TargetTalk

Hi I'm new to the site. I have been shooting bullseye pistol league for a couple of years now. I am using a ruger Mark 2 slab side with a volquartzen trigger kit in it. Now my question, I am wanting to get a 45 to be able to compete in matches. I don't have much that I can spend on it. Does anyone have any ideas for an entry level 45?


Thanks Craig

Welcome to the forum. There has been some talk on the Bullseye Forum about the Springfield Armory Range Officer being a good choice as a ready to go .45. It is priced about $750 which is not bad if it will get you started. There has been endless debate about buying a good .45 right away because if you are serious you will be buying one eventually anyway. I don't agree partly because not everybody has $2000 to spend. I have no first hand knowledge of this gun but one of the posters to the web based bulleye list has one and seems happy with it. Something to look into.

The recent Colt and Kimber pistols that I've personally tested shot very well. A trigger adjustment was all that was needed, plus an UltraDot if that is what you're planning.

"Cant spend much"" is a relative term. If you buy a used match grade 45 for 1200 dollars and the gun three years later is worth 1100, have you really spent 1200 dollars?
On the other hand if you buy a new cheap 45, then end up putting 500 dollars worth of work into it to it but the gun is worth less than the new price you paid for it, how much money have you spent?

My point is that to get good with a 45. the initial cost of the gun is only the beginning. Be prepared to put thousands into reloading equipment, bullets, powder, primers, and entry fees and travel to matches if you want to shoot bullseye with any kind of mastery at all. Buying a cheap 45 reduces your initial cost by only a few hundred bucks. It will save you nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Sprinfield range officer is the best and most accurate for the money. they run 750.00

I purchased a SA Range Officer and from a rest at 25 yards it will shoot 1 inch groups right out of the box. I paid $825 for mine and I felt I was paing to much, but the only one I could find at the time. The slide on the RO has an excellent fit and the trigger is nice (no pretravel or overtravel), but it is a 5 lb pull. I feel the RO is built well enough to support any upgrades you might want to do to it. Right now I'm going to shoot it as it is and maybe get a trigger job done at some point.

I also have a ruger mark III with the volquartsen kit and from a rest it will shoot the X ring out of the target at 50 feet. Now if I could just hold it that steady! :-)

Good luck with you search.

Ric

Tombstone Tactical in AZ had 6 the other day, 750 or 775.00 each. I did the transfer on one for a customer.

Thanks guys .

I think my son and I are going to look into a springfield Ro. It sounds like the best option for us I really appreciate the input It has help a lot.

Regards Craig

Rather than spend money on a low-priced gun that you'll quickly find doesn't cut it, ask around for used wad gun.

It will have all the work done already, and if it's a little tired it will still be better than a new cheapie.

I would check around for a used wad gun as Rover just said. There are quite a few of them on the market at reasonable prices. Consider it takes about 60,000 rounds to shoot a carbon steel frame loose, and one can be found at prices in your range. Stainless guns shoot lose faster at about 30,000 rounds because of the softer steel. Since the bulk of the built guns are an amalgramation of parts, slides and frames, they don't have a huge price tag.
Chris

Get on the bullseye-l list (look for it on Google). Ask for a wad gun for sale. You will get a number of good results of known good guns. That's what I did in your shoes about 6 months ago. You should be able to find a good used gun between 1k-1.5k.

If you don't want to go that route, get a STI Spartan. Its cheap and it will teach you to shoot 45, but its not as accurate as you need at 50 yards. Still, its a very accurate gun for sub-$1000, just as accurate as the Springfield.