Iron sight gun questions.

Hello, I'm thinking about buying a 1911 to compete with iron sights. With the new rules changes buying a gun to compete in Leg matches just got more complicated. I already have a 45 caliber Salyer built Range Officer wad gun with red dot. There seem to be more Range Officers for sale chambered in 9mm rather than 45. I've loaded .45 ACP for a few decades now but am a beginner with 9mm. I'd appreciate any ideas on the ins and outs of loading competitive 9mm ammunition. Also, is the standard 9mm twist useable or do I need to get something exotic? Or does it make more sense just to buy a .45 and shoot my wad cutter loads? Thanks guys.

Shoot the 45 ACP. 9mm can be more accurate with Atlanta Arms Ammo but not to the degree that it will greatly surpass a 45acp if you have a gun that prints already and 9MM recoil for a 115mm that will print is not much different than a 185GN JHP. 

If you barrel a RO I would go with a 1:10 KKM then load 147's there may be some advantage there.

faraim wrote:Hello, I'm thinking about buying a 1911 to compete with iron sights. With the new rules changes buying a gun to compete in Leg matches just got more complicated. I already have a 45 caliber Salyer built Range Officer wad gun with red dot. There seem to be more Range Officers for sale chambered in 9mm rather than 45. I've loaded .45 ACP for a few decades now but am a beginner with 9mm. I'd appreciate any ideas on the ins and outs of loading competitive 9mm ammunition. Also, is the standard 9mm twist useable or do I need to get something exotic? Or does it make more sense just to buy a .45 and shoot my wad cutter loads? Thanks guys.

If you have a wadgun and you want to shoot iron sights is possible you need a Accuracy X múlti sight slide.

If you are on a tight budget (and do not need to shoot dots and irons back to back) you could buy a RRA Combo rail.  You can leave the rail on the gun and shoot irons or the dot.  There is a post on here from fairly recently stating that the Combo rail is legal for EIC now.

As far as a new gun goes, the RO has been a solid choice for a while now.  Shoot it as is or have it worked on.  You could also ask around range to see if anyone has a Ball Gun for sale that is already built.  I shot my Ball Gun for everything when I was chasing points and just used my wad ammo in the 2700 and the jacketed stuff in the EIC match.  Worked pretty well for me then.

John

What are your goals in regards to shooting irons? 

9mm is a good option if you want to be able to get readily available factory loaded ammunition, if you have the time and would load regardless, 45 would be the winner in my book especially if you have a good load worked up.

Not sure what a 9mm RO has as far as barrel twist, would likely be better off with a bullseye smith fit barrel.

I personally wouldn't run a RRA combo rail if I were planning on shooting a dot, lots of reciprocating mass if you use a tube style dot. It might be ok with a micro but not a 9000 like I prefer.

You also have to be careful as the CMP just imposed a 42 oz weight limit (excluding a magazine) on an EIC gun. A typical 1911 with the combo rail pushes (and can exceed) that limit, 9mm or .45.