Kimber series II
I have a couple of Kimber Series II guns. I have had them for eight years or so and they have ran flawless. However, I continue to be suspicious of the series II hardware. Even though it hasn't given me problems, I think what if it did when I needed it the most? Murphy's law states that if I had to draw and fire on an attacker, no matter how many thousands of rounds I have shot previously at the range with no issue, this will be the time something breaks and locks my gun up into nothing more but a paper weight. I normally carry my Springfield Armory 1911 as my CCW for this very reason. So I am left thinking maybe if I disabled the series II system I would be less likely to have a problem with my Kimber during a social encounter, but then how will this factor in the aftermath of the legal system. Will disabling the swartz hang me in a court of law? Am I just overthinking this?
seems like your over thinking. if none of your series II pistols have given you problems then murphys law applies to your springfeild as much your kimbers. i have a crimson pro carry II and had zero problems and trust it with my life. but when it comes to a ccw weapon then always go with the one that you trust the most. always carry something that may save your life one day that you trust 100%.
Opinions vary a lot and it can be a real love/hate thing.
One line of thought is that had Colt not pulled back from adopting the Schwartz system on the eve of WWII in order to keep design and production changes at a minimum, Colt pistols would have had the Schwartz system for 70 years now and everyone would call them good to go.
Unfortunately after WWII with the world awash in 1911A1s Colt did nothing at all to the design until 1970, then they did not add afiring pin safety at all but rather waited another 10 years then went with the Series 80 trigger actuated system.
A second line of thought is that Colt did not go with the Schwartz system as it was a crap design and the Series 80 worked so much better 40 years later when they finally adopted a firing pin safety that Colt went with it instead.
The middle ground is that the the Schwartz system simplifies getting a good trigger pull and is no more complex than the Series 80 approach. But to be fair, problems with a Schwartz system can develop when the end user starts substituting grip safeties and fire control parts and the tolerances start stacking in the wrong direction. Given that Kimbers currently come with excellent triggers already as well as with grip safeties that stand tall enough to be successfully mashed by all but the meatiest of hands, there is not the same need for parts swapping that existed in 1980 when Colt added a firing pin safety.
Thus, I think the decisions of both companies made a great deal of sense at the time they were made and in the context of the pistols and consumer market of the respective times they were adopted.
Personally, I have confidence in mine and I have never had one fail in any of my Kimber pistol despite thousands of rounds fired. I would not worry about it.
I suppose then that I am probably just borrowing trouble worrying about whether or not the schwartz is going to fail me. I think I have about four thousand rounds through this gun now and it hasn't failed me yet. Guess that's good enough.
