Disappointed in a Kimber Stainless Target II 9mm

My gf bought a $1000 Kimber Stainless Target II 9mm. Every 3-4 rounds would not eject. The slide cycles back, picks up a new round, and tries to ram it into the back of the empty casing still in the chamber. When I shoot it, I get the same results.

We've used WWW and Federal factory 9mm ammo. It's been cleaned and lubed just like my Springfield Armory Loaded 1911 and that one has no issues.

She took it to two gunsmiths and they both said they could not replicate the problem. They said it was probably limp wristing. Ok, I've been shooting IDPA for over 4 years and do not have a limp wrist. She's been shooting for two years and puts 100 rounds through a 3-inch hole at 7 yards, freestyle. Between my gf and I, we have 20 pistols and we rotate through them all the time. We pick two or three guns each weekend and shoot 200+ rounds at the range. We are not your average newbie shooter.

Our conclusion so far is that this Kimber is very sensitive and/or picky about how you shoot it. We do not have a problem with how we shoot our Sigs, Glocks, XDs, M&P, H&K, Berettas and CZ. We shoot freestyle, strong hand only and weak hand only with our other guns and they run fine. This Kimber 9mm 1911 doesn't. WTF?

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/7972/img1914f.jpg

<shaking my head>

Does anyone have an idea of what's going on here? Any fixes?

Send it back to Kimber. Don't sink another dim in ammo, mags, or gunsmiths until they've at least taken it back in.

If you choose to disregard my advice on the matter, you may want to replace the extractor with an Aftec extractor, they reportedly make a 9mm 1911 run a little better.

If the problem is that the empty case is staying in the chamber, it's an extraction problem, not an ejection problem so start with looking at the extractor, Wilson Combat just put an article up on their blog for looking at extractor issues, stand by the for link.

Here's the article with video: http://blog.wilsoncombat.com/uncateg...-on-your-1911/

Thanks for the link and info.

We found a similar article earlier so I tried adding tension to the extractor. I probably didn't add enough since it still fails to extract when we shoot it. We have an extractor from EGW coming in the mail.

What I don't understand is why is it sensitive to shooting form. Why does it extract fine when the two gunsmiths shot it but fails to extract consistently when my gf and I shoot it? As I stated earlier, we are not newbie shooters.

I don't know what to tell ya' on the finicky part, but have to stress again that you should just send back into Kimber and let them worry about making it run right.

I've been down that road before, oddly enough I sent two Kimbers to EGW for them to "fix" and I ended up spending more than I should have on two guns that Kimber either would have fixed or just replaced as they were quite screwed up. Don't get me wrong, EGW did a great job, but it's something that Kimber should be doing for free.

Major breakthrough today!

We took it to the range (among other pistols) and it ate Sellier & Belliot ammo without any issues. My gf tried WWB and it would fail to extract consistently. Back to S&B and it runs like a champ. Three boxes of 50 later, still no issues. We'd occasionally try to run a magazine of WWB and it would fail. More S&B, no problems. That would explain why the two gunsmiths who diagnosed it could not duplicate the problem. They were not using WWW or Federal.

For now we're only going to shoot S&B in this gun. We're hoping the new extractor will let us run WWB or Federal too.

Still, why is this gun so picky on ammo? We feed our XDs, Glocks, CZ, Berettas, etc. the same WWB or Federal and they eat it up like candy. Not the Kimber... <shaking my head>

Kimbers are sorta famous for odd behavior, sometimes. I had one years ago that would ONLy work with the factory mag. It was an aluminum framed gun, and the factory mag had one of those nasty metal followers that would gouge the inside of the frame as the 2nd to last round came up. The solution was to use a magazine with a polymer follower for an aluminum framed gun. None would work, unfortunately.

I see a lot of Kimber complaints online...

Some guns just don't like certain brands of ammo...

The S&B I've shot tends toward the hot end of the spectrum. Maybe your gun just likes stout ammo. Try some Speer Lawman, in my experience that stuff also tends toward hot as well. If it works, it at least gives you another ammo option.
How many total rounds have been through it? It may tend to be less fussy after 600 rds. just a thought anyway.
If the problem doesn't improve with use, you should talk to Kimber.
I won't get into the heresy of a 9mm 1911... :mrgreen:

I sent mine back 6 weeks ago for the same issue, and got it back on Monday..... So I took it out today and like you I am a very active shooter, at least 2 matches a month and practice every weekend in between..... I purchased mine because I cannot afford to shoot my .45 which has never had a double feed of any kind.... I keep telling myself that I won't buy another kimber because it is like flipping a coin heads you win tails you get a 1000 paper weight with federal regulations..... Anyway I am getting off subject so I took it out today with 300 rounds telling myself if I can make it through 50 without a MALF I would deal with it , well 12 double feeds later I am calling kimber telling them to come get it again..... like you I shot 115 gr fiiochi and it likes the hot stuff..or expensive stuff..... But that shouldn't matter, they have a design issue that needs to be addressed... It's not like I am expecting it to work dirty, or with 50 year old hand loaded Serbian ammo....... It is Winchester white box.... It also hates the federal.... I have heard like the others that an extractor change is a good thing..... Please post if it is a fix also do they use a series 70 or 80 parts .....so I know what to order.... I should have purchased the 600 STI spartain or the Taurus .......

One last thing that might be helpful I noticed that the malfs occurred when the gun gets hot like 7-8 magazines in a row, also when it gets a little dirty, clean the extractor and it works for a mag or 2, then it starts up again...........
Sorry don't mean to rant it just gets so expensive to test it out when you get it back, not to mention the ,time wasted..... It is the external extractor fiasco all over again.... I just want to get it working so I won't feel guilty in selling it to some poor sole that only shoots once every 5 years when they have to re-qualify for their ccw.....

This $39.99 extractor didn't fit.
EGW New Design HD Extractor SER 70 / SER 80 - $39.99 : Evolution Gun Works , World Class Precision Parts

I will be returning it and trying their $23.99 version.
EGW Extractor - $23.99 : Evolution Gun Works , World Class Precision Parts

The original extractor looks more like the $23.99 one. It is a series 70.

Stay tuned...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by propellerhead

This $39.99 extractor didn't fit.
EGW New Design HD Extractor SER 70 / SER 80 - $39.99 : Evolution Gun Works , World Class Precision Parts

I will be returning it and trying their $23.99 version.
EGW Extractor - $23.99 : Evolution Gun Works , World Class Precision Parts

The original extractor looks more like the $23.99 one. It is a series 70.

Stay tuned...

---

Stop! Put the original extractor back in and send it back to Kimber. For what you've paid in extractor + shipping you could have all ready sent it back in. If one EGW extractor didn't do the fix, the odds are another EGW extractor aren't going to fix it either.

We will return the EGW extractor and stick with the original one. I'm hesitant to send it to Kimber right now since it runs fine with S&B but not WWB. One can easily argue that it's not broke.

We took it the range again today and it had no problems with S&B. My gf ran some Federal through it and it ate it except one. We were able to shoot 200 rounds with only one failure to extract, bringing the total to 300.

Maybe the 500 round break in theory is true. We're gonna hit that mark next weekend for sure.

Maybe the little tweak I did to the stock extractor before putting it back in did it. I don't know.

I must say, it is improving.

Recently purchased a Kimber 1911 9mm (prior to doing any research on the gun). Received the gun and shot 600 rounds through it. 4 kinds of ammo (all 115gr), 4 different shooters. Out of the 600 rounds I got approx 50 failure to extract the empty case. I cleaned it 4 times during the first 600 rounds. Some empties went over my head, hit me in the shoulder, etc.

Sent it back to Kimber last October. Got the gun back from Kimber last week (almost 3 months). They polished the barrel, replaced the slide stop, and adjusted the extractor tension. Put 150 rounds of S&B 115 gr through it and all 150 fired fine.

How and why Kimber would ship a gun in the condition I bought it in, indicates to me they have quality problems and prefer to ship product regardless of quality.

I had my mind set on a 1911 9mm sig but was unable to find any in stock at the time. They were somewhat of a mystery at the time. But anyway, for the $1050 (on sale) price I paid for my kimber, I expected a super high quality reliable handgun.

Regardless I was happy to use the gun and have it function fine for the first time last week. If it holds up for another several thousand rounds I'll give Kimber a pass. If I have more trouble I'll probably buy something else.

Kimber has a problem with extractors.Being 9mm,the extractor needs to be deeper on the breechface and I suspect both problems just needed the pad behind the groove relieved some.45s rarely need this area fit,but 9s are different.If you can pull the extractor on a 9 without pushing the hook to the side,that pad was never fit and the hook is skipping over the rim.Also 9s grab the case differently,the tip of the hook should burry in the extractor groove and not touch the case rim,45 is directly opposite.Something alot of people don't know about and fit a 9 like a 45.

I guess I got lucky. I have had the Stainless II Target in 9mm for a year and never had a problem from day one with any factory ammo or my own reloads. I put a J Point red dot on it and it is one of my bullseye pistols.

I also recently got the Pro Carry II in 9mm and it has also run like a champ with the exception of some issues with some of my softer reloads. It has a pretty stiff spring and needed more powerful ammo until it loosened up a bit. After 400 rounds, it now runs whatever I feed it.