I just wanted to post a short note regarding the Les Baer Customs, customer service.
On Saturday during the "final test" at the IDPA Basic Skills course my Les Baer Thunder Ranch Special went down. The hammer and sear we no longer on speaking terms (actually the sear broke).
That afternoon I sent an email to Les Baer explaining what happened and planned to ship it back Monday morning for some surgery. Since I hadn't received a response to my email first thing in the morning (I am a little impatient at times) I called and spoke to a very nice CS rep that instructed me to return the pistol with the details of the failure and they would repair it and return it to me...expected shop time 3-4 weeks.
I accepted the terms and boxed up the TRS for shipment. At 12:00 my phone rang and it was Les Baer himself. We discussed what had happened and he promised to personally look at the pistol when it came in and get it "right back to me". I tracked the package and it was received at their office Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon I received a call from Brenda reporting "your TRS is repaired and will be at your house Thursday", just 3 days after I returned it!
Sure enough the pistol arrived Thursday in plenty of time to attend the weekly Thursday night club match (only I had a previous engagement and couldn't make it last night)!
I am extremely impressed with the turn-around on this repair. I could't have asked for faster or more friendly service. Hats off to Les Baer and his team for providing the best customer service anyone could have asked for.
Good to hear, I had the same experience with Brown last week, this is what we pay for when we spend this kind of money on these guns, glad it worked out, says something for that good ol Iowa charm.
The pistol did not go full auto. The only surprise I had was when I reached over and attempted to cock the hammer back with my left thumb it didn't lock back (remember sear and hammer no longer spoke to each other) and dropped on a live round (while pointed down range of course).
Just in case anyone was curious;
a) the slide moves rearward MUCH faster than you can move your thumb out of the way.
b) when a recoiling slide hits the side of your thumb you bleed:bawling:
c) you will never forget that lesson
I had an early Kimber that after a range trip. I cleaned it and dropped the slide to chamber a round and put it in the sock drawer. Well it went bang. The tip of the sear broke off. It fired one round and caught the half cock hook preventing it from going full auto.
To this day, no matter what the pistol I go outside now and aim it at the ground when I chamber one.
I've had a lot of 1911s, from a lot of makers, but I've never moved up into the Les Baer/Wilson Combat/Ed Brown level. I've been thinking lately that I want to get a Thunder Ranch Special, and hearing this story makes me feel even better about going with Les Baer. Thanks for relaying
I shoot a bunch of "ballistic tupperware" and will continue to do so, but there's just something about a quality 1911 that makes you understand the addiction. I sold all my Springfield's and Kimber's becuase they just didn't "do it for me" but the Les Baer is a different breed
Bite the bullet and invest in a quality 1911 (whichever mfg you prefer) and see what we all rave about. There is a huge difference in the way they feel.
LB took care of my CC without any problems during a very busy time for their shop (shotshow).
Issues;
- peening issue which was corrected by removing the burr and adjusting the fit on my slidestop for better engagement
- defect on the slide bluing which they agreed to reblue at no cost
- small scratch on the frame near the grip safety that I asked them if they could fix w\out rebluing. This one was the most impressive... I told them that I scratched it w\something (likely a coat zipper). Les personally called to tell me that he would take care of all of the above items but the frame would need to be reblued and would cost me around $100 (I can't remember exact price). I told him not to worry about it and that I would just live w\the scratch. When one of the girls called to let me know my pistol was shipping, she asked me how I wanted to pay for the frame being reblued. I was a disappointed that they reblued the frame because I wasn't expecting to pay anything out of pocket. She had Les call me from the shotshow and he vaguely remembered the conversation and agreed to wave the charge even after I said that I would pay for it since the work was rendered. All I paid for was shipping (one-way) and for a set of grip panels. Customer service was excellent and I wouldn't hesitate to call them again.
so far my cs experience with les baer has been great, i called them up to look up history on one of their pistols and the lady I spoke with looked it up instantly and free of change. Now try that with ed brown and they charge you for it. Cant recall how much I paid eb but i think it was around 25, but it will prob be the only money i ever spend with them because I base alot of what i buy on the companys cs.
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