2nd time shooting my Kimber - Bummed

[fickman]

Sounds defective. I'm willing to take that paper weight off your hands.




(Good luck with the repair. . . hope it's an easy fix!)

[remington79]

I want a pistol to be able to run any ammo I can get my hands on. The factory Kimber mags are not known to be of the best quality. Lots of people switch mags to those that were mentioned before and have had good luck. Also keep in mind that Kimber states that the pistol needs 500 rounds to break in. I would buy some better mags and not be overly concerned until you get over the 500 round mark.

[LTUME1978]

I feel your pain. I bought a Kimber Super Carry Pro (custom shop gun) a couple of months ago. Kimber is very clear that if you fire reloads, it will void the warranty. My first 500 rounds were Winchester white box and federal (230 grain ball). During the first 300 rounds, several failures to eject, multifle times where the ejected brass hit me in the face, multiple failures to feed (slide would stop about 1/4 to 3/8 inch from closing). Next 100 rounds were with some Blazer Brass. On every magazine that was inserted, the slide would not completely close on the first round (one Kimber magazine and 10 tripp cobra magazines). Still had other issues with failures to feed and getting hit in the face with brass. The gun was cleaned multiple times during these rounds and was well lubed with a very high quality synthetic lube that works extremely well in my other firearms.

The finish is coming off the slide, the slide to frame fit is loose, they forgot to stake the plunger tube and it will fall off if you take the grip off. The thing looks nice but it is a over priced piece of junk. It will be going back to Kimber this week. I have been told that, when I get it back, I should plan to take it to Eddie Himinaha (don't remember how to spell his last name) and he will go throught the gun an make it right.

I spent nearly $1400 for the pistol with the FFL, burned 600 rounds of ammo (for nothing) and will have to pay an unknown ammount of money to get this pistol where it is reliable. For what I will have in this pistol when I am finished, I could have bought true custom pistol and not have had all the grief. My M&Ps ran right from day one and still do. To make matters even worse, Buds can sell these things so they have cut the price by $50.00 since I bought mine (they won't refund the difference or take the pistol back). This will be my first and last Kimber and has really soured me on the 1911 experience.

[The Annoyed Man]

Glock

'Xcuse me...... did you say "Block?"

[MoJo]

I'll take an new, out of the box, Glock into harm's way before any new, out of the box, 1911 and no new, out of the box Kimber would ever go into my holster. Kimber's quality has waned in the last few years and it only seems to be waning and waning.

[carlson1]

I will second that motion.

[glbedd53]

The WWB 230gr JHPs are the problem I think. I have had trouble with them a few times but none that I can remember with WWB FMJs.

[G.A. Heath]

I won't take any new out of the box gun into harms way if it can be avoided, my most recent experience with Glock (G19 Gen 4) is a prime example. I have to say that I have had one issue with a Kimber, had it fixed locally due to not having time for a 2 hour round trip to get to a UPS or FEDEX hub to ship it. I don't care what brand of gun you get do a 200 trouble free round test as a minimum, 500 round breakin if you can afford it, and a 1000 round breakin if even remotely possible. To those who say modern firearms do/should not need a breakin period, who cares? If you are going to trust your life to that weapon I think that you need to make sure its gonna work.

The repaired Kimber I have has proven itself reliable and sits in a holster on my hip as I type this. The Glock Gen4 G19 was sold with full disclosure of its issues, just like a S&W prelock SW40VE Sigma. The HiPoint that I was given made for an interesting target (Never shot from it, just at it), and I may still have a piece or two of it boxed up somewhere.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

My money is on extractor tension....

Kimber is NOTORIOUS for offering guns with improperly tuned extractors. Their motto / M.O. at the factor seems to be "better too tight, than too loose...." which means that either A.) The customer must spend a HUGE amount of ca$h shooting the gun until the extractor loosens up properly. B.) The customer returns the gun to Kimber / gets rid of the gun. or C.) The customer realizes what the issue is and has it corrected / corrects it themselves.

Poor business plan regardless.

Do some research on-line about testing extractor tension.

There are two approaches that the laymen can use that pretty much show whether your extractor is too tight. The first involves whether or not a round will stay under the extractor and on the breech face while you shake it around a bit, and the second involves whether the gun can hand cycle rounds WITHOUT the extractor (Note: dummy rounds required for both tests to eliminate potential unintended discharges! BE SAFE!). Do a google search, or check out a 1911 specific site like:

http://forum.m1911.org/forums.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seek and ye shall find said test protocols.

OR, if you aren't the do it yourself type, send it back to Kimber or a good 1911 smith.

Regardless, I wish you the best, and sympathize. The ONLY Kimber I bought had an extractor tighter than a.......well, since this is a "family" forum, I'll just say I had to retention it myself. BUT, after that, the little beast runs like a clock, and has excellent accuracy for a factory gun.

Luck to you!

[The Annoyed Man]

...I'll just say I had to retention it myself. BUT, after that, the little beast runs like a clock, and has excellent accuracy for a factory gun.

Luck to you!

I swear, the first time I read that, this is what I saw:

...I'll just say I had to retention it myself. BUT, after that, the little beast runs like a glock, and has excellent accuracy for a factory gun.

Luck to you!

PLEASE don't take away my Kimber Club card!

[Texas Dan Mosby]

...I'll just say I had to retention it myself. BUT, after that, the little beast runs like a clock, and has excellent accuracy for a factory gun.

Luck to you!

I swear, the first time I read that, this is what I saw:

...I'll just say I had to retention it myself. BUT, after that, the little beast runs like a glock, and has excellent accuracy for a factory gun.

Luck to you!

PLEASE don't take away my Kimber Club card!

LOL!

I actually owned a Glock back in....oh, say the 94-95 time frame. Then I met some dudes who shot for AMU that introduced me to tuned 1911's.

Sold the Glock, bought my first 1911, tuned it up. Never looked back.

[AustinBoy]

Update.

I did my first Tactical Carbine shoot this weekend. It was a BLAST!!!!

Two of the stages had a pistol element.

9 shots fired. 1 failure to feed.

Gun was freshly cleaned and lubed.

Was using Federal Premium Ammo. $40 a box. Not the cheap stuff.

Time to call Kimber.

Still bummed.

I did get a "Great job!" on clearing the FTF and continuing the round.

AB

[AustinBoy]

Another Update.

I called Kimber.

This is what they said:
1. they won't do anything until I have put 450-500 rounds through it. (makes sense)
2. Was told to only use expensive 230gr FMJ. NOTHING else during break-in.(this is going to expensive quick!)
3. fully load all magazines and let them set at least 48 hours before initial use. (hmmm. strange)

The expensive Federal I was using was 185gr. Will switch to the 230gr.

Going to put a few hundred more rounds through it.

I have to say, my confidence is not high.

Still bummed.

AB

[rentz]

Reading this thread is making me reconsider my plan of buying a ultra cdp 2