Bullseye 2620
Member
How to Test Your "Match Grade" 1911 for Proper Barrel Fit and Lock-Up
OK, here's a couple of tests to do on your Baer pistols to determine if the barrel was properly fit and lock-up properly achieved.
1. With the slide off the gun, remove the guide rod, spring, plug, and slide stop pin, but leave the bushing in place. Turn the slide upside down. Now, with the barrel all the way to the rear (emulating the position of the assembled gun when it is battery), press down on the barrel in the area of the bottom barrel lugs, and release the pressure. Does the barrel rebound just slightly when you release the pressure? If it does, you've got a "sprung barrel," which is an indication of a poor barrel to bushing fit.
2. While you have the gun in this position, look to see if you can see daylight on either side of the barrel hood, and/or at the rear, where the hood is supposed to contact the breech face. You should see NO daylight in any of those three locations. The rear of the barrel hood should make full contact across its entire width with the breech face.
3. The barrel OD should exactly equal the bushing ID. How is this possible? Well, there should be relief cuts at the top rear and bottom front of the bushing so that the barrel can cam downward and unlock from the slide during recoil. Having looked at several Baer guns up close, I have found that the bushings appear to have been reamed to a generic size, so the fit is not as it should be. The bushing should have that 1° camming relief cut to permit proper unlocking and the tight fit you get when the barrel OD equals the bushing ID. Baer guns don't.
4. Other than holding the slide and frame together, the slide stop pin's only proper function is to serve as the pivot for the barrel link. I've noticed that Baer guns have the bottom barrel lug cut so as to wedge the slide stop pin, the barrel, and the link together. That's not right either.
5. Then there is the matter of the slide to frame fit. With the barrel, bushing, slide stop, spring, plug, and guide rod out of the slide (just the naked slide), position it on the frame to emulate the position the slide is supposed to be in when it is in battery. Can you detect any movement of the slide on the frame in this position, either up and down or side to side, when you try to jiggle it? There should be none. Zero.
6. If you have the proper micrometer, measure the OD of the slide stop pin, and then tell me what that measurement is. I'll bet I have a surprise for you.
One more thing. The target Joni Lynn posted is very impressive. I have no way of contesting or vouching for its probity. I'd like to know the exact dimensions (OD) of that group. Most of all, I'd like to see that group duplicated out of a Ransom rest at 50 yards. I have heard stories that these groups are not always fired at 50 yards, but rather than post what may be only misinformed gossip, I would simply repeat that I would like to see that group duplicated out of a Ransom rest at 50 yards. If the pistol can produce three consecutive 10-shot groups like that I'll offer to buy it for $5,000 and use it in the centerfire match.
There's another company in Illinois whose "match grade" pistols seem to suffer from the same kind of problems, so Baer is not unique in this regard.
I know this is controversial. My intention is not to question the judgment of the owners involved. Just let me say that I gained this knowledge the hard way. In my opinion, there is no substitute for a hand built full custom match pistol, wherein the pistol smith fits every single part by hand, and uses techniques perfected by outfits like the Marine Corps WTB or the Army AMU. These "semi-customs" cost the same, but, again in my experience, they aren't the same.
One last point: when you call Baer, can you talk to the one man who built the gun? Do you even know his name? Didn't think so. That, more than anything else, should tell you something.
Bullseye
OK, here's a couple of tests to do on your Baer pistols to determine if the barrel was properly fit and lock-up properly achieved.
1. With the slide off the gun, remove the guide rod, spring, plug, and slide stop pin, but leave the bushing in place. Turn the slide upside down. Now, with the barrel all the way to the rear (emulating the position of the assembled gun when it is battery), press down on the barrel in the area of the bottom barrel lugs, and release the pressure. Does the barrel rebound just slightly when you release the pressure? If it does, you've got a "sprung barrel," which is an indication of a poor barrel to bushing fit.
2. While you have the gun in this position, look to see if you can see daylight on either side of the barrel hood, and/or at the rear, where the hood is supposed to contact the breech face. You should see NO daylight in any of those three locations. The rear of the barrel hood should make full contact across its entire width with the breech face.
3. The barrel OD should exactly equal the bushing ID. How is this possible? Well, there should be relief cuts at the top rear and bottom front of the bushing so that the barrel can cam downward and unlock from the slide during recoil. Having looked at several Baer guns up close, I have found that the bushings appear to have been reamed to a generic size, so the fit is not as it should be. The bushing should have that 1° camming relief cut to permit proper unlocking and the tight fit you get when the barrel OD equals the bushing ID. Baer guns don't.
4. Other than holding the slide and frame together, the slide stop pin's only proper function is to serve as the pivot for the barrel link. I've noticed that Baer guns have the bottom barrel lug cut so as to wedge the slide stop pin, the barrel, and the link together. That's not right either.
5. Then there is the matter of the slide to frame fit. With the barrel, bushing, slide stop, spring, plug, and guide rod out of the slide (just the naked slide), position it on the frame to emulate the position the slide is supposed to be in when it is in battery. Can you detect any movement of the slide on the frame in this position, either up and down or side to side, when you try to jiggle it? There should be none. Zero.
6. If you have the proper micrometer, measure the OD of the slide stop pin, and then tell me what that measurement is. I'll bet I have a surprise for you.
One more thing. The target Joni Lynn posted is very impressive. I have no way of contesting or vouching for its probity. I'd like to know the exact dimensions (OD) of that group. Most of all, I'd like to see that group duplicated out of a Ransom rest at 50 yards. I have heard stories that these groups are not always fired at 50 yards, but rather than post what may be only misinformed gossip, I would simply repeat that I would like to see that group duplicated out of a Ransom rest at 50 yards. If the pistol can produce three consecutive 10-shot groups like that I'll offer to buy it for $5,000 and use it in the centerfire match.
There's another company in Illinois whose "match grade" pistols seem to suffer from the same kind of problems, so Baer is not unique in this regard.
I know this is controversial. My intention is not to question the judgment of the owners involved. Just let me say that I gained this knowledge the hard way. In my opinion, there is no substitute for a hand built full custom match pistol, wherein the pistol smith fits every single part by hand, and uses techniques perfected by outfits like the Marine Corps WTB or the Army AMU. These "semi-customs" cost the same, but, again in my experience, they aren't the same.
One last point: when you call Baer, can you talk to the one man who built the gun? Do you even know his name? Didn't think so. That, more than anything else, should tell you something.
Bullseye
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I can't see any department issuing Les Baer Premier IIs, so maybe SW CQB45 had better go looking for a good P226. That gun is probably the most accurate of the production 9s that I can think of, though nothing special, from what I have seen. If you're going to follow the intent of the rules, I don't see how a Les Baer or an X5/X6 is going to make it past the first referee. "NOT a competition firearm" pretty thoroughly assures that. 
