Kimber Recoil Springs

[Badgerstate36]

I couldn't agree more. A snubby is light and fits in a pocket well though...for close range. I'd rather have a 4". I'm waiting to see if Colt comes out with a classic series that has a repro. of the Police Positive Special. Although original ones are pretty easy to find.

Just after I got the little Cobra I walked by a table that had a 3" Detective Special with unshrouded ejector rod. He offered to knock down the price (it was the last day of the show) and wanted $550 for it. I wish I had bought it but I had ran out of funds. The 3" wouldn't fit in the front pocket of jeans though.

I'll go with .38 Special +P in a snubby...a .357 is just a waste. And they need a longer cylinder which also adds weight.

Agree. A snubby is all about up close and nasty.

 

[shoelessjoe]

Short 1911s can be a bear to make run reliably .... Find what works with your wrist strength, barrel length, and load, stock up a couple extras.

Couldn’t agree more with the “Short 1911s can be a bear to make run reliable” observation ... I suppose that’s the primary reason why I’ve never been drawn to anything other than Government-sized 1911s. On the other hand, I’ve never owned, let alone fired anything but full-size 1911s, so take my aforementioned reservations with non-Govs’ with a grain of salt.

...Kimbers seem to be some of the worst too. They all seem to have issues with failure to feed and failure to eject and people who love them have to endure some of that until you fine-tune them. Once you find a magazine and recoil spring that works with them, they are fairly reliable...

lol ... perhaps I better send my defective Yonkers EC2 up to Kalispel, because even after three thousand rounds, through five different factory Kimber (C. McCormack) magazines, it has yet to hiccup!

Much of the disdain for Kimbers amounts to nothing more than the internet & residual, a-friend-of-a-friend fallout from Kimber’s (foolish!) use of external extractors on their 1911s.

Kimber 1911s leave the factory much tighter than many (most, all?) other non-custom, PRODUCTION 1911s and as such, do need to be broken-in to ensure reliability ... heck, even HK recommends an initial break-in diet consisting of warm 124-grainers in their polymer-framed nines, but now I digress. In my mind, short 1911s with closer tolerances would initially seem to be a recipe for unreliability.

All that said, I’m not saying that Kimbers are above reproach and don’t have their fair share of issues, but as memory serves, Sig Exeter & other manufacturers experienced the very same issues/complaints when they ramped production up to hyper speed in an effort to get a myriad of different semi-custom, cutey-colored models into the hands of the shooting public.

In the over 30-years of full-size Colt Series-70 Gold Cup .45acp; Colt Series-80 .45acps & .38 Supers & Kimber Yonkers EC2 10mm ownership, I am still waiting for that first hiccup...

 

[OkieStubble]

Agree. A snubby is all about up close and nasty.

So is a knife.

 

[nortac]

While we can debate the efficiency of .357 mag loads in a short barrel and I probably wouldn't pick one as a first choice for CCW, one of the most accurate revolvers I ever shot was a 2 1/2 in. barreled S&W mod. 19. When qualifying with off duty weapons back in my reserve S.O. days, I had no problem qualifying with a 2 1/2 in. S&W Mod 66. Granted my groups weren't as tight as when shooting a 4 in. gun, but would have got 'er done if need be.

 

[simon1]

King Cobra is back. 3" of 357 medicine. Be a bit before they are an easy find at dealers.

I did not know that until you said something. I looked it up and it seems this years SHOT show had them. It appears they are on the same D frame as the new Cobra, and an adjustable sight one is in the works. I'm waiting on a Diamondback. Last original Diamondback I was dealing on was $1,400 and I got the guy down to $1,300 but then lost contact with him. Sigh.

 

[Acmemfg]

King Cobra. I can perhaps see one of those in my future.

 

[accunlmtd]

Having a couple Kimbers and several other 1911's, I can weigh in a bit on this. When a 1911, fails to eject, first one needs to describe what kind of failure it is.
Stove pipe, Unable to pull the empty from the chamber, fails to eject on the last round???
All may be indicators of different issues.

Most people will immediately assume it is the recoil spring. There is another spring that causes many of the issues, and that is the mainspring. Remember, when the slide comes back, it is re-cocking the hammer which means it is compressing the mainspring.

Often, just going to a bit lighter mainspring will solve many of the ejection issues. The two springs must work together.

When I bought a new Springfield Range officer as a base for a bullseye gun. The first thing I changed was the 22 pound mainspring (required to be California compliant), to a 16 pounder. Then bought a set of recoil springs of various weights (16 down to 10). I knew what load I was going to use (185 lead on top of 3.5 gr of 700X), and started with the heavy weights, working down to where it was 100% reliable.
I also have a full rib and red dot mounted on the slide, so that added a bit of weight to the slide.

If the empty is not being pulled from the chamber, it is probably an extractor issue, adjust or replace ( and adjust).
One last thing, of the Failure to eject is on the last round, (or the slide doesn't want to lock back) it is probably a magazine issue....Never use cheap magazines. I use Kimber KIM-PRO's, never had an issue with any of them.

 

[algatore]

A friend owns a Kimber .45, 3” barrel. I think it’s a TLE.
Seems he is plagued with failure to eject issues. He’s contacted Kimber and their remedy was that he should change springs every 500 rounds?
Even gave him the part number for the correct Wolff spring (they claim Wolff springs are OEM in Kimber pistols).
Reason given for the dramatic wear is the barrel length. Uh huh.
I know little about Kimber firearms; never shot or handled one. Seems spring fatigue like this is a bit much.
If in fact it’s a true symptom of a 3” barrel I would think the problem could be engineered away.

Kimber's owners manual says:

Ultra Carry Models:
Recoil Spring: 18 lbs., CHANGE EVERY 1800 rounds.
Firing Pin Spring: HD, CHANGE EVERY 5000 rounds.
Mainspring: 23 lbs., CHANGE EVERY 5000 rounds.

"Ultra" is Kimber's name for 3" 1911s. They also recommend a 400-500 round break in period.

 

[FarmerTan]

Kimber's are beautiful. But I am just a revolting Ruger revolver guy. I lost count of how many hundreds of rounds I've put through my GP100 in the last 20 years.

But I sure wouldn't turn down a free Kimber! Beautiful guns, all of them.