Live & Learn - Grip Change Affects Function

[KFP]

Excaliber do you have a palm swell on your grip safety?

Yes.

I put an aftermarket Kimber or Wilson part with the "hump" on all my 1911's to make the grip safety operation more positive. It worked fine until I changed the grips.

I was thinking that could be a solution for you, if you wanted to keep the grips. You're ahead of me as usual!

[Excaliber]

Excaliber do you have a palm swell on your grip safety?

Yes.

I put an aftermarket Kimber or Wilson part with the "hump" on all my 1911's to make the grip safety operation more positive. It worked fine until I changed the grips.

I was thinking that could be a solution for you, if you wanted to keep the grips. You're ahead of me as usual!

Thanks for the suggestion anyway. It was a good one, and might well have been one I hadn't thought of, but in this case I had.

I'm always grateful when someone comes up with a solution I haven't thought of for something I'm trying to fix, and I've adopted a whole bunch of great ideas I've gotten from this Forum.

In this case, I'm not so infatuated with the grips that I'm willing to take the chance of diminishing reliability by using them. When it comes to carry guns, I try to make decisions based on achieving the highest degree of reliability and effectiveness as my first priority. Everything else falls in line behind that.

[stroo]

BTW, I have read on a couple other forums that the 4th Gen Glocks are having problems. Don't know what but could be the spring issue mentioned in an earlier post.

Glocks also have a history of going KABOOM when lead bullets are used in them.

Just goes to show that no manufacturer or design is perfect.

[rbrecount]

Thank you for your story. You oughta make detective.

[Excaliber]

Thank you for your story. You oughta make detective.

You're welcome.

I hope it helps others avoid a similar issue.

And, once upon a time in a land far away, I did make detective.

[PeteCamp]

Excaliber....Sorry I am late posting this thought. I have a Kimber 5" TLE RL II and got to thinking about your problem. I am under the impression that on Kimbers the II designation has to do with the fact that these weapons do not have the safety that John Browning designed for the 1911, but have a different design safety. (Some research might be in order to verify that.)

I have never experienced the problem as you described it on my Kimber, but it has the factory grips. On the other hand, I have the exact same Hogue grips as you on a Springfield and I tried like the dickens to make it fail as you describe and it simply fires every time - no matter how little (or much) the grip safety is depressed. As long as it is depressed, the weapon fires. I believe the Springfield has the original 1911 design safety.

Perhaps the issue is not strictly related to the grips, but might be a combination of the grips and the different design safety? Just food for thought. I carry my Kimber at times during the winter months and the thought of needing it and having it fail to fire is disturbing. I think a discussion with a gunsmith at Kimber (or a real 1911 expert 'smith) might be telling. True, we should discover these kinds of issues on the range. But...IF it is an issue with the design of the safety in the Kimber, I want to know it for sure. Good luck.
-Pete

[Dave2]

My reason for using the Hogue grips is that I am left handed, and the front strap of the stainless Ultra is very slick. So maintaining a good grip while shooting is harder because the gun wants to slip in my strong hand under recoil. I wouldn't be so bothered by this, but it causes my wedding band to come in contact with the metal of the front strap, and it leaves a small mark there. So I'm going to put the original flat rubber grips back on, and try to make some grip tape work on that front strap.

Grip tape is like what they put on skateboards, right? Won't that scratch up your wedding band?

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

My reason for using the Hogue grips is that I am left handed, and the front strap of the stainless Ultra is very slick. So maintaining a good grip while shooting is harder because the gun wants to slip in my strong hand under recoil. I wouldn't be so bothered by this, but it causes my wedding band to come in contact with the metal of the front strap, and it leaves a small mark there. So I'm going to put the original flat rubber grips back on, and try to make some grip tape work on that front strap.

Grip tape is like what they put on skateboards, right? Won't that scratch up your wedding band?

So will checkering on the front strap. Besides the scratches give the band character and they show your dedication to your marriage because you wear the band everyday and do not take it off for anything (makes me feel better about all the scratches on my band).

[Excaliber]

Excaliber....Sorry I am late posting this thought. I have a Kimber 5" TLE RL II and got to thinking about your problem. I am under the impression that on Kimbers the II designation has to do with the fact that these weapons do not have the safety that John Browning designed for the 1911, but have a different design safety. (Some research might be in order to verify that.)

I have never experienced the problem as you described it on my Kimber, but it has the factory grips. On the other hand, I have the exact same Hogue grips as you on a Springfield and I tried like the dickens to make it fail as you describe and it simply fires every time - no matter how little (or much) the grip safety is depressed. As long as it is depressed, the weapon fires. I believe the Springfield has the original 1911 design safety.

Perhaps the issue is not strictly related to the grips, but might be a combination of the grips and the different design safety? Just food for thought. I carry my Kimber at times during the winter months and the thought of needing it and having it fail to fire is disturbing. I think a discussion with a gunsmith at Kimber (or a real 1911 expert 'smith) might be telling. True, we should discover these kinds of issues on the range. But...IF it is an issue with the design of the safety in the Kimber, I want to know it for sure. Good luck.
-Pete

Kimbers with the II designation have John Browning's original grip safety, with the addition of a firing pin block safety that is released by the movement of the grip safety. It's not a replacement - it's an addition, and it operates differently than the firing pin block in the series 80 Colt design.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the issue I encountered is not due to either the grips or the safety. A unique combination of the way the grips interact with my individual hand results in unreliable release of the grip safety on my gun because the area below my thumb doesn't have enough extra meat to overcome the additional grip opening that the thick Hogue grips create behind the backstrap.

Please don't take my post as a suggestion that there's anything wrong with the design of either the Kimber pistol or the Hogue grips. The combination of those items with the individual characteristics of my hand is needed to produce the problem, and using thinner grips completely resolves it for me.

The point of my post is that combinations like this can produce issues that are hard to anticipate. It's important to thoroughly test the gun again after any modification, even if you can't see any way that change could affect function.

[PeteCamp]

Thanks. I didn't believe there were any real problems as my Kimber has always been 100%. You're exactly right though. Tinkering with a weapon used for self defense should trigger an extensive testing regime to insure functionality. Thanks again for the heads up.