Posted: 12/16/2004 5:41:12 PM EDT
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Greetings: Of recent I have purchased two Kimber Series II pistols: a Stainless II which has performed flawlessly"straight from the box" - and a Tactical Pro II which is proving to be problematic due to FTFeed isuues. I have utilized the provided Kimber 7 round magazine, McCormick "Power Mags" (in both 8 and 10 round capacity versions) - and 8 round Meggar magazines. ( I should mention that all these magazines function without issue in either the Stainless II, and a Colt Defender,) 700-800 rounds of Fiocchi 230 FMJ have been fired through the Tactical Pro II; I have cleaned the pistol as per the recommended every 100 rounds during the "break-in" period, and have also polished the feed ramp: yet nearly every time I lock in a new magazine, the first round fails to seat properly in the chamber due the the slide's failure to close on the cartridge. Also, there are all too frequent times when halfway through firing a magazine, the slide will fail to close, and thus must be manually assisted to fully chamber the round. Opions and suggestions as to remedy these FTFeed issues are welcomed. Thanks - paddle3 |
| Have you tried different ammo?? I have an Elite Carry that didn't like some ammo, but would feed fine in my custom Kimber. Is it not going all the way into battery??? If so, what I had to do is send mine to Kimber and they replaced the barrel, told me the tolerances were just a little tight on the chamber.Hope this helps |
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I'd try chambering each new mag manually. Using some Wilson mags or if you like the Mecgars get the ones with a polymer follower- this will avoid stell follower contact and marring your alumimun frame (the Wilsons for feeding reliability and the polymer follower just to look out for your Kimber. Putting in a heavier recoil spring. Kimbers can be finicky for the first 1K rounds, and then start to run beautifully. Others run great right out of the box, as you have seen with two Kimbers side by side. If you do a little trouble shooting and give it another 300-400 rounds, and still have problems then it's time to deal with Kimber customer service  .
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I don't understand exactly the way the round is hanging up in your pistol, but I a similar expereience with my TLE. The nose of the cartridge was partially in the chamber, but all the way up under the extractor. If I pull the slide part way back and let it go, it chambers the round. Then sometimes a similar failure would occur with the 4-7th round in a magazine. I tried many things and everytime I thought the problem was resolved, it would re-occur. Finally, I found that there was a very small sharp corner on the underside of the barrel hood. This corner would just barly catch the rim of the cartridge, keeping it from chambering without catching. I don't know if this is the same problem as you are experiencing, but I only had to barely break the corner to solve my problem. Most information I found relating to FTF's focused on the ramp, polishing the chamber, polishing the breach face, magazine lips, magazine catch, tuning the extractor, differnetn magazine brands, and cartridge OAL. I tried them all, and since I broke the sharp corner, I have fired over 1K rounds without the problem re-occuring. |
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Greetings: Thanks for the input, and help. I have utilized a variety of ammo thus far: Fiocchi, HydraShocks, and some P+ loads - all to the same effects. My experiences have been quite similar to those voiced by Homer Simpson: the cartridge rim is caught underneath the extractor, with the bullet nose only partially seats in the chamber - not only when seating/chambering the first round from the magazine, but also, often halfway through firing said magazine, and thus the slide must be manually cycled/closed - and the round chambered. I have not yet had the opportunity to dissamble the pistol and check to ascertain as to whether the issue which Home Simpson mentioned - that there might possibly be a "burr" causing the nose of the bullet to "catch" and hang up is the culprit - but will due so to shortly. As mentioned, my recently purchased Stainless II has functioned without issue from day one since purchased, and I hope that my Tactical Pro (the problem child) can be corrected to function just as reliably. Again, I appreciate the help. Thank you. paddle3 |
| I had problems with the Series II FPS plunger in the slide not being properly radiused in my Stainless Pro Carry II. It would hang up on the pluger in the frame and hold the slide open about 1/8". The problem went away when I took the FPS parts out of the slide. |