Kimber Series 1 vs Series 2

[Lightsped]

Without going into too much technical detail, what is the main difference in a Kimber Series 1 gun from a Series 2 gun?

When one is holding a Series 2 gun, what will the difference be from a Series 1?

I am trying to determine if all the "Series 1 vs Series 2" stuff I read about is worth worrying about....

 

[BerettaNut92]

Series II has a firing pin block safety actuated by depressing the grip safety.

 

[10-Ring]

Not knowing the exact detail, I do know the difference is an added firing pin safety on the ser II...kinda like the difference between ser 70 & 80 in the Colts.

 

[Lightsped]

I thought the whole point of the 1911 grip safety was to prevent the gun from firing if not pressed?

So what is the function of the grip safety on the older 1911s?

 

[boing]

The function is the same for all 1911s: the grip safety simply blocks the trigger from moving backwards, and moving the sear to release the hammer.

The Kimber Series II is a drop safety. It blocks the firing pin to prevent accidental discharge if the gun is dropped, or in the really, really unlikely event of a catastrophic sear failure.

The Colt Series 80 style safety is deactivated by the trigger, like most firing pin blocks. On a Series II Kimber, the grip safety does double duty as a trigger block, and for deactivating the firing pin block.

All Series II Kimbers have "II" on the slide, after the model name.

 

[BluesBear]

Back in 1980, while packing up Sunday evening at the Muncie, Indiana gun show, another dealer, who also happened to be a LEO, removed his personal carry Colt Government from his money box and placed it in his Jaskass Shoulder rig. Either he didn't snap it properly or something was wrong because he had taken 2 or 3 steps when it removed itself from the confines of the Jackass and slide out from under his jacked and escaped down his leg. He was carrying it Condition 2 (hammer down on a loaded chamber). It slide down the outside of his left leg, rotated 180º, and landed muzzle first against his left ankle on the concrete floor. Boom!

Now I recon that most of us realize that that is the major flaw in John Moses' grand invention, that the inertia firing pin can hit the primer when dropped just this way. That's the purpose of the trigger activated firing pin block on the Colt Series 80/90 pistols.

But what I am wondering is that, using the grip safety activated block of the Kimber and S&W 1911, since the pistol was dropped on it's muzzle, wouldn't the inertia of the fall possibly cause the depression of the grip safety thereby enabling the firing pin to strike the primer anyway?

Maybe this could be prevented by using a stronger than normal spring on the grip safety. Hmmmmm, wait a minute... could this be the cause of the complaining about the grip safety by the new owners of the S&W 1911s?



BTW none of were able to find a single piece of the Winchester Silvertip that made us all go ***.

Aluminum is for soda cans, Bullets are supposed to be Lead & Copper.

 

[boing]

...since the pistol was dropped on it's muzzle, wouldn't the inertia of the fall possibly cause the depression of the grip safety thereby enabling the firing pin to strike the primer anyway?

Just a guess:

By the time the inertia of the grip safety carried it forward enough to deactivate the firing pin block, the firing pin would have already smacked into the firing pin block and been stopped.

?