Kimber 1911 Firing Pin

[Chevy54]

I have a Kimber TLE II 1911, and I usually carry in my truck with a round in the chamber with the hammer cocked. After some time I will unload the gun and I will notice where the firing pin has put a slight indention on the primer. Is this something that I should be concerned with? I contacted Kimber and they said that it could be caused by excessive vibration while in the car. The gun is kept in a holster in a lock box while I'm driving so I wouldn't think there would be much vibration. I'm fairly new to this site so I apologize in advance if this question has been asked over and over.

 

[EddieNFL]

Carried several different firearms, including 1911s in vehicles, but never experienced such.

Weak firing pin spring causing the mark when you chamber a round?

Out of spec firing pin; too long?

 

[dmazur]

If it is a "II" model, it's supposed to have the firing pin interlock.

This is supposed to keep the firing pin from traveling forward until the interlock is actuated...I just don't see how this can happen in a box.

Even without a firing pin interlock, the firing pin spring has a fair amount of force that has to be overcome before the firing pin will extend from the slide enough to hit the primer.

Does the firing pin move forward easily if you push on it (unloaded with slide back)? Try it again with the slide forward. If there's a change, something is probably wrong with the firing pin interlock.

 

[rcmodel]

Vibration in a 1911 simply cannot cause a primer dent.

Especially a 1911 with a firing pin lock like yours.

It is possible the firing pin is broken, and the front half is bouncing against the primer when the round is chambered.

Other then that, I don't know of a single thing that could cause it.

Try pushing on the back of the firing pin until it sticks out of the breach face and see if the front end is seperated from it when you let go the pressure on the back of it.

rc

 

[Chevy54]

The pin is fairly easy to move with my finger though I couldnt tell any difference when the slide was forward or back. This is the first time I have tried to do this so I dont have any thing to compare with.

I took the slide off and pushed the pin as far as I could with my finger, but couldnt get it to come through the breach face.

The gun is less than a year old with around 700 rounds through it.

Should I try anything else or just bite the bullet and send it to Kimber?

 

[Chevy54]

Also it is a II model.

 

[rcmodel]

With the slide off:
You have to depress the firing pin lock plunger on the underside of the slide before you can push the firing pin out the front.

That is why I said there was no way vibration could possibly put a dent in a primer.

Vibration cannot put a dent in a primer on a 1911 without a firing pin lock.

rc

 

[Rinspeed]

Never heard of such a thing, I assume you have shot it since first noticing this indent in the primer. Do you know how to pull out the firing pin.

 

[Chevy54]

I ended taking the gun up to the shop where I got it. When they first pushed it out the pin it stuck. Then they took the firing pin out and said everything looked ok. The dent on the round was way off center, so the only thing they came up with was something goofy when I chambered the round. But nothing came to mind.

They told me to go to the range and manually cycle a few rounds through the gun to see if the pin was hitting anything. I did this for around 10 rounds and everything seemed fine. Put 50 rounds through it, one round jammed (the gun is broken in 700+ rounds).

I never try and decock the gun with my thumb, so that wouldn’t be it. Sorry for this being long but, I'm pretty frustrated with it.

 

[jag.a.mohan]

This has happened to rounds chambered in my Custom II that I keep in the nightstand. So their bumpy road logic doesn't hold up in my case.

Recommend everyone with a II-series Kimber, go safely chamber a round, clear it, take a look at the primer, and report back.

 

[orionengnr]

Unlike the Colt Series 80 firing pin safety, the Kimber firing pin safety is disabled by the grip safety. If you have a normal firing grip on the pistol (grip safety depressed) when you drop the slide, then the FPS will be disabled about the time the slide stops moving forward. The firing pin may continue to move under inertia and may tap the primer. I say "may" because I am talking theoretically, although I have never seen it happen.

I have a Kimber Pro Eclipse on my hip as I type this. I've owned it about two years, shot it a good bit and have been been carrying this pistol every day since October. I have also had occasion to unload and re-chamber the top two rounds a number of times (whether dry-firing, umloading for guns how or for cleaning).

After reading this thread, I pulled the mag and cleared the round in the chamber, and inspected both of the top two rounds closely. No evidence of firing pin contact whatsoever.

If I were you, I would replace the firing pin spring ASAP and try your experiment again. I would also measure the firing pin, just to make sure it is not overly long.

Please post back and let us know what you find.

 

[beltjones]

A picture of the dent would be helpful.