Some Advice please on used Les Baer

Hi Goldie,

My guess is that you're considering a Premier II, as there's an adjustable sight it vice the fixed sight seen on a Custom Carry. The $1650 is about $200 to $300 under retail for new in the box in my experience. By inspection of that single photo, the gun has not been carried much as the finish looks great.

Without respect to cost, I can share that shooting my LB is truly a ton of fun. That particular model is equally home on the range or in defense in times of crisis.

Keep us posted on what you decide,

Hi, GoldieMI. I worked for Les for 21 years, and I did the frame to slide fit on that gun and the checkering on the front strap. A few points are in order.

It appears to be a standard Premier II but those grips are not original. The plum color on the slide is because of the hardness of the steel. Slides are heat treated to around 40 on the C scale and they often turn purple over time. It is harmless. The frames are not as hard and they stay black.

The slide, with the magazine removed should nave no play, or very little, either side to side or up and down. With the gun in battery, push downward on the barrel, over the chamber. It should NOT move, not even a little. If it does it indicates that the gun is worn, or that it was tampered with.

Insist on at least a basic field strip of the gun. The number on the bottom of the slide should match the serial number, it should be the full serial number and it should be followed by a "W" , or a "WC". those are my marks. Look at the link on the barrel. There should be a horizontal file mark, between the two holes. That is the mark of the barrel man. (I can't give out names) If it is not there it is possible it was fitted by another, but 75% of the barrel lockup work was done by one man. If the number on the tag in the picture is the serial number on the gun, it should have the file mark.

It is pretty hard to wear out a well made 1911. If the gun does have a bit of looseness it doesn't mean that it is no good, but it does mean a discount is in order. A slightly loose gun can still go for thousands of rounds. Remember, most 1911s start life out a lot more than slightly loose. A little play only means a little loss in accuracy.

In closing, if you get the gun, replace the springs. You don't know how many rounds have been put on the old ones. Cheap ins.

As I sit back and weigh it out, the cost difference between a new one and this one is not much. ~ 200.00 it looks like. smart move might just to purchase the new one and let this one go.

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Price check crazy John's. You'll have to call him. He is known to sell under MSRP.

https://cj1911heaven.com/

For what its worth I sold my LB Heavyweight Monolith for that price. Course it has a higher MSRP than the PII

Obviously Tark is the expert as he built most of my Baer's.

Just looking at the magazine I would have said it is a fairly recent one. Maybe only 8 years old at most. The mag has one of the newer (my nomenclature) bumpers that my older Baer's do not have. They have the thicker metal mags and a more substantial bumper.

Like others pointed out, the price is not that discounted for a relatively recent gun. If it were me, I would pass and order from CJ (again, pointed out above), wait, let me think. Actually, in the same boat I did order my PII 38 Super from CJ and then a 38 Super from CJ in a HeavyWeight Monolith. Both are 1.5" guns and excellent.

So unless you have significant wiggle room on the price, I expect that you can get one from CJ that is new for at or very near that price.

Good luck. I love my 5 Baer's.



Wouldn't you rather get this instead of that? (ie new?)

Thanks for the kind words, guys, but I was just a poor slide fitter and a checkering monkey. The real experts on Les Baer guns were (ARE) the final assemblers. They were the ones who put it all together and kept logs on every gun that went out the door. Of course, Les is the ULTIMATE expert on the subject.

Goldie, you might want to think twice about ordering a new gun.....it might be a year before you get it!! Les is up to neck in orders. One of the reasons used LB guns sell for so much is that new ones take so long to get. If you go the new gun route, find one of the big distributors who has one in stock and order it that way.

After looking at that pic again, I have changed my mind about those grips, I believe they did come with the gun. We would often have customers request the darkest grips we had. They were dark enough that I originally thought they were rubber. If I am wrong, and they ARE rubber, then they did not come with the gun.

Almost forgot, another way to tell if the gun has fired a lot of rounds it to try to rack the slide. It should take considerable effort to unlock the barrel. Sometimes it is almost impossible for those with limited grip strength. Our guns were HARD fit, as Charlie Petty used to say. After a few thousand rounds, this will ease up slightly. If the slide is as easy to rack as a GI gun, it is badly worn, or some one has tampered with it. If that is the case, the barrel will fail the "push" test I mentioned earlier, and it will move downward slightly.

Either condition is cause for rejection, or a sizeable discount. A gun that has been intentionally loosened up is not a worthless gun, it might give good service for many years; It just wont be up to Baer accuracy standards. And whoever did the "loosening up" may or may not have known what he was doing!

good luck.

BTW, Peter, my scribbling on your certificate is bottom center..

"Hi, GoldieMI. I worked for Les for 21 years, and I did the frame to slide fit on that gun and the checkering on the front strap. A few points are in order."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the benefits of being a member of The High Road!

With all respect to Tark who is a vet from Les Baer, I challenge the OP to obtain permission to disassemble the slide on this model. Put aside the barrel, bushing and recoil assembly and then put the slide back onto the frame. Now shake the frame up and down a little and you will get a better idea of how much effort was expended obtaining a professional slide to frame fit. I'm simply saying, have a good close look before assuming that you are really getting a "hand made" pistol.

Wire

I've decided to go with a NIB purchase for only 150.00 more than buying the used one.

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Smart move to buy NIB rather than used but still in production. A similar LB PII has been sitting in the used gun case of an LGS marked at $1,400.00 for several months now.

Thank you to Tark for making my guns!

Nice work. My compliments!

I would do the same thing as you're doing.

For only $150 difference, I think it will be worth the wait.

Severns custom appears to have the premier 2 in stock. No waiting. He's just a little hard to get a hold off but go ahead and leave a message. Just Google his site.I've ordered from him before and am sitting on the fence about ordering a different one.

GoldieMI, my earlier advice still applies to your consideration of a new pistol. You can't do much if you use mail order. But if you have a local dealer, ask if you can do (as above) to satisfy yourself that you actually have a hand fitted masterpiece and not just a fancy name on the cover.

Wire

Just to continue to encourage the OP to go factory and to show Tark what I could do with his handiwork, consider the following.

These are the first 300 rounds out of my PII I bought above. In order, 50 shots per target, 15 yrds offhand. Baer says do 500 rounds before you clean the gun so I did 300 one day and 300 the next then cleaned it. I all did was wipe down the very oily bore and have at it.









There you go. First 300 rounds out a new factory Les Baer.

Peter, you are a far better shot than I am! Glad you like the gun..

I do like it. One of my 4 current Baer's. I regret selling my original PII 38 Super but this one will do just fine.