Don't have a Baer but I do love my Custom Classic. Good read thank you.

 

Great read. [emoji1303]thanks


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Great info and good observations.

 

Nice report Frank! Superb pair of pistols too. I have an EB, but a LB Mono remains on my wish list.

 

Great pair of 1911s!

 

Where's the targets?

 

Here are my best groups, from the bench, no rest, just butt on the table, with 3.5 grains of bullseye and .469 taper crimp and 1.255 loa in winchester brass and wlp primers.

First round is loaded manually from the magazine with no fouling or settling shot.

1.1" ctc for 5 shots at 25 yards with hi-tek coated 200 lswc bullets from missouri, and 2.7" ctc at 50 yards for 6 shots with dardas 200 lswc standard lube bullets. The 50 yard group was on a very rainy day and the light was low and I was using a neck hold on a ppc B-27 target. I've gotten a bunch of 1.3-1.5" groups as well.

I'm getting in some zero 185 jhp's tomorrow and hope to try some 4.2 bullseye and 4.2 grains of VV N310 loads which are the gold standard at 50 yards typically.

I think I'm going to put a standard recoil spring plug and guide rod in the brown since it just makes it easier to strip if I have a problem during a match.

I have found that the long dust cover of the baer makes it harder to assemble the slide onto the frame while holding the recoil spring compressed to avoid having to use a bushing wrench while the barrel/bushing are under tension. I prefer to do this rather than use a wrench on the bushing to avoid wear. The problem is that the long dust cover hits your hand before the rails have engaged so you have to let the spring/guide rod relax and sometimes it binds and you have to start over.


Frank

 

Might want to check but I think its 4.2gr of N310.

 

Yes that was a typo, I did have the same load for N320 but the person was running a 10# spring.

 

burkefj, thanks for the report! And congratulations for adding the Ed Brown to your collection.

 

Try the Zero 185 LSCWHP over 3.9 of N310

 

Here are some groups from this morning, I tried the zero jhp 185 with 4.2 grains of N310 with both a light .471 and heavier .469 crimp that I normally use, and also with a heavy crimp and 4.2 grains of bullseye. I seated them at 1.240 which was as long as I could go and still chamber in the baer, the brown could have taken 1.25 or slightly more.

Winchester cases, winchester lp primers
4.2 grains of N310 with zero 185 jhp's seated to 1.240 with .471 crimp
4.2 grains of N310 with zero 185 jhp's seated to 1.240 with .469 crimp
4.2 grains of bullseye with zero 185 jhp's seated to 1.240 with .469 crimp
3.5 grains of bullseye with Missouri coated lswc 200 seated to 1.255 with .469 crimp

I shot off the bench at 25 and 50 yards with the first shot loaded manually from the magazine with no settling shot, with the below groups.

I did not get a great result at 50 yards with either pistol, the best being a 3.3" 5 shot group with the les Baer and bullseye and 185 jhp's, I have a best 2.7" 5 shot 50 yard group with 200 lswc's and 3.5 of bullseye, but I know I was not seeing the sights that great today, I had small targets and was aiming at the top of the bullseye so that they would stay on paper.

All 4 loads were less than 1.5" at 25 yards with both the zero 185 jph's and the missouri coated 200 lswc's. I also later tried some 4.2 grain N310 with 200 lswc coated bullet loads and they shot very well, but recoiled a bit more than my bullseye loads and I think I could bump those down to 3.9 or lower as someone just suggested for 185 lswchp's. I'm getting almost no leading with the coated bullets in either pistol, just a bit on the leade and it brushes out with no trouble.

End result, with multiple loads these are easily sub 1.5" 25 yard pistols and sub 1.25" with preferred loads and me doing my part.

Frank

 

What weight recoil spring are you using? Cannot get these to cycle in my Springer.

 

Baer has a 18# variable rate they say.

Frank

QUOTE=Smac;9995954]What weight recoil spring are you using? Cannot get these to cycle in my Springer.[/QUOTE]

 

The Zeros and Noslers like to go fast. Try bumping it to 4.5 grains

 

Will do. Thanks

 

The missouri load is soft shooting, allowing me faster followups and leaving a pretty clean barrel, and is sub x ring at 25 yards which is good enough for my use, and are running about 14 cents per loaded round. (10Cents per bullet, 1 cent powder, 3 cents primer) And it seems to be consistent with both pistols.

I didn't try any increased N310 loads today, I may later just to see how they group, but for my use, lower recoil is better and I'm getting sufficient accuracy for 25 yards which is my max distance I need to shoot in our ppc matches.

Frank

 

Baer and Brown RR

Thanks for a very nice RR on these 2 pistols and your followup sessions.
Oliver507

 

I bought two mec-gar 8 round mags with removable base plates and they fit perfectly and are easy to load as well and are much easier to insert fully loaded into a pistol with the slide forward.

Are the Mec Gar eight-round magazines any good when it comes to feeding the gun reliably?

 

100% so far, about 600 rounds through it.

Frank

 

I've ordered the ed brown extended mag release and mag well funnel/checkered msh I did have to do a slight adjustment to the undercut on the grip safety to make sure it would clear the trigger with a less than perfect grip, but it is still plenty of engagement to be safe when not depressed in the monolith. The standard mag release was inconsistent for me in ejecting rounds, we are not allowed to raise the muzzle above the berm during reloads so it is harder to switch the position of the pistol enough to hit the button and not raise the muzzle, the brown button seems to work fine for me. The mag well helps a lot in quick reloads.

Triggers have now smoothed to 3# in the baer that has above 2K rounds now.

I'm now running 3.6 grains of bullseye with the 200 coated lswc missouri bullets with the les baer I tried running 3.2-3.4 grains of bullseye with the baer as it would cycle softer but I was getting flyers at 25 yards, so went back to a faster load.



Frank

 

Thanks for write up on the Baer and Brown. I have a Baer but do not do competition. I have always enjoyed the accuracy of the Baer. Now with this write up I am going to do some experimenting with the loads you and RRA have posted. I may now be on the hunt for Ed Brown also.

 

I posted this in another thread but it probably belongs here....

I did notice on my monolith the barrel lugs/ledge that sits on the slide stop pin seems much shorter front to back, when viewed from the side compared to my brown or a similar springfield barrel. It appears they are cut with a secondary angle that shortens the ledge somewhat. Not that it impacts the lifetime or this problem, just something I noticed. Also, my link pin hole is oversized, ie the link hole is not a snug fit on the pin, it is an original 3 marked part, but I've never seen the link hole oversized like this, I assume that the lockup is on the lugs so if the link hole is oversized it isn't impacting the lockup, again just something I noticed.

Picture shows the SA RO at the top, EB in the middle and LB at the bottom. I did note that the LB bottom lugs/feet are not fit, ie show full bluing, but the slide stop pin was fit, it the top half was visibly polished/fit and had all bluing removed, it is not completely round as well support the fitting of the slide stop pin. It isn't far off, from .200 to .203 in diameter.

The SA link pin hole measures .203, pin measures .198 so .05 clearance.
EB link pin hole measures .210, pin measures .201 so .09 clearance
LB link pin hole measures .217, pin measures .200 to .203 so .014 to .017 clearance. It migh be hard to see but the foot ledge that rests on the pin is shorter, mostly because of the second angle that cuts the ledge shorter.

Again, just for interest, not that there is a problem. I do notice even with the 18.5# variable spring in the LB I get much more fouling, especially under the barrel seat/frame area, I'm wondering if it is unlocking sooner due to the shorter bottom lug/foot area..allowing more gasses to get into the action.

 

I've had 4-5 failures to fully chamber in my Monolith in the last 700 rounds, that were resolved with a hard bump on the mag bottom. I took out my extractor and did the extractor check and the front of the extractor hook which had a sharp corner/flat and was bumping into the taper in the front of the case, you can see a mark on the taper on the cases where it hits. I think this was rubbing occasionally and preventing the round from rolling up under the hook. I did some mild filing to gently curve the leading edge so that it does not now make contact with the tapered part of the casing, it's interestig the hook front is pretty far forward relative to the extractor cut in the casing.

Frank

 

In fact to people who say that the extractor is what is being headspaced against, I say not on my les baer, ed brown and springfield RO, there is way more gap to the front of the extractor hook than is left after the casing stops on the case mouth in the chamber.

 

I shot 300+ rounds this afternoon and do not see any marks on the beveled portion of the casing any more and did not have any failures, using several ed brown, mec-gar or baer magazines, and it also passed the single round firing limp wristed test for extractor tension. It's almost at 3K rounds through the pistol and I should have my flat wire 17# spring to try out as a replacement this weekend.

 

I'm using the 8 round nickel, http://www.brownells.com/magazines/handgun-magazines/magazines/1911-45acp-magazines-prod9223.aspx

They fit fine in the ed brown and les baer with no alterations, they are a nice quality, with a metal insert in the plastic follower where it hits the slide stop, and the metal seems nice and heavy. They load easily and take apart for cleaning.

About the only downside I can see is the metal base plate that locks the plastic base from moving is not captured under tabs on the mag body so if the base plastic fails you would spit the guts on the ground where a brown or baer that have the metal plate under the tabs might not do that.

The feed lips are short and straight, instead of long and tapered and work fine for my 200 swc loads in the brown, baer and RO, in fact they seem to feed smoother than the baer or EB mags in the monolith, I can feel it, I think it's the angle, it keeps the rounds a bit more upward at the nose since the follower can't tilt like a metal follower.

Frank

 

I'm using the 8 round nickel, http://www.brownells.com/magazines/handgun-magazines/magazines/1911-45acp-magazines-prod9223.aspx

They fit fine in the ed brown and les baer with no alterations, they are a nice quality, with a metal insert in the plastic follower where it hits the slide stop, and the metal seems nice and heavy. They load easily and take apart for cleaning.

The feed lips are short and straight, instead of long and tapered and work fine for my 200 swc loads in the brown, baer and RO, in fact they seem to feed smoother than the baer or EB mags in the monolith, I can feel it, I think it's the angle, it keeps the rounds a bit more upward at the nose since the follower can't tilt like a metal follower.

I have experience with those mags and recalled the follower can't tilt. Those mags have parallel feed lips. I don't know who makes Baer and EB mags and whether or not the have parallel feed lips. If they do, I'm wondering how tapered feed lip mags (Checkmate hybrid or GI) would work with ball ammo in your guns.

 

Completely stripped and cleaned the Monolith today for the 3000 mile checkup and getting ready for the extended brown mag button and magwell funnel. I will say there is a lot of bluing wear under the moving external parts(safeties on both sides and slide stop, I think a lot of this is due to the pencil engraving of the serials underneath leaving sharp edges. I do notice that there are a lot of unfinished sharp edges inside the pistol. I use q tips to get into all the nooks and crannies when I do a complete cleaning, and there was a lot of qtip fuzz left that I had to get out with brushes, it's a slight pain to clean due to all the sharp edges inside and micro burrs, disconnector hole, slide stop hole, extractor hole, trigger channel etc. I'm not sure how brown dresses the internals but it is much easier to clean without getting fuzz everywhere. I notice the same thing in the slide grasping cuts, I use red shop rags and everytime I wipe the pistol down I have to use a brush to get all the red fuzz out of the grooves since they are pretty rough I will say the bluing seems quite thin on the Monolith, and it is wearing much faster from handling/holstering than I would have expected, but to be fair I didn't buy it to look at. BTW the scratches you see under where the grip panels are are under the bluing, the grips have no movement and have been off exactly twice.