LaFrance Nova 

     Notes: This is the world’s smallest 9mm Parabellum pistol.  The weapon is good only for backup, and its small size causes heavy recoil, high muzzle blast, and poor range.  It is, however, more powerful than most backup pistols. 

LaFrance Silenced Colt .45

     Notes: This is a highly modified M1911A1, using a revolutionary new suppression device. The silencer is attached to the slide and dampens both mechanical and bullet noise, as well as muzzle and breech flash.  The silencer is designed for use with standard ammunition. Since it does not use bullet wipes, the silencer does not wear out nearly so quickly. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: With the Mk 23 Mod 0 in short supply sometimes, US special operations troops were sometimes issued this weapon.

LAR Grizzly

     Notes: This huge pistol was originally designed to fire the .45 Winchester Magnum cartridge; at the time of introduction (1983), Winchester was considering dropping the cartridge due to the lack of weapons that fired it.  The Grizzly looks very much like a large M-1911A1, and in fact 39 of its parts can be interchanged with the M-1911A1’s parts (basically, everything that is not linked to the Grizzly’s caliber).  The Grizzly is known for not having problems operating in dusty or dirty environments, and is very reliable.  The safety catch is large and ambidextrous, and the magazine well is beveled.  The Grizzly can also be converted between calibers by use of conversion kits.  Two barrel lengths are available in the standard version; in the longer-barreled version, the end of the barrel extends out from the slide.  The rear sight is an adjustable micrometer sight, and the trigger stop is also adjustable.  Unfortunately, LAR got out of the pistol business in 1999 (concentrating on large-caliber rifles instead), and the Grizzly went with it.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: .45 ACP Grizzlys were occasionally issued to US troops, normally in the 5.5” barrel version.  US Special Operations troops were known to use Grizzlys in other calibers, and other barrel lengths.

Les Baer Concept Series

     These are basically ”custom” M-1911’s.  They are very well-tuned and can be counted upon to function exceptionally.  There are ten variants, most of which are identical for game purposes, though they boast an astounding variety of features. The Concept I is finished blued, and has adjustable Bo-Mar sights, cocking serrations on the front and rear of the slide, an extended ejector, a tuned extractor, a loop hammer, a lowered and flared ejection port, polished feed ramp, throated barrel, beveled magazine well, ambidextrous extended safety, and a slightly larger magazine.  The Concept II is almost identical, but has a fixed combat sight (though it may be adjusted laterally by moving back and forth in its dovetail).  The Concept III is also virtually identical to the Concept I, but has a stainless steel frame and checkered front strap. The Concept IV is a Concept III with fixed combat sights.  The Concept V is an all-stainless steel version, with a choice of a standard 5-inch or an extended 6-inch barrel.  The Concept VI is a Concept V with fixed combat sights; a variant of this weapon is the Concept VI LW, with a blackened finish over a light alloy frame, and a National Match barrel.  The Concept VII is a shortened version of the Concept I with luminous sight inlays.  The Concept VIII is an all-stainless-steel version of the Concept VII.  The Concept IX is a version of the Concept VII with fixed combat sights and an aluminum alloy frame.  The Concept X is the same weapon, but the slide is of stainless steel instead of blued steel. 

     The Concept SRP was originally designed personally by Les Baer himself in response to the FBI Hostage Rescue Team's needs; it is similar to the other concept pistols, but is constructed more heavily, has a custom Les Baer forged steel frame, and the finish is Mag-na Flux.  The Concept SRP was also sold to civilians. After its adoption by the HRT, it was discovered that the barrels wear somewhat quickly and accuracy degrades over time, and by 1998, it was being phased out in favor of the FBI SWT Pistol.  Its wide handgrip also proved difficult to handle for agents with smaller hands.  The SRP is basically a highly modified M-1911A1, with a wider grip to accommodate the two-column magazine, lightened trigger pull, ambidextrous trigger, luminous sights, and better grips on the slide.  The Concept SRP comes in both Comanche length (4.25” barrel) and full size versions (5” barrel). Civilian versions use a single-stack magazine only; the FBI’s version can use a single-stack or a double-stack magazine.

Les Baer Custom Carry

     Notes: The Custom Carry (in standard form) has a “Comanche”-length barrel (4.25 inches) and fixed combat sights with tritium inserts for night use.  The slides and frames are made from steel, and may be in stainless steel, blued, or black finish.  The safety is ambidextrous.  The magazine well is beveled, the barrel throated, and the feed ramp polished.  The extractor is extended and tuned.  The ejection port is lowered and flared.  The corners have been rounded for better concealed carry.  A version in .38 Super is also available, as are version with full-length 5-inch barrels.  In addition, the .45 ACP version also comes in a model that has an alloy frame.

Les Baer HC-40

     Notes: One of the newest pistols from Les Baer (as of the time I write this in mid-June 2009), the HC-40 is a 1911-type high-capacity pistol chambered in .40 Smith & Wesson and built on a premium Caspian steel frame.  The HC-40, in fact, has premium parts throughout the entire pistol, including a Les Baer Custom 5-inch barrel built to National Match standards with a match-quality stainless steel bushing.  The chamber is ramped and polished and the ejection port lowered and flared for extra reliability; the extractor is also hand-tuned.  The trigger is match-quality as well and set for a 4-pound pull weight.  The grip safety is slightly extended to ensure positive engagement; the HC-40 also has a standard manual safety and a magazine safety.  The magazine well is beveled and integral to the frame instead of being a separate part.  The rear sight is an LBC low-mount adjustable sight; that and the front sight blade are dovetailed in.  The slide has cocking serrations on the front and rear of the slide.  Grip plates are checkered and made from premium wood; checkering on the frontstrap is optional.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The HC-40 is not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Les Baer Lightweight 22

     Notes: This is basically a rimfire version of the M-1911, with Les Baer’s own touches, such as Bo-Mar sights and tuning for more reliable operation.  The slide and frame are of aluminum alloy, the slide has cocking grooves in front and back, and the weapon has a loop hammer.  This weapon was introduced in 1996. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist.

Les Baer Monolith

     Notes: This pistol is a 1911-type weapon with a match barrel, match barrel bushing, and a slide with cocking grooves at the front as well as at the rear.  The grip is especially well done, with ribbing at the front as well as in the grip plates.  The Monolith has an enlarged ejection port, a Commander-type hammer, and a match trigger that is adjustable for stop and has a light touch.  The grip safety is extended, and the Monolith uses a Bo-Mar micrometer rear sight.  The safety catch is extended and ambidextrous.  The Monolith was introduced in 1999.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist.

Les Baer Monolith Comanche

     Notes: The Monolith Comanche is a reduced-size 1911-type pistol that that is designed to be as well-balanced as possible.  This is done primarily by using a full-length dust cover – the forward part of the frame, while shortening the rest of the pistol to achieve the reduced size.  The pistol becomes slightly front-heavy, but this helps fight recoil.  The front-heavy design gives the Monolith Comanche natural pointing qualities.  The barrel is a National Match-quality version, as are the bushings.  The Monolith Comanche is more reliable in ejection and the ejection port is specially-shaped to help this.  The sights are Les Baer’s own design, fixed with tritium inserts.  The safety is ambidextrous, and the hammer is Commander-style.  The magazine well is beveled to help loading, and the grips are finely checkered.

     The Monolith Comanche Heavyweight has a few extra ounces of weight added to the dust cover to further decrease the muzzle climb.  It is otherwise identical to the standard model.

     The Black Baer is a hand-fitted Commander-sized version of the Comanche that is finished “like a bank vault.”  The parts are hand-fitted, done by the person at the facility who does the specific part fitting best – ie, barrel fitting, slide to frame fitting, etc. It has a National Match-quality frame, slide, and barrel; the chamber is also supported, and the grip plates are hand-checkered. The trigger pull weight is a mere 4 pounds (light for a single-action pistol). Tolerances are so tight that not only does the Black Baer not rattle, the parts do not rattle when assembled even when physically manipulated. It is meant to be a concealed carry version, and so it fires 9mm to make it even smaller.  Under the Dupont-S finish is stainless steel. The grips are polymer and called Black Recon grips. The barrel itself is stainless steel, 4.25 inches, and match-quality.  The Novak sights are dovetailed in.  Finish is black Dupont S, offering superior corrosion resistance.  There are a number of other custom touches.

     The Boss is an enlarged Monolith Comanche with a 5-inch match-quality barrel, and also takes inspiration from the Premier II.  Les Baer named it after his favorite car model, the Boss 429 Mustang.  The quality is essentially the same as the Monolith Comanche, but it has a plethora of little but nice touches, such as a red fiberoptic front sight, an adjustable rear sight, an ambidextrous safety, front and rear cocking serrations, and a hard-chromed frame.  It has the same hand-fitting and tolerances as the Black Baer.  The frame is hard-chromed.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: These weapons do not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Les Baer Premier II

     Notes: This is a version of Les Baer’s 1911-type pistols that fires some different sorts of cartridges for Les Baer weapons in addition to the standard .45 ACP.  Standard barrel length is 5 inches, but versions with 6-inch barrels were also made.  The standard frame is of blued or stainless steel, but versions were also made with alloy frames (Premier II LW 1 with an adjustable rear sight, or Premier II LW 2 with a standard fixed combat sight).  The entire pistol is tuned for reliable functioning, especially the extraction; the Premier II is built to close tolerances and ejector is extended, the extractor is polished, and the ejection port is flared and lowered. 

Les Baer Prowler III/Prowler IV

     Notes: The Prowler III is very similar to the 6-inch-barrel version of the Premier II, but has a tapered cone stub weight and a reverse recoil plug, as well as a full-length recoil rod.  This makes it a bit heavier than the Premier II.  It normally comes in a blued finish, and only in .45 ACP.  The Prowler IV is offered in .38 Super as well as .45 ACP, and in a 5-inch barrel version as well as a 6-inch barrel model.  It is also built on a Para-Ordnance large-grip frame, allowing the use of larger magazines.

Les Baer Stinger

     Notes: This pistol, introduced in 1999, is a compact 1911-type pistol.  Nonetheless, it has a match barrel, match bushing, an adjustable rear sight, match trigger with adjustable stop, enlarged ejection port, Commander-type hammer, and ambidextrous safety catch. Later, Les Baer introduced this pistol in .38 Super; it is essentially the same, except for caliber.

Les Baer Thunder Ranch Comanche Special

     Notes: Les Baer’s Thunder Ranch produces some of the finest specialty pistols around.  One of these is Comanche Special; this is a .45 ACP-firing pistol designed for a gunfight, pure and simple, without fancy bells and whistles that no one would need in an emergency situation.  It is a pure combat pistol.  The construction is all-steel, with a Commander-type loop hammer.  The finish is hard-chromed.  The sights are Les Baer’s own brand of the 3-dot system, and the front and rear sights are both dovetailed and can be replaced. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This pistol does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Les Baer Thunder Ranch Special Home Defense

     Notes: This pistol is optimized for self defense and use by individuals who are licensed to carry a weapon in public.  It is a full-sized .45 ACP pistol, and is of all-steel construction with a Commander-style loop hamper.  The sights are the same as on the Comanche Special.  The front of the Special Home Defense has a flat-bottomed frame with a mounting system for special small flashlights (either the M3 Tactical Illuminator or SureFire X200 Illuminator).  These lights are powerful small flashlights that can momentarily blind an intruder, and the cost of the pistol includes one of these.  As with the Comanche Special, the sights are dovetailed and can be replaced.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This pistol does not exist.

Les Baer Ultimate Master

     Notes: The Ultimate Combat Master, while it makes an excellent combat pistol in general, is designed specifically to be a “race gun” – a pistol that is designed specifically for competitions that require the shooter to move through a competition target range and produce the best finishing times possible with as great accuracy as possible.  The Ultimate Masters are therefore designed to be as tuned and accurized for competition as possible, and have features that contribute to reliability and accuracy.  Features of the Ultimate Master include a low-mount adjustable sight designed by Les Baer’s Custom Shop, and this rear sight flips over into an adjustable leaf sight.  The front sight is a simple leaf, squared in profile and dovetailed in.  The slide has cocking grooves at the front and back and is hand-fitted to the frame.  The ejection port is lowered and flared for positive ejection of spent cartridges.  The guide rod is one-piece, and above that is a 5 or 6-inch Les Baer National Match barrel, tipped with a muzzle brake on the Compensated Model (with a 5-inch barrel only).  The magazine well is funneled for quicker reloading, and has an inner sleeve that tightens the fit of the magazine to eliminate rattles and reduces the possibility of misfeeds caused by bad magazine fits.  The top of the slide is serrated to reduce sighting glare; the frontstrap and the underside of the trigger guard are checkered at 30 lpi. The hammer is match-quality and hand-tuned, as is the trigger group and sear.  Controls are extended and reversible.  The feed ramp and throat are polished to help in positive feeding and extraction.  The standard finished is blued.  The calibers listed below are standard, but Les Baer’s Custom Shop will chamber the Ultimate Master for other pistol calibers upon request.  The Ultimate Master can also be had drilled and tapped for a scope mount upon request.

Lorcin L-22/L-25/L-32/L-380/L-9

     Notes: These pistols share the same basic design, with the L-22 and L-25 having very short barrels and very small size, the L-32 and L-380 being a little bigger with somewhat longer barrels, and the LH-380 and L-9 being almost full-sized.  The LT-25 is a special version of the L-25 with a light alloy frame that is even lighter.  These pistols generally have ribbed black plastic grips and squared trigger guards, though the LT-25 has optional white plastic grips and a rounded trigger guard.  The pistols are finished in bright chrome, matte chrome, or black, except for the LT-25, which has a stainless steel finish.  The L-9 is an extremely rare variant.