Where to start for accuracy

Hi
We are getting ready for center fire season in our club, so I dug out the 45 and started practice. I haven't shot it since last year so I wasn't expecting great results and I didn't get them. This year I am a better shooter and I should be getting decent groups at 50ft. But they are embarrassing.  I'm going out on a limb and saying I don't think it is me, and the gun may not be high end bullseye level but I'm pretty sure it shoots better than I'm seeing. I bench rested it and the shots were literally all over the place,  In fact I shoot it better off hand then bench resting.  So its quite obvious I'm doing something wrong there. I can't always call my shots but sometimes I'm there, last night I called a shot and it really should have been very close and the bullet went through 6 inches away and that's at only 50ft.

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree but I'm looking at the ammo. I'm using a square deal reloader with Missouri 185 grn. Bullseye bullets, federal primers with 3.2 bullseye powder.  I don't remember where I got that load from but that is what I have been shooting.  The powder seems a little light but I only have to go 50 ft. 
 I guess my question would be where do I start on the path to accurate reloading ?
Would a chronograph be appropriate and try to achieve a certain ft/min ?
Or a ransom rest and just try a bunch of different combinations  ? That sounds like the long way.
I'm not afraid to buy either one,  I really want to get good at this.
Thank you for any advice, Tom

I was told a lubricated rock could hold x at 50’ so the pistol should shoot better. Yes a chrono will help people state 700-780 feet per second is the best range with SWC’s. If you have access to a ransom rest you should use it. You didn’t mention if you are using a dot or not so all I can do assume you are. Light loads are fun to shoot but if you are to light they are inaccurate. My personal opinion is for the short line a 200 grain bullet will shoot softer than a 185. If all you have is 185’s than try 3.8 - 4.0 of Bullseye and watch how better they shoot.

+1 on too light a load.  Doesn't matter if its 50 feet or 50 yards.  Check out the loads in the sticky's above.

Is it the gun? Has the gun been more accurate in the past? If you have any friends who shoot Master scores, perhaps you can ask them to try your gun with their ammo.

If the gun is good, look at ammo. Have you been able to bench rest tight groups in the past? Bench resting requires adherence to the fundamentals and is not as easy as people think. If you have, then, before spending a bunch of money on a rest or chrono, work up a load. 185's are plenty accurate and Bullseye is used by many elite shooters. Load some 3.6, 3.8, 4.0 and 4.2 and carefully bench rest them. If you have access to 25 yards or 50, that would be better. Your crimp will also have some say in velocity/accuracy. .469 max. I've heard as low as .463 but that seems too low to me. I use .469 with SWC.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replys. 
Will boost the charge and try it out today.

I don't know if the gun was more accurate in the past due to the fact that I wasn't accurate in the past.
Don't know of any masters or even experts in the area to try the gun, it's a small pool around here.

Tom, 

Led me know what your shooting schedule is this coming week and I can bring my LabRadar chrono so you can check.

My cousin is selling a Ransom Rest. I was thinking about maybe buying it from him and making it available to a group for rent or to become partners in it. We could lock it up in one of the lockers at the club with only partners having the code to the locker.

He has the rest, a number of gun holders, the windage option and a heavy duty base.

Let me know what you think.

Robert

There's a lot more than just ammo velocity! Has the gun been worked? Meaning frame and slide fit, match grade barrel to frame and slide fit, trigger work, and bushing to slide and barrel fit. You want repeatability. After all that then you have to see what loads it likes by experimenting. All barrels like certain loads more than others. Good luck.

At 50 feet I would think any 45 would shoot good. At that distance only thing needed would be a trigger job

Thanks for the replys. 
I bought it up to 3.9 bullseye the vast improvement wasn't there as I was hoping. 
I think I was a little quick to blame the ammo , the shots were not quite as wild as yesterday's but not very impressive either . Pretty sure my trigger finger had alot to do with the ones out of the black . I'm still learning and today was another lesson .
thanks , Tom

James Hensler wrote:At 50 feet I would think any 45 would shoot good. At that distance only thing needed would be a trigger job

When I was still shooting my .45 I was using 3.2 WST with Zero 200 gr LSWC. At 50 yards I could still shoot targets in the mid 80's. At 25 yards it worked great. I have gone down to 2.9 gr at 50 feet and the accuracy was good. The gun was a Springfield Mil Spec, only work done to the pistol was a trigger job and scope rail installed .

Tom,

I'm certainly not as qualified to give advice as many others here, but I think you need to focus on one variable at a time.

Trying to test ammo shooting offhand whilst you are on a steep technique improvement curve is difficult (been there....).

Your original 3.2BE sounds too light. I use N310, which is said to be 10% "less dense" than BE, and use about 3.5BE equivalent for LSWC training ammo. Try that.

Take at least 20 rounds of each recipe to the range and shoot off sandbags or whatever first. Try just 5 shots per card and record carefully, take photos of the results with your phone. Really concentrate on a good smooth trigger pull for every shot so that you get the most consistent groups you can. It is hard work, concentrate.

Only then will you get some reasonably quantitative info about your ammo. If you have some top quality factory match ammo, or possibly proven reloads from a pal, test those too.

Good afternoon,

The “get a Master” to shoot your gun. Is sound advice. Sounder if they shoot your load then their reloads. I was having a horrible time with a Walther GSP in 32. I couldn’t get factory loads, reloads with 4 different HBWC or the solid WC I was casting to shoot. I asked the “Master” at our club to shoot my pistol and see what was up. The first thing he did was shoot 5 shots with his factory Lapua Ammo. Better than what I was doing but not enough better for the difference in skill level. The next thing he did was pull the top off and inserted his GSP barrel. Same Ammo and way better results. He then shot several groups with my cast WC and said “you need to really clean and check your barrel”.....needless to say. I scrubbed and scrubbed at that 32 barrel. It was a shiny as a mirror...it was then I noticed the bore didn’t “feel” right??? It was really clean but the patches didn’t slide easily and when I used felt pellets it would be kinda shredded. So I went to the gunsmith and asked if he could bore scope it. There was a deep burr almost as if something had scraped or scratched one of the grooves. The gunsmith “power”lapped it and after several minutes on the machine we took another look and it was gone. He figured it was something from an alloy that stuck in the groove. Next day at the range I was shooting almost as good as the “Master”. I now own a bore scope and I have several different grits of bore paste. Morale of my lesson was dirty guns can shoot good...clean guns should always shoot better. When my groups aren’t what I think they should be and my holes aren’t what I am calling.... I clean first then try again. Most times I am back on point. YMMV....Happy New Year!!

Man, 50 feet? There is something seriously wrong.
If you push down on the barrel when in battery, does it move at all?
Clean the gun and inspect the barrel.
Any barrel leading? Any dings, scratches, or other marks on the muzzle?
Do factory rounds shoot alright?