I was detail stripping my stainless target the other night when I made the mistake of letting the plunger spring detent shoot out while I was removing the thumb safety. Rookie mistake I know. The spring and the detent on the slide stop side remained in the tube though. But of course, I did not see where the other detent shot out to and no amount of searching would find it.
So I ordered the spring assembly from Midway as a replacement. I actually ordered 2 since they were cheap to have an extra on and if this happens again. When they come in, I start to reassemble my pistol and notice that the replacement detent will not fit in the plunger tube. The diameter of the detent was too big for the hole in the plunget tube. I thought that was odd, so I opened the package on the other assembly I ordered and tried the other detent. Same thing, too big to fit in the hole in the tube.
So now I'm really confused. To I took apart my Dan Wesson and tried the detent in that plunger tube. Perfect fit for both detents in both packages.
Now I call Kimber and explain the problem. The guy tells me "oh no, never use aftermarket parts on a Kimber. The quality just isn't as good and that's why the detents don't fit that you ordered." Nevermind that they were either Ed Brown or Wilson, can't remember which. So I ask the rep why they don't fit since the plunger tube should be milspec in size and the detents should work no matter what name is on the gun. He would not give me a straight answer and just kept saying I should only be using Kimber parts from their website for my gun.
So whatever, I decide to just order the parts from Kimber. Then I find that they don't just sell the spring and detents, it also includes the plunger tube which I don't need. Price is a staggering $25 and shipping is almost $10! So my only option is to spend $35 and I only need one detent. The spring and detents from Midway were only like $5.
This really chaps my butt. One, that the Kimber plunger tube is NOT milspec in diameter, and two, that my only choice is to spend $35 for the whole tube assembly from Kimber.
So I ordered the spring assembly from Midway as a replacement. I actually ordered 2 since they were cheap to have an extra on and if this happens again. When they come in, I start to reassemble my pistol and notice that the replacement detent will not fit in the plunger tube. The diameter of the detent was too big for the hole in the plunget tube. I thought that was odd, so I opened the package on the other assembly I ordered and tried the other detent. Same thing, too big to fit in the hole in the tube.
So now I'm really confused. To I took apart my Dan Wesson and tried the detent in that plunger tube. Perfect fit for both detents in both packages.
Now I call Kimber and explain the problem. The guy tells me "oh no, never use aftermarket parts on a Kimber. The quality just isn't as good and that's why the detents don't fit that you ordered." Nevermind that they were either Ed Brown or Wilson, can't remember which. So I ask the rep why they don't fit since the plunger tube should be milspec in size and the detents should work no matter what name is on the gun. He would not give me a straight answer and just kept saying I should only be using Kimber parts from their website for my gun.
So whatever, I decide to just order the parts from Kimber. Then I find that they don't just sell the spring and detents, it also includes the plunger tube which I don't need. Price is a staggering $25 and shipping is almost $10! So my only option is to spend $35 and I only need one detent. The spring and detents from Midway were only like $5.
This really chaps my butt. One, that the Kimber plunger tube is NOT milspec in diameter, and two, that my only choice is to spend $35 for the whole tube assembly from Kimber.