New Kimber Custom II

[Justang]

Picked it up today and took it out for a bit of shooting. This is my first 1911 and I love it so far. It's a new Custom II w/the external extractor. The fit and finish of this gun is great, and for $607 on sale I thought it was a great price. I only got 100rds through it today 'cause it was so damn hot out. It's almost 11pm and it's still over 100F!!! It was like 115F when I went out around 7:30pm. Anyway I'm pretty impressed with the gun. Shoots very smoothly, feels very good in my hand, I hit everything I wanted to, it's just a joy to shoot. I did have 3 malfunctions within the first 15rds. 2 failure to feeds and 1 failure to eject. 1 of the failure to feeds happened with the first shot from a new Mccormick Power Mag 8rd mag. It didn't feed all the way, but when I pulled the mag out, it fed the round all the way in. I figured this was a mag problem. Correct? The other one happened on the last round coming out of the factory mag. Is that a common thing? I thought I had read something about the last round not feeding sometimes in 1911's. The FTE happened in the middle of the Mccormick mag. After that the gun performed flawlessly.

I used Rem UMC 230gr ball. Chose that because in one of the threads about Kimber there was a letter from the "Law Enforcement Sales Coordinator" saying it was a Kimber approved ammo.
Thoughts? Opinions? on the FTE and FTFeeds?

I took my 17y/o sister out shooting with me. She really liked the Kimber. I think she liked my HK more though, or I just hogged the Kimber the whole time. lol. But even she was hitting her targets with the Kimber. She was impressed by that... and to be honest, so was I. lol.

Now to clean it per the Kimber break in procedure. Maybe another 100-150rds tomorrow.

 

[Rob96]

Kimber will tell you to do the 500 round break in. If you still have failures, contact Kimber.

 

[Justang]

I was actually expecting more malfunctions the way some people talk about Kimbers. 3 in the first 15rds isn't bad at all. That means it went 85rds w/o a problem it's first time out.

Yeah I plan on cleaning it, doing another 100-150rds, then repeat until the 500rds is up.

 

[Rinspeed]

The stock mags should be thrown in the garbage. Buy some Wilson 47D mags and you will be very happy. I don't like malfunctions even at the range. When I sold my Kimber the guy said the mags looked new, that's because I had never used them. Good deal you got there on the Kimber by the way.

 

[dk-corriveau]

Congratulations on the new Kimber. I have about 2000 rounds through my Custom Target II and I am very pleased with it. Your FTF/FTE rate sounds very similar to what I had during my first 500 rounds. Since then I have had maybe one failure every 400-500 rounds. All of my failures have been FTF, not a single FTE, so anything that people say about the external extractor being junk has not been true with my gun (fortunately). I shoot Remmy UMC 230 gr. ammo almost exclusively.

Enjoy your new toy and post some pictures of your gun or of your sister with your gun! Either would be great!

 

[ajax]

congrats on the Kimber! Good choice as for as im concerned. I've never had FTF unless i was shooting hp or wc.

 

[lyricsdad]

I would be pissed to have 3 out of 15 rounds fail.. especially w/ a new pistol but its brand new. So i am supposeing the break in is necessary as I had to do the same w/ a p22. I never had problems like that.

I may be looking at getting a 1911 style pistol. In fact I did purchase as a guide the m1911 shooting illustrated magazine. If the funding comes in, I may just get a run of the mill colt.

 

[TNT]

Rinspeed The stock mags should be thrown in the garbage. Buy some Wilson 47D mags and you will be very happy


Why do you say the 47D mags? Is there something that makes them better than the rest of the Wilson mags?

 

[Justang]

yeah, I was thinking I made a bad purchase with 3 malfunctions within 2 mags. After that I was very pleased.

Are the McCormicks good mags?
I'm gonna buy some Wilsons as well, I've heard from others they are good mags.

 

[lyricsdad]

good deal, glad you like it. I always look at the kimbers at my local gunshop.

they feel really nice. well any 1911 feels nice lol but the kimbers are cool. I still am fullfilling my pistol want list.. so.. 1911... p7.. sig on its way.. but the waiting sucks lol. then once the core "want" pistols comes in I know my collection will end up multiplying.

 

[Justang]

My "want" list is starting to shorten... yet still pretty long. Handgun wise I still want a 9mm, .357mag, and a .44mag. Rifles I still want Rem 700 Police .308, Springfield M1A, M1 Garand 30-06, .30-30, 7mm Mag, and something really really large... that isn't banned in California.

 

[lyricsdad]

Good luck! I always drool over that crated garand.. nice rifle.

 

[Rinspeed]

Rinspeed The stock mags should be thrown in the garbage. Buy some Wilson 47D mags and you will be very happy

Why do you say the 47D mags? Is there something that makes them better than the rest of the Wilson mags?

Actually some people much prefer the 7 rounders. I have never had a problem with the 8 rounders in any of my 1911s and that is why I continue to use and recommend them. In my opinion the two most important factors that make a 1911 reliable are the magazines and the extractor.

 

[Berg01]

The stock mags should be thrown in the garbage. Buy some Wilson 47D mags and you will be very happy.

Absolutely agree! I'm sure the CMC Power Mags and the Tripp Cobra Mags are every bit as good as the Wilsons, but the Wilson 8-rounders are the only ones I use in my SW1911, because they always work 100%.

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

ditto on WC mags -- I have 4 7rounders.

ditto on FTE -- My Custom II has had several, I've run about 300 rds through it. It's not going to Kimber until 1,000, or until the problem is consistently reoccuring.

Enjoy. Excellent accuracy.

 

[Seraph]

The stock mags should be thrown in the garbage....When I sold my Kimber the guy said the mags looked new, that's because I had never used them.

With respect, exactly how did you determine the stock mags to be worthy of the circular file cabinet, without having ever used them?

 

[Rinspeed]

With respect, exactly how did you determine the stock mags to be worthy of the circular file cabinet, without having ever used them?

All you have to do is look at them and you can determine they are a $3 magazine, the only thing cheaper about a Kimber is the plastic box they come in. As I said before I don't like malfuntions at all, the magazine is one of the most important factors, if not the most, in making a 1911 feed reliably. It's very possible the stock mag would have worked fine, then again there's a chance I would have had issues.

 

[Rob96]

All you have to do is look at them and you can determine they are a $3 magazine, the only thing cheaper about a Kimber is the plastic box they come in. As I said before I don't like malfuntions at all, the magazine is one of the most important factors, if not the most, in making a 1911 feed reliably. It's very possible the stock mag would have worked fine, then again there's a chance I would have had issues

You know, my Colt works with factory Colt, Wilson, CMC Power Mags, and Shooting Stars, gov't contract overrun, and Kimber mags.

 

[Chupacabra]

I have a few Wilson 47Ds, McCormick Shooting Star and Powermags for my Kimber and all work very well. The stock mag works perfectly too.

The only thing my Kimber doesn't like is Sellier & Bellot ammunition. Federal, Remington, and Winchester work great though.

 

[Justang]

Went out again. Had some FTejects. But only w/cheap reloaded ammo I had from 3 years ago. I tried 2 mags full and gave up. Went to Winchester White Box 230gr ammo and didn't have a problem again. So, the gun doesn't like cheap ammo. Or the reloads aren't good.

 

[Ala Dan]

Congrats on your new Kimber! I have a 5" Kimber Raptor II that I've
had really good luck with. Only three failures to feed, and 0 failures to
extract thru 'bout 300 rounds. I love the "lizard like" checkering, and the
fish scales along the top that helps break up light reflections. Mine has
a very beautiful set of factory grips, and I wouldn't think of changing
them. Enjoy~

 

[Ken Rainey]

If the factory mag has the dimple in the follower I'd use it...the spring "might" not be as stong as it possibly should be and might give problems (usually with the last rd) later on as it weakens but installing a extra power spring would fix it. Check out 1911Tuner's posts on 1911 magazines.....some very interesting info there - such as the importance of the dimple and why 7 rd mags with the dimples contribute to better feeding and performance over the long haul.

For a real nice mag, I've assembled some using Chip McCormick's Power mag and replaced the stock split level follower with a dimpled follower - it gives you a strong spring and a "correct" follower in a stainless steel mag with a removeable bottom - 7 rds max but reliablility with "extractor friendliness" (the dimple helps keep the rds from getting ahead of the extractor if your spring weakens causing it to have to snap over the rim of the ammo) is what I'm going for.

I've used Wilson 7 rd mags without problem but then I never loaded them past 6 rds thus keeping the spring strong and not having the "snap over" issue come up due to a weak mag spring letting the rd get ahead of the extractor. Using an 8 rd mag is fine but it seems the springs weaken quicker, and with the follower being short legged too, well, then you are liable to start having extractor problems / feeding problems - with the internal extractors anyway - not sure how the external extractors will behave but having to "snap over" can't be good for reliable operation. Putting that extra rd in there has to be "paid for" somehow and springs weakening sooner ( along with the problems that brings ) is usually how !

As 'cousin' "Tuner" says ; "Good magazines with a properly tuned extractor and in spec ammo is the tripod of reliability in a 1911"....or something like that.. keeps my Kimber runnin' smooth !

As always, YMMV....

 

[eclipse1]

ditch the stock mags and buy wilsons. remember to lube every 100 during break in and clean the pistol after each trip to the range. and if you can, try different brands of ammos. which range do you guys go to?

 

[Darkside852003]

My first 1911 was a Kimber Custom II. Great gun for the money. Runs great with no issues after 3K+. I use CMC and Wilson mags, they work fine.

 

[flip180]

I also have a Kimber Custom II with an enternal extractor that I bought used but in great condition for 575.00. I only have three hundred rounds through it with one FTE. That happened while someone else was shooting it. I also use Wilson 47D's. The possibility that it'll jam up every now and then doesn't bother me because it is strictly a range only gun and will probably never see and holster or a JHP. The big three thing that'll lock a 1911 up are ammo, mags and extractor. Plus the newer customized versions are tightened up so much for accuracy that that could also cause reliability problems.

Flip.