[The Wiry Irishman]

After a stressful week I decided to combine an afternoon of relaxation with a little reliability experiment for my 1911.

Its a Les Baer Premier II with the 1.5" and 50 yard guarantee. Here it is beforehand, right after the detail strip and clean I do every 2000 rounds:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/01.jpg

A lot of people claim that Baers and the like are too tight to run when dirty, so I loaded up about the dirtiest thing I ever shot, 1000 rounds of 4.8gr Bullseye behind a 230gr LRN.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/02.jpg

I went to my local indoor range, ready to enjoy a couple hours of shooting, even brought a Gatorade and a candy bar so I wouldn't get shaky if I was there for a while.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/03.jpg

After about sixty rounds, the hammer would only drop to half cock when the trigger was pulled. It turned out this was the problem:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/04.jpg

Luckily I had the old sear spring from my Kimber that was replaced when I got a trigger job. I fitted to the Baer and it was up and running again. I was shooting at 15 yards.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/05.jpg

I brought my camera along to take pictures of any malfunctions that might occur, but in the remaining 940 rounds, no such thing happened.

My targets, 100 rounds per bull:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/06.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/07.jpg

After 1000 rounds in about two hours, the gun was quite dirty, but when I racked the slide it was still nice and slick. I find this a testament to both Baer build quality and the quality of my lube. I use FP-10, and even though I brought it with me in case the gun needed some extra, I never had to put more on and it was still wet when I finished.

The floor behind me when I was finished:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/08.jpg

And what my hands looked like:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/09.jpg

Some dirty pictures:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/10.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/11.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/12.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/13.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/14.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/15.jpg

[The Wiry Irishman]

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/16.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/17.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/18.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/19.jpg

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alowe/baer1000/20.jpg

So it turns out that even though its a Baer, and a 1.5" one at that, its not too tight to handle a little crud.

[Gunfighter123]

I've owned/own 1911s built by Bill Wilson , Jimmy Clark Sr. , Steve Nastoff , Jim Boland , and a few other very talented builders ---- ALL OF THEM would run 1000 to 3000 of my IPSC reloads without a jam etc. --- all I'd do is a little relubeing every 500/1000 rds.

The Firepower lube is good stuff and I've had good luck with it even shooting below freezeing outdoors.

BTW --- you sure did get "lucky" with that spare 3 finger mainspring !!!


EDIT --- when I relubed , I never took off the slide etc.

[jaysouth]

Three or four more trips like this one and you will have broken in your LB.

I prefer the Baer coat, it does not show carbon. I can go 2,000 rounds without feeling the need to stop and detail clean.

[jahwarrior]

i love pictorial threads. nice shooting there, too. are you diabetic? you mentioned the Gatorade and the candy bar.

[essayons21]

What was the total round count on the gun before the broken spring?

[barrelmaker_2002]

Not my gun....but is my friend.

The spring broke at 8060 rds.

[robctwo]

What's the finish? I've got the PII 1.5" with IonBond.

[Bane]

The finish is hard chrome.

[The Wiry Irishman]

I love that all my friends are coming in here and answering questions for me. Yes, the round count at spring breakage was ~8060 and the finish is bead blasted hard chrome.

are you diabetic? you mentioned the Gatorade and the candy bar.

Nope. As a grad student my schedule is busy and virtually random, so I don't really get to eat regularly and I was at the range rather close to my dinner time. I just didn't want my accuracy to suffer if I got really hungry, and keeping yourself properly hydrated is key to maintaining accuracy and stability, especially shooting outside in the summer.

[Rinspeed]

Great thread and great pics, thanks for sharing. Did the PII come from Baer chromed or did you send it out.

[Lonestar49]

...

Excellent thread, with pics, and type ammo (dirty), round count, and type gun.

Not to mention, excellent shooting IMHO.. as well


Ls

[sammy]

Who says 1911's wont run dirty? I have a TRS with 14,000 rounds through it and it is the best built pistol I have ever owned. You done good!!

[wally]

Dirty? That ain't dirty, this is dirty:

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=17562&d=1098035396

From this old thread:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=106541&highlight=EMS

Cheap 1911, at this point it in its life, I'd about spent as much on the ammo shot through it as I had on the gun!

Over 10,000 rounds through it now, but I don't shoot it much any more, as I like my new RIA 6" long slide more :)

--wally.

[The Wiry Irishman]

Did the PII come from Baer chromed or did you send it out.

I ordered it chromed from Baer. Whether they do it in-house or send it somewhere, I have no idea.