New Range Toy!

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Prof Young

New member
Shooters:
At auction today I was looking for something fun and a good buy. Got a Bauer 25 ACP for two bills. From what I can tell on-line that's not a bad price. Didn't know much about the gun, but reviews on-line say it is a Baby Browning clone and runs just about as well. Comes with one mag, a pocket holster and a case. Will pick up on Wednesday. Have looked around on-line for reloading info and it appears one can buy the dies and all the components needed to roll your own. Plan to shoot it a few times before I invest in reloading. Wanna make sure it works well enough. As noted above it will be a range toy, but may get carried as a BUG just to say I carried it. Kind of excited here.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
I remember when the Bauer .25's came out. I'm sure someone will remark differently, but I don't remember any negative reviews or functionality problems with them. If anything they appeared to be equal or better than the original browning.

Reloading the .25 ACP is cheap but there are some challenges. First, the brass. For your own empties or range pick-ups, it can be hard to detect the .25 auto case against the literal carpet of .22 LR empties. Next, my RCBS uniflow, surprisingly measured the tiny charges very accurately and consistently. The problem was that it was hard to hold the short .25 case against the internal taper of the drop tube. I wound up dropping the change into an empty .38 special case, and then transferring that charge through a smaller funnel into the .25 auto case, which was sitting in a reloading tray. Which brings up the next issue. You will need a reloading tray with the proper hole diameter and depth. Initially, I had to make my own reloading tray from a piece of wood, using a drill press and forstner bit. At one time midway offered a .25 ACP tray (which I bought), but I don't think they offer it any longer. Other than that, handloading the .25 auto is straightforward and rewarding. I have jars and jars of reloads sitting around. And from my beretta 21A, published loads give me an honest 850 ft/sec with a 50 grain bullet, according to my chronograph.
 
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More on the Bauer.

First, if you write a long post and get interrupted before you post it . . . post it or copy it. After half an hour or so your long post disappears . . . which makes sense. Just an FYI . . .

Okay, picked up the Bauer with plans to clean it today and shoot it tomorrow. Closer inspection reveals a bunged up crown. Okay, I can buy a new barrel from several sources. Rack it once, check the chamber for empty, pull the trigger and get a satisfying click as the firing pin leaps forward. Field strip the gun. So far so good. Then take off the grips . . . MISTAKE. Well, not a mistake to take off the grips, but a mistake to take them off and not hold the transfer bar in place. The transfer bar comes off. Not big deal . . . right? I clean everything, reassemble, rack it, put the trigger . . . nothing. Take it apart again and figure out that the transfer bar is no longer causing the sear to release. Hmmmm . . . fart around with it all for half an hour, give up, do an internet searchy and find this . . .

https://www.hipointfirearmsforums.c...tic-or-a-baby-browning-from-the-frame-up.295/

Ta da. Now I am armed with good information. Check back here for further reports.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
Congrats. $300 is a very good price for those from what I've seen. $200 is "deal of the day."

There may be some good videos for those on youtube.
 
It works!

Shooters:
Got to the range today to try out the Bauer pistol. Paid 40-50 cents a shot for some off the shelf 25 cal ball ammo. Will investigate reloading to save some $. Shot the first shot with a glove on my hand just to be extra safe. I had no reason to think the thing would explode but that it's just so small. Anyway after first shot with a gloved hand, I ditched the glove and immediately got slide bite. But the little thing ran really well. I shot about 90 rounds and had two fail to feed jams. When I worked on my best shooting, at about ten feet I could get palm sized groups. I can't really "see" the sights. Did one magazine dump and it did not jam in that process. This is a fun little gun. I meant to take a picture of the dinged-up crown and post it here. Will do that soon. I have a "new" barrel ordered from a guy on e-bay. I think it's a used barrel but it looks pretty good. Will report in on that when it gets here. Got it for $22 which is far better than what I found on Numrich. Numrich had a beat up looking used barrel and wanted $78 for it. Removing the magazine is a two handed process. One to push the mag release and one to pull the mag. Was having trouble getting the mag back in until I figured out that you just push the top/back of the mag against the mag release and then push-up. Fun gun to own and shoot.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
Finally some pics!

Things to notice in the following pics. Crown ding. Cracked grip, which was not as cracked before I shot it. Well worn holster that came with the the gun. Somebody carried this a lot. Note that I can only get one finger on the grip.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 

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More Bauer pics

More pics.
 

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This barrel not fixable?

Bill:

I'm guessing from your comment that this crown is not fixable. Right?

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
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