Les Baer Premier II - 10,000 round report

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I use 5.5 grains of Unique with tbat bullet to get mid 800s. It takes 6 grains to get the same velocity with hardball or speer 230 gold dots. Recoil feels factory-normal.
 
Excellent post. Thank you for the great pics, the good write up, and letting us know how your LB endured after a massive amount of rounds in a short period of time. You really did put it through a torture test, and it sounds like you're quite pleased with it despite the teething issues it had. This also served as a testament to the LB level of customer service. Nice to see companies still take care of their customers.

Out of curiosity, what Kimber model do you have and is it a Series I? I'm interested in knowing how many rounds you've put through it and what changes or repairs you've made to it.
 
Excellent, candid report. Particularly to be honest about breakage. You could have just as easily left that out and nobody would be the wiser. Then you could have a big slug of Flavor Aid and smuggly smile.

I hope it's not taken as bashing to mention that in virtually every "High Dollar vs Everything Else" thread, the "superior quality" of all internal parts is invariably mentioned as to why X gun costs more than Y gun. Your experience would tend to belie that notion. Besides the link pin, the other failures seem particularly rare, but failures nontheless. Kinda odd.

Bottom line, if it's a machine it's going to break, sooner or later.

I'll continue to covet your gun.
 
Alright Wiry, you need to sell that brass plaque!!! I will take two!

I too will echo the sentiments of the failures:cost (where : = ratio)

For all the Kimber/Mimber haters out there that brag up the Les Baer this objective and truthful assessment of the functionality and reliability of "the cadillac" of 1911's is awe inspiring. It can't be easy to report such structural issues on what is likely to be the most expensive 1911 (production) model you have, or ever have owned.

I truly appreciate the forthcoming nature and unflinching honesty of your report. Thank you very much for that!

I have a used Kimber, and a new Kimber that hasn't gone to the range yet thanks to the ammo shortage, that I could not tell you how many rounds have been put through it before I picked it up. I have put 2000 of my own through it, reloads/remington/cor-bon/wolf (steel case) and never had any malfunction that could be accurately blamed on the piece. Reloads have had feed issues but everything else I have fed it cycled flawlessly.

BTW: I'm with Leon. Ones opinion can only be construed as negative if that is how that recipient interprets it to be. Otherwise it is simply construed as an opinion of equal value to their own even if it contradicts their own.
 
I think it shows a lot of character on The Wiry Irishman's part to actually NOT bring up rediculous bashing and complaints associated with the SMALL problems he encountered with this gun. This lends considerable evidence to how truthful this 10000 round report is. Of course he must be quite meticulous to log all those rounds down to the exact 10000. Very well done and I am glad you are not part of the vocal minorty as to having said problems with the Baer.
 
I think it shows a lot of character on The Wiry Irishman's part to actually NOT bring up rediculous bashing and complaints associated with the SMALL problems he encountered with this gun
FTF and FTE are small problems, I will agree that the slide lock is smaller than the barrel link. But any failure that results in a paperweight that can NOT defend you unless you pistol whip with it or throw it is not SMALL. Its major and had it failed in a defensive situation Wiry may not have had the chance to make his report.
 
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Wiry,

I'm going to start calling you "Wiry Joe Friday" for posting such a "just the facts maam" report.

Factual data is a wonderfull thing!

But when you sprinkle a little factual data into someones Kool Aide, step back and take cover.... it can be like dropping a Mentos in a Diet Coke, when facts meet our biases... either for, or against a particular point of view.

Some people "can't handle the truth"

Obviously, Wiry Joe Friday can.
 
FTF and FTE are small problems, I will agree that the slide lock is smaller than the barrel link. But any failure that results in a paperweight that can NOT defend you unless you pistol whip with it or throw it is not SMALL. Its major and had it failed in a defensive situation Wiry may not have had the chance to make his report.
All the more reason to always carry a back up. Just in case. If you already have convinced yourself to carry, having a second one isn't an outrageous idea.
 
Alright Wiry, you need to sell that brass plaque!!! I will take two!

If you're serious, PM me an offer and we'll talk. I'd love to make some extra cash from my woodworking hobby.

FTF and FTE are small problems, I will agree that the slide lock is smaller than the barrel link. But any failure that results in a paperweight that can NOT defend you unless you pistol whip with it or throw it is not SMALL. Its major and had it failed in a defensive situation Wiry may not have had the chance to make his report.

Not disagreeing, but just as a point of interest I forgot to include in the report, the only breakage that rendered the gun totally non-functional was the broken sear spring, as the hammer would only drop to half cock when the trigger was pulled. I believe I mentioned that the broken slide stop only caused the gun to not lock back on empty mags. The gun would still operate with the broken link pin, just with frequent failures to feed easily cleared with a tap-rack-bang. I'm not sure when during my range session it broke, but the gun could have had as many as 200 rounds through it with the link pin broken.

All the more reason to always carry a back up. Just in case. If you already have convinced yourself to carry, having a second one isn't an outrageous idea.

Wise words.
 
That is a nice gun. I wish I could afford one. They want almost as much for Dan Wessons now, and I want one of those too, though I'm not happy with the new finishes.

my MIM-filled Kimber that the internet tells me will crumble to dust at the first sign of danger (0).

Methinks you are exaggerating a tad. I have a Kimber with many thousands of rounds through it without any breakages, functionally it rates very good.

I'll never pay that much money again for an MIM filled gun though. That's a legitimate issue in my view. I paid $1250 for it and to replace the crappy parts with middle of the range quality parts would cost me another couple hundred, that's just not right.

For those who feel MIM is good, well, good for you! But when I buy a gun I expect machined parts.
 
What's your round count up to these days as it's been a while since OP.

To celebrate the recent birthday of the 1911, I attended a local cleaning & maintenance 1911 class run by John Jardine at Reeds in Santa Clara. The man has been working on 1911s literally for 40 years and he provided a wealth of useful information. His estimation is that well made 1911s should be able to shoot at least 1 million rounds through them. He didn't say parts wouldn't break along the way so I'm not surprised by what you've seen. In fact, for some of the parts, he have estimates of when breakages start to occur.

I hope you've had the opportunity to shoot many rounds since your last post through that fine 1911 you have.
 
Very nice report.

So most of your shooting was done with reloads. How do you do it?

I mean how do you efficiently pick up all of your brass and what kind of press do you own? Do you bend over after every range outing or have some basket or tarp in a specific place to catch raining brass?

L.W.
 
Leave to the high road to have someone post a honest report on their gun and somebody feels the need to be negative and critical. I will never understand that mentality.
At the risk of being negative and critical, three breakages in 9,000 would really be upsetting if it happened to the PII I used to shoot in competition...especially if it happened in a match.
 
What's your round count up to these days as it's been a while since OP.

At the risk of being negative and critical, three breakages in 9,000 would really be upsetting if it happened to the PII I used to shoot in competition...especially if it happened in a match.

Well, I'm only up to 15,500. The reason its so low is that because at that round count, it had to spend quite a while back at Baer because this happened:

167372_10100248099283978_13717046_58000631_1169318_n.jpg


163719_10100248099458628_13717046_58000638_6305046_n.jpg


So to review, that's two broken slide stops, a link pin, a safety, a sear spring and a bushing in less than 16,000 rounds, which is an average of 1 broken part ever 2500 rounds or so. Incredibly unacceptable, and I can't blame it on the chroming. This gun has been relagated to competition only - bullseye and IDPA, and bullseye only once I build an IDPA-legal 1911. Its great fun to shoot, dead accurate, runs like a top if everything is in one piece, but there's no way I'm ever going to carry it again.

I mean how do you efficiently pick up all of your brass and what kind of press do you own? Do you bend over after every range outing or have some basket or tarp in a specific place to catch raining brass?

Shooting outdoors I use either a tarp or a homemade brass catcher I made out of PVC and a sheet. Indoors I just pick up the brass off the floor. It makes it easier if I use an ammo can top as a kind of improvised brass broom. After my latest round of reloading I found I really need to build a brass catching that will work inside, as I've lost about 3000 pieces of brass forward of the firing line at the indoor range in the last 6-8 months.

I load on a Dillon 650. I recently bought a casefeeder for it, and with a friend to reload primer tubes, I can do 1000 rounds an hour, 750 or maybe more loading my own.
 
Thanks for addressing the brass issue, that's the only issue I dislike about the 1911 platform...picking up brass.

I really want a 38 super, but am worried that I'll turn into that 'brass guy' on the range. So I end up sticking to 45 acp...if I get my brass that's a bonus, if the range is too busy or whatever then eh, they get to sweep it up.

My most recent purchase is a 1911 colt special combat government...it was only shot 200 rounds before I had to leave again. I did a brief post on it with some pics. It will be interesting to see how well the Colt holds up compared to the Baer.

L.W.
 
...

beautyful photos .. nice writeup.

But man, that´s a lot of broken parts.


(Is there a report about a Sig .45 out there?)
 
Sounds like alot of small parts issues. I wish LB would use better slide stop levers, thumb safeties, and a thick bushing. Even still.....these failure are not normal for LB. The link pin was probally a fluke.

I can handle a breakage form time to time. But when things are fitted or machined crooked I loose my mind.:fire: You've had some terrible luck with that weapon.

My DW V has a thick bushing and I really like the look as long as the recoil plug matches up.

I'd fit a DW bushing and recoil plug, Greider slide stop lever, and a Ed Brown thumb safety. Maybe pick up an Ed Brown pin set just to be safe. None of this should be nessasary on a $2K pistol.
 
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I'd fit a DW bushing and recoil plug, Greider slide stop lever, and a Ed Brown thumb safety. Maybe pick up an Ed Brown pin set just to be safe. None of this should be nessasary on a $2K pistol.

The gun has had SVI hammer, trigger, sear, and thumb safety in it for a while now. I'm going to see how that works out. Any more issues and I'll start putting more SVI parts in.
 
In Baer's defense I can add my own experience.

My PII 45 is at 7,744 rounds right now and has zero broken parts
My 10mm HWML is at 8,955 rounds right now and has had the rear sight pivot pin broken. Baer fixed it for free.

While not 10,000 rounds yet, I will get the HWML over 10,000 this year and probably get the PII 45 to over 9500 in 2011.
 
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