1st post, Looking for suggestions to help fix my Kimber

[katana8869]

I recently bought a Kimber Pro Carry HD II and have had multiple problems with it. The gun has 650 rounds through it to date and has already been back to Kimber once. I hate sending guns back, but since it is still having problems I need to figure out what is going on. Being that I am a hands on kind of guy, I want to just fix it myself since Yonkers already had their shot at it.

To start, the gun had alot of issues right off. It had multiple failures to retun to battery, multiple problems with rounds nose diving in the magazine, Brass ejecting into my face and countless instances of the slide locking back prematurely.

Kimber claims to have done the following:

- polished the feed ramp
- reamed and polished the chamber
- replaced the ejector
- tuned the extractor
- adjusted the slide stop
- replaced the recoil spring

They also fired the bejeezus out of it as well because the gun was caked in powder residue when I got it back. After I cleaned it up, I replaced the recoil spring with one of Wolff's XP Pro Carry springs after reading an excellent thread about it over in the Kimber forum.

Today, I took the gun out and had more trouble. The slide lock is still engaging prematurely and I had 2 failures to feed due again to the rounds nosediving in the magazine. Additionally, while I am no longer getting brass in the face, the gun sometimes throws it diectly over the top of my head. The ejection of the spent brass it totally erratic. If it's not sailing over my head, it either goes forward at .45 degrees, or straight 2 the side, but it doesn't do either consistantly.

Should I just go ahead and replace the slide stop and the extractor? I know I can file the stop that's in it, but if I can fix it with a 20.00 drop in part, so be it. As to the extractor, if I got one from Wilson, would I need to "tune" it or would it drop in?

Any other tips or tricks to get a Pro Carry II running correctly? I bought this pistol for a carry gun but so far it has been a dismal disappointment.

Many sincere thanks in advance.

Mike

[Hunter]

Welcome to the forum. I cannot offer you any advice on your Kimber but here is the latest Kimber problem thread.
http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=30776
There are a few of these here so a search through the gunsmithing section may yield some fixes that work with these Kimbers.
Good luck.

[Lazarus]

You have to give Kimber credit not only for consistency in its pistol (mis)manufacturing, but also in its tireless attempts to resolve problems for their customers. Actual problem diagnosis at the factory does not take place until the 3rd visit, so don't give up just yet! Since you are a hands on type of guy, welcome to the world of gunsmithing. I guarantee solving problems yourself will be more rewarding and more interesting than standing in line at the UPS counter!
Here is your homework.

Read through all the gunsmithing stickies in this forum, especially the ones pertaining to barrel fitting, ramp & throat jobs, magazines, and extractors. Posting nice photos of the gun, slide removed, feeding a round out of the magazine will be very informative to us all, and will probably help you get a good diagnosis as well.

Good Luck.
-Lazarus

[wichaka]

I would work with the slide stop first, as it may be an easy fix. Also have you tried other mags than what came with the gun?

As for the premature slide stop activating, take the top end off the gun, and insert the slide stop. Put a few rounds in a mag, and slowly insert it into the gun, watching when the bullet nose goes by the slide stop lug.

If it does not touch, slide a few round off the mag while it's fully seated in the gun, and check for clearance.

Could be a mag problem, as I've seen a few mags that don't hold the rounds secure enough, and in the violent recoil action of a 1911, they move around enough to contact the slide stop as they move up.

As for the extractor, yes it will need to be tuned and fitted......