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Kimber 1911 Issue

3K views 22 replies 19 participants last post by  JohnLeVick 
#1 ·
My apologies if this is the wrong thread for this question ....

My CC weapon is a Kimber and I am having a F2F problem on the last round. It only happens on the last round, never any of the other ones.

Thoughts? Is this typical during the break in period? If so, I have about 200 rounds to go so should I just be patient?

Thanks ahead of time ....
 
#3 ·
Yes. The mag that came with the gun.

Duh .... I didn't even consider it may be a mag issue.
 
#5 ·
I guess my next question is what's a good 7 round mag for the 1911 then?
 
#6 ·
I don't have any of these yet but they have been recommended to me by others on this forum. I'm looking into getting some of these 7 round mags myself. No experience with them but just passing along a recommendation.

Legendary Magazines
 
#8 ·
I took mine to the range today for it's 1st trip out. Outa the 150 rounds downrange not a single problem other than my thumb locking the slide lock back once. The stock mags worked fine for mine. Sorry to hear you had trouble with yours. I took all my mags and used a pencil to depress and release the followers several times to make sure there were no burs on the edges. Did it help at the range, who knows, but I figure it couldn't hurt right. Good luck with yours.

GBK

+1 on the Wilson mags from the reading I did over the weekend, it seems to be the general consensus, that they are among the best.
 
#11 ·
In 1911-types, last round failures to feed are usually caused by one of only a few defects. A magazine spring that is too weak will cause last round override malfs, wherein the slide cycles too fast for the weak magazine spring to get the round to the top of the mag so the slide can pick it up. The shorter guns are much more susceptible to this than are the 5" guns, and it will be worse with hotter ammo. Replacement of the firing pin stop with an EGW flat-bottom stop will slow unlocking and make the gun more forgiving of a weak mag spring.

A recoil spring that is either too weak, or too strong, oddly enough, can cause last round malfs, but if the recoil spring is the problem, it's usually less consistent than you seem to describe.

There can be other causes, but the above are the most common.
 
#12 ·
I did have to buff the paint/coating off the feed ramp on my SIS Pro to get 100% feed rate @ 300 rounds. It was getting better but I had 3 FTE's in the first 300 rounds so I just polished it bright, no metal removed. I also use Tripp 7 round Cobra mags...worth every penny!
 
#23 ·
I thought that the SIS guns had steel frames. Am I wrong about that?:confused: (I should know, since I spent considerable time tuning my son-in-law's SIS Pro, but I don't recall for sure.) If they are steel, polish away!!

I just checked; SIS guns have steel frames, at least on the 4" and 5" guns, best I can tell. A failure to eject wouldn't have anything to do with a rough feed ramp. Were you getting failures to eject, or to feed?
 
#13 ·
It sounds like it's a new gun. Send it back to Kimber, it under warranty.

I did that with a Glock 36 (yes, a GLOCK!). I knew some had extractor problems because it's new engineering on the 36, Glock's only single-stack. So, back it went. Glock doesn't play around - they replace just about all the internals of the gun aside from slide and barrel. As SOP for any problem. Shoots like a dream now. If I had tried this, and that, read forums etc., etc, it would likely still be a problem. As it is, I have 3/4's of new gun and the turn-around was quick.
 
#16 ·
Not Kimber or 1911 bashing but why would you have to replace springs, magazines, firing pin stops etc on a brand new pistol? I like the way tricked out 1911's look but sheesh I don't want to have to screw with anything other than putting on some pretty grip panels. Just saying...
 
#17 ·
I had this exact problem with my Tac Custom II. Didn't matter what mags I used. Since I carried this gun every day I realized I couldn't trust it with my life and sold it.
Kimber continues to come across as a custom gun, when in reality, they stopped being that a long time ago. I switched to a Glock 21SF that has 13+1 of .45 ACP and never fails to do anything right. Also way easier to maintain.

A Kimber is what you show your friends.
A Glock is what you show your enemies...
 
#19 ·
Cobramag

I had nose dive feed issues with my Kimber. After trying to get Wilson, Chip McCormick, Mecgar... to work, I found it lonly liked Cobramags. They're designed with a higher insertion height and a much stronger spring. In my humble opinion, they are the finest 1911 magazines around.

They do protrude out the bottom, but fit nicely with a mag well.

Another option is the Wilson 7 or 8 round magazines. Mine only liked them with the Tripp Super 7 upgrade, which is a hybrid follower with a much heavier spring with more coils. This will keep you nearly flush, with a 7 round capacity.

Tripp Research, Inc.
 
#20 ·
When I was growing up, my dad was a small town Chevy dealer. I worked everyday after school and summers at the dealership (I was your basic gopher). I can still recall that there were just some cars that were lemons. We'd have cars & pickups that we'd never see except for routine maint. and there were a few cars that seemed to just have a constant stream of problems. Most firearms these days come from some variation of an assembly line. There are the obvious exceptions, but you pay quite a bit for the excellence of a firearm that is put together by hand by a master gunsmith.

Most of the major models are quite good--but, just like the cars, there are lemons out there. Don't judge a whole line just because of the few exceptions (unless, of course, most of the guns are problems)
 
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