New Name for my Kimber: The Choke Artist

[knifezoid]

I dunno guys... we're up to over 500 rounds now. Honeymoon is over.
Took it to tonights indoor shoot at my range and had six, yes SIX, FTFs.
(Out of 80 Rounds).

OK, to be fair (?) I was shooting my own reloads and was using Wilson
Combat and ChipMcCormick 10 round mags for the first time.

I don't think it was my reloads cause I checked just about every round in
my barrel to make sure it fit. Length was fine. Charge was fine. Crimp
was buttery smooth around the edge, better than factory.

Also the malfunction that happened was the same thing that happened
with factory ammo. Had two FTFs in a box of 50 Remingtons a few weeks
back. Slide just doesn't cycle forward to push the round in. I have to
rack it myself.

As for the mags, come on, CMCs and Wilsons are the best on the market.
That's not a valid excuse in my book.

Guess it's time to send her back into Kimber, but really for a 1911 in
that price range and one that is suppose to be "the best" I was expecting
a little more. As of now it's useless for competition and if I did use it for
home protection I'd trust my samurai sword more.

To add to this there was another shooter with a Kimber Warrior. His problem
was about the same except the slide would stop half way. He had to whack
it from the back to get it properly cycle. He had about the same amount
of malfunctions as I did.

Sorry, didn't want to start a gun brand bashing thread but I guess I kinda
did.

Oh yeah, Parker, you can say it now (told ya so).

[Sheldon_Wickersham]

C'mon!

Two things come to mind here; ok, well, a half dozen or so...but, for the sake of brevity...

It's a new gun, and you're a relatively new shooter - so, break it in with the 37,000 or so rnds Kimber recommends before sending it back, and (and) shoot factory loads (fresh named factory, never shot before, fairly hot FMJ rounds) for awhile. Chances are, IMO, if you send it back now, they'll return it to you with a little note saying 'no problems noted' - which will mentally drive you over the edge and sour you on Kimber's somewhere way south of the recommended ~37k break-in rounds...

Shel

p.s. Told ya so...

p.p.s. Seriously, they are, or at least can be, really good guns once broken in with a few (or more) thousand rounds - you're not there yet...

p.p.p.s. Sounds like the firing chamber is bored to the minimum (or average) spec, and as such, anything out of spec (slightly longer) by even a few mils is going to FTF - my latest Hi-Power (late '80's IIRC) was this way, and the local gunsmith was just so freakin' proud of himself for pointing it out, saying I just needed to shoot 'spec' ammo and all would be good - I in turn suggested that he get over his bad 'lil brilliant self and get to boring out the FC by 20 mils so I could shoot whatever, whenever. As always, YMMV...

[knifezoid]

break it in with the 37,000 or so rnds Kimber recommends before sending it back,

Ah, I knew I missed a zero or two when reading the instruction manual!

[RoadFish]

That is one costly break-in!

[Leadfoot]

Zoid, one quick way to know if it's you or the gun, have an expirenced .45 shooter fire the pistol.

Leadfoot

[BlueSkyJaunte]

It's not Zoid.

Funny, the Kimber I had did this too. Among other things. But my Colt, Dan Wesson, and Springfield don't. Neither do my Detonics or Rock Islands.

How very odd.

[Rat Finkenstein]

One of the main reasons kimbers don't interest me.

[norcal13]

Guess it's time to send her back into Kimber, but really for a 1911 in
that price range and one that is suppose to be "the best" I was expecting
a little more.

sounds like a strider.

[Rat Finkenstein]

maybe it's a "bro gun"

[Parker]

Stop shooting this gun now.

Take it down and look carefully at the internals after cleaning it off extensively. Squeeze the trigger and look at the safety bits which extrude upwards into the slide. Look carefully ALL the way around those for wear.

But at 500 rounds?

First, STOP using reloads. Factory ammo keeps a warranty in place. Reloads, not so much. No idea who's putting what into a gun.

Second, it does not matter WHO is fucking shooting the pistol. Either it cycles or not.

My concern is the little whizzo which comes up out of the frame and allows the pistol to fire. It does so by pushing a firing pin block out of the way of the firing pin, lifting it vertically. Those have an annoying tendency to break with Kimbers.

When they do, they lock up your whole pistol, with a freshly stripped live round in the pistol, but NOT in the chamber. Whee. A loaded and entirely unsafe firearm and no way to get the round out of the pistol either thru unloading or discharge, and you cannot send it to Kimber that way either. Neat.

Send the POS back without shooting it any more. Tell them to fix it. Document this, and the last occurrences, and send that POS back.

And as far as a "gunsmith" goes......a gunsmith can be anyone. No minimum licensing requirements for competency. If you are going to let someone monkey with your pistol (bad idea since it is under warranty) make it a Kimber certified armorer.

[Pilot]

Send it back to Kimber. Get it running, then sell it and buy a Colt.

[gprippers]

what the?

[Sheldon_Wickersham]

Funny stuff Rob! It was good to see you in Eugene too btw, you're looking well - that Strider custom you picked up is still on my mind; let me know if it ever sees the light of day again... :semper:

[Per-Sev]

I dunno guys... we're up to over 500 rounds now. Honeymoon is over.
Took it to tonights indoor shoot at my range and had six, yes SIX, FTFs.
(Out of 80 Rounds).

OK, to be fair (?) I was shooting my own reloads and was using Wilson
Combat and ChipMcCormick 10 round mags for the first time.

I don't think it was my reloads cause I checked just about every round in
my barrel to make sure it fit. Length was fine. Charge was fine. Crimp
was buttery smooth around the edge, better than factory.

Also the malfunction that happened was the same thing that happened
with factory ammo. Had two FTFs in a box of 50 Remingtons a few weeks
back. Slide just doesn't cycle forward to push the round in. I have to
rack it myself.

As for the mags, come on, CMCs and Wilsons are the best on the market.
That's not a valid excuse in my book.

Guess it's time to send her back into Kimber, but really for a 1911 in
that price range and one that is suppose to be "the best" I was expecting
a little more. As of now it's useless for competition and if I did use it for
home protection I'd trust my samurai sword more.

To add to this there was another shooter with a Kimber Warrior. His problem
was about the same except the slide would stop half way. He had to whack
it from the back to get it properly cycle. He had about the same amount
of malfunctions as I did.

Sorry, didn't want to start a gun brand bashing thread but I guess I kinda
did.

Oh yeah, Parker, you can say it now (told ya so).

My buddy had the same problem with his Pro Carry II and it was that the mag release was cut wrong and did not allow the clip to sit high enough to be at the proper angle. Try putting a empty clip in and while pushing the mag release button in seeing if it sits higher than when its engaged that might be the problem a local gunsmith fixed my buddies for less than $50 and a lot faster than sending it back to Kimber.

[knifezoid]

I'm not all that experienced of a shooter, I admit. But I'm quite sure I'm not limp
wristing it. I mean I really do wish the problem was ME. That is at least correctable.

Yeah, I'm gonna call them up and send it back. Will consider selling it after it is fixed,
but hate to take the huge hit as I did buy it brand spankin' new. Would rather just
have it work properly, but at the same time those Colts and Springfields amongst other
1911s/45ACP pistols are lookin' really good these days.

I need some type of 45ACP as I just reloaded 400 rounds and gotta shoot them somehow!