Posted: 12/28/2004 10:38:11 PM EDT
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OK , here's the deal . I picked up this TLE/RL II yesterday . As with any new gun , I stripped it down to inspect and lube it .  I even ran a few patches through the bore and inspected it from the chamber end with a bore light . So I put it all back together and function checked it , all OK Then today I took it to the range and put 200 rounds of ball ammo to break it in . Everything went well , accuracy was good for a new weapon , with POI a tad to the left . I wasn’t concerned because it was slight and I was more interested in the break in . When I got home I stripped it down for a good cleaning and inspection , and that's when I noticed this :  It isn't a dent , the metal is the rough casting surface . What it looks like to me is that when they machined the barrel the defect was just too low to be machined out . I'm not happy for two reasons . 1. I'm pissed at myself for not noticing it when I was picking up the weapon , or in the initial teardown . 2. I hate having to go through the hassle of getting it replaced , hopefully under warranty . Now if this was yours .... What would you do ?? Me ...... I'll be calling Kimber in the morning and as fate would have it , I only live about 30 miles from their Manf headquarters in Yonkers NY . Screw UPS or FedEx . I will be hand delivering this one myself  |
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Well , it's back in Kimber's hand's ... I ended up taking it by the shop where I bought it to see what they thought . Everyone agreed it was a casting defect . They are a Kimber Master dealer and told me that this is the first Kimber they had ever seen that made it out of the factory with an actual defect in workmanship . Typical of my luck  Hopefully I will be posting the resolution to this soon ........... |
I don't know .... Do you know if Kimber forges their SS barrels ?? All I can find is that they are 416 stainless , and the surface of that defect resembled a raw cast surface . Under my 20x magnifier it was a rounded pebbly surface that showed no signs of forging or machining ? |
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I know of no modern firearm using Cast Barrels. My belief is that Kimber gets it's barrels from McCormick as it does many of the internal parts. Dane Burns has no problem with Kimber Barrels. www.burnscustom.com/frametoslidefit.html Subject: Re: 1911 slide to frame fit. Date Nov. 7th 1997 Chris, J. Kuhnhausen says in his shop manual on 45s that 15% of the accuracy of the pistol comes from slide fit. I believe it is a lot less, may be 5%, if that. Correct tightening of the slide to frame fit will make the gun more reliable because the parts work the same way every time, but less tolerant to dirt and powder residue. If you don't wallow in the mud and clean your gun every 1000rds or so it shouldn't be a problem. If the gun is too tight, reliability suffers. If your gun will shoot 1 1/2" at 25 yd in your hands that is better than 90% of the custom $2000 guns out there. Barrel and bushing fit IMO are 95+% of the accuracy in a 1911. It really helps to have a GOOD barrel but that is a given. I have found that the Kimber barrels are GREAT. They are also available from McCormick. If a Kimber barrel won't hold 1.5" @ 25 yd I have found that a new barrel crown usually solves the problem. EVERYONE has an opinion on the rest. Mine is: RELIABILITY, sights, trigger, beavertail, bigger thumb safety, in that order. In my opinion, you have all it takes in your Kimber. You can still do a lot to them to enhance their usabilty... after all, that's how I turn a buck. Final note: back in 1985 I had a comped 45 Colt I built with a LE type cone comp with a Wilson barrel. I was always changing something on the frame so this top end was used on 3 frames as I remember. None of them had been fitted. The final frame (a Colt) that I used to compete with would shoot into 1.5" at 50 yd and it would rattle when shook, the fit was so loose. The 9x23 single stack I shoot now has *0* tolerance in slide to frame and prefect barrel fit (Bar-Sto) and it to will shoot into 1.5" at 50 yd and a little better, but shit who can hold that! I do have the witnessed targets up in the shop to verify my fish stories. You have got to look close for the powder burns :-). DB |
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Conclusion OK , here are the after shots . Kimber replaced the barrel and did some trigger work according to the repair order . No Charge . They also did some extensive shooting with it , judging by how dirty it was when I got it back . I'm happy with the results , even if it did take longer then I wanted , but in their favor , it was the week between Christmas and New Years in the time frame , and I'm not the most patient person  
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