Good Groups with handgun

[Raptor3000]

How tight groups are considered to be good at 25ft and 50ft with a handgun.

BTW, I shoot a SA XD9.

Thanks

[mif_slim]

Combat group or slow fire group?

[The Cable Guy]

I'm sure you'll get a broad range of responses. Of course everyone on the internet can shoot 1" groupings at 100 yards, and if you're not shooting through the same hole at anything under 50 yards, you suck..

That being said, personally, in my opinion, based on what I've seen and what I'm capable of, I would say a safe and effective grouping at 25ft (8yds) would be 3-4 inches. and at 50ft or about 17yds, you can double that number.

[theduece]

Grouping??? Aren't they all supposed to go through the same hole....

[ElvenSoul]

Are you using those man size targets. If so fire as fast as you can. Do this until you can get them all inside the first three inner circles. That is considered very good for defense.

[Raptor3000]

I use the targets sold at Walmart, that have 5 bulls eyes, one in the center and 4 on four corners. Center one is size of a quarter and other four are much smaller than that.

BTW, slow shooting not combat

thanks

[orangeusa]

At the range I go to, most folks hit the ceiling, floor, hangers....

.

[XYZ]

What's this grouping thing? I just shoot as fast as I can and hope I hit something. It's all about the law of averages

[ChaneRZ]

I'm good as long as a hit the paper haha.

[locosway]

How tight groups are considered to be good at 25ft and 50ft with a handgun.

BTW, I shoot a SA XD9.

Thanks

About 8 yards shooting fast yielded this:



I've never been into trying to put them into the same hole by taking my time. I'm more of a practical shooter. However, the basics apply to all forms of shooting.

[JTROKS]

It depends what accuracy level your pistol and ammo combination can muster. If your gun can only do 3" groups at 25 yards then shooting a 5" group means you're doing pretty good. On the other hand if you have a Les Baer that's guaranteed to shoot 1.5" groups at 50 yards and you're shooting 3" groups at 25 yards then you suck.

One day I was at the range and I couldn't help but watch a gentleman secure his custom 1911 in a Ransom Rest and proceed to shoot a group that looked like just a hair over 1" at 25 yards. He repeated shooting groups then labeling the ammo he had neatly arranged in MTM ammo cases. Later on I noticed him shooting his pistol on the bench over a couple of sand bags. I had to watch and see with my binoculars how his groups are. His groups are humming over 2 - 3 inches. I'm not sure if he's burning off his least accurate rounds and his barrel getting fouled up decreasing the accuracy potential of his pistol. Knowing his pistol is capable of superb accuracy makes me think it boils down to the nut behind the gun, but it is important in knowing the capability of your gun.

[mixicus]

From an objective standpoint: an NRA 50ft rapid/timed fire bullseye target (B3) has a 9-ring that's about 3". The 50ft slow fire target's (B-2) 9-ring is about 1.5". Those events are shot with 1 hand.

Judge for yourself. I'll say if you hold a 3" 50ft group shooting free-style for 5 rounds with a duty weapon, you're doing quite well.

[XDRoX]

This is from my last trip to the range. I forget the distance, either 21' or 30', I shoot both a lot. Under 21' just seems to close for me and over 30' is a but far from a self defense perspective. These holes were shot with my reloads. 2.2gr of Trail Boss under 148gr LWC. The bullet flies at just under 650fps. It feels like a 22 out of this 586 pictured. It's my favorite load to shoot. I just loaded up 250 rounds yesterday for future range trips.

[locosway]

This is from my last trip to the range. I forget the distance, either 21' or 30', I shoot both a lot. Under 21' just seems to close for me and over 30' is a but far from a self defense perspective. These holes were shot with my reloads. 2.2gr of Trail Boss under 148gr LWC. The bullet flies at just under 650fps. It feels like a 22 out of this 586 pictured. It's my favorite load to shoot. I just loaded up 250 rounds yesterday for future range trips.

Wow that's slow...

I've shot a few soft loads like that from a revolver, it's really pleasant. Unfortunately it's hard to shoot that soft of a load on a semi-auto.

[XDRoX]

Wow that's slow...

I've shot a few soft loads like that from a revolver, it's really pleasant. Unfortunately it's hard to shoot that soft of a load on a semi-auto.

It is slow. I also load 158gr LSWC's that go 1300fps. A big difference. They are also fun to shoot.