What's wrong with my Kimber?

[Steelharp]

I was looking at (ok, fondling... sheesh) my newly acquired Clackamas Kimber today, and noticed that with the slide locked back, no mag, when I pull the slide back, the slide stop does not disengage. The slide stays locked back unless I push down on the stop. What could be wrong?

Mikey D...

 

[lycanthrope]

Slide stop hanging up? (check the link and fit).

They're cheap. Get a new one.

 

[Majic]

You probably have a small burr to polish out.

 

[Daniel Watters]

Do you have a Shok Buff in your pistol? If so, take it out and try again.

 

[vanfunk]

Kimbers have a very narrow slide stop engagement notch in the slide. I haven't handled one of more recent vintage, but the Classic Custom I had in '97 would not allow "sling-shotting" of an open slide on a loaded magazine if I had a Shok-Buff in the gun. Without the Buff, it would allow the slingshot method grudgingly, and then only half the time. A trip to Kimber was necessary to open the notch up a ways.

HTH,
vanfunk

 

[Jason Demond]

My kimbers did the same thing with Shok buffs installed. I had to remove them, before the pistol would function properly.

 

[rde]

It is a 1911. Sheesh, that was easy.

 

[1911Tuner]

No Release

Not enough slide travel to push the stop down and out of engagement.
The angled front of the notch acts with the angled front of the stop to cam it down.

Several folks mentioned a shock buff. If there's one in the gun, that's
probably it. If there's no buff...ya gotta problem in the slide travel.

Standin' by for the Buffy Report...

Tuner

 

[1911Tuner]

Another Thought

...Just hit me through the fog.

Remove the recoil spring plug from the gun and see if the slide will move
back far enough to disengage the stop. If it does...your recoil spring is
too long and going into a solid stack. If this is it, and you shoot the gun without cutting the spring down a little, you'll bust the bushing like right now and possibly the slide too...

It's rare to see a factory gun with an overlength recoil spring, but I've seen it happen.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[Steelharp]

Bingo... it had a shok-buff, and removing it removed the problem... you guys are sumpin'... thanks...

Mikey D...

 

[James Bondrock]

Yes, e-e-e-verybody thinks they know how to make a gun better than the factories. If the factory thought such a device belonged in their guns, they would already have done it.