoot what you have learn to be accurate with iron sights and then build from there...

 

[Greg Derr]

A Bullseye gun needs to have two strong points, a great trigger and super accuracy. Don't be afraid of buying a used gun if you must. Most BE shooters took very good care of their "babies". That being said, I would buy a new SA Range Officer and have it tuned by someone who knows how to build a bullseye gun. The reason is this, years ago a smith had to work with mostly Colt parts that were hobbled from either Colt or the military, there was not a lot of " oversized" parts and or barrels. Today you can get almost every part oversized and of superior quality and machine work. Barrels are no longer welded to fit a Gun, they come oversized with chambers a gunsmith can cut. If you want a proper BE gun with zero rounds through it, have one made. It's worth the price and wait.