An Important Kimber Update On The Pro Carry II
December 5, 2007
Sometimes I feel an update merits it’s own post and this is one of those cases. I added some of this information as updates to the original Kimber Pro Carry II post however this goes a bit farther. Some guns just have more problems than others for various reasons. In this case part of the information is warranted by the declining QC of Kimber in recent years. Some has to do with the choice of materials for parts in critical areas.
To recap after shooting a little over 500 rounds the extractor claw broke on this gun and was replaced by Kimber under warranty. After replacing the extractor the pistol again worked as it should. This lasted another 250 or so rounds at which time the slide started to fail to lock back after the last round was fired. This problem was diagnosed and had nothing to do with a bad magazine which is often the case. Rather, the culprit was the slide release. The slide release on Kimbers are a MIM part. While MIM parts are ok in some areas of a pistol this is not one of them. Excess wear was obvious on the release which was one of the causes of the malfunctions I was experiencing. The other thing that contributed to this slide lock problem was the fit of the release was rather loose allowing the factory part to wobble around pretty bad. I ordered a Wilson properly treated steel slide release to replace the factory part. When I replaced the factory part with the Wilson slide release the slide lock problem was taken care of. I believe this was in part due to the sturdy nature of the Wilson part and the much tighter fit of the Wilson slide release. These problems may not seem like a big deal but in my perspective when you pay for a Kimber and it’s higher price than many 1911’s you should not experience problems of this nature especially if this is to be a daily carry gun you may have to trust your life to. So, we have a new extractor and slide release and a Kimber that functions as it should have out of the box. This is not a Kimber hater post at all but with these problems I would be remiss if I didn’t pass this information along. I have other Kimbers I have never had problems with but they are older pistols pre-dating some of the current QC problems that seem to be plaguing Kimber if you can believe some of the articles I’ve read.
Wilson Slide Release
Another part I wasn’t fond of is the plastic mainspring housing that is a factory part on all Kimbers. Somehow I have a preference for a good steel MSH on a gun costing this much. I replaced the plastic MSH with a Wilson steel MSH which again fits tighter and gives a better grip than the plastic part in my opinion. Sure it adds an ounce or so of extra weight but that is of no consequence to me.
Wilson Magwell
To facilitate faster reloads I also purchased a Wilson magwell of the type that fits over the bottom grip bushing on both sides of the pistol. The fit is snug and was a breeze to install. All that was needed was a little cutting on the inside of the grips to make the grips fit flush with the frame. I also changed to a wood grip made for magwell use. These are attractive Mahogany grips from Brownells and carry a very inexpensive price of $14 plus shipping. Since I will once again carry this gun on a daily basis I don’t want to spend $50 to $100 on a set of beautiful handmade grips that can be damaged easily. Also, I purchased slam pads for the magazines from Ed Brown.
Now I can sum this up by saying that after testing the gun I’m convinced this will be a very reliable carry gun. It’s unfortunate to have to replace parts to get it that way but so be it. It’s to nice a 1911 configuration to let it go. I hope this update will be of use to those of you who own a Kimber or are considering the purchase of one.
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Tags: Kimber, malfunctionsKimber, Parts replacement, MSH, magwell
December 8, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I’m curious what the general s/n range is of your pistol? I have a Kimber Pro Shadow LE II and will be checking it for the malfunctioning parts yours had. I carry mine daily and shoot it often and, so far, haven’t had any failures. In fact, I’m still trying to get a Colt Light Weight Commander to function as well as the Kimber with all the same ammo.
I do think I will replace that plastic MSH asap, however. Never did like that thing.
December 9, 2007 at 2:37 am
Thanks for this information. I am presently evaluating moderately priced 1911s and plan to give myself one for Christmas. I certainly did not know about the MIM and plastic parts on Kimbers.
December 10, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment. Mine was made on August of 06. I checked with Kimber to get the date. Most of the Kimbers run real good but getting a good one like yours is a coin toss anymore.
All the best,
Phil
December 30, 2007 at 12:25 pm
JUST FOUND YOUR SITE. I have on hold a Kimber pro carry II on hold for 675.00 .After reading your site I wounder if I am acting to fast to buy,I thought it was a good price.I don’t want to have to put more money into it.I will be using it for practice as well as carry.500 rounds is’nt a lot for me to shoot. Should I hold out for the stainless or maybe another brand.
December 30, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Mike,
One thing I can say without hesitation is that within two weeks of holster carry you will see a lot of finish wear on the thumb safety and towards the front of the frame. I’ll take a closeup and email it to you so you can judge for yourself.
I found something interesting yesterday. I started having failures to extract again and ordered a Wilson extractor. It turns out I didn’t need the new extractor but what I found was a lot of gunk in the extractor channel. I ran a Q-tip through it and removed a large plug of unburned powder. Since the extractor is a spring I figure the gunk kept the extractor from flexing as it should. I’ve never had this happen before so I measured the channel and found the dimensions the same as a 45. The extractor on a 45 is larger than the 9mm which I would assume is why there was room for all that gunk to get inside.
If the one you are looking at is a 45 you shouldn’t have that problem at least. I have other Kimbers and experienced no problems with them. This one however has been somewhat of a pain to get it running correctly.
Honestly it’s hard to say what you should do on your purchase. I believe that these days it’s a coin flip whether you will get a good Kimber or not. If you take a look at the forum at http://www.m1911.org and go to the Kimber thread you will see folks who have Kimbers that have never had problems but many who have had nothing but problems. It’s worth a look to get some idea of others problems and how Kimber handled the problems they had.
If it was my choice to make and the one you are looking at is a 45 I would consider the Springfield Armory Champion. I’ve never had any problems with mine. If the one you are considering is the 9mm like mine then you don’t really have any other choices in 9mm. It is a good price for the Kimber. The Champion runs about $750 to $800. You can get the Champion in a LW as well as stainless.
One thing I can say for certain and that is if you shoot say 700 and up rounds a month I would get a stainless in whichever brand you decide on. A lot of people say the alloy frame is shoot a little carry a lot. I don’t know how true this is. I’ve shot an alloy a lot and never had a problem with frame cracking etc.
I hope I haven’t confused the situation more than helping you decide. I hate to tell someone they shouldn’t buy a particular gun but I can say this without hesitation. Knowing what I know now I would not make this purchase a second time! The only reason I have gone this far with this particular Kimber is I’m stubborn and want to know why a particular gun is malfunctioning and it’s about the only game in town for a 4 inch 9mm.
All the best,
Phil