Manufacturer: Wilson Combat; (800) 955-4856; www.wilsoncombat.com
10/22/2012 Les Baer Custom has been offering finely tuned M1911 handguns for almost 20 years. It has a reputation for producing very accurate M1911s that are flawless in fit and finish. The .38 Super Stinger is one of many models offered. The Stinger uses what Les Baer calls a “Comanche top end,” which is a Commander-size slide with a 4.25-inch barrel. The grip frame is shortened like the Colt Officer’s model. The result is the marriage of two very desirable M1911 components that are rarely mated together, producing what many consider to be the ultimate “carry-size” M1911. For the .38 Super Stinger, Les Baer uses a steel frame with the frontstrap checkered at 30 lines-per-inch (l.p.i.). The pistol is fitted with an upswept grip safety with a raised pad to help with disengagement. The magazine well is slightly beveled to assist with smooth reloads, and there’s a finely tuned Les Baer Speed Trigger with an advertised pull weight of 4 pounds. The ambidextrous safety is nicely contoured and slim on the left side so it will not aggressively bite the first knuckle of the shooting hand, and fully checkered, nicely figured, cocobolo stocks round out the frame. The Comanche slide has highly polished sides with a matte finish on top. Tightly spaced, angled slide serrations are positioned at the rear of the slide, which is engraved with “BAER Custom” on the right and “38 SUPER” on the left. The 4350 steel, ramped, match-grade barrel is tightly mated to the frame at the muzzle with a stainless-steel bushing. Although the pistol does not have a full-length guide rod, you’ll need a bushing wrench to take it apart. Les Baer three-dot tritium Combat sights and a Les Baer hammer finish out the top end of the pistol. Needless to say, the Stinger has been hand-fitted to ensure reliability, and all the sharp edges commonly found on a M1911’s frame, slide and controls have been modestly smoothed. Unlike some M1911s, the operation of the thumb safety requires some force. Not excessive force; actually, it feels just right. The safety will not become disengaged accidentally. As compact as the Stinger is, at 35 ounces unloaded, it’s not a lightweight pistol. The weight does help with recoil; you know when you pull the trigger on a full-power .38 Super. With my .45 ACP Colt Lightweight Commander I can run the Forty-Five Drill—five shots, inside a 5-inch circle at five yards from concealment—in about four seconds. My times with the Les Baer Stinger were almost identical with no misses. With one exception, the pistol performed flawlessly. During accuracy testing from the bench while shooting the Federal 130-grain FMJ load, failures to fully eject—“stove pipes”—occurred. However, this load worked without fail through the Stinger during practical drills. In the Les Baer tradition, the Stinger was very accurate, averaging less than 2 inches for 20 groups fired with four different loads. Manufacturer: Les Baer Custom; (563) 289-2126; www.lesbaer.com
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