Gun manufacturer Les Baer Custom mostly supplies law enforcement

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By Mary Louise Speer | Monday, April 30, 2007 4:32 PM CDT | () comments

(Kevin E. Scmidt/Quad-City Times) Mark Grand works on the trigger assembly of an AR-15 rifle at Les Baer Custom, a custom-built firearms company that is looking to relocate it from Hillsdale, Ill., to LeClaire, Iowa. Illinois lawmakers are considering a ban on the assembly and distribution of semi-automatic weapons within state borders.

(Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times) Pistol frames for the Baer 1911 pistols await further tooling and hand assembly by one of the several gunsmith’s employed by the Hillsdale, Ill.-based company.

(Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times) Todd Foutz, left, works on a Baer 1911 pistol slide in the pistol shop of the Hillsdale, Ill.-based company.

(Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times) Custom-built firearms company owner Les Baer stands outside the unassuming building that is home to the pistol shop and shipping and receiving rooms for his business. Baer is looking to relocate his business from Hillsdale, IL. to LeClaire, IA.

HILLSDALE, Ill. — From the outside, Les Baer Custom buildings blend in with the residential neighborhood around them.

The only clue that it’s even a manufacturing site comes from the number of vehicles parked at the side of the main steel-frame building.

Inside the two buildings, some 14 to 16 workers build and handle orders for custom-built 1911 pistols and AR .223 rifles. The company opened the Hillsdale location in 1994.

“Everything we build is built to order, so we’re approximately 16 weeks out on orders all of the time,” says owner Les Baer.

Baer is preparing to move his operations to LeClaire, Iowa, because of Illinois legislation that would outlaw assembly and distribution of semi-automatic weapons within state borders. Tonight at their committee-of-the-whole meeting, LeClaire city officials will discuss setting up a development proposal that incorporates the acquisition of a 2.82-acre, commercially zoned site and access and tax increment financing agreements.

All of the parts for the firearms are tooled at the site, Baer said during a tour of his operation last week. In the storeroom, trays of pistols wait to go through a process that turns the steel blue and acts as a protective coating.

Gunsmiths occupy stations in the main pistol assembly room. Heads are bent over, with workers intent on readying the guns to become service weapons for law enforcement or military personnel, or showpieces for competitive shooting.

“Everything is fit together by hand,” says Baer. The frame is checkered with a file before going to the next station. Clicks sound as workers fit barrels to slide and frame assemblies. At another station, the piece is polished to remove any tool marks and to blend all of the lines together.

Each firearm is taken to the firing chamber, shot and disassembled to determine the wear patterns, Baer said. That process is repeated before the weapon goes through a final safety check, is oiled and boxed up for sending to the dealer or distributor.

Purchasing a Baer custom gun is not a simple matter of plunking down the cash.

“You don’t walk in there and buy a gun like (in) a gun store,” says Sgt. Jim Ringberg of the Hillsdale Police Department. “There’s people all around there. You don’t have windows there. They don’t want people coming and looking through the windows.”

Ringberg is a state certified firearms instructor with more than 30 years of law enforcement experience. The Baer custom pieces could be called the Cadillacs of the gun industry.

“The kind of guns Les makes, they’re very expensive guns. It’s not a cheap gun. It’s not a Saturday night special,” Ringberg said.

The laws governing the sales of these weapons are strict, says office manager Karen Foutz. For domestic sales, the company must have verification of the dealer’s license, and the end user is subject to all U.S. gun regulations. Sales overseas to distributors in Thailand, Germany, Italy and other countries are coordinated through the U.S. State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls.

“We can’t just box up a box of guns and just send them to Thailand,” she said. “In order for us to ship guns out of state, it’s a lot of red tape.”

Dealers have to send purchase orders that specific the quantity, price and end use for these guns, she said. These must be accompanied by signed import authorization documents and a copy of the company’s license in English.

Foutz files an application with the Defense Trade office and it checks to make sure there are no embargos or civil uprisings occurring in the requesting nation. A freight forwarder takes the weapons through Customs.

Baer is looking forward to coming to LeClaire. “It’s a nice town. As for the employees, you’ve got a grocery store, gas station and food right there so people who work for us are going to spend money in LeClaire,” he said.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

COUNCIL TO DISCUSS OFFERS TONIGHT

LeClaire City Council will hold a committee-of-the-whole meeting at 7 p.m.

Items up for discussion include a development agreement between the city and Les Baer Custom. Baer has offered $10,000 for a 2.82-acre, city-owned parcel of land. LeClaire residents J. Elmer Brunk and Cynthia Vaughan are prepared to pay $10,500 for that site. Both offers will be discussed at the meeting, City Administrator Edwin Choate said.

The property is located between the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Iowa Drive and the Mississippi Valley Welcome Center on Eagle Ridge Road.

The council will meet at LeClaire City Hall, 325 Wisconsin St.