Posted: 5/18/2011 7:11:57 AM EDT
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I recently got a Kimber pro carry in 9mm. Since I do not reload, the idea was to get a 1911 which was less expensive to shoot, which I could use carry if I felt like it.
Before I start writing about what the Kimber 9mm, let me say that I own a Kimber TLE II that has been totally reliable and accurate right out of the box and Kimber SIS Pro that required a slide stop change, but now is performing great. I gathered 250 rounds of FMJ 115 grain ammo (factory loads, S&B, PMC, Remington) + 25 rounds of Winchester Ranger 147 grains + 25 rounds of Speer Gold dot 124 grains +P and went to the range. The gun is very accurate, but that was about it. Here are the problems I have found. 1- I had constant failures of slide not locking back. Could be a bad magazine, as the gun came only with one mag, and I am still waiting to receive the Wilson mags I ordered. 2- While using FMJ's, all the shell casings were ejected either in my face or would fall in my arms. When I tried the Gold dots and the ranger ammo, this did not happen. 3- I had a few failures of slide not going into battery, with the slide not closing with a round half the way trough the chamber. 4- Had several failures to feed, where the pistol would eject the empty casing and would not catch the next round in the mag, with the slide closing on an empty chamber. 5- Had a few failures to eject, with the extractor not catching the round out of the chamber and at the same time failing to travel back enough to catch the next round in the magazine. I think if this pistol have been tested at the factory it would never pass quality control. Don't get me wrong, I think it has a lot of potential, and I really want to get it working, but so far this has been the most problematic 1911 I ever owned. Kimber has disappointed me this time. I have Wilson mags, slide release, extractor and also Wolf Springs on the way. I want to try fix it my self and not deal with poor CS Kimber has. |
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Proper spring setup on 9mm 1911s can be tricky. It sounds as if your gun is oversprung for the loads you prefer. The hint is that hot-loaded ammo works fine and locks the slide back.
Most of the other malfunctions can probably be traced to the slide not moving back far enough for proper ejection and feeding. I'd suggest trying a lighter weight recoil spring and mainspring. It's possible Kimber included a .45 recoil spring instead of a 9mm spring. Wolff catalogs a 9mm spring for the 4" gun, but no weight is listed. A 19 pound mainspring is what I'd recommend. |
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Proper spring setup on 9mm 1911s can be tricky. It sounds as if your gun is oversprung for the loads you prefer. The hint is that hot-loaded ammo works fine and locks the slide back. Most of the other malfunctions can probably be traced to the slide not moving back far enough for proper ejection and feeding. I'd suggest trying a lighter weight recoil spring and mainspring. It's possible Kimber included a .45 recoil spring instead of a 9mm spring. Wolff catalogs a 9mm spring for the 4" gun, but no weight is listed. A 19 pound mainspring is what I'd recommend. +1 i use a 12 recoil and 19 main, but this info is for a 5". metalform 10 round magazines and WWB, AE, or CCI 115 fmj not a single hickup in 600 rounds. |
| I'm really interested in this thread because I have a Kimber Pro Carry 9mm on the way . I'd like to know exactly what parts you ordered if I'm not being a nuisance .Thanks and good luck with your gun. I plan on not using the kimber stock mag ..The Kimber mag for my .45 has never been used from day 1. It's junk |
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I'm really interested in this thread because I have a Kimber Pro Carry 9mm on the way . I'd like to know exactly what parts you ordered if I'm not being a nuisance .Thanks and good luck with your gun. I plan on not using the kimber stock mag ..The Kimber mag for my .45 has never been used from day 1. It's junk I am going to the range tomorrow and will try several options. I will post back tomorrow evening. |
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Changed the slide stop by a wilson and the recoil spring for a wolff. Also got rid of the factory magazine and replaced it by wilson mags. The pistol now runs flawless and I experienced zero malfunctions. It is still a bit over sprung as shells were being ejected towards my arms and falling at my feet (when using target fmj ammo).
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Changed the slide stop by a wilson and the recoil spring for a wolff. Also got rid of the factory magazine and replaced it by wilson mags. The pistol now runs flawless and I experienced zero malfunctions. It is still a bit over sprung as shells were being ejected towards my arms and falling at my feet (when using target fmj ammo). Good to hear. A new 19# mainspring would probably help that a bit. |
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What weight recoil spring did you end up with from Wolf ? Thanks Model 32726 This one: http://www.gunsprings.com/Semi-Auto%20Pistols/KIMBER/Compact%20%26%20Pro%20Carry/cID1/mID32/dID413 It is still a little bit oversprung for pratice loads, but at least after changing magazine, slide stop and the spring, the pistol stopped jamming. |
| Thanks for the tip . I just got my pro carry and will take it to the range tonight. I might recommend locking the slide back and this will compress the recoil spring a bit. I left my gun locked back over night to aid breaking in the spring. It's not something I would recommend doing all the time. |
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Cool, have fun with your gun brother, mine is really accurate!  I'm glad you got it figured out. I find Kimber customer service to absolutely suck and it is better you didn't send it to them as you probably would have gotten your gun back still not running right. They frequently fix only one problem and send it back to you to fix the other problems. It sounds like you have a keeper now. Keep shooting it until you get it tweaked just right. |
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I did pretty well with my Pro carry 9mm. I shot a box of 50 rounds speer law man and a box of 50 rounds Herter's Brass from Cabelas. I had no malfunctions and only used the factory magazine. I'm still waiting for my Wilson mags.
I will say that I kept the slide locked back over night and kept the magazine full over night as well to aid the breaking in a little bit. I don't think I'll be buying the Herter's in the future because the rounds seemed inconsistent to me.Some rounds were louder than others and that can't be a good thing. The Speer ammo seemed okay. As for over sprung guns, someone mentioned that the Kimber factory may have slipped up and put a .45 recoil spring in some 9mm guns. That sounds possible . Interestingly , my Kimber Custom Target .45 failed to feed 1 round out of 50 and it was speer law man ammo.That's the first FTF in about 700 rounds for that gun.And my .45 has wilson and Ed Brown mags so it must have been a weak round. Getting back to the Original Post, I appreciate the frustration that you might have of getting a great gun that has minor hardware problems . A well built gun like a Kimber shouldn't have cycling problems and I hope Kimber tightens up their QC. Enjoy your gun and good luck with it. |
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What weight recoil spring did you end up with from Wolf ? Thanks Model 32726 This one: http://www.gunsprings.com/Semi-Auto%20Pistols/KIMBER/Compact%20%26%20Pro%20Carry/cID1/mID32/dID413 It is still a little bit oversprung for pratice loads, but at least after changing magazine, slide stop and the spring, the pistol stopped jamming. I use the 14lbs Variable power in mine and it works great. |
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So it never happened accordingly to you.. Lol. Sorry I have never managed to figure out how to post a picture here. The important thing is that it is running perfectly now. Will take it to the range tomorrow and burn some old ammo. No, I believe you...it's just this sites way to get you to post pictures. Get yourself a photobucket.com account. Upload your pictures there, then click the code underneath it, and copy the code to a post on this site. 
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So it never happened accordingly to you.. Lol. Sorry I have never managed to figure out how to post a picture here. The important thing is that it is running perfectly now. Will take it to the range tomorrow and burn some old ammo. No, I believe you...it's just this sites way to get you to post pictures. Get yourself a photobucket.com account. Upload your pictures there, then click the code underneath it, and copy the code to a post on this site. http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j163/rcd567/reallywantgv5.jpg Do i have to pay to get the photo thing acct? I actually would like to post pictures of my 1911 family
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You can also use Yahoo/ Flickr to host pictures. Flickr allows you a certain amount of storage space and you can upload pictures directly from your PC to Flicky.Photo bucket is pretty much the same thing but I think Flickr is more hassle free to use.
By the way, which mag did you get from Wilson ? Was it the 500,9 10 rounder ? |
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So it never happened accordingly to you.. Lol. Sorry I have never managed to figure out how to post a picture here. The important thing is that it is running perfectly now. Will take it to the range tomorrow and burn some old ammo. No, I believe you...it's just this sites way to get you to post pictures. Get yourself a photobucket.com account. Upload your pictures there, then click the code underneath it, and copy the code to a post on this site. http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j163/rcd567/reallywantgv5.jpg Do i have to pay to get the photo thing acct? I actually would like to post pictures of my 1911 family Nope, just go to www.photobucket.com and create an account. It's free. |