I was at the range this afternoon practicing coming out of concealment on the tac pit when the magazine dropped outta my Kimber Pro Carry. Now, I've got between 22K and 25K rounds through this thing, and haven't had anything else go bad on it ever.

I slapped the mag back in and tried to proceed, but it dropped right back out. It turns out that the little tit on the magazine release spring screw broke off, sending the spring and screw into the sixth dimension with Mr. Mxtlplxtk. A trip to Lone Star Guns and $4 later, she's back in black, but I was not a happy camper. Now I see what people mean about MIM parts. What else can I expect to break?

Well from the way you put it, the next thing to brake is your confidence in your weapon.

Thats alot of rounds, I'd retire it!!

dude, that's  not a complaint, that's a testimonial!!!

MIM parts?

I consider 20K+ rounds through a 1911 to be impressive considering its a parts heavy weapon.

Dude, BE HAPPY!

22k+ rounds and you just now have a failure and spend $4.00?? (thats CHEAP!)

That has seen a lot of use.  parts DO wear out.

Check your other parts, it's past due.

And consider yourself lucky, the failure happened at the 'range'.  

You've gotten good service from your Kimber but it's not ready to be retired as someone suggested. I've got a couple of their guns (series 1) and they are great 1911's! While your gun is not a high round gun yet, keep an eye on the alloy frame and maybe consider dropping an aftermarket C&S hammer/sear and a Wilson slide stop in it for the next 25K rounds. Just for piece of mind. BTW, MIM parts aren't bad. They provide good service at an acceptable cost and are more durable than most naysayers think. All this talk of Kimbers has me thinking of warming mine up real soon!

what is MIM? it can't be made in mexico can it?
i would highly reccomend the Cylinder and slide kit I got the easy fit one and no gunsmithing was required it was literally a R&R!

If you consider what shape you'd be in after ingesting 25K rounds of Guinness Stout, I'd say the Kimber did damn well.

If mine is still in one piece after 500 BOXES! of ammo, I will be a "HAPPY" camper!

If you tear it down every now and then, you can sometimes see that kind of thing coming.
Whats the word I'm looking for?.....Maintenence?

Quoted: I was at the range this afternoon practicing coming out of concealment on the tac pit when the magazine dropped outta my Kimber Pro Carry. Now, I've got between 22K and 25K rounds through this thing, and haven't had anything else go bad on it ever.

And that's a true testament to Kimber's quality if you put that many rounds through it without a single hicup or failure until now.  Mechanical parts wear, and I'd say 22k-25k rounds is a pretty good lifecycle with absolutely no problems.

I slapped the mag back in and tried to proceed, but it dropped right back out. It turns out that the little tit on the magazine release spring screw broke off, sending the spring and screw into the sixth dimension with Mr. Mxtlplxtk. A trip to Lone Star Guns and $4 later, she's back in black, but I was not a happy camper. Now I see what people mean about MIM parts. What else can I expect to break?

MIM (MIM = Metal Injection Molding) parts?  Would a forged part have lasted longer?  I'm not necessarily certain, as 25k rounds is a pretty heavy workload on any gun, especially one that's less than 2 years old.  Do you think that 22k-25k rounds through your Kimber without a hicup is sub-standard performance?  That sounds like a testament to performance and reliability to me.  You likely wouldn't get performance better than that out of a handgun except for a Glock, and even Glocks have been known to break parts past the 17-20k round mark and that's a much simpler design.

If I were you, I'd have a competant 1911 gunsmith take the gun down and inspect all the parts for wear and replace what needs replacing before they have a chance to break.  25k rounds out of a handgun like a 1911 is like 100,000 miles on a car.  It's time for a tuneup.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Believe me, gents, I'm not complaining here. That's why this thread is entitled, "My Kimber Finally Broke" and not "My Damned Kimber Broke!" The only thing of a replacement nature I had done to it before now is a set of Wolff springs at 15K rounds because the original recoil spring was getting a little mushy. Not "failure to return to battery" mushy, just "noticeably easier to rack the slide" mushy.

I love my Kimber. I bet my life on it everytime I leave the house.

Good for you! Mine was broken when I bought it

The two parts on Kimbers that I've seen brake (in my classes and at matches) were slide stops and bushings.

A couple people have had to replace slide stops as the inside tip snapped off (MIM part). Seen two barrel bushings break when the lower legs (that hold the spring plug in) snapped off. Sent the spring and plug quite a ways down range.

Just passing it on, YMMV.