NIB KIMBER Failure in the first 100 rounds!

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Will Fennell

Will Fennell

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Joined
Dec 24, 2002
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750
Location
Sharon, SC USA
Folks,
My buddy Anthony Lombardo and I had a mega range session today, and while we have several things to report regarding quite a few pistols, I thought I would start with the most desturbing item first....

I recently found a NIB KIMBER stainless compact, Series 1 gun at my local dealer, that had been "lost on a back self" in the store room. I snatched it up, with thoughts of sending it to a good gunsmith for biulding into a "basic" custom carrygun. Well, I wanted to shoot it today to decide whether I wanted to replace the barrel or not.

Good news, I got 1" groups @ 20 yards with S&B hardball, although they were 3" low and 1.5" left, like most KIMBERS I've shot with factory sites.

Bad news, after less than 100 rounds of ball ammo, the hammer began to fall to half cock, with what appears to be a sear that has rolled its edge and given way......damn a MIM sear!

Now I was planing to replace the hammer and sear[with tool steel parts] as part of the "customization" process, but you would think that the gun would function better and longer than 100 rounds!

Moral of the story, if you are going to carry a KIMBER, think about replacing atleast the sear......sears are cheap, spend the $$ and do it right

:rolleyes:
 
That really sucks! To have part failure from a brand name product :rolleyes: At least the 1" groups show the potential of what the gun will be like after some real TLC ;)
 
My NIB Kimber went full auto by the second mag (coulda been third).

Scary but pretty cool now that I look back at this.
 
Might want to...

...replace the hammer and disconnector too. Contact Dane Burns
for his matched set. You can find him over on Pistolsmith.com

Before you install the parts, use a blue felt-tip marker to color the
sear's engagement angle. Install the parts and boost the hammer
lightly a few times. Strip it back down and check to see that both
hammer hooks are bearing on the sear. If the blue has been taken
off both sides, you're golden. If one side is unmarked, have it
corrected.

Be sure to tell him what the gun is to be used for so that he can
set the hammer hooks accordingly. Personally, I don't like to
see a carry/duty pistol with hammer hooks shorter than .021
and I'm happier with .023, but that's just me. I also like about
5 pounds on the trigger, and 6 doesn't bother me as long as it
breaks clean.

Luck to ya!

Tuner
 
If you will be replacing your MIM parts, ditch the grip safety as well. Have read of a few instances where they split in half.
 
My brother has a Pro CDP II that was a reliable single shot, until it made a trip back to the custom shot. Also had a thumb safety that wouldn't stay positively on or off. I have handled and shot two different Kimbers, and I am not impressed with them. I'll stick with my Colt.:D
 
Thats the plan....

Guys,
I was planning to replace all the parts ya'll mentioned, and more, when I bought the pistol. Here's a list....

New..

Hammer[WILSON]
Sear[WILSON]
firing pin stop[BROWN]
thumb safety[KINGS]
grip safety[STI]
mainspring housing{LES BAER]
trigger[HEINIE]
mag release[BROWN]
barrel[WILSON]
barrel link[WILSON]
new pins throughout[WILSON]
extractor[WILSON]
slide stop [WILSON]
Sights[HEINIE]


I basically bought the gun for its stainless frame and slide to build a custom pistol on, but I knew that going in. I WAS surprised, however, how quickly the MIM sear went bad.

Again, on a positive note, the grouped well, and fed fine.

Sooooo, it will be off in UPS to Jim Garthwaite for its "makeover" very soon!
 
If you were going to replace all that stuff anyway, couldn't you have just added frame, [CASPIAN] and slide, [CASPIAN] to the list, eliminated the Kimber, and come out cheaper? :D
 
Gee .........

I feel left out. My Colts, which pre-date the Series 70's have parts made out of machined, heat-treated, steel forgings. You guys have all of this new interesting stuff.

I think if I wanted a "custom carry gun" I'd get a name brand frame and slide (Caspian comes to mind as well as several others) buy the lockwork and barrel from known quality makers, and have someone I trusted put the puzzle together.

Or I'd simply find an older Colt. I could probably buy one for less then the above would cost, even with a few simple additions, like sights.

But of course that wouldn't be cool ......
 
Want STAINLESS compact

Folks,
I hear ya, but I wanted a stainless gun, and I wanted a commander'ish[4 " is fine] slide and a officers frame[I don't believe CASPIAN makes those parts]. My goal is a all stainless[or as many parts as possible] gun, with the above mentioned deminsons to match an existing carbon steel slide, alloy frame gun I already have[WILSON STEALTH].

KIMBER does make excellent forged frames and slides.....this one had a great slide to frame fit. I got a pretty good deal on this one....especially considering its a series 1 gun[I wouldn't have considered a series 2].

Tamara, on a custom full size gun that is underway now with Richard Heinie, your plan is exactly what I followed......Caspian slide and Wilson frame.

One of the neat things about having a custom pistol built, is you can get it EXACTLY the way you want......as long as you are willing to pay , .....and wait:uhoh:
 
My KZ45 fell to half cock...I sent it to Wilson who declared it OK. I sold it to my friend and the thing went burst fire on him. :banghead:
 
Personally I'd like certain parts to be made from wrought material or at least investment cast. However if the part in question has failed as you have described it is not the fault of just MIM but of a poorly made part. MIM parts can be made of different alloys and can be heat treated or case hardened. So to me it's a problem of poor choice of alloy or heat treatment or just poor QC. In any case shame on Kimber.
 
As I suggested ....

"I'd get a name brand frame and slide (Caspian comes to mind as well as several others) buy the lockwork and barrel from known quality makers, and have someone I trusted put the puzzle together."

Stainless steel is all the rage these days, but it is usually softer and more prone to wear then high-carbon steel that's properly heat treated. Also parts that are machined out of forgings or bar-stock have a finer grain structure then most MIM equivalents. Of course carbon steel parts are more prone to rust - unless they are electroless plated or otherwise coated with a finish that is more rust resistant then the stainless alloys usually used in guns.

I wouldn't care to have a Government Model style pistol that had stainless lockwork - especially the extractor (which is a type of flat spring) nor ejector (that could be battered by ejecting cases). And because of wear factors I wouldn't use stainless sears, hammers, and disconectors. Same could be said about the slide stop. The previous observation by another member about the importance of heat treating is entirely correct, and this was one of the strong points in earlier Colts.

I am not sure, but I believe that Caspian did make an Officer's ACP style frame that could be matched with a Commander length slide. If not, others do - and you are right on the ball about this configuration making a lot of sense.

The problem with extensively rebuilding an existing gun is that you lose the investment in the original parts that are replaced. For that reason I would get a copy of Brownells' catalog (www.brownells.com), look at the extensive amount of quality after-market parts, get what I wanted and have a pistol put together exactly the way I wanted. Too many people look at cosmetics and "cool looks" and overlook the things that are important. These days I don't fully trust anything "out of the box." Custom building, or rebuilding older guns is looking better and better ....
 
Another suggestion: replace all the Kimber parts, including slide and frame, with a Ruger P-90. Sell the Kimber and use the extra money to buy a Kel-Tec. Spend the remaining money on ammunition.

Drakejake
 
Another suggestion: replace all the Kimber parts, including slide and frame, with a Ruger P-90. Sell the Kimber and use the extra money to buy a Kel-Tec. Spend the remaining money on ammunition.
Click to expand...

Here is a suggestion: stay somewhere near the topic. This thread isn't titled "Ugly Guns With Crappy Triggers." :D
 
Sean Smith, since sublety seems to be wasted on you, I will restate my comment in terms you may be able to understand.

If you buy a new pistol that breaks immediately, and you think you have to replace many of the smaller parts in order to improve the pistol, perhaps it would be easier and cheaper to buy another pistol.

Drakejake
 
My '89 Harley had the stator on the alternator come loose when it was just a few months old. I could have sold it and bought a Honda, but I really wanted the Harley. So, I had the dealer fix it.

If you like the pistol, send it back to Kimber. My experience with them has been extremely good, even with pistols that are long out of warranty.
 
Old Fuff,

Stainless steel is all the rage these days, but it is usually softer and more prone to wear then high-carbon steel that's properly heat treated.
Click to expand...

Er, it's my experience that stainless is harder (and commensurately more brittle) than carbon steel, on average, but I may be wrong. Anyhow, before you start telling Mr. Fennell about the qualities of various steels, though, you may want to check where his home page link goes to... ;)
 
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