Wilson Combat upgrade

[hillfighter]

Would you upgrade your new Kimber with Wilson Combat parts? Like, hammer, sear, trigger, springs?

If I wanted to upgrade a new Kimber I would sell it and buy a different 1911.

[LeonCarr]

Hey Salty,

I thought you only shot double action only guns

Why do you have a 1911? They aren't double action only unless you have a Para LDA.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

[JSThane]

Thank you for the "educated" thought and not smoking me for carrying a 1911. Well, there's nothing wrong with my NEW Kimber. I guess I'm like the guy who REALLY loves to own a H1 Hummer but can't pay for one and goes and buys a H3!!!! So, that's how my story of "upgrading" started!

Late to reply, but I wouldn't "smoke" anyone for doing what I myself quite often do! I certainly do understand the desire to "upgrade" one's equipment; it's how a bone-stock Springfield Champion "G.I." got turned into a "semi-custom" gun over a period of very careful learning and tinkering. I started it because I'm a lefty and the gun only had a right-side safety mounted, and went from there. Over time (and a couple of incidents where my screwups made it choke at the range ), I got it more-or-less where I wanted it. It now wears a flat mainspring housing, ambidextrous Wilson safety lever, extended slide release, and has had a "buff and polish" job done to the internals, but I kept the original sear, hammer, and disconnect. I briefly swapped the trigger out for a longer one with overtravel screw, but rather quickly found that the screw had a nasty habit of "backing in" and completely locking up the trigger, so it's got the original back in it now. Currently, it's in my carry rotation, for the days I feel "modern" and don't want to carry a revolver. The "buff and polish" did reduce perceived trigger weight, but honestly, that was something I did very carefully, and probably got lucky with, as at the time I had absolutely no business doing that with the level of experience and tools I (didn't) have.

As I -have- had the gun disassembled to its component parts, and I -have- done some (careful) Dremel "custom-work" to it, I'm the last person to ever say "never do that," but I can tell you it's not as simple as it may seem, even for such a simply designed gun as a 1911. More so, I can and do advise against swapping out parts for others perceived as "better," absent any specific goals for the swap. If it ain't broken, and the new parts won't improve function, don't change 'em. I learned that with my trigger "upgrade." I'm very fortunate I didn't screw up anything else.

One other consideration, if you do ANY work on your guns yourself. Don't ever sell them. If you DID screw it up, and it malfunctions later on, that's a liability you do NOT want! My "customized" 1911 won't ever be sold, due to what I've done to it. Any resale value the gun might once have had, write it off. If you want to retain saleability, have a gunsmith do the work.