Range Report

Should have bought a Glock. No break-in needed.

Dude, I own a Glock. I love it.

I shot 200 rounds through it the first time I took it to the range, 17 years ago.

I don't mind the Kimber break-in...you get to learn the gun.

I love my SIG more...

That many FTFs on the 1911 frame, look for a bit too much oil down around the firing pin.

Can act like a hydraulic stop because the fit is tight between pin and its "housing".

Disassemble from rear of slide, pull pin and spring, clean, very lightly lubricate and reassemble.

Not uncommon to have a bit too much lubricant from factory assembly there.

Worth taking a look at anyway.

Enjoy,

That many FTFs in 1911, disassemble firing pin from rear of slide, clean out excessive lubricant. Can act as hydraulic brake in there, making the firing pin brake like a hydraulic piston.

Carry on,

Sounds like a good time was had by all. I'm rather jealous. Had an ex that had quite a sizable firearms collection, including several Kimbers. It's too bad it didn't work out with her because they were all damn nice to shoot.

I'll be having my own firearms fun soon enough, though. I'll be putting some of that good ol' LT loan money towards an XD and some goodies from the CMP...specifically a M-1 carbine and the greatest battle implement ever devised. It's okay to spend loan money on firearms since it's an investment, right? ;-)

I do have to question you loving your Sig more, though. Sigs are solid guns, but I personally can't get behind any gun with a DA/SA trigger mechanism. I'm not a fan of anything that makes for a nonuniform trigger pull.

I guess I should add that I'm assuming that your P220 is DA/SA, since it also comes in DAK and SAO.

Range reports are great. Thanks for sharing.

b52 geezer - I will look at that. In reading the m1911.org forums on the Kimbers, this type of performance during the break-in is not unusual. I have seen several reports where the issues disappear as the owner progresses through the break-in. Hopefully, I will have a chance at the end of next week to put another 200 rounds through it.

Mike - I have no issue with the DA first round, SA thereafter. I have been shooting my P220 for close on 15 years now, and I am quite comfortable to it. On the other hand, I will have to get used to the thumb safety on the Kimber. The SIS Ultra is the first handgun I have ever owned with an external safety. Trade-offs...

Yeah, I know the forums you speak of, or at least some just like 'em.

All of 'em would likely have saved time and found reliability by taking the time to clean the assembly lube off of the firing pin rather than going through all that, though.

Give it a try, it isn't 100% of the time, but I've cured that situation enough times to always look there first for this particular "malady".

Sign of tight tolerances, a good thing.

B52 - I just realized you meant "Fail to Fire" while I meant "Fail to Feed". The gun fired every time the trigger was pulled...

Heh, and I guess that's where it comes down to personal preference, because I am the exact opposite: don't mind an external safety at all, but gotta have that consistent trigger pull.

If you had fail to feed, you need to look at your magazines. I have a Springfield 1911A1 and I have put 5000 rounds of good ammo through it and not one failure to fire. I use nothing but Wilson Combat 47D magazines and no problems whatever.

I also have an XD in 45 ACP with extra factory mags. no problems.

Check out your mags. I would hate to have that happen in a fight. I use 230 gr FMJ in Fiocci or S&B and never a bad round. I use Remington Golden Saber JHP in my home defense mags. They will tear up things something awful when they go through. You need to check how your weapon feeds these. Mine have no problems.

Enjoyed your range report. Hope you get the kinks out of your platform. I'm sure that you will.

I'd be tempted to stick magazines 1 and 2 in a box, buy a couple more, and run the same test again, using the new ones along with magazine 3 (known good). Use this process to weed out bad magazines and put them aside. The magazine relationship sounds significant enough to me, that it's like to have at least some relationship with the failures. It makes even more sense that they are feed failures.

There are, many who expose the purity of a wheel gun loaded in a chamber of 357 and above. Not many parts to fail, the combat range of well...combat range in most shooting sits. is less than 10 ft.
So a wheel gun with five chamber Cap. throwing chest crushing H-S's fast as the finger pull, is just as capable in a dog fight as the latest Gee-Wizz Black Poly glow site recon-fig. And!! MORE secure in the ankle hold than a bulky poly! And the ride is better in the small of he back.
Downside of course is the fact that a MAG holds more rounds. Hey, it is what it is....
training is the REAL diff...

Feed Failure would indeed point the finger at the mags and possibly the ammo first.

Hardball failure to feed may be the throat of the ramp, but a Kimber should be polished fairly well already.

*Try a different brand of hardball just to see, even in today's world of automated loaders and CAD/CAM, things like bullet seating depth and even case length can start to wander.

*Type of Feed Failure can talk to you. Does the slide get stopped by a canted bullet that does not manage to fully enter the chamber? Suspect feedramp first, rough rearface around firing pin hole second. Visual inspection.

*Kimbers are close tolerance as 1911s go, that's a good thing, may just loosen up after a bit more breakin shooting. If it doesn't clear up in a reasonable amount of shootin rounds, contact Kimber while the warranty is in, they good people.

I've owned Springfields and Kimbers over the years, plus a few others, IPSC shootin', bowling pin shoots, 25 yd and 50 yd offhand shoots, personal carry. The Springfields do seem to feed better out of the box, but they also tend to come from the factory with looser tolerances than the Kimbers. Have always had to replace barrel bushing with something a bit tighter on the Springfields, liking blued bushing in SS and SS bushing in blued slide. Kimber, have not found the need to replace anything other than mags.

Gun on the table, shooter ready...

B52 geezer - thanks again.

I shot almost entirely the Winchester hardball. The next 150-200 rounds will be American Eagle, followed by Hydra-Shoks. We will see what happens.

On all the fail-to-feeds, the rounds usually did not make it out of the magazine. Only 2-3 made it to the feed ramp. In each and every case, racking the slide back fed the round into the chamber.

I have some suspicions about two of my three mags, so I may need to go with Wilson or Tripp.

We'll see what happens. In the meantime, I will continue to carry my SIG or Ruger GP100.

I have a Kimber Classic a sweet gun,Thou I would prefer my Colt Combat Commander.
Kimber mags suck, period! I use colt stainless mags and never had a feed problem.
As far as a glock goes, well lets just say you can pistol whip someone better with a 1911 steel pistol when the chips are down!lol

Just got a Kimber Ultra II Tactical- tons of feed problems that got worse during the 500 rounds. I suspect magazine is the culprit. The store that sold it will give to gunsmith first then send it in toi Kimber if necessary- we'll see and I'll report back.