Range Report - My first 1911 - Les Baer Premium II 1.5G
Yesterday my Les Baer finally came in to my FFL dealer. I immediately took it out for a 100-round dance before bringing it back home for a proper field strip and look-over.
Background: I have been shooting for a period of *months*, but in that time I have fired *a lot* of rounds, mainly .22LR pistol. A few months ago I got my first pistol, and IZH-35m and shortly thereafter got into bullseye. I have competed twice in our local competitions and scored 711 and 749 in my respective two outings, which I am told is a decent score for someone with as little shooting experience as myself. In practice (and I practice around 1000-1500 rounds a week) on my best days I am an 800 shooter. If you are not familiar with bullseye, all shooting is done one-handed at a distant target (50' indoors, 50/25 yards outdoors). I also have a Ruger MKIII that I have put a lot of rounds through, and a 17HMR rifle for benchrest work. In large caliber, I have shot a Springfield XDm, a rented Springfield 1911 at the range (not sure exactly which variant), and a bullseye 1911 that I borrowed in my last competition. In the .45 portion of the last competition, the competitor scoring for me told me I was doing really well with a borrowed gun for my first time shooting a .45 in competition. So I'd like to think that I'm a decent shot and progressing fairly rapidly.
Mission: My purpose in selecting and buying this gun was to get a very competitive setup for bullseye shooting. My criteria was not for a self-defense gun, but for a gun that could achieve maximum accuracy at 50 yards and preferably came with frame-mounted optics (red dot). I chose the Les Baer because it was one of the few semi-custom guns that could be had with a 1.5" group guarantee at 50 yards. Therefore I limited my selection to the bullseye guns I could find that had such a guarantee, be they Les Baer or other. After a few WTB ads on the bullseye list, a good selection of used bullseye guns emerged. I selected this particular Premium II because 1) the Les Baer name, 2) the guarantee, and 3) it already had frame-mounted optics (Ultradot). While I found guns for between $1000-$1200, most of these did not have the optic mount I wanted and adding the optic plus mount plus installation of said mount was a fairly expensive proposition (~$400). Therefore I selected a gun already setup. The gentleman I purchased the gun from said he got his Distinguished ranking with this pistol. I paid $1450 shipped. Based on my assessment of the market over the last month I've been looking, this was a fair price IMHO.
First Impressions: I had seen pictures of the gun I was getting, but there's always a little trepidation when opening that box for the first time and hoping it looks like what one expected. Indeed the gun matched the pictures and description well. The slide to frame fit was tight when the gun was in battery with a little bit of play when the slide was locked back. The barrel bushing looked to be a nickel steel or stainless while the rest of the gun is blued. The Ultradot was working and visible on a low power setting, so the battery was good. The gun had no major scratches on it, just a few on the slide mount. It came with one magazine and in a cheapish plastic case. Since the gun is intended to be used for bullseye, the rear sight was removed and replaced with a slide racker. The front of the slide is serrated and this proved useful to help rack the slide as the optics mount interferes with access to the rear serrations. The slide-racker was also quite useful. The front and back straps were finely checkered and this was a welcome feature to assist holding the gun.
First Shots: I loaded my first mag up with Fiocchi FMJ 230gr and took aim at the target 5 yards away. As I established my aim, dot on the target, I touched the trigger and began my press….BANG! Scared the crap out of me. I dropped the magazine, racked the slide, verified the chamber was empty and proceeded to dry fire the gun a couple times down-range. Confirmed: this gun has the lightest trigger I have ever felt. I mean scary light.
The Trigger: As mentioned, and perhaps I cannot emphasize enough, this gun has a *light* trigger. My IZH-35m has a 2lbs trigger with about 1mm of take-up and 2mm of travel after a very crisp, clean, and consistent break. It’s a world class trigger (seriously, the IZH-35m has taken many world championship medals). The PII made the Izzy feel like a slug. The PII trigger has *zero* take-up, and about 1mm of travel after what feels like a 1lb or *less* break. All one has to do is think 'trigger' and once the nervous impulse to begin trigger pressure hits the finger, the gun goes off. I have an airsoft 1911 I use for indoor at-home practice/fun and this trigger is lighter than that. It freaked me out, and its not legal for bullseye. Now all that said, the break is incredibly clean and consistent. The trigger feels absolutely great, its just way too light. I wouldn't be surprised if the trigger is somehow only 8 or 12oz which I didn't think was possible to achieve on a 1911. The rented Springfield I shot felt like it had a 3.5-4lb trigger pull with some creep and definite over-travel. The borrowed 1911 I shot in competition was setup with what the bullseye folk call a 'roll trigger' and while I'm not exactly sure what that means, it feels a lot like 'smooth creep' to me. But it was a very consistent trigger, probably around 3lbs which I believe is the legal minimum for .45 bullseye.
Shooting: Once I got 'used' to the trigger, if that's even possible with such a light and short pull, I started to put shots on target. It was somewhat apparent that the gun needed some zeroing, but this was complicated by a couple of factors. First, I am used to a more substantial grip. The izzy has a target-style one-hand grip with palm-shelf that I really like. My Ruger has a VQ oversized rubber grip with finger grooves and a heel flare. The borrowed 1911 I shot in competition had a palm shelf as well. So I struggled to find the right grip position, which tended to effect my trigger finger placement. I use the pad of my finger on the trigger and sometimes my grip was putting too much finger into the guard and causing my shots to pull left. Second, I am not used to the recoil. The recoil doesn't scare me, and I'm slowly learning to control any 'flinching' however small, but its still there. I know this latter issue rests with the shooter and will be alleviated by more rounds down-range. My wife (who is 5'2") shot the gun as well (two-handed) and while she had a lot of issues with the recoil of the rented Springfield we shot, I believe the stiffer spring in the Les Baer helped to mitigate that for her as she felt the recoil was not nearly as bad.
Accuracy: It was hard for me to say what the accuracy of the gun was, as it was clear that my shooting wasn't up to snuff and I didn't have the chance to test the gun off a rest. I did put out a slow-fire B2 target at 20 yards and pumped it full of rounds. Very difficult as I couldn't get a good grip on the gun and that kept the dot moving around. My first slow-fire target looked about like when I very first started shooting bullseye: Swiss cheese. That said, I managed to keep all my shots on the paper at least.
Ergonomics: I know that many many folks find the ergonomics of the 1911 to be perfect. But I cannot say I am amongst them. My hands are smallish, yet the grip of the 1911 feels too thin for my hand to get the right positioning. After I got the gun home, I put on a set of rubber finger-grooves that go on under the stock grip panels. This helped somewhat, but the grip still is not confidence-inspiring for me. I like a grip that feels much more like the gun is part of the hand, meaning a palm shelf.
Field Strip: First time field-stripping a 1911. Of course I watched a number of video's online and made sure that I had my plastic bushing wrench at hand. This was a good thing as the bushing was very tight to the barrel that I could not rotate it with my fingers. The wrench was very welcome. Taking out the recoil spring was a little strange as the spring really held on tight to the guide rod, requiring a good stretch of the spring to get it out. The slide-racker has to come off to get the slide past the optic mount, so this adds another step to the take-down. The slide-stop pushed out the side of the gun very smoothly and easily, and the slide glided off the gun. Everything appeared to be well-lubed and clean, so there was no cleaning or lubrication to perform at this time. Reassembly was a little tricky, mainly regarding the reinsertion of the slide-stop. I had trouble getting the stop past the detent by pushing or rotating the stop, so I used a very small screwdriver to depress the detent and the stop dropped right in. As mentioned, I have a Ruger MKIII, so I have learned the art of patience with guns…
Reliability: My range session was time-constrained and thus I was only able to put 100 rounds through the gun, but using the Les Baer, Tripp Research, and Metalform 7 and 10-round magazines, the gun was completely reliable.
Final Thoughts: This is a great gun. The trigger, while way too light for comfort, is superb and shows the work of a good smith somewhere along the way. I'm certain the gun did not come from Les Baer like this. The fit and finish is quite good, even for a used gun. The bluing is intact and doesn't show any major signs of wear. The fit of the parts feels tight. The slide-racker makes the gun easy to rack, as opposed to having sweaty fingers struggle with gripping fine serrations as I did in my last competition. The optic is an older Ultradot and performed as expected, which is to say well; it’s the best red dot for competition that I've found and I have a Mueller dot on my Ruger and a Ultradot Matchdot (the newest version) on my Izzy.
