Kimber 1911 question .... is there sufficient case support here?

[Walkalong]

The Check-Mate mags have worked very well for me. I have planes to buy more of them as well as the GI feed lipped Check-Mates for picky guns.

I had one nice 1911 (Which I have traded) that was picky with some bullet shapes with all my mags except an old beat up Colt mag. Everything fed like butter in the gun using the Colt mag with the GI feed lips.

 

[Walkalong]

The bullets 1858 sent me came earlier this week. Thanks for the test "dummies" 1858.

I checked my Kimber CDP II Ultra barrel and my old Springfield barrel to see what Max O.A.L. they would accept with the Western Nevada 185 Gr LSWC.

The Kimber would accept the round at 1.213 which just did cover the lube groove. The Springfield would accept the round at 1.114, but it was engaging the rifling a hair. I had to nudge the round home in the barrel. Should feed fine, just a little resistance. 1858 shot his at 1.146

This bullet is full diameter all the way out vs several commercial 200 Gr SWC's I have shot in the Springfield with more of the bullet showing which chambered fine. It also measures .453 for me. (That piece of brass has seen better days.)

I am going to test the bullet for function at both 1.213 and 1.114 in the Kimber.

I will test it for function at 1.114 and 1.146 in the Springfield. Although they will be jammed about .030ish into the rifling at 1.146, I think it will feed them.

AC

 

[MCMXI]

Walkalong, excellent photos and I really appreciate your effort in this. I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on and particularly how the Kimber deals with them. Those bullets are very accurate and those 1.146" reloads run flawlessly through all of my P220s.

I shot 50 of these loads (C.O.L = 1.146") this past weekend through the Kimber but using the new Ed Brown barrel. After the discussion about magazine feed lips, I decided to use the Ed Brown magazine to start. I had a 3-point jam on the second round and figured it'd take me a while to shoot my way through the 50 rounds I had. The remaining five rounds all chambered fine. Then the next magazine worked fine, and the next, and the next. So that was 28 rounds with only one issue. I loaded up the Kimber factory magazine and two Wilson Combat magazines and all 22 rounds went downrange without issue. So one failure on the second round of the first magazine. This is a definite improvement over the Kimber barrel, but I'll be sticking with 200gr LRNFP and 230gr JHP from here on out.

 

[Walkalong]

I am loaded up and ready to head to the range. It's a beautiful day today.

I ended up loading 70 rounds at 1.146 & 80 rounds at 1.200. (1.200 was needed to cover up the lube groove well on all the bullets regardless of the case length, and possible slight variation in location of the lube groove)

I dropped the slide of the Springfield on one of the 1.200 O.A.L. rounds and it chambered just fine, despite jamming into the throat. (See Pic)

Not good lighting, but you can see the contact on the bullet. Should have tumbled those cases longer. I had all week and rushed it last night.

 

[243winxb]

I dropped the slide of the Springfield on one of the 1.200 O.A.L. rounds and it chambered just fine, despite jamming into the throat. (See Pic)

It also measures .453 for me.

Put that bullet on a diet, its just a little to fat at .453"

 

[Walkalong]

Fist up was my old Springfield with the Wilson 8 Rd, a Shooting Star 8 Rd, a Check-Mate 7 Rd, & a stock Springfield 7 Rd mags.

I ran one full mag of each brand fast and only had one failure which was my fault. The Springfield mag is the only one without a bumper and I failed to slam it all the way home on a reload. Other than that everything ran 100 % at 1.146 O.A.L.

I then did the same thing with the 1.200 O.A.L. rounds with zero failures.


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Next up was my Kimber CDP II Ultra with the Wilson and Kimber Pro-Tac mags, both 7 rounders.

I ran two mag fulls with both mags hard and fast with zero failures with either O.A.L..


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I had eight 1.146 O.A.L. rounds and about 3 mag fulls of the 1.200 O.A.L. rounds left, so I used my Colt Series 80 Enhanced with a Wilson 8 Rd, a Checkmate 8 Rd, and a Novak 8 Rd Mag to shoot them up.

The longer rounds engaged the rifling a bit but everything ran 100%.

 

[MCMXI]

Walkalong, so that was three 1911s and eight different magazines and no issues ... that's a good test there. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Maybe I should just send you all of my reloading supplies and have you make reloads for me ... one for you ... one for me ... one for you ... one for me.

 

[Walkalong]

Gald to do it.

I have to giggle a little every time I see someone post that 3" 1911's can not be reliable, although I am sure it is tougher to manufacture a 3" 1911 right using mass production. My CDP Ultra has been 100% so far from round one. 185 & 200 Gr SWC's, 185 , 200, & 230 Gr HP's, 225 Gr TrFP's, 185 Gr & 230 Gr RN's. It just eats them all like candy.

Tuner posted something like this once here once:

The short 1911's are like a little red headed girl. When they are good, they are really, really good, but when they are bad, they are really, really bad.

I am sure this is true. Heck, a finicky 5" 1911 is headache enough.

As a side note. All three guns were dirty when I started. Probably 300 to 400 rounds apiece through the SA and Colt, and probably 100 through the Kimber (Carry gun ) I do not clean after every range trip, only when I feel they need it. A carry gun needs it more often. I did not lube prior to testing either. I now have three 1911's to clean and oil.