Tight bushing

Means a tight and accurate fit. Your gun will be the tightest the day you buy it new. From then on, it's downhill on fit. A tight, handfitted bushing requires work to fit. Buy a steel bushing wrench and don't sweat it. If you want to be able to field-strip the pistol by shaking it, buy an old GI gun. The great thing about the Baer is that it is precise, tight, and 100% reliable, in my limited experience of two guns. My Baers outshoot my Wilson (which I sold) hands down. FWIW.

PS: When stripping a pistol with a match bushing, it is helpful to hold the slide back slightly to partially "unlock" the tight barrel/bushing fit up front. This saves wear on the bushing/barrel fit and has been recommended by Ed Brown and others.

Bob

 

bear is the tightest new 1911 you will ever see that actually works. We got a TR special at the store and the first time i racked it, it took a LOT of work. It is so tight that when you lower the slide SLOWLY on an empty chamber, it won't go to battery, as it stops on the locking lugs. It is TIGHT, but ultra-smooth.

Its my understanding the CQB bushing is meant to be loose to facilitate field-stripping because operators don't carry around bushing wrenches in combat.

P.S. wilson combat plastic bushing wrenches are GREAT. The hard plastic is VERY durable and doesn't scratch finishes.

 

Gagger, yes I can take my CQB down with no tools while my Baer requires a bushing wrench and a bodybuilder. As for tightness vs accuracy my WCQB is as accurate as my Baer Concept IX lightweight. In other words, the guns shoot to my potential and not vice-versa.

 

Field stripping is important for me, though it may never really come into actual play.

I do however have a bushing wrench in my range bag, night stand, work desk, home work bench, EVERYWHERE...why? Because a 1911 is the ONLY way to go

That said if you HAD to take a Baer bushing out by hand you COULD...

For the 20-30% I think you save going with a Les Baer, it can pay for a WHOLE LOT OF bushing wrenches. We can all go around the Wilson vs Baer thing but Baers are tight for a reason, and us Baer owners prefer them tight. We know that tight means they will be accurate, now and down the road. We know that tight does not have to mean less reliability.

If you want a Wilson, buy one, if you want a Baer buy one. I think you are better off with the savings by going with a Baer which is imho the best deal going. But don't buy a gun based on whether or not you can take out the bushing by hand or tool. They make BUSHING WRENCHES for a reason ...I have a few Colts, where you could get a breeze, and the bushing would would fall out...does that make it better?

 

A match bushing is oversize so it can be fit to the slide/barrel. Now some people may argue with me on this, but the bushing fit does play a factor in accuracy. A good barrel fit makes sure your barrel locks up the same every time. A tight bushing helps to keep the end of the barrel coming back to the same spot every time. If you can remove your bushing by hand(without a bushing wrench) that is handy. You will loose some accuracy. If it was me I would use a plastic bushing wrench instead of a metal wrench. The metal wrench may scratch.

 

I gotta go with johnnyhardfit and a few others on this issue.


If I have to field strip for some reason it is a no-brainer!

btw, you don't NEED a bushing wrench if you know what your doing!

 

LB vs Wilson

I have them both, LB and Wilson. LB TRS has never been what you would call so tight it was a pain to take apart, but it is tight and I like it like that. The Wilson is fitted really well, but nothing like the LB. They both shoot perfectly for me. The only thing I can personally tell anyone is that the LB will, more than likely, hold its accuracy edge over the Wilson for a lot longer. The LB TRS has over 6,500 rounds through it and it is still pretty tight although it has loosened up a little. The Wilson has less than 5,000 rounds through it and I really cannot tell the difference now from when it was new. They both have been flawless in function. I will just bet that the LB owners will see the reason for the tightness way down the road. The Wilson owners will see the accurracy fall off sooner. That is just my observation which, may or may not, mean a darn thing. I like them both but like the LB just a little better.

 

If I recall correctly, Jerry Kuhnhausen states in his manual that .002" of play in the bushing slide/barrel fit can equate to up to .5" at 50 yards. If you are selling a gun with an accuracy guarantee 1/2 inch is a big chunck of your accuracy margin. Kuhnhausen's view is that a bushing wrench should be required to remove it and that tighter is better than looser.

 

A couple of points to note here. First, the differences in accuracy being noted here are not substantial by any means. Yes, we all want accurate guns, no doubt. If you need accuracy of less than 1" at 25 yards in a defensive gun, then you to consider a rifle. Outside of ideal circumstances which virtually never exist, you aren't going to be able to shoot to such amazingly accurate results.

I had to laugh at y'all who referred to the Wilson CQB bushing as being loose. More often than not, they won't be as tight as a Baer, but 'loose' probably is not an accurate term. Between a Lamborghini and Ferarri, the latter may be 'slow' but still a very fast car.

The issue of the ease of field stripping seems to come up in various formats. Some people don't like full length guide rods because they make it more complicated and harder to field strip a 1911, some claiming a bushing wrench is necessary. A tight bushing will make it harder to strip a 1911 and you may require a tool for the job. In both cases, the supposedly harder or more difficult task seems to harp on a useless point, implying that you might be in a gunfight and all of a sudden decide you need to field strip your gun and not being able to accomplish the task because you didn't have a bushing wrench with you. That ain't going to happen. If you are concerned that needing a tool to fieldstrip your gun is somehow a horrible inconvenience and cuts into your quality of life by spending $4 for a wrench, then buy a Daly or Norinco. You undoubtedly have all sorts of other tools or objects you use in breaking down and cleaning your firearms. A bushing wrench isn't going to kill you.