I got my SA-35 back from the gunsmith. He cleaned and lubed it, but is still 7 to 8 pounds trigger pull. He told me the springs in my gun are too stiff. He strongly suggested a trigger job. For a bit over $200 I can buy the BH Spring Solutions kit, and about $100 more for him to install it. I think that would be insane. After all the trips back to Springfield, the first gun was defective, and I think since they were in a hurry to send me a gun, the assembler used the wrong parts. Nobody test fired it.
Anyway, I went to the range, and borrowed a gun rest from one of my friends. I took one shot at center hold, then decided I could be more precise if I used 6-o'clock hold. The results are shown below. There is no "group". I shot better with my 1911 45, hand-held, than this gun on a "v-rest". Nobody at the range can shoot it any better, and the gunsmith tells me it has the wrong parts in it.
I must really be an idiot, as I bought a nice Springfield 1911 9" SS gun today from GunBroker. My buddy who is an expert thought that would be a perfect gun for me, and the auction ended today. Bullseye shooters consider the old Range Officer guns to be excellent for bullseye - my 45 Wad Gun started off as a Range Officer. Technically, my new gun is a "Springfield Armory Range Officer Target".
I don't know what to do about the SA-35, other than to ask Springfield to send me a shipping label, and not send the gun back to me until it has no more than a 5 pound trigger, and comes with a test target so I can see for myself it shoots acceptably.
For Voltaire - the fellow who won a recent bullseye match at my club tried my gun, and gave up. He has lots of guns, is up near the top of every match, and I believe he knows what he is doing. I agree with what you meant, but I would hesitate to use the word "NEVER". On the other hand, my gun never got to be sighted in, and even the elevation is off. I can center my "pseudo-group" by moving the sight to the right, but I might as well be shooting with my eyes closed!