Kimber could take a lesson from Glock.

[nortac]

Just to clarify, for those who may not know, the original press check on the GI 1911 was accomplished by hooking the support hand thumb inside the front of the trigger guard and the support hand index finger over the spring cap under the muzzle of the barrel and pressing rearwards to put the slide out of battery to check/confirm that it was loaded. A FLGR precludes that since it protrudes out the front of the slide and can't be compressed when the slide is retracted to the rear. The work around is to grasp the slide with the off hand, either over the top or under and press the slide to the rear, hence the trend of cutting front "c0cking" serrations on the front of the slides on competition oriented 1911s.

 

[BigFoot]

Eventually I should get a Govt issue 1911 from CMP if they don't run out. There are still about 4,000 numbers ahead of me. The first thing I will do is strip it and clean it. I will report back in hopefully February.

 

[ylekot]

The one and only thing about the Glock platform that I like, besides it's stupidly regular reliability, is the ease with which it can be completely disassembled and reassembled quickly and easily. Every other semiautomatic firearm I have ever had the (dis)pleasure of working on, for any purpose, is always just a tiny spring loaded something or other away from being an absolutely horrible day. And you can track said part through the air as it flies, but, you will never find it.

 

[BigFoot]

The one and only thing about the Glock platform that I like, besides it's stupidly regular reliability, is the ease with which it can be completely disassembled and reassembled quickly and easily. Every other semiautomatic firearm I have ever had the (dis)pleasure of working on, for any purpose, is always just a tiny spring loaded something or other away from being an absolutely horrible day. And you can track said part through the air as it flies, but, you will never find it.

That was my fear on the Kimber, that little retainer on the end of the spring would catapult into the depths of the kitchen black hole.

 

[dojpros]

I have owned 2 and presently own 1 Kimber 1911 Series 1. It came with an FLGR which I immediately swapped out for a Ed Brown or Wilson GI plug and rod as per the advice of some shooting chums who had been Gunsite Students/1911 guys since the late 70s.

Downside to the FLGR. Sample of 1.

I once had a stoppage using "surplus" ammo at a LEO range. I had a failure to extract was not easily clearing.
Under the watchful eye of a range officer, I was able to place the cap area against a barricade and get my full weight behind the gun and dislodge the stoppage. I would not have been able to do that with an OEM Kimber FLGR set up.


FWIW. I freely acknowledge that I was shooting some free and out of spec ammo.

 

[nortac]

I have owned 2 and presently own 1 Kimber 1911 Series 1. It came with an FLGR which I immediately swapped out for a Ed Brown or Wilson GI plug and rod as per the advice of some shooting chums who had been Gunsite Students/1911 guys since the late 70s.

Downside to the FLGR. Sample of 1.

I once had a stoppage using "surplus" ammo at a LEO range. I had a failure to extract was not easily clearing.
Under the watchful eye of a range officer, I was able to place the cap area against a barricade and get my full weight behind the gun and dislodge the stoppage. I would not have been able to do that with an OEM Kimber FLGR set up.


FWIW. I freely acknowledge that I was shooting some free and out of spec ammo.

Actually, you possibly could have. You just to have to do things a bit differently. I just tried it with my 1911 with FLGR, granted I didn't do it with a stuck case in the chamber. Not that it would have been easy, but I put the outer edge of the barrel bushing against the edge of my work bench, allowing the barrel and FLGR to slide past the edge of the bench. I went to Gunsite to, but I don't always do as I'm told . I suppose if I were carrying a 1911 strictly for SD, I might consider removing the FLGR, maybe.

 

[dojpros]

Slight thread detour:

I concur that it is not impossible to do so with the FLGR. I suspect I would be much faster without the FLGR than with.

That pistol served me well at Gunsite 250 in 06 or 07 with 19 of my closest shooting buddies. Even then, the school was moving away from a "dogmatic" and overtly bladed Weaver Stance coupled with a thumb over thumb grip, particularly if one was otherwise safe and hitting well.

I am told the Cooper himself was much less dogmatic in the 350 and beyond classes.

If this past 18 months has taught me anything, it is that beyond safety and perhaps striving to put as much of your body armor as forward facing as possible if it your business to be wearing body armor, there are often different paths to the same shooting results.

 

[Badgerstate36]

After shooting Friday I cleaned both the Kimber Micro 9 and my Glock 43 yesterday. I had the Glock apart in like 30 seconds and back together just as easy. I am short one hand to do the Kimber. Two just do not seem like enough. Could they have made it more convoluted to get apart? You need a freaking bionic arm to push the damn spring in. I still really like the gun though.

You know, thats the fatal flaw of the 1911 and anything that is inspired by the 1911. They are all a pain to field strip and reassemble. Thats why, even though I really, really wanted a Browning 1911 .380, I went with a Walther PPQ instead.

 

[OkieStubble]

Actually, you possibly could have. You just to have to do things a bit differently. I just tried it with my 1911 with FLGR, granted I didn't do it with a stuck case in the chamber. Not that it would have been easy, but I put the outer edge of the barrel bushing against the edge of my work bench, allowing the barrel and FLGR to slide past the edge of the bench. I went to Gunsite to, but I don't always do as I'm told . I suppose if I were carrying a 1911 strictly for SD, I might consider removing the FLGR, maybe.

When I was at Gunsite in 05' The Colonel was already pretty feeble from what I heard and I never got the opportunity to meet or see him. He passed in 06' so by the time I was taking their instructor development course in 08' they had already made quite a few changes.

 

[nortac]

Slight thread detour:

I concur that it is not impossible to do so with the FLGR. I suspect I would be much faster without the FLGR than with.

That pistol served me well at Gunsite 250 in 06 or 07 with 19 of my closest shooting buddies. Even then, the school was moving away from a "dogmatic" and overtly bladed Weaver Stance coupled with a thumb over thumb grip, particularly if one was otherwise safe and hitting well.

I am told the Cooper himself was much less dogmatic in the 350 and beyond classes.

If this past 18 months has taught me anything, it is that beyond safety and perhaps striving to put as much of your body armor as forward facing as possible if it your business to be wearing body armor, there are often different paths to the same shooting results.

I attended Gunsite 250 and 350 in the early '90s. We were still taught the hard Weaver and everyone carried 1911s except for one Browning HP as I recall. I had heard that different pistols were being used in Gunsite classes as the "dogma" relaxed some.

 

[Climb14er]

Breaking down Glocks, Sigs or for that matter, most striker fire pistols is fairly easy and straight forward, and yes, there are some exceptions. With my 1911's, have to pay just a bit more attention, lining up the notches, holes... making sure barrel bushing doesn't go flying, or creating the idiot scratch. Been doing all this for quite a few years, just have to focus a bit more, to get it all right. I, like many others, do like and appreciate the... single action trigger. Still... carries slim in a top quality holster, sights up naturally... and man 'o man... love the trigger. Great, classic design.

 

[dreadpirate]

In the late 1950s or early 60s I bought a Ruger Mark I from a pawn shop. Before using it I wanted to take it down and clean it. Taking it down was not that hard. The problem was to assemble it again. Unfortunately, there was no YouTube back then. I went to a gun store to get help. Unfortunately, nobody there could assemble it. I ended up taking it back to the pawn shop.

Ah quite your belly aching, my Mark I is easy to pull apart! Kidding. No, you're right. Not well thought out in terms of maintainability.