Wilson Combat 1911-Are they worth the $$$$

[gunofthrones]

A les Baer is the balance point. It's as good as Wilson combat but 60% of the price.

 

[dcmdon]

hmmm

 

[M1911]

A les Baer is the balance point. It's as good as Wilson combat but 60% of the price.

As Mr. Boudrie about the results of metallurgy tests done on a Les Baer.

 

[drgrant]

Less Beer "you need to fire more rounds through that to break it in" Some guy told me about buying one of their fancier 1911s designed for
bullseye or something with a high accuracy claim, and I was like "so, they told lyou to keep cleaning it and just fire it till it jams?" I was like "for the amount of money they charged for it, why couldn't they have fitted it correctly or broken it in for you?" He was kinda dumbfounded at that and told me it worked really good after the first couple hundred rounds of pain.

-Mike

 

[Tiktock]

Less Beer "you need to fire more rounds through that to break it in" Some guy told me about buying one of their fancier 1911s designed for
bullseye or something with a high accuracy claim, and I was like "so, they told lyou to keep cleaning it and just fire it till it jams?" I was like "for the amount of money they charged for it, why couldn't they have fitted it correctly or broken it in for you?" He was kinda dumbfounded at that and told me it worked really good after the first couple hundred rounds of pain.

-Mike

1000% myth. Baers run out of the box and theres no break in period. Call Les Baer and ask about the the break in period on his guns and he will laugh at you. My monolith is ridiculously tight and its a 1.5" guarantee gun and it has never had a fte or ftl in thousands of rounds.

The wives tales around Baer break in are fun to watch, though.

I also see reference to some magic metallurgical test someone here did but im not sure how thats relevant when there really arent any other 1911s with people documenting 30-50k round counts through their guns. Unless i see the same test done on a Wilson and a BEC im not sure why i should care?

 

[drgrant]

1000% myth.

Not a myth, talk to enough bullseye and pin shooters and you'll find one that has had some fun breaking in their LB. Not every gun they make is that
tight. Granted, some of the tales I've heard go back 10+ years, so they might be doing things differently now than they used to.

I also see reference to some magic metallurgical test someone here did but im not sure how thats relevant when there really arent any other 1911s with people documenting 30-50k round counts through their guns. Unless i see the same test done on a Wilson and a BEC im not sure why i should care?

You'd probably care because it's a kind of fraud that's happened. The metal that the lab found in that gun was not the type of thing you'd expect out of a $2,000+ 1911. Then again, god only knows whether that kind of thing was a one off, a bunch of bad frames, etc.

Most of the people I know who are LB fans are happy with their guns. Even the guys who had the break-in guns were pretty happy with them, too..

-Mike

 

[dcmdon]

Mike,

I'm aware of Boudrie's experience. I don't dispute it. But I can also tell you that I've owned 2 Les Baers and they shot better than the Wilson's or Nighthawks I've owned.

In fact my after buying a Dan Wesson Pointman 9, I cleaned out all my 1911s except for my Baer in .45, my Brazos Custom limited gun and my DW in 9mm.

Crazy John at ProLoad has Premier IIs for $1799 in stock.

My Premier II is the most accurate center fire semi-auto (My 686 revolver and a couple of fixed barrel target .22s are more accurate) that I own. It has a bit over 15k rounds through it. I realize not a lot to some people, but its a lifetime of shooting to most. Its still on the original extractor, runs like a top and has no barrel to slide to frame slop. It ran flawlessly from new.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

A les Baer is the balance point. It's as good as Wilson combat but 60% of the price.

The metallurgical analysis I arranged says otherwise.

my Brazos Custom limited gun

Brazos knows what he is doing, and is a shooter as well as a gunsmith. You can trust him and his stuff.

 

[gunofthrones]

My les bears never needed break in. It worked out of box. If someone tell you it absolutely need 500 rounds break in, he's either making it up or just has bad info.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

My les bears never needed break in. It worked out of box. If someone tell you it absolutely need 500 rounds break in, he's either making it up or just has bad info.

Or bad ammo.

 

[gunofthrones]

Or bad ammo.

That too.

 

[JohnnyC]

So from time to time I hear people talking about how good a Wilson Combat 1911 is and how they are worth every dime they cost. Never really thought much about them until I just saw how much one is being sold for. Now I'm sure there is some MA markup involved but are they really worth $3-4K per gun? That seems extraordinary to me as that is more then my custom build with Derr Precision cost.

What's your thought on them and are they really that good?

It all depends on how much money you have, and how badly you want it. The same question applies to almost all luxury brands... from cars to watches to boats and airplanes too.... the list never ends. To someone with not a lot of money, probably not worth it. A guy with boatloads of cash, it is a drop in the bucket.

 

[dcmdon]

Or bad ammo.

I bought my Baer to shoot steel in a local league. It ran perfectly from new with factory ammo.

Shortly after new I made up some light static steel shooting ammo with 4 gr of clays. It has always worked for me with an 11 lb recoil srping. (stock is 16 lbs).

The baer wouldn't run because the 11 lb recoil spring wouldn't lock it up. It was definitely snug. But not too snug to work in its as shipped configuration.

I did return the 16 lb spring to the gun and make up some full power ammo. It then worked flawlessly. After a month or so of use, I was able to go back to the light load with the light spring and it ran fine.