Newer Les Baer 45 Barrel Fit

Here’s a photo of the bottom lugs on a Baer 45 acp barrel. Crude marks on the front of the lugs do not affect accuracy, but craftsmanship is lacking. Barrel link was too short and slide stop was battering the radius on the bottom lugs. That does affect accuracy; it cause erratic cycling/chambering. Typically vertical grouping.
Upper barrel lug not fit. Slide contact at extreme 3 and 9 o’clock. Not fitting upper lugs leaves minimal lug engagement which equates to more felt recoil because barrel comes out of battery sooner. Will shoot good from RR like this but be unforgiving to shoot from hand. 
I dressed up the lugs and installed a proper length barrel link.
Jon

Wow, I don't know a lot about how a 1911 should be fitted but that looks awful.

My Baer Premier II had similar problems as well as a slide stop tapered .005" from edge-to-edge....I guess that's one way to fit a barrel.

Hardest recoiling .45 I've ever shot.....by a lot.

That's just sad.
And they're not giving those away!

What do the after pictures look like?

My NM was feeling a little loose, so I put a larger slide stop in it. Wouldn't close.

They had 'fit' it by grinding a flat on the slide stop.

That is seriously ugly...

Ric

WesG wrote:My NM was feeling a little loose, so I put a larger slide stop in it. Wouldn't close.

They had 'fit' it by grinding a flat on the slide stop.

Grinding a flat on the stop pin??? Eeeewww GROSS!!

Jon, I’ve seen nicer legs walking around the pool at a senior citizen assisted living facility.

8-0

I think I could have done a better job with an Ax! That is a very very very bad job! That's why I will not recommend LB to anyone!

RodJ wrote:

WesG wrote:My NM was feeling a little loose, so I put a larger slide stop in it. Wouldn't close.

They had 'fit' it by grinding a flat on the slide stop.

Grinding a flat on the stop pin??? Eeeewww GROSS!!

Jon, I’ve seen nicer legs walking around the pool at a senior citizen assisted living facility.

8-0

Ground ... as in more like belt sanded, but smooth-ish. And I think now the new stop pin I tried was the same diameter.

To put a 'positive' spin on it, pretty easy to tighten it back up without welding the lugs or replacing the barrel.

The Keefer pic's show grinding a relief for the link. On the bottom side? Let's you run a longer link?  Maybe Jon can comment on that.

Jerry’s link modification allowed slightly short link (when in battery) to be free from binding on the link during lock up. When barrel is in full recoil (barrel bedding on receiver) the link was correct length. His modification was in lieu of opening up the link hole. Opening the link hole will cause link to act as longer link which could or could not affect barrel unlocking from slide lugs.
I would only use his modification for in battery condition, not modified for when barrel is bedded on receiver. 
Jon

RodJ wrote:

WesG wrote:My NM was feeling a little loose, so I put a larger slide stop in it. Wouldn't close.

They had 'fit' it by grinding a flat on the slide stop.

Grinding a flat on the stop pin??? Eeeewww GROSS!!

Jon, I’ve seen nicer legs walking around the pool at a senior citizen assisted living facility.

8-0

Greetings,

Do not buy an S&W Model 52 if you do not like ground slide stop pins.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave,
You caused me to field strip my 52 and learn something new!

The pin has a small crosswise groove, cut roughly midway across the pin at 1930 hrs (as viewed from the left side of the gun with the pin in place). And a flat on the far end of the pin. The flat depresses a plunger on the aft end of the recoil rod, allowing the full pin width to insert, and when fully inserted the plunger lines up with the groove and releases somewhat into the groove thus trapping the slide stop pin in place.

While I see that as different from the “grind-to-fit” described by WesG, my first reaction was  “Eeeeewwww!!! Gross!!” Lol!  Until I figured out what was going on. 

Then again, thinking it through, traditional hand fitting is as much file to fit as it is anything else. Your point is well taken.  

Thanks for the lesson. I never get bored around this place and your posts are without exception always informative. Thank you for all your contributions!

Both of my 52’s have significant flats filed on the top of the slide stop. The lockup on 52’s is different from a 1911. The 52 has a flat on the bottom of the barrel and no link rather than the feet on the 1911 barrel. The slide stop is filed during factory fitting to achieve the proper upper lug engagement. I have not tried to swap slide stops between pistols but I have doubts they would work.

Marine Corps armorers used to cut bottom barrel lugs short and fit a slide stop with a flat top. This way as lugs wear a new oversized slide stop could be fit tightening the lockup. Military pistols get shot more than civilian pistols, so this kept the pistols match grade much longer.
Jon

Flat on the slide stop pin will work and is used quite often However it depends on the amount the flat reduces the slide stop pin diameter. Quite a bit depends on the radius on the lower lug, no radius like I use will not effect performance much but will depend on the amount of flat. The problem is that as the contact angle changes between the slide stop pin and the lower lug decreases the vertical force applied to the barrel increases. When the bullet contacts the barrel, the barrel is pushed forward, the contact angle multiples the vertical force, lower the angle the greater the multiplication of force. Barrel being forced up increases friction and with the recoil spring the forward force increases, increasing vertical force on the barrel and eventually the slide will not move. That is demonstrated in the topic Convert ball gun to service pistol ammo. If the barrel is lifted by the link that force multiplication is even greater. Larger the radius on the lower lug also increases the multiplication of vertical force.
 When changing the characteristics of a pistol there is more to consider and what might be thought of as a simple change can cause malfunction.