Kimber Common Problems and Fixes...

Originally Posted by MountainPacker

I had terrible problems with nose dive feed jams. This was with HP as well as WWB FMJ ammo. After $2,000 in shipping, custom work and test ammo (mostly Hydrashok test ammo) and a year of screwing with it, here's the cause and cheap fix.

Problem:

The gun was cycling too fast for the magazine (Wilson, Kimber, CMC Powermag, Mec-Gar...) to lift the cartridges into proper position before being caught by the returning slide and pushed nose down into the frame just below the feed ramp.

Solution 1:

Switch to Tripp Cobramags. The incredibly powerful spring in those magazines and the higher height of the top round solved the feeding problem. They do, however, stick out quite a bit from the grip. They hang down the same as a Wilson 47D, but flair out wider. My solution for when I wanted more concealability was Tripp's upgrade kit placed in Wilson magazine tubes with the slim basepad. This gave me the improved spring and follower and a completely reliable 7 round, nearly flush fit magazine.

Solution 2:

The new XP spring from Wolff designed specifically for the 4" Kimbers slowed down the cycle time enough that now it runs with all the magazines, even a Wilson 47D loaded 8+1 with Gold Dot (widest HP mouth I had) hollow points. I have no doubt it would also run with Corbons, but I didn't have any for tesing and since I prefer the GD, I didn't want to buy them just for the accademic exercise.

Conclussion:

It's now a COMPLETELY RELIABLE $3,000 Kimber Eclipse Pro Target II. If you have the same problem and can learn from my experience, you can solve the same problem for $100 worth of magazines or $8 for a spring.

Happy shooting.

I have talked with an "old pro" at Wolff springs about the 4" Kimber Pro pistols and the issues with the recoil spring. It goes back many years.
Kimber does buy their springs from Wolff. BUT, they are using what they insisit on using NOT what Wolff fixed for them a long time ago.
The Wolff spring # 32725 IS the correct spring for this particular pistol. It will fix many of the feeding issues.
Also....use only 7 rnd mags..IF you want consistant and reliable pistol operation. Yes, some of you may be OK with your 8 rnd mags you have, but, in the long run, there are reasons why the 7 rnd mags are what you need to depend on. Call Dave at Wolff Springs and he will explain.

[jms45cal]

Its ashame we have to spend so much time and money for such an easy fix if you have read my posts you know I went through the same crap , well lets just hope the gun last long enough to hand it down to our kids because you know all the money we spent on fixing these things we will never get that money back .

good luck with yours

Well, I certainly agree it is a shame we have to go through all the trial and errors to make our pistols run right. It is diappointing. This is my first 1911.
I really want this thing to be dependable, since I do like it alot....well, except for the "issues!"
I just discovered this site and I have yet to read a lot of the posts for Kimbers. I will.
One issue with my 4" Pro Carry II is one that Kimber tells me people do have and that is the slide lock needs to be worked over by the Custom Shop. Like mine has been. They found that for some pistols the bullet of a round gets hung up on the inside portion of the slide lock. That area has to be finished down and polished. It just sticks out too far for some bullets.
It seems like Kimber, and maybe others, always use the excuse that 1911's are "different" and can be problematic until the bugs are worked out. Now, I don't know how a Wilson Combat pistol that costs approx. $2,500 works out of the box, but, I didn't expect the Kimbers to be a problem. I have read where so many are happy with theirs, and that the LAPD folks are using them, etc. I think problems start to arise when you have less than the 5" platform. Maybe Wilson or some other manufacturers have perfected the 4.25" or 4" and the 3" versions. But, I do know that anything mechanical can break, have issues at any given time. I think I have a "Monday" pistol. Like getting a car that was made on a Monday. More problems than normal.
I'm willing to see this through for now. I'm waiting for my Wolff recoil spring, Wilson 47 mag, and a second slide lock.
I was told to use 230 gr. ammo....Remington GS rather than 185 gr. The 230 gr. bullets are slightly longer, and Kimber says that is better for this pistol
I do realize that ball ammo is the 1911's best friend when it comes to bullet type.
So, there IS a lot of trial and error with the 1911's....at least many of them.
I know that different platforms, like my Springfield XD's just don't seem to have any issues. I haven't had any. Love them. Sig's have bee good to me too. But, I like the flat 1911 style and the .45 ammo as a carry pistol.
I guess we just can't get everything we want and need.

Originally Posted by Trooper605

I have found a strange issue with my Kimber....If I have a round in the chamber and a fully loaded 8 round mag inserted, if the slide is placed out of battery (bumped or ect) it will not go back into battery (approx 1/4 inche)

However, if the 8 round mag is only loaded with 7 rounds, the slide will move back into battery and it will fire...... The problem seems to be that round #8 is putting too much pressure on the inner slide and keeping it from moving back into battery.

The slide spring is new and heavy. I also tried the original spring and I got the same result when the slide was pushed slightly back.

Does anyone know of a fix....outside of sending the slide back for a new one or only keeping 7 rounds in the mag (note: These are the8 round Kimber Pro Tac-Mags) It happens with other 8 round mags also.....

I had a long talk with an old pro at Wolff Springs. He knows 1911's very well and Kimbers too. He told me that 7 rnd mags should be used. Period, IF you want realibiltiy. Even though some folks can get some 8 rounders to work. Long story...wont' repeat now. He also told me that the Kimber Kim Pro Tac Mags, 8 rnds, are junk. He said go with a high quality 7 rnd mag. like the Wilson 47.
My 8rnd mags did not want to function properly much of the time in my Pro Carry II. If I loaded only 7 rnds they worked much better. Many of the issues with Kimbers seems to be with the springs. Mag springs and recoil springs. At least in the Pro models. Wolff makes the springs for Kimber, BUT, to Kimbers specs....NOT what Wolff says the pistol needs. That's why Wolff sells the 32725 spring just for the 4" Kimbers. It's the spring Wolff knows works correctly, but, Kimber said they would rather stick with the original one made by Wolff since it allows the slide to be racked easier. Duhhh....I'd rather have reliability!!

[jms45cal]

I took out the kimber slide stop,firing pin and extractor, and put all wilson bullet proof parts in and then changed both springs with wolff xp springs and took off the PLASTIC mainspring housing for a Ed brown mainspring and magwell and polished the hell out of the feed ramp with a felt bullet nose attachment for my dremel and flintz polish .
As far as the 230 gr bullet they suggest +p Ammo .
after doing everything I did my pro cdp ii will shoot anything I put in it if you go back a page there are pictures of my cdpi
I am in the process of ordering a wilson combat carry comp SS they say its gonna be a few months but somehow I think it will be A much longer wait and with a starting price of 3500 It better be great straight out of the box .

[bootman]

I don't know if everyone knows this trick or not but I use it and it works...If you want to check some strange hollowpoints or some other ammo you haven't tried before do this...

Load the new ammo in your mags staggering it with a reliable ball or known reliable round then you fire the tried and tested round first and see if the untried ammo fed. If it fed into the chamber you eject it and fire the next tested round......Each time you eject the untested round after you see it has fed into the chamber...This way you don't have to fire up your untested hollowpoints to see if they chamber. You only need fire your tested reloads that always chamber and fire. Did I make that clear?...bootman

[jms45cal]

Thanks Bootman but I sold the PRO CDP II after all the upgrades I got $2000 for it and just bought a PRO RAPTOR II IN STAINLESS took some of the extra cash and bought an Ed Brown snakeskin SS mainspringhousing and magwell and an Wilson combat extended bullet proof slide stop I should get everything by Thursday since I had to buy the gun from a gun store in Dallas TX and Im in PA it was the only SS Raptor I could find except an over priced one on gun broker I wasn't paying an extra 200 from the guy on gun broker when it gets here and I install the Ed Brown and Wilson parts I'll post a picture .

[tswiyb]

Just thought I'd chime in here. Got a new Super Carry Pro about 2 months ago, and had a couple of annoying problems. By far the most common (about every 10 rounds or so) was the dreaded FTRB.

New Wolff recoil / firing pin springs (they come as a kit which kicks a$$-order one - get both) and new Wilson mag springs and followers for my Kimber mags....now it runs so smooooooth. All for about $40 with shipping.

The new equipment also seems to have remedied the premature slide stop lock problem...although this problem was only an issue about once out of 100.

Now if I can just find someone local to tune up my extractor so it will stop beaning me in the forehead with spent cases....I'll be damned if I'm parting with it for more than a day or two.

[Horoscope Fish]

Originally Posted by tswiyb

Now if I can just find someone local to tune up my extractor so it will stop beaning me in the forehead with spent cases....I'll be damned if I'm parting with it for more than a day or two.

There's a sticky-thread in, I think the Gunsmithing sub-forum, that explains in detail how to tension your own extractor. If you're smart enough to find the extractor, you're smart enough to tension it yourself.

[jms45cal]

tswiyb, buy a wilson combat bullet proof extractor, I did and it works great ejects the caseing 3 to 4 feet to the right everytime or midway sells the tuner .

[JH Holliday]

the slide stop engaged from time to time with rounds left in the magazine. I called Kimber and they said they knew about the problem and would sent me worked on slide stop.

the funny thing is that now the slide stop will not engage after the last round is fired, at least with the Kimber magazine. Everything is fine after I shelled out some cash for Wilson mags. I am thinking of trashing the Kimber mag since I have had several FTF's with it was well.

[jms45cal]

I changed out my mags to Wilson combat and both of my Kimbers are fine.
I took my new pro raptor ii to the range the 1st mag in was a kimber 2 ftf changed to wilson and 400 rds later not 1 problem but I changed ot the extractor ,firing pin ,slide stop,and springs for all wilson combat bullet proof parts and wolff xp springs plus I added an Ed Brown chainlink mainsprong housing and magwell .
The barrel is being jeweled this week this is one sweet gun here is a picture

[JH Holliday]

once I strike it rich.

[jms45cal]

you could probably tarde 2 of your kimber's for a nice wilson the Cabela's in Hamburg PA they have 5 different Wilson's in there gun library and they are priced from 2200 to 2800 all in mint condition .
I'm thinking about trading 2 of my beretta's and my para ltc for one of them but I have to go up there work out a deal this week .
You don't have to be rich just be smart ...

[Wardog234]

I had to send the pistol back after owning for two weeks...couldn't hit a pie plate at ten yards..turns out the barrel was bad...serious feeding problems...re ramp and polish..bla bla....nasty trigger pull...perform trigger job....and after less than 200 rounds,my extractor broke...is that a mim part? I replaced extractor with a real one...

good news is...it's a good shooter now.

I should have waited a while,instead of buying when they first came out..serial is less than 3000..

ps kimber ultra carry...

[jms45cal]

It wouldn't have matterd how long you waited kimber has some bad product issues ,Thats why I put every wislon part I can in a Kimber its ashame you spend that kind of money only to spend more for the gun to work correctly.
I do have to say there steel guns are pretty good but I still changed out all the internal and external parts for wilson combat.if you know what your doing you can change out everything for about 250 bucks from brownells that includes the crappy PLASTIC mainspring housing .I have a pro cdp ii and a pro raptor ii here are some pics

[Wardog234]

OMG..it is a plastic part...I had to use my knife to test it... Could you elaborate on what else is crap in the parts...the slide stop is changed out..

[jms45cal]

Oh Man Wardag I didn't mean to ruin your day I thought you knew it was plastic .
Ok you have the ultra right?
so your can buy a secent mainspring housing and have it cut down I sugguest Ed brown but get all your parts from Brownells not midway USA I found midway parts don't fit the same as brownells that being said here is my list of what you should change and keep in mind I have done this to both of my kimbers and they run great now,
1st a stanless steel mainspring housing I included a magwell because I have a pro
2nd wilson combat bulley proof extractor
3ed wilson combat extended slide stop
4th wilson bullet proof fireing pin
5th replace all your springs with wolff xp springs there 18lbs kimber are 22 lbs
6th adjust your trigger set screw I have mine set at 2.5lbs
7th wilson combat pullet proof sear
Then I urdered exoctic wood wrap around finger groove grips optional
then take some FLINTZand a bullet felt polishing bit for your dremel and lightley polish your feed ramp intul its a mirror finish I did all that but I think you can get away with 1,2,3,4and 5 and your gun will shoot really nice and becareful your frame in aluminum don't push hard when you polish the feed ramp just let the flet and polish do the work I also bhanged out my trigger sping and mainspring housing spring but you can let that go for now .
I hope that didn't overwhelm you but its not too bad I spend about 400 for everything and did it myself any question just shoot me an email [email protected]

[scottdci]

I bet you've never seen this one before. Case ejected, turned 180 degrees and was shoved backwards down the barrel. After 30 years experience with 1911's I've seen just about every failure imaginable. Never seen or heard of this happening before.

[jms45cal]

Your right I have never seen that before it looks like your gonna need a new barrel or at very least re-rifle the barrel .
How in the he** did that happen it seems the slide would have to recycle slow enought for the case to turn like that and end up backwards. did the follower or spring in the mag break or did the hook on the extractor break that is the only thing I could even imagine to cause something like that .It looks like the way the case is bent it passed right buy the extractor and just spun around .
I would really like to know what the end result is after talking to who ever your gonna call . was that the last round in the mag??

[Wardog234]

Originally Posted by jms45cal

Oh Man Wardag I didn't mean to ruin your day I thought you knew it was plastic .
Ok you have the ultra right?
so your can buy a secent mainspring housing and have it cut down I sugguest Ed brown but get all your parts from Brownells not midway USA I found midway parts don't fit the same as brownells that being said here is my list of what you should change and keep in mind I have done this to both of my kimbers and they run great now,
1st a stanless steel mainspring housing I included a magwell because I have a pro
2nd wilson combat bulley proof extractor
3ed wilson combat extended slide stop
4th wilson bullet proof fireing pin
5th replace all your springs with wolff xp springs there 18lbs kimber are 22 lbs
6th adjust your trigger set screw I have mine set at 2.5lbs
7th wilson combat pullet proof sear
Then I urdered exoctic wood wrap around finger groove grips optional
then take some FLINTZand a bullet felt polishing bit for your dremel and lightley polish your feed ramp intul its a mirror finish I did all that but I think you can get away with 1,2,3,4and 5 and your gun will shoot really nice and becareful your frame in aluminum don't push hard when you polish the feed ramp just let the flet and polish do the work I also bhanged out my trigger sping and mainspring housing spring but you can let that go for now .
I hope that didn't overwhelm you but its not too bad I spend about 400 for everything and did it myself any question just shoot me an email [email protected]

Thanks..I think...

[Wardog234]

OK,my slide stop is already been changed,the ramp has been polished...the extractor has been changed..firing pin on order..that's a start..

[jms45cal]

No problem check 2 posts up (scottdc) check out the pictures and you'll see why I change out the factory parts...

[jwash3rd]

After about a thousand rounds or so, my Custom II suddenly wouldn't feed. I took it apart and cleaned it again.

Turns out I had installed the recoil spring backwards, now it's fine. D'oh!

[bellsguns]

Originally Posted by scottdci

I bet you've never seen this one before. Case ejected, turned 180 degrees and was shoved backwards down the barrel. After 30 years experience with 1911's I've seen just about every failure imaginable. Never seen or heard of this happening before.

yep....
seen it before, and in a1911!