Les Baer Premier II 5 .38 Special Blue 1911-style Pistol

This is my first 1911...

This is my first 1911 in this price range. It's well worth it. I needed an excuse to buy another 1911, so a nicer pistol in a new caliber did it for me. Les Baers come in a cardboard box and drenched in lube. Fit and finish is appropriate for the money it cost. I had heard these pistols can be so tight they're often hard to rack and some feed problems can happen during break-in. This one wasn't too hard to rack and in the first 550 rounds I had one feed problem, due to a deformed round. The sights were spot-on. Accuracy is impressive, trigger is a crisp 4.5 pounds and getting better with use. 38 super is a good cartridge in a 1911. It's a straight wall round and about the same length as 45 acp so feed reliability in 1911's is very good. The barrel has plenty of free-bore so it's good for reloaders. Recoil is not much more than 9mm in a 1911. Good accuracy and velocity are easy to get in 38 Super without skirting the edges of pressure. Ejection is pretty strong but the brass seems to land in a surprisingly small area. This pistol is a double win; its nice to look at and shoot, and 38 super is one heck of a great cartridge!