Range Report Baer 38 super and 1200 rounds

[Peter M. Eick]

I took my two 1.5" guarantee Baer 38 supers and 1200 rounds of ammo to the range. The ammo was my standard 38 super load giving me a 135 grn LRN at 1310 FPS. It is a nice accurate load that reminds you why the Super is not called a 9mm Parabellum.

I put 600 rounds in each gun by switching back and forth 150 rounds at a time.

We had no failures to feed fire or any other issues.

Here is the results of that fun.





A friend of mine made up the bags so I have a nice way of carrying the empty brass.

It was very windy so no targets to speak of (sorry about that).

I will make some observations. The 1.5" guns are obviously accurate and reliable. I could easily nail dirt clods on the berm (70 m) if I could hold the guns still between gusts. I can also add that the heavyweight monolith (long dust cover version) recoils significantly less than the conventional weight Premier II.

If you study the guns carefully you can see the PII is a standard Baer and the HWML (the long dust cover one) is tactically rounded. I like the tactical rounding option and now somewhat regret not getting it done on my 38 PII.

The long dust cover of the HWML makes it a bit more of a pain to clean. For this reason I think I will stay with conventional dust covers in the future. I like how it handles the recoil, I like the looks, I don't like the additional effort to clean it.

Both are great guns and I really enjoy them. One was bought back in December and the other in July. I ordered the second one in January so Baer's backlog is running right at half a year right now.

These two are my fifth and sixth Baer's but I ended up being talked out of my last PII 38 super and my non-tactical relief PII 45 so I only have 4 of them right now. My favorite is the 10mm Heavyweight Monolith I had made up years ago. (shown below).




Bottom line?
None of my Baer's have problems with reliability or other issues and all but my PII 45 are 1.5" guarantee guns. Thus the paradigm that "tight is unreliable" is wrong for my Baer's. If you want a great accurate shooter, get a Baer!

 

[smalls]

Nice lookin guns! I'm a sucker for a full length dustcover, not sure why.

 

[Walkalong]

I like the full dust cover look as well.

 

[firesky101]

I have to disagree about the full length dust cover, however since you have one of each pictured there is something for everyone. Nice guns you may count me among the jealous.

 

[Johnny Lightning]

Nice Baer's!! A Baer 9mm is my next purchase that I am slowly saving up for and I am wondering why it is harder to clean the mono version vs the pii? I love the looks of the mono and the lack of recoil but if its really a pain to clean then I guess I will rethink my purchase. It also sounds like the tactical option is a nice feature I will have done along w/ the 1.5 option.

 

[Drail]

Think you got enough oil on there Vern? How exactly does the long dust cover make it harder to clean?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Ah the advantage of working for an oil company. I freely admit I use a lot of it. Oil is cheap, guns are expensive and heck I can always find more oil!

Actually, yes I use a lot of oil because I never know when I will be shooting my guns again. They get almost "pickled" in oil and then into the case where the case absorbs the excess and sort of bathes them in a nice oily vapor and liquid. I never had a problem with rust this way. It just means I need to clean them up when I get them back out of the safe which could easily be several years.

The dust cover makes it harder to take apart. You can't break the gun out of battery so you can easily turn the barrel bushing like a normal 1911. Same is true when assembling the gun. It is such a tight fight that turning the barrel bushing is a pain when in battery.

 

[Rinspeed]

The dust cover makes it harder to take apart. You can't break the gun out of battery so you can easily turn the barrel bushing like a normal 1911. Same is true when assembling the gun. It is such a tight fight that turning the barrel bushing is a pain when in battery.

Can't you just pull the slide stop and remove the barrel and slide together.

 

[2zulu1]

One of the nicest calibers to load for, thank you for your feedback. Who makes your LRNs?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Missouri Bullet Company. I buy there 135 grn LRN's in 4000 bullet orders usually.

Yes I can pull the slide stop out and remove it which is my normal approach. Putting it together is the issue. I don't want to idiot mark the slide/frame so I have to fight the bushing instead.

 

[critter]

Ohhhh. You are hurting my heart there! I have a Les Baer (45) which I LOVE. I also have an old Colt 1911 in .38 Super. Oh, how I'd LOVE to have a LB .38 Super! Maybe someday-SOON!!??

 

[k_dawg]

I use my old phone-plastic-screen-protectors for reassembly of my 1911s. I cut it to the right width, and it has enough adhesion.

I engingeered out the 'idiot scratch'. lol