Hoping this isnt a omen.....

[spartan47]

Hi all, been toying with buying a kimber for a while. Saturday I took the plunge, but I went to the rental range before I put down on my new toy and didnt have a issue.

the light triggerpull was something new to me and wondered are all 1911's like that. The rangemaster told me it was 3- 3 1/2 lbs. Is that all?

But on day two when i shot the same gun, had a lot of rounds either not fully chambering or the mag being difficult to put i at first

I put that down to two things, it was dry and the feed lips on the mag bowed out.

Forgive my ignorance im still just coming into this 45 world

Thanks

oh yeah the shot groups were insane on that thing

[libertarian]

I've heard you need to put 200-500 rounds down the barrel before you can consider it to be a problem with a Kimber. They need some serious breaking in owing to tight tolerances.

[WKC]

With it being a range gun, you have no idea what kind of abuse it has suffered. The stoppages you observed are not uncommon but they are all correctable. The mag feed lips being deformed is a good catch. Poorly manufactured or damaged magazine is a significant source of problems in any controlled-fed weapon since the timing of the release of the round is critical to the feed sequence.

I am surprised that they rented a gun with such a light trigger pull. Most Kimbers start life between 4 and 5 pounds. If you put a lot of cycles through the lock work, the combination of the sear spring and the main spring can loosen up and drop the trigger pull down by half a pound. However, it is not difficult to bring the pull back up above 4 pounds and this is something that the range staff should be able to do.

As Libertarian stated, Kimbers do start off tight and the "break-in" period is intended to be a final lapping of the moving parts. What you will end up with is just enough clearance between the parts to allow movement.

[rycerz]

Originally Posted by spartan47

Hi all, been toying with buying a kimber for a while. Saturday I took the plunge, but I went to the rental range before I put down on my new toy and didnt have a issue.

the light triggerpull was something new to me and wondered are all 1911's like that. The rangemaster told me it was 3- 3 1/2 lbs. Is that all?

But on day two when i shot the same gun, had a lot of rounds either not fully chambering or the mag being difficult to put i at first

I put that down to two things, it was dry and the feed lips on the mag bowed out.

Forgive my ignorance im still just coming into this 45 world

Thanks

oh yeah the shot groups were insane on that thing

Kimber makes great firearms... but dump that mag and pickup a wilson combat mag. You'll see the difference immediately in how it chambers. The biggest difference IIRC is the angle on the follower with the wilson combat mag having it better dialed in of the two.

[Spicy McHaggis]

It's not normal. Range guns are beat up and well used. I shot several Kimbers at my local range and didn't like them. However, I carry a Kimber now because I knew those guns were messed up and not to think that all of them were like that. If you know somebody who has one, I'd suggest trying theirs first.

[NikNak]

Originally Posted by rycerz

Kimber makes great firearms... but dump that mag and pickup a wilson combat mag. You'll see the difference immediately in how it chambers. The biggest difference IIRC is the angle on the follower with the wilson combat mag having it better dialed in of the two.

Going to Wilson mags is the first fix for most 1911 style malfunctions.
Range guns get no love.
Kimbers are fine pieces if treated just like a lady, keep it clean, be nice to it, feed it what it likes, take it out dancing every now and then... and all will be well.

[swdr]

Originally Posted by spartan47

the light triggerpull was something new to me and wondered are all 1911's like that. The rangemaster told me it was 3- 3 1/2 lbs. Is that all?

One of my full-sized Kimbers came like that from the factory, but it may be uncommon.

Originally Posted by spartan47

But on day two when i shot the same gun, had a lot of rounds either not fully chambering or the mag being difficult to put i at first

I put that down to two things, it was dry and the feed lips on the mag bowed out.

Both possible. So, did you check with the staff about oiling the slide? More directly, did you have the staff fire a few rounds to verify the issue? They would probably like to know about it, and likely would donate a few more rounds for your fun.

Originally Posted by spartan47

Forgive my ignorance im still just coming into this 45 world

John Browning will forgive you, I'm sure. Heh.

Originally Posted by spartan47

oh yeah the shot groups were insane on that thing

That could be good... or bad.

[spartan47]

Thanks guys for all the support.

I did take it to the rangemaster when it started mucking up. The only thing with that was it wasn't the gunsmith who normally works up there but some Coast Guard kid. He did oil it and gave it back for me to try again.

Went through another mag or so and it started doing it again so I gave up shooting it.

I'll make a mental note to call over there tommorrow

But I'm glad to know I'm making a good buy. Been reading horror stories about 1911's being like Harley's.

You guys rock.

PS shot groups were insane in the good way

Kimber owner countdown: 15 days and counting!!

[Panhead Bill]

Hey! I take offense to the Harley comment, mine runs a couple months out of the year!

[NikNak]

Originally Posted by Panhead Bill

Hey! I take offense to the Harley comment, mine runs a couple months out of the year!

After it was in the shop for the other ten ......