Kimber 1911 Pro CDPII Recoil Spring

[Kentucky Kernel]

Kimber 1911 Pro CDPII Recoil Spring UPDATE

Not a question but more of an observation:

Being a revolver guy most of my adult life, I had no experience with 1911's until I treated myself to a new Kimber about 6 months ago. I was very disappointed with the performance right out of the box, with failure to feed being a common problem. I know about the tight tolerances of the new firearm, the need to run 500 rounds through it to break it in, frequent cleaning and using Kimber recommended lubrication. I did all that. As of the last range visit, I had shot about 800 rounds and it was acting up worse than ever.

I re-read the manual eekand it recommended a new recoil spring after 800 rounds, so I bought a new one. Now I am getting to the point here--The new spring was 1 inch longer than the old one! I am amazed at how compressed that old spring had become. I have not been to the range yet, but I wonder if I was experiencing two problems: the first several hundred rounds were during the break-in period, and the last hundred or two also involved a tired recoil spring.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this weekend will be a jam-free day!

Thanks for reading.

KK

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UPDATE: I am a happy camper. I installed the new recoil spring and was rewarded with 100 rounds (230 gr FMJ) of flawless operation! The first failure-free day of shooting since I purchased the firearm. Thanks all!

 

[loop]

You should not need a new recoil spring after 800 rounds. I replace mine after about 10,000, but that is an arbitrary number I just decided was about right for me.

Recoil springs will "Take a set" and be shorter in very short order. It is not a cause for concern.

I'd be much more concerned about why the gun is jamming. Sorry, but from your description I can't help. Simply not enough information.

Most 1911s that jam have a relatively simple fix. Many issues are caused by mags. Some problems are easy fixes, others are more difficult.

I would suggest you take a camera to the range the next time you shoot and take photos of the jams and post them with descriptions of the gun, ammo used and jam. Then someone here can probably give you some good advice about what is causing the problem.

 

[Tim L]

Unfortunately Kimber chose to use a spring designed for a 3.5" Officer model 1911 in their 4" barrel models, therefore it is only good for about 800 rounds. Wolff gunsprings makes a spring for the 4" Kimbers that is designed to last longer than 800 rounds. If it is still having problems talk to Kimber, they'll fix it.