Didn't know it's a bad sign

No signs of overpressure or "smashing", but. . .

Either your timing is off (the cylinder is misaligned with the barrel at firing) or your firing pin is off centerline.

With an empty gun, pull the trigger, hold it fully to the rear, look down the barrel into the cylinder, and shine a bright light across the recoil plate. You should be able to visualize both the cylinder and the firing pin centered along the barrel axis. What isn't centered?
 
It is possible that the brass has turned in the chamber. If they were light enough loads it would contract back enough to do so. ( Which is the whole reason brass is generally used for cartridge cases, as anyone who has had problems with ejecting steel cased or steel based shotgun hulls can attest to.)
 
trackskippy said:
Other than "Kimber" being on the side of the gun, if they all went "bang", whats the problem?
Click to expand...
Snark aside, what is the problem?

If it's out of time that far, it's shaving, and it's likely to to fracture the forcing cone very prematurely.

If the firing pin is that far off axis, it's likely to fail to fire primers that would otherwise work.

If this was a $199 Brazilian Speciola I wouldn't bother complaining, but it's a tweaky Kimber with a pompous NY attitude and a pricetag to match. . . it should be right.
 
To distinguish whether it is a question of timing or an off-center pin, make darn sure the gun is empty, do it again, close the cylinder, point a powerful flashlight between the rear of the cylinder and the breechface and look down the muzzle. Either the chamber or the firing pin will appear slightly off-center relative to the barrel.
 
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TacticalJanitor said:
The first revolver I bought (last year) had some issues. I found a picture of this:

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Light primer strike? Do you have failures?

Firing pin strike off center? Yeah, maybe see what you can do to check timing.

I don't know that it's pressure flattened primers. Doesn't look like it to me.

The revolver checkout document I usually point folks to is here: https://tinyurl.com/revocheck . Maybe run through that and see what comes up.
 
edwardware said:
Snark aside, what is the problem?

If it's out of time that far, it's shaving, and it's likely to to fracture the forcing cone very prematurely.

If the firing pin is that far off axis, it's likely to fail to fire primers that would otherwise work.

If this was a $199 Brazilian Speciola I wouldn't bother complaining, but it's a tweaky Kimber with a pompous NY attitude and a pricetag to match. . . it should be right.
Click to expand...

Maybe from the city but upstate New Yorkers are anything but pompous. Some of the most down to earth people I’ve met were Upyorkers.
 
I agree that if it is a timing issue, you'd be getting lead shaving at the forcing cone and eventually the FC will wear or crack. Most likely it is a bent hammer nose or off-center hammer. Unload the gun, close the cylinder and shine a light between the rear of the cylinder and recoil shield; look at the hammer nose bushing from down the muzzle and note whether it is centered in the chamber and bore, also note whether the chamber is centered on the barrel bore. Dry fire the gun, and keep the trigger held back so the hammer nose still protrudes through the bushing and note whether it is centered in the bushing or pushed to the side. The bushing may prematurely wear if the hammer nose (firing pin) is off center but the bushing is centered, and the nose will also wear. It looks about 1mm or so offset to one side and is consistent on each primer, I think it is more an issue with the firing pin and/or bushing.
 
Mark_Mark said:
hot loads smashing the primers into the back of the cylinder were the firing pin is. was it hard to open the cylinder after shooting?
Click to expand...

....actually, by looking at the primers and knowing revolvers, they look like fairly mild loads, not hot at all.

edwardware said:
No signs of overpressure or "smashing", but. . .
Click to expand...

edwardware said:
Either your timing is off (the cylinder is misaligned with the barrel at firing) or your firing pin is off centerline.
Click to expand...

.....I gotta agree with both of the above. Instead of posting the pics here, I would send them to Kimber. If timing is that far off, you should feel it on your face.
 
I've been away for a few days. As I said, it's the first revolver that I bought on a whim. When I shot it, I suspected that the off-center strikers were...not right.

My shooting table has a white top and I noticed that a bunch of crescent-shaped slivers of lead would fall on the table when I ejected the spent shells. I assumed that shooting revolvers must simply be a dirty business.

At the time, I didn't know what "spitting" was and continued to shoot it. After a fast string with full-house loads (following ~100 .38 Specials) the cylinder would no longer lock up...just kept spinning forward.

Yup. Timing was shot.

I sent the pistol in to Kimber, explained that I bought it second hand, and they fixed it without charging me. I believe they said, "new cylinder, new bolt, new recoil spring".

I didn't think revolvers had a "recoil spring". Maybe "rebound spring"? In any case, the paperwork said "recoil".

Also turned out that it still had the titanium firing pin installed. Kimber upgraded it to the steel setup (or whatever the newer setup is) while they were at it.

Thanks for all the comments everyone. It seems that most of you guessed it was a timing issue right off the bat.
 
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