I took her to the shop I bought her from to have her sent back to Kimber to get fixed or retrofitted with an external extractor.  One of the bosses took the initiave to try it out, had one failure to extract in 20 rounds (less than I usually have).  He then installed a 22 pound Wilson Combat recoil spring in her (stock is 16ish).  She runs great!  I had one failure in 175 and I think it was operator error (got cocky and weak wristed it or something).  So great to have her working great.  

I have a TLE II.

?

I am going to "really need it" this Saturday while I kill some insurgent cans of cheap soda.

22 LBS spring huh!

You could end up causing long term damage to the pistol.  Just be careful and watch for signs of other problems that can crop up from the over powered spring.

Problems like elongating the barrel link.  Hammering down the locking lugs on the barrel and slide.
slide stop pin brakage.  Short cycling.  Frame cracking.  I think you get the picture.

Maybe the pistol is fit a little too tight and once you get enouph rounds through it try the factory recomended 16 lb recoild spring.

I'd hate to read here a couple of months from now that your pistol is damaged.

Really?  Damn, now what do I do then?  The shop I bought it from considers it "solved".  I tried to get the packaging for the new spring and the old spring back just to hang on to (I always try to do stuff like that) and they had since disposed of it.  Hmm...

oops

I have used heavier than stock springs for years with 230 gr hardball.  Thousands of rounds, stainless guns, no problems.

Quoted: Quoted: I am going to "really need it" this Saturday while I kill some insurgent cans of cheap soda. Well, it sounds like you are now completely satisfied with the performance of your $1000 1911.

800 and don't be an ass dude.  I bought it legally, I use it safely, who the fuck cares what I shoot with it as long as everyone is safe and has a good time?  I do shoot targets too ya know.

Quoted: I have used heavier than stock springs for years with 230 gr hardball.  Thousands of rounds, stainless guns, no problems.

Good to know, thanks!  I'll keep an eye on it; I suppose the dealer is liable as they did it when I took it to them to send to Kimber to get fixed and they are an Kimber "Master Dealer" or whatever.  I'm just so happy to have it running finally, I haven't even gotten a chance to get proficient with it since it was so apt to failing.  I'd set it down and pick up the Glock.  

This is a 5" .45acp, Kimber....Right?

please accept a little freindly advice on this subject. If you haven't already done it go over to 1911forum.com and dig around.

Too much recoil spring is as bad as not enough.  I beleive Colt's 10mm Deltas run 22-24 lb RC springs.

Kimber Master Dealer status aside...All he did was sell you a spring.

FWIW..IMO the Kimber Master Dealer here couldn't care less about anything but selling more stuff.

I don't know ThreeMan but he was trying to help save you some future heartache. It sounds like he might know what he's taking about.  

I get criticized for installing 18.5 lb springs in my 5" 1911's when the factory stock spring is 16lbs.
It is what my typical use dictates.   I don't care I have a fair amount of experience dealing with 1911's.

It is worth another ~$20 to get yourself a Wollf x-tra power external extractor spring and a new stock weight or maybe 18.5lb wolff recoil spring and try that out.

As a matter of fact you could have a bad external extractor. That has been known to happen even on the 5" models.  
I went though 3 separate incarnations of their BUFu'ed external extractor before I came across Wolff's Kimber  Extractor spring.  I installed it and guess what The new spring along with their reengineered 4" model RC spring....The original extractor worked.

Kimber has been known to replace them " the extractors" free of charge if you call em about it.

One thing is for certian though, if you do start breaking stuff do to that extra extra extra heavy RC spring they won't.


You got a Brand New TLE II for $800?         Not Bad!              They go for $1000-1100 around here.

There were'nt some of the new internal extractor models there for more money were there.

Good luck!  

FWIW.... Kimber Master Dealer's are not authorized to perform warranty work per Kimber customer service.

Quoted: I went though 3 separate incarnations of their BUFu'ed external extractor before I came across Wolff's Kimber  Extractor spring.  I installed it and guess what The new spring along with their reengineered 4" model RC spring....The original extractor worked.

Well I'll be damned.

Do you know how recently wolff re-did their RC spring?

According to the man I spoke with at the wolff factory they haven't redone the 4" Kimber rc spring.
They engineered it at Kimbers request.  I am wanting to say the man's name was Frank or ??, I don't remember. It was about +/- a year ago. I ordered my springs directly from wolff.

Then due to higher per piece costs than Kimber wanted  to pay, Kimber decided to use the true officers length RC spring which was already readily available a a lower cost.

According to him it was pretty much the same story with the EX-extractor spring.

I just went on my merry way as soon as I read the first post.  I've kept my mouth shut until now.  I'm not claiming to be an expert, but anything more than an 18.5 lb spring in a 1911 is usually not a good thing, unless you're shooting some super hot handloads.  

Solving a gun's problems by overiding the true cause is like taking a pain killer for your bad knees so that you can perform better on the basketball court.  Sooner or later your inproper fix wears off, and you have to correct it the right way anyway.  Hopefully you don't end up causing more damage.  

The other guys have it right by saying that yor choice of spring is excessive.  Also, saying that you have a FTF due to limp or weak wristing is silly.  Any properly set up 1911 will run all day long with the least amount of grip.  I test all the 1911s I work on with barely enough grip to keep it from flying out of my hands.  If a gun FTFs when limp wristed, it's because it has feed issues.  The simple fact is that your extractor tension is most likely too strong.  There could be one or more other causes too.