What a weekend! 2 new pistols in family

[farmrboy]

I'm a little late with this, but oh well. Two weeks ago (Feb 21) I met a buddy of mine to pick up a Kimber pro carry he decided he wanted to sell. He's the shop foreman for the trucking co. I'm leased to. We talk guns almost daily. He bought the procarry to be his cc weapon, but he got denied because he misbehaved many years ago. It really bummed him out and couldn't stand to look at the Kimber now, so he offered it to me for $300, with less than 50 rds thru it. I couldn't pass it up and was wanting a 4" 1911 to carry myself. So the wife and I met him at the show to close the deal and to look for something for the wife to cc too.

I never thought wifey would want to carry, I must've been an influence somewhere and didn't realize it. Jim (sold me the kimber)went thru the show w/ us, and he and I helped my wife by picking out guns for her to try and answering questions. She finally decided on a SA XDM40 bi-tone. She was pretty excited. Walking past an optics dealer, she started playing with the lasers, and before I knew it, we both had compact lasers and tac lites. I had been thinking about getting a laser for my xd40 comp but kept putting it off. I put fiberoptic tritium sights on it and figured good enuf. We are now an xd family, and I bought my first Kimber. I never would have thought I would have a weekend like that. And to top it off, That evening, Dad-in-law won a Benelli super nova at the Pheasants Forever banquet.

Took the wife out to the range on Sunday (I have my own 150 yd range back by the hog lagoon), found out she doesn't have a dominant eye, it's going to take alot of practice, but I think she'll be ok. by the end of the session she was doing better, grouping in a 6" area at 10 yds. Man, what a weekend!

 

[geronimo509]

congratulations

 

[mcdonl]

Sweet deal! Congrats... It is funny, I learned that my wife is cross dominant... Never heard of it until I took my CCW class.

Have fun shooting those awesome guns!

Leroy

 

[MaterDei]

Those are both nice guns. Congrats!

 

[farmrboy]

I know a couple of people that are cross dominant, it's tough, they have to retrain their eyes or learn to shoot with their off hand. She doesn't have a dominant eye, I had her do the usual tests to check and the results are odd. She'll have to train one eye to be dominant, if that makes sense.

I ran a couple of full mags through the procarry to check function and POI, then spent the rest of the time with the wife and her toy. I found a thread on another forum about the split metal mag followers damaging aluminum frames, and sure enough, the ramp on mine is already scratched up. I'm not shooting it anymore until I can get some mag kits with poly followers. Dang it!

 

[sophijo]

2

Ya buddy! Sometimes the sun shines!

 

[Ken Rainey]

farmrboy, congrats on the new Kimber and getting the wife started as well....I bought another Kimber magazine for my Ultra Eclipse several months ago and noted that it now had a skirted follower so I'm guessing that Kimber had the followers changed to stop the rocking forward and damaging the aluminum frames that I've heard complained about...so, you might call or email Kimber and tell them about your damage and ask about the newer mags, maybe ask to swap for the newer followers or mags...they might help you out....ya never know...???

The standard 7 rd mags with the dimpled followers have a longer leg on their followers that holds them more stable than the shorter 8rd flat top followers...I'd recommend a strong spring with any new followers without a dimple...skirted or not to help hold that last rd stable.

 

[walker944]

Farmrboy: Okay....I'm curious, what the heck is a "hog lagoon"?

 

[Jed Carter]

Need pictures!

 

[farmrboy]

Sorry it's taken so long to get back, been working. Thanks for the kind words to a newbie.
Ken-thanks for the info. I found out Wilson makes a kit with a new spring and nylon follower that will convert a 7rd mag into an 8rd. I have the part#, just not with me right now.
Also, Wilson mag pt# 47d is an 8rd mag w/ a nylon follower and won't damage an aluminum frame.

Farmrboy: Okay....I'm curious, what the heck is a "hog lagoon"?

The politically correct name is 'swine waste management facility' It's just a big pit that is used to hold the waste from a hog barn until it can be pumped out and used as fertilizer. Lots of EPA regs, and a PITA. I use the bank of the lagoon as a backstop, I made a target holder out of a couple of fence posts and a sheet of plywood. I can set my bench up to 150 yds away. I lay a tarp on the ground when shooting pistols so the brass doesn't disappear in the grass.

I'll try to get a pic. of the new kids this weekend.

 

[Ken Rainey]

Yep, when I was new in the 1911 game I got Wilson mags because the gun magazines said they were the best...well, I eventually got the picture that the magazines would just about say anything was good that advertised with them and as I studied the design of the 1911 I found out just why JMB used a 7rd mag and why the dimple was in the follower...not saying a Wilson won't work because they will most of the time, it's just that it could be at the expense of your extractor if the mag spring weakened a little. If I were in your shoes I'd try a standard 7rd dimpled follower magazine such as sold by Colt or as made by Metalform or Checkmate....I don't "think" that the follower can rock forward enough to hit the feed ramp but maybe some other users will chime in...I'm basing this on the fact that colt made aluminum framed pistols for a long time that used the standard 7rd mag and I can't remember hearing of any problems with them...if that didn't work out, then I'd try a skirted one as sold by Kimber but would load no more than 7 rds in it or probably better yet, call Metalform and order a skirted mag with an extra power spring so that last rd won't be as inclined to get ahead of the extractor (that's what the dimple is for)...

I know, it's easier just to order a Wilson mag or mag kit but as far as I know they don't have extra power springs to help that extra rd along ???, matter of fact, I have one of those kits that I, in my 1911 infancy, used at one time.. I also used their 7 rd mags but I only loaded 6 rds in the mags and it was a carry mag that didn't get a lot of use so the spring stayed strong and this wasn't for a long time til I learned to use the "proper" magazines... If you want to try this Wilson kit, PM me...although, I do recommend other magazines... ...I think I even have a brand new 8 rd Wilson mag on the shelf that I acquired somewhere down the line...anybody want to trade for a standard 7rd colt mag??

My short stroker comes with 7 rd mags where a 6 rd was originally used for these shorter grip framed pistols. I take out the 7rd follower and install a standard follower from a standard full size 7rd mag and my mags become 6rd mags with a dimpled follower...but my frame is also steel instead of aluminum. Point is, putting 8 rds where 7 was intended (or 7 where 6 was) is at the expense of something else and will usually cause a problem somewhere down the line. Checkmate has an 8 rd mag with a longer mag body to accomodate the extra rd and spring and follower that has been getting favorable reviews and would be where I would go for an 8 rd mag if I had to have one for some reason and then I'd only use it in my full size pistols...but that's just me...