A "Baer" day at the range

[Peter M. Eick]

I got the Baer's out and went blasting this weekend. I had the 38 Supers out today and the 10 and 45 yesterday. It was a lot of fun to spend some quality time with my Baer 1911's.

I find it interesting to compare the push of the 45 to the rap of the 10mm while the 38 Supers just pop and snap at you. All but one of my guns (the 45) are Baer 1.5" guns, but alas, not shooting for 4 months has set back my skills immensely. I started the day to day with these guys.



Colt Super Stallion then 2 Baer's (PII in the middle and Heavyweight Monolith).

The Colt is giving me grief still. The pivot pin for the rear sight broke yesterday so I brought it out to try the fix (1/16" drill rod and locktite). It made it 100 rounds until it started walking. I guess I need to go buy some more bigger drills as it was a loose fit.

I then switched over the two Baer's. I was really shotgunning at 15 yrds but at least they were mostly in the scoring rings early on. I then buckled down and just worked on front sight then press and front sight then press. I found that by the end of the day I was getting 50 rounds mostly in the black and my last two targets were my best.



These are my two Heavyweight Monoliths both are 1.5" guns



These are my two PII's the 38 Super is a 1.5" gun while the 45 is a 3" gun.

I wanted to comment about the Heavyweight Monolith vs. the PII's. The monoliths are definitely different to shoot. The same loads in them vs. the classic 1911 PII you can really feel the difference in the rise of the gun during the firing cycle. This is really noticeable in the 38 Super as I was shooting it and the 38 Super Monolith back to back. The extra metal in the slide (note no ball cuts in the front) slows down the slide enough you can feel it cycling differently.

I should also comment that I had only one hiccup due to an incompletely seated primer (I guess) that the Super Stallion did would not fire. The PII fired the same round easily.

Final tally. 1983 rounds fired in 2 days. Lots of fun, but the Baer checkering is starting to wear on my hand so I am going to take a break for a bit.

 

[horsemen61]

Awesome write up peter thanks

 

[Hometeached1]

Very nice 1911s.

 

[tuj]

The Baer checkering gets my hands too. I put skateboard tape over it, which I know is blasphemy on such a nice gun. Later I got some anatomical grips for it, since I shoot bullseye with my PII 1.5".

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Very nice setup!

I can see why you don't get your hands chewed up with that rig. Where did you get the grips made?

One of my regrets is that my PII 45 is not a 1.5" gun. Dumb of me not to do it. Some day I will get one ordered up that way.

 

[tuj]

Dick Horton made the grips to a print of my hand. He also made me some great grips for my IZH-35M. Awesome fella, does amazing work.

 

[cfullgraf]

I got the Baer's out and went blasting this weekend. I had the 38 Supers out today and the 10 and 45 yesterday.

Nice collection.

I was thinking yesterday that I need to get my 38 Supers out. This will spur me into action. Maybe tomorrow or Monday.

Neither of mine are as nice as the Les Bear models but they are fun to shoot anyway.

 

[surjimmy]

There they all are, been wondering where all the Baers went. You have a LB 10mm, you have now moved past John Wayne and are my No 1 Hero.

 

[Rinspeed]

Great pics and thread Peter.

 

[bish0p]

I like your set of Les Baers. I wish Baer would offer the 10mm again, I'd buy one.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

I talked to Mr Baer at the NRA show in Houston a few years back and he said 10mm was too much work to keep running. Folks who shoot 10mm tended to beat the guns apart and then he would fix them and it would repeat. He said he was too busy with 45's and 38 Supers to mess with 10mm's again in the near term.

I was pleased that he said he would take care of folks like me that were original owners of 10mm Baer's though.

Had I known he was going to stop support of the 10mm, I would have done a PII in 10mm right away after the HW Monolith.

 

[tuj]

What attracts you to the 10mm? Just curious, I've never shot one, but I have shot my share of more-powerful-than-45acp rounds (namely 44mag).

 

[Peter M. Eick]

The 10mm gives me better than 357 mag ballistics to near 41 Mag ballistics (factory loads) in a semi-auto. The semi-auto knocks down some of the recoil and allows me to carry more rounds.

The 10mm is easy to reload, the brass is big and long so it is easy to pick up and put in the press. The bullets are cheaper than 45 or 44 in general (less lead and copper costs) so it is cheaper to operate and run.

Finally the 10mm is about the limit of what I can go out and shoot say 700 rounds in a day with. I can and have done 700 to 1000 rounds of full power 10mm in one day and walked away still having fun. I rarely (never) have seen someone here in Houston at the range blasting away with a 44 mag that does say 700 rounds in a morning of full power loads.

It is why I like 38 Super also for the same reason. It gets me to full power 357 magnum (modern factory ammo) in a semi-auto. In the previous 2 days I shot better than 1900 rounds of it for fun. I don't see that many folks doing that with more powerful loads.

So there is my basic summary of the 10mm. Enough power to be fun, easy to reload, cheaper to shoot than bigger calibers.

 

[critter]

I have a 1911 .45 my Baer. Those are REALLY nice guns-I love mine.

I have an old Colt (still has the collet bushing) in .38 super. Now, THAT is a comfortable gun to shoot. The old ratteley Colt is not a tack driver, however.

Had a Colt Delta Elite in 10 mm and sold it. Shot well, but brass would never land in the same zip code! To me, it was not as much of a fun gun as some of the rest. Just not my cup of tea-can't exactly say why. It was not the recoil as I shoot .45 Colt (Ruger levels), .44 Mag and FA .454's.

I'm old enough that I have gravitated to shooting what I enjoy shooting and don't analyze it too much.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

My Colt 38 Super is a Super Stallion, their version of a National Match in 38 Super. Mine has a bad barrel (you can see the roughness in the lands) so it shotguns at 15 yrds. I have replaced the collet bushing on mine and fixed the doubling and tripling, and just this week the rear sight pivot pin broke.

My thought goes back and forth of sell it, or have it rebarreled. It is a fun gun to shoot as you point out. I do love the non-beavertail and a good old fashioned hooked hammer.

 

[robctwo]

I have a couple as well


9mm PII


1 1/2" PII .45

The finish wore out on both, so I sent them in to get the ionbond treatment. I have been very happy with the results.

 

[vba]

I have a stainless Concept V and a PII. Both are more accurate than me and feed everything including my 255 grain SWC's handloads made for .45 Colt.

The Concept V was much easier to break-in as it appears the stainless guns by Baer are made a little looser.

 

[texashunter]

My thunder ranch special is my edc....