Was in a local gunshop the other day (that also has an indoor range) and they had this tenpenny challenge thing on the wall, listing 5, 7, 10 & 15 yard 10/10 successes.  
The rules were pretty simple, any centerfire pistol, with any sights or optics, that shoots a generally accepted pistol caliber round (so no ar pistols, etc.) held in 1 or 2 hands but not braced, rested or strapped in any way.  Shooter must complete the challenges in order, I.E. shoot 5y successfully first before attempting 7y and so on.  Actually there were no 15 yard success yet when I was there, but it got me thinking.  

Since I just attended a mid-range rifle class and I have MOA vs MIL on the brain at the moment...

Click To View Spoiler
If you are not familiar, here is a video:



It seems like a mechanically accurate pistol would be required because pennies are small, so what are some of the most mechanically accurate pistols available?  About 1/2 of the successes on the wall were some form of 1911 or variant, and the guy behind the counter said that so far only one person had success with a red dot, and then only at 5y (see the math in the spoiler above).  I have heard of .38 Special 1911's being phenominally accurate but I have never seen one in person.  Let me be clear, *I* have not participated in this, it was a novelty "cool thing" at a LGS that sparked a thought experiment.  *IF* someone were to decide to participate in this, what gun(s) might give them (they/Zhe/whatever) the best chance of being successful?  So tell me about mechanically accurate pistols, both of the type that could be purchased right now, and whatever unobtanium models that you have seen/smelled/licked but can't be had for less than a mortgage.  

Well, the .221 Fireball is technically a pistol cartridge, as it was introduced and only ever chambered in the Remington XP-100. So that's my vote.

Would an old school Contender qualify?  Sights are fixed to the barrel, and you have a good trigger.  A 10" barrel in .45 ACP would probably be as large a bore and as accurate a cartridge at short range that you are going to find.  Wouldn't beat you to death, which is a consideration.

S&W model 52,or T/C Contender .22 w/ the target bbl?

Lol you better check your math there bud. You're doing it backwards. A penny is not 0.05 MOA at 15 yards. It's 0.75MOA at 100 yards. Which means it's 5ish MOA at 15 yards.

You're converting backwards.

A S&W PPC revolver or a Bullseye revolver especially if you mounted an optic.
Federal Gold Medal Match wadcutters.

I think among production centerfire pistols, the 9mm SIG p210 has to be among the most accurate. The S&W Model 52 in .38 Special was also very accurate.

Among my handguns, I have found my 10" barreled Wichita in .30-30 that I used in handgun silhouette competition to be extremely accurate.

Could I use my Browning Buckmark Varmint with a 10" barrel?
Eley premium should do it.

Agree for pure mechanical accuracy, revolvers win

For a semi auto, I imagine it would be a .380 blowback with a fixed barrel.  Of course, it would be entirely dependent on the quality of the barrel and the quality of the ammo, like it would be for pretty much any gun.

For single shots a Contender, Encore, XP-100, and I’m sure there are a few others I’m forgetting.

Ok, so clearly I did the math wrong, but my point was that at the distances involved a penny is mighty small compared to the average pistol front sight...

I think the Pardini 32 S&W target guns have the best mechanical accuracy of a CF pistol.

That's the style I'd bet on if it was factory guns only. Any gun with a good barrel well fit could easily be a contender. 1911's seem to be pretty popular for target work.

I agree.

Makarov's and similar blowback pistols are freaking laser beam shooters in my hands.

CZ Tactical Sports is right up there with the Sig 210 and S&W 52.  The first time I took my CZ TS to the range I put 10 rounds on a 3"X3" post it at 25 yards.  Some gun writer or another did an article on this subject and compared five different center-fire autos known for accuracy and if memory serves the CZ TS was the second place finisher.

My vote would be for a Sig 210.

T/C Contender was my first thought. Would need to be centerfire. 5.7x28?

This was my second thought. But it’s rimfire.

I have a 6” Springfield 1911 PPC 9mm and a Bob Jones revolver. They are the two most accurate handguns I own.

One thing that people constantly overlook with handguns is ammunition selection. If you really want to be accurate, you have to go through a very similar process as a precision rifle to find out what shoots best.

Anything that is fixed barrel. Revolvers should be high on that, as they’re fixed barrels with sights attached to fixed pieces. Walther PP/SIG P230/232, HK P7, etc. as well, but their sights are on the slides, so there’s a slight bit of room for inaccuracy.

Things that will help the shooter include long sight picture and light, crisp trigger.

The H&K P7 and P9S pistols have to be up there.

Comes down to a few things. I’ve seen good shooters take any handgun and mail dead center. Seen average shooter buy top gun and can’t shoot it worth a shit.

My guns I own I can shoot them all great except my g20. Shoot it good enough but not dead center.

I hear those Freedom Arms single action revolvers are supposed to be very accurate.


I’ve never seen or shot one, but can imagine how much fun it’d be blasting penny’s with a 454 Casull.

This is pretty similar in goal to the old Bullseye shooting style, which was often done with a 1911 that had been "tightened up". My ACW and Baer are capable of that kind of accuracy, considering you only have to touch the penny somewhere with the bullet. That would mean you have a circle basically ~1" bigger (45 caliber is 45/100 of an inch, so basically 1/2")  than the diameter of the penny. This would mean the gun has to be capable of be ~1.75" at the distances listed. ACW guarantees all their guns to do that at 25 yards, and you can pay extra for a Baer that will do the same at 50.

In my experience, good reloads or factory ammo will print round on top of round with these things if you do your part. You'd need to know where your dot hits in relation to your iron sights.

But if I was going to really care to try this, I would pick a 1911 in 45acp with a red dot, smallest MOA I could find, and get the trigger down to unreasonably light.

A Les Baer 1911 with the 1-1/2" at 50 yards guarantee.

My most accurate is a PC 5906 Target Champion.
Shoot it better than my P210.

Those PPC 9mm 5906s were great guns. The price on them has gone a little bonkers.

FWIW, there was a gunwriter that did a test back in the late 80's or maybe early 90's and of all the handguns he tested, the Desert Eagle in 357 Magnum did the best.  He was group-shooting at 100 yards.
I don't think any single shots were included in the test.

Then Ross Seyfried successfully fired a five shot one inch group at 100 yards with single action revolver.  I don't recall if he used a Freedom Arms, or one of his custom Linebaugh or Bowen guns.

Tony

The prizes don't really seem sufficient to justify a whole new gun (as if I have ever really needed a justification), but I do own a .357 contender with a 2-7 scope and the ability to handload Hollow base wadcutters...

Lots of .380s have fixed barrels.  HiPoints, for instance.  

So in 9mm Mak, that would be a CZ 82/83?

The most accurate one I own is a 1911. This is including many revolvers, semi autos, striker fired, etc..

There was a guy with his name on the wall that did 5 yards with a hi-point, in .45 IIRC...

The handgun has to have a very consistent barrel/slide lock up every time.

The ammo has to be really good for that handgun.  

The shooter has to be really steady and have a good trigger pull/technique.

Dots on the right pistol with the right ammo and shooter can be very accurate.  You have to know where to aim vs. where the bullet's going to hit but shouldn't we already know that when shooting our handguns?

My P09 9MM is probably the most accurate semi auto handgun I've ever shot.  The P07 .40 is close to it.  At 67 with eyes and strength not what they used to be I'm the weak link here.

P09 the day I sighted in the newly mounted RMR with Federal 115 grain FMJ at 7.5 yds.  Three bullets just a bit high/left of center and then I made a sight adjustment and shot the last seven round in the magazine at the target company logo down in the lower right corner of the target.

Attached File


The slightly older P07 DUTY in .40 S&W with my 135 grain hollow point reloads.  No idea why the low right shot happened, I thought it was good.  The low left shot was me shooting at a big old bumble bee about half way between me and the 12 yd. target backer.  That's 12 rounds in the big hole.

Attached File


I did do this a couple months back with a fairly new M&P 2.0 .40 4&1/4" PC gun with a Holosun on it.  Ammo was Winchester 180 grain hollow points which all my M&P .40's seem to really like.  I shot 5 rounds, got the nice small smile going on a small smily face (10 yds.) and thought I'd shoot a couple eye holes.  Number six hit with the other 5 and I figured I'd just call it quits on that attempt.  Not as good as the CZ pistols but not bad for me these days.  I seldom get the holes that close together these days.

Attached File


If I was going to do a penny challenge I'd drag out the P09 9MM and give it a try using that one.

For the record, the most accurate center fire handgun I've ever shot was an old S&W M14 with a 6" barrel.  Quarter sized groups at 25 yds. offhand with 148 grain HBWC and 2.7 grains of Bullseye.  Awesome gun that belonged to one of my buddies in college.

For me any heavier steel framed gun like the 1911, or the older SIG P226, or the erstwhile S&W 5906 would work.

40' standing. 5 shots.

A TC contender would likely be the best. Could
You get a custom 5,7,15 yard Barrels Built, lifting a 15 yard long barrel might be an issue though, and no idea What FPS would be..

Ideally I’d think fixed mechanical barrel would be best ,(think walther ccp, or high point) vs a browning action. 1911’s can be very accurate ,
But that is a combination of good triggers and good mechanics. Pure mechanics though would favor a locked breach like a revolver, and ideally on same cylinder hole each time.

Can't believe I am putting this out there but Auto Mags are stupid accurate.

When I take my 686 6" to the range, it leaves all my fancy semi autos in the dust....except for the P7 within typical combat range.



Fixed barrel is a major factor, along with obviously no slide recoiling.

The fixed barrel is also part of why the HK P7 is a laser beam.

I feel for myself the 1911 is the most mechanically accurate out the box. Not sure what it is about it but to me at least I'm able to do better with it probably mainly to do with the trigger.

An older .38spl PPC revolver with 148 hbwc’s and equipped with a scope, not dot an actual cross-hair scope is a cheat code.  Test before hand and determine your adjustments for each distance and do your part. When I shot bullseye I ended up with a 2.5x8 leopold on my 22 and it was insane.  With my crappy hold and worse trigger control I scored slightly better than with irons but I could call every bad shot. A good PPC bull barrel revolver will stack 148’s into well under 2” at 50 yds.

My Sig Sauer P229 SAO could do that all day long.

Along these lines is what I was thinking.

Back in the late 70s I was on a Navy Rifle and Pistol team.  One of guns issued was a 6" S&W K38.  That with 148 gr HBWCs would be hard to beat.

The most accurate pistol I've ever shot was an FN Five-seveN.
It practically defined 'tack driver.'

My P7M8 is the most accurate handgun I own followed by Ruger Super Redhawk.  
20+ years ago When my eye sights were excellent I could occasionally hit 5 clay pigeons from 100 yards with 8+1 rounds…3 or 4 were the norm but some days when everything was right it was possible.  My best was 7 with 9 shots but that only happened once

This is not rocket science.
Look at Ransom's youtube channel (the company that makes the ransom rest).
They do a lot of testing of guns locked into their rest and its pretty simple to see what guns are capable of what accuracy.

Savage striker bolt action pistol