Hey All,
I bought a used Kimber 5" 1911 (internal extractor, NO series 2 firing pin block) this past summer and although the gun is very accurate, I've been having problems with failures to feed (FTF's) when using factory loaded (Winchester and Remington) 230gr FMJ ammo. I would get intermittent failures to feed - it looked like the round was getting caught on either the breech face or on the barrel/chamber.
I took the gun to a local smith in Bow, NH. The smith suggested their reliability package.
I got the gun back last week and the smith did a nice job and had polished the breech face, polished the barrel ramp, polished the frame ramp, and adjusted the extractor tension.
I had the opportunity to do a pre-Christmas range session today. It seems like the reliability package has helped a bit. I no longer seem to be getting failures to feed with a full or partially full magazine. However, I now seem to get failures to feed when the gun tries to chamber the last round in the magazine.
This type of failure to feed is different from the ones that I experienced before the reliability work was done. The last round of the magazine partially feeds into the chamber - however, the back of the cartridge gets stuck on the front of the extractor. For this jam, the cartridge rim does not slide under the extractor hook. Instead, the cartridge sits IN FRONT of the extractor hook and the slide cannot return to battery because the cartridge gets stuck in front of the extractor.
this only happened with the last round in the magazine. It also happened fairly consistently. One thing that I did notice was that if I only loaded two rounds in the magazine, I could not get the misfeed to occur. However, if I loaded 3 or more rounds in the magazine, the jam would occur fairly regularly on the last round of the mag.
Here is some additional information. I was only using Wilson Combat 7-round magazines. I also brought another Kimber 5" with me to the range today and using the second Kimber, I shot 150+ rounds of the same ammunition (230 gr, FMJ) with the same Wilson Combat magazines and did not have any other problems with the second gun. I only had this problem with the one gun so I don't think the problem is mag related.
Any ideas on what would cause the cartridge to not slip under the extractor hook for the last round only?
I am planning to take the gun back to the smith after Christmas and see what he thinks, but any info that you might have would be appreciated.
I bought a used Kimber 5" 1911 (internal extractor, NO series 2 firing pin block) this past summer and although the gun is very accurate, I've been having problems with failures to feed (FTF's) when using factory loaded (Winchester and Remington) 230gr FMJ ammo. I would get intermittent failures to feed - it looked like the round was getting caught on either the breech face or on the barrel/chamber.
I took the gun to a local smith in Bow, NH. The smith suggested their reliability package.
I got the gun back last week and the smith did a nice job and had polished the breech face, polished the barrel ramp, polished the frame ramp, and adjusted the extractor tension.
I had the opportunity to do a pre-Christmas range session today. It seems like the reliability package has helped a bit. I no longer seem to be getting failures to feed with a full or partially full magazine. However, I now seem to get failures to feed when the gun tries to chamber the last round in the magazine.
This type of failure to feed is different from the ones that I experienced before the reliability work was done. The last round of the magazine partially feeds into the chamber - however, the back of the cartridge gets stuck on the front of the extractor. For this jam, the cartridge rim does not slide under the extractor hook. Instead, the cartridge sits IN FRONT of the extractor hook and the slide cannot return to battery because the cartridge gets stuck in front of the extractor.
this only happened with the last round in the magazine. It also happened fairly consistently. One thing that I did notice was that if I only loaded two rounds in the magazine, I could not get the misfeed to occur. However, if I loaded 3 or more rounds in the magazine, the jam would occur fairly regularly on the last round of the mag.
Here is some additional information. I was only using Wilson Combat 7-round magazines. I also brought another Kimber 5" with me to the range today and using the second Kimber, I shot 150+ rounds of the same ammunition (230 gr, FMJ) with the same Wilson Combat magazines and did not have any other problems with the second gun. I only had this problem with the one gun so I don't think the problem is mag related.
Any ideas on what would cause the cartridge to not slip under the extractor hook for the last round only?
I am planning to take the gun back to the smith after Christmas and see what he thinks, but any info that you might have would be appreciated.