Hello all,

A friend of mine has a Kimber Pro Carry II 4" 1911 he uses for duty carry. The gun has about 800 rounds through it. He is having problems with the rounds going into battery. Naturally, he re-lubricated the gun and we took it back out. Out of a magazine, at least 2 to 3 rounds would not fully go into battery. I tried the pistol,  as well as the firearms instructor, and another LEO. They all had the same problem, so I am inclined to believe it is a problem with the gun.

He recently replaced the recoil spring with a new one a few months ago, and is still having the problem. That being said, this pistol uses a captured guide rod setup, and you have to use a takedown tool or paper clip to remove the guide rod. I suggested a Wolff XP recoil spring. My question is, will the recoil spring that Wolff sells work with his setup, since it's a captured setup? I read on their website that it's for use in full length guide rods only, so I assumed it was talking about the traditional setup, however they do have a 4" and 3" section they sell springs for.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated. My friend does not want to carry a gun he trusts his life to with these issues. He has gone back to a Glock 36 until it's resolved.

What ammo?

Has the chamber been checked for burrs? Do rounds appropriately (fully) seat in the chamber when dropped in with the  barrel out of the pistol?

Has anyone checked the extractor?

Ammo is WWB, AE, and Blazer Brass. Does not appear to be a problem with ammo.

I will check the chamber for burrs, and drop a bullet in as well. When you say check the extractor, do you mean a physical inspection, or is there some other way of checking it? I have only messed with Colt 5" 1911's before, never the 4" or Kimbers. All good points, I just haven't had the chance to check it physically yet, as I had to leave the last time he had it out.

Thanks for the help! Keep the suggestions coming. Do you think the XP recoil spring will help?

Always the same ammo?Kimber chambers have been known to be overly tight.

How many different mags did you try?

I believe he has 3 magazines that he cycled through, 2 kimbers, 1 47D.

I will have to double check ammo brands. The brand listed above are what he uses, but he may have been using just 1 brand when this happened. I will double check.

It should be noted that he has never had this problem until recently; I will be going over to his place later today to troubleshoot as much as I can.

Thanks so far for the help fellas.

SGB,

Thats what I was going to have him order, I just wanted to make sure it would work with the captive setup.

Let me also say that it extracts and ejects fine. After extraction, it strips the next round off the magazine and begins to chamber it. It stops right before it's in full battery. A quick easy push to the rear of the slide completes the forward movement and the cartridge is then fully chambered and ready to fire. I will have him order the Wolff XP spring.

My Kimber 4" had timing problems causing the slide to peen the locking lugs on the bbl and pushed a ridge of metal up on the edge of the locking lugs.  FInally got so tall wouldn't let the slide go into battery.  Took a stone and removed the ridge of metal and everything was ok.  Mine had less than 1000 rounds on it.  However, in this case most likely is the recoil spring.  JD

Ah yes. Now I see it in my head, and why that could be an issue. I didn't question ya, but I just assumed that the extractor was unrealted, but it does appear that it could be the issue. I certiainly appreciate your knowledge, and I will pull the extractor out and clean the channel. Thanks!

Definitely get the Wolff springs.  The Kimber Pro models have a 800-cycle recoil spring replacement schedule (which, I've found, also includes hand cycling!).  You just replace the springs in the captured rod (which is, in reality, only "captured" by the paperclip).  Wear eyepro, those springs can shoot out pretty fast.  Instructions should be in the manual.

My money is on magazine issues. I have the same pistol, and with a few Chip McCormick magazines, it has the same problem

you said he replaced the recoil spring. what did he replace it with?

My brother has a 4" S.I.S. that was having the same issues you are describing and replacing the recoil with a Factory Kimber 22lb recoil spring fixed the problem

Update:

We cleaned a considerable amount of smeg out of the extractor channel. He also ordered up a Wolff XP Recoil spring. He previously replaced the recoil spring with a factory Kimber spring, but that will be switched out for a Wolff spring.

The only magazines he uses are Wilson 47D's. Excelllent magazines, and neither he nor I have ever had a problem with the 47D's. He has not had a chance to shoot it yet, but once he does I will report back the findings.

Thanks all for the suggestions and help.

This was a major issue with my Kimber TLE/RLII 4". For some reason the Blazer brass always chambered but the WWB I had issues with it sticking halfway into the chamber. Trouble shooting this problem I ran the WWB through a Lee taper crimp die (set to zero crimp) as this die resizes the finished cartridge at the same time, my problems with WWB vanished on the re-sized rounds. After four years of ownership I have just now figured out how to reload 45 so that my Kimber doesnt choke on it.

I had this problem earlier this year with my 4 inch CDP Pro. I changed out the recoil spring with a Wolf replacement and the problem was solved. Also check the extractor. Get any crud out of the claw and check for proper tension.

NAD