In the slide rattle thread, one person said something like, "the slide rattle has less affect on accuracy than the barrel fit in the bushing". This could be true and I am not questioning the statement. As an example, I have a RIA 1911 in 38 super. Accuracy had not been very good so I decided to try tightening up the fit of the barrel muzzle to bushing and bushing to slide fit. The slide to frame fit is actually good. The only bushing that I had that I thought could help was very tight in the slide and I had to carefully remove a tiny bit of material so I could get the bushing into the slide. The fit is very tight and I need to use a bushing wrench with some effort required. The Inside diameter of the barrel bushing was already larger than desirable but would have to do for now. I hoped the better fit of the bushing to slide would help with the accuracy but doubted it would be much and I hoped I would see some improvement in the group sizes. I WAS SHOCKED. I fired two different reloads that I had fired just two days earlier with the original barrel bushing, producing groups much larger than I had hoped for. Wow. The groups fired with the barrel bushing very tight in the slide CUT THE GROUP SIZES IN HALF. That was far more reduction in group sizes than I had hoped for and the inside diameter of the bushing is still looser than a custom fitted bushing would be. There could be more reduction in group sizes yet. Back to my Browning Black Label 380. I measured the barrel diameter and the inside diameter of the barrel bushing and found .004" to .005" clearance. WAY TO MUCH for best accuracy. I measured the outside diameter of the barrel bushing and the inside diameter of the slide and found .003" clearance where almost no clearance would be much better. Even though the accuracy of the Black Label is not real bad, it sure could do better, maybe a lot better, if the barrel bushing fit the slide and barrel better. Now I think I am up against the problem of no replacement parts designed for custom fitting. The Black Label has not been around as long as the standard 1911 for which there is a truck load of parts and custom fit parts available. Any thoughts or suggestions from other members will be appreciated.
