Kimber Jamming?

[Glocktogo]

J.B., J.P., I must be one unlucky guy or somethin I dont know...
What I do know is that every pistol I own has at one time or another stopped dead in its tracks! Requiring a malfunction clearance of some type.
Maybe its because I have shot thousands of rounds thru them that caused this to be..
This usually involves reloaded ammo and lots of buildup of crap in the pistol during firing.
A box of factory ball ammo one day at the range aint running a piece hard to see if its good to go.
My old 1911 carry gun is a Kimber stainless CDP aluminum 5 in that is every bit as reliable as any other pistol I own.
I will admit I had to tune it up just a JB did his.
It was not ready out of the box even at a price of just under a thousand bucks. Sad...

Well I have had issues with nearly every gun I've owned at one time or another. But as you stated, they usually wind up being related to ammo (reloads), worn recoil springs from thousands of rounds, or just not cleaning it till it choked.

I really meant malfs where the ammo and maintenance are not at fault, and it's either the gun or mags.

One thing I'm about sick of is almost all 1911 employ the full length guide rod. I'm getting a serious itch for a stainless, 5" with the standard guide rod and spring plug.

My Wilson KZ-45 came with a standard short plug and I see no reason to change it. I'll admit it needed some tuning early on, but it's been absolutely reliable for the past several thousand rounds.

 

[sanjuro893]

I have had no issues with my Aegis II in 9mm. I have read about the majority of the problems were failures to feed from faulty magazines and they were mostly the Ultra Carry. I think that Kimber just makes a few more lemons than others. Either they work great for you, or they never work at all.

 

[criticalbass]

I have a Kimber TLE-RL-II which jammed often, hit me between the eyes with the brass that did manage to escape, and was one inch away from being sold or traded.

A Kimber rep was at H&H (along with a bunch of other industry reps). I bent his ear and whined, bitched, wailed, pi$$ed, moaned, etc. He gave me two full mags and told me to try them. No joy.

Kimber paid shipping both directions, and the Custom shop changed the port, did a bunch of polishing, put in some new springs, etc.

It was better, but still not fully reliable. Then I ran into a guy who said "It's magazines. Wilson Combat and Mec Gar will solve the problem." They did.

Now fast forward to the next time the same rep was at H&H. He recognized me, and asked how it went. I told him about the mag change and allowed as how it was a shame to have most of a grand in a pistol that had to have someone else's mags to make it run.

He said that Kimber now has a new mag that runs fine. I said something to the effect that now I get to spend forty bucks or so so I can have a Kimber mag in my Kimber. The rep handed me a mag, said for me to put it in my pocket. I thanked him. The new Kimber mag runs fine. The other two brands have a non tilting follower, and I am pretty sure the new Kimber does too.

2000 or so rounds later, and zero failures since the mag discovery.

I would now feel comfortable carrying it, but have no good holster for it, plus it weighs nearly as much as a small anvil. Very very accurate weapon.

Here is a pic I posted on the Kimber forum--wasn't real well received, but the backup was needed when the gun wouldn't run well. (A $5 scope mount and a two dollar CETME bayonet) CB

 

[aeropb]

To those saying they can't trust anything that has jammed once. There's an old adage that goes along the lines of "If your gun hasn't ever jammed, you probably haven't shot it enough. Everything malfunctions sometime. Be it a car, gun, cellphone, or my AK-47. The less malfunctions the better, but being prepared to fix a jam is just as important as not getting one. Like a car tire imo.

 

[dennishoddy]

I have the Kimber stainless Custom Target II.

I've only had one fail to eject in thousands of rounds, that was traced to a faulty rim on the brass.
I have three Kimber magazines, one seven round, and two 8 round. All three are flawless. Also have three Wilson combat 10 round magazines for IPSC. They are flawless as well.
I'm in the middle of a "how long will it shoot without cleaning" test. Going on 1K rounds now.
I like Kimber.

 

[savedbygrace]

I have a kimber tactical II and it has been 100% since new but I have used wilson mags from the beginning and threw the one that came with it away. And i might be a bit anal with my 1911s they are completly striped and measured cleaned and polished before the first shot is fired. As wilson says in thier advertising "these magazines will make any 1911 run even yours"