ayoob files: dueling rifles - Jeffersonian's Home Page

the Stinger gobbled up everything we fed it, but
definitely liked the corBon 125-gr. Jhp load the best,
although accuracy with every load was still excellent.
you get .357 Magnum ballistics out of some loads.
takedown is classic 1911
and you’ll need a bushing wrench.
Lock-up is tight, but manageable. the
frame/slide fit is a delight to behold.
test-fires each gun personally.
If I tell a reader asking for advice
on selecting a 1911 to check out Les
Baer Custom (along with other makers)
— if they buy from Baer, I invariably
hear back from them saying how pleased
they are with their new gun. With some
other makers, it’s sometimes a catch-ascatch
can. Sometimes the reader is happy
— sometimes they’re not. To me, it’s
significant when repeat customers
of a maker are disappointed in a
new gun that doesn’t match the
performance and workmanship of
a previous one they bought — from
the same maker. And that’s
the rub. Consistency in
quality and performance
is what sets a maker —
custom or not — from the
competition. Les Baer Custom
offers consistency.
The Super
Les phoned me, excited
about a new model he was
offering. “I know you like
the .38 Super,” he said, “I got a
new gun, the .38 Super Stinger. It’s built
on my Commanche slide and what is
essentially an Officer’s-sized frame. I’m
real proud of it, and it shoots
like hells-afire.”
A bit of obligatory history
here. The .38 Super
each Baer 1911 is
hand-checkered by the
same craftsman in
the Baer shop. Safety
fit was excellent
with positive “onoff”
movements.
was developed in the late 1920s from
the Colt .38 Auto. The Super got about
1,280 fps from a 130-gr. FMC bullet
while the .38 Auto managed about
1,000 fps with the same bullet weight.
Cops liked the Super because it had a
better chance of penetrating car bodies
and the early body armor bad guys
were beginning to wear. When the .357
Magnum came out in the middle 1930s,
cops switched to the more powerful
round, and the .38 Super sort of never
recovered, although it’s been cataloged
ever since in one form or another.
While early guns headspaced on the
“semi-rim” of the .38 Super case, that
was an iffy proposition and accuracy
there’s no full-length
recoil guide rod, the muzzle
is carefully crowned correctly
and the bushing needs just a “touch”
from a bushing wrench to move.
68 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MARCH/APRIL 2013