Les Baer at the NRA show

I spoke with les baer today at the NRA show about my bullseye wadcutter. He gave me a few pointers for loading for it. He suggested that I used 4.5 grains of bullseye powder behind pretty much any type of bullet, jacketed or lead. He also suggested I use only a taper crimp that measures .469
I was curious of what everyone's thoughts were? Mainly on the powder weight of every bullet

Seems a little hot for the short line.

His reasoning was, "It makes the gun feel less clunky"

Les Baers are extremely tight fitted from the factory - probably needs that hot load for break-in just to get the gun to function properly. Also I thought .463 was the magic taper crimp for .45acp bullseye loads...

Mine was very tight when I got it and has 2707 rounds through it and is still tight.  3.8grs of BE behind Zero 185gr HPSWCs worked fine.  4.2gr BE behind Zero 185gr JHPs for the long like.  Only problem I have is racking the slide.  I bought the LB with the frame mount and with the Matchdot II is is hard to get a good grip on the back of the slide.  Wish it had a rear sight cut as I would put my slide racker bar on it.  When it starts getting dirty which is petty fast with BE it becomes real hard to rack.  No and I am not a wuss either I can rack a new S&W Shield with my thumb and index finger and everyone on the S&W Forum complained about that gun.  Don

Les isn't a BE shooter! 4.5 is a warm 50 yd load. .471 is typical jacketed bullet crimp. Lead ranges between .465-.469 typically. His guns when new need warm load so it can batter itself loose/break in. 4.5 will wear you out and you'll probably never shoot any better than you do now. Recoil is the enemy! Shoot softer loads
Jon

I shoot a 1968 built Clark Sr. long slide.
My load is 4.8gr of BE under a 185gr Nosler JHP for the long line and 185gr Hornady jacketed button nose for the short line.
Why do I use such a warm load for the long and short line ?
Because it is the most accurate in this pistol/barrel that I have found.
Granted, at the short line it was kind of a bear to recover and get back to the next shot.
So why not tame the recoil a bit without changing the load recipe, humm.
Ordered an EGW oversized flat firing pin stop and spent an hour or so to fit it into the pistol.
Took it out for a test drive a few weeks later.
Wow, a very felt difference in recoil.
Mind you, it does not make it a mouse fart load but the difference can be felt.
I have shot it enough to prove to myself that this change worked and not going to change my recipe any time soon.
But, I am getting older by the minute 

As far as crimp goes with jacketed be careful, you can crush in the jacket wall.
If you feel solid resistance and then it drops off before the full stroke, you just crushed it.
The dimension for crimp will vary in your situation/load.

YMMV
Clarence

Wow Clarence, probably pushing close to 900 fps out of a longslide. No wonder you needed square firing pin stop to slow the slide down. Like shooting wadball
Jon

Way back in the day, John Giles used to tout the .463 tight crimp. It worked for him and he was a top notch bullseye pistolsmith. That being said, I think he was using a LSWC bullet and Star press and dies. I have tried the tight crimp and machine rest tested it. The tighter the crimp, the less accurate the load. I use Dillon dies and presses for loading .45 ACP. Like Jon says, I have settled on .470-.471 for a taper crimp. My pistols shoot very well with a load that Dave Salyer/ Al Doorman came up with (the Marine Load). I use 4.5 grains of Bullseye under a Nosler 185 gr. JHP for the long line. This load shoots very well out of a Ransom Rest out of several guns I tested. From what I've heard over the years about Les Baer and experienced myself, I'm not a huge fan. Although some folks like him and his pistols. Rock River did make and I imagine still do produce extremely accurate and reliable pistols right from the get-go (no break-in). For the short line I use the 185 gr. swaged LSWCHP with about 4.0 grains of Bullseye. My guns have a slide mounted scope, and that makes a difference. If you have a frame mounted scope, you can get away with lighter charges at the short line, but like Mr. Perkins says, I like using the most accurate load for the long line where recoil is much less of a factor.

If you have any kind of issues Les's go to answer includes increasing your powder charge. I had a Concept III that was a nice pistol but I had issues with it stove piping. Eventually I called Les and among other things he told me to try more powder. Ended up the extractor was set too loose, from day one I might add. In his defense he did recommend checking the extractor as well. After tuning the extractor my 3.8WST over a 185 LSWC ran like a champ.

I held and looked over a few new Rock Rivers at the NRA show today.. Very nice piece for the $$. they guarantee 1.5 " at 50 with their BE guns

I can see where it would shoot good out of the box with little or no break-in..

All of the Baer's I've seen had what we used to call a wedge type of lockup where you can feel it getting tight the last quarter inch or so of slide movement.. also you can feel it moving the slide back out of lock up. that takes a while to smooth out.

I did look at the rock rivers and those were nice, but I already ordered my baer and I got in yesterday at 8am, I don't think I was allowed but nobody said anything, and I talked with Les for about 30 mins and he seemed like a great guy

Jon Eulette wrote:Wow Clarence, probably pushing close to 900 fps out of a longslide. No wonder you needed square firing pin stop to slow the slide down. Like shooting wadball
Jon

Oops Jon;
Made a typo, it is actually 4.7gr and not 4.8gr of BE 
Have not had a chrono in years since the one I had quit working(I even shot it twice and it still would not work).
Barrel is an older two piece it appears with a long chamber/throat before it enters the leade.
Works good enough for what little I shoot anymore.

VolScorpion;
Good luck with your new pistol.
All you can do is what Les told you to do with the pistols they build and break it in.
Reevaluate after break in period and let us know.

Clarence