My friend has a kimber 1911 and it took about 500 rounds for the slide to operate smoothly. A breakin period if you will. Maybe your friends is new as well

Originally Posted by possum

I am brand new to this forum & am looking forward to participating.My first question: I am trying to get a replacement self defence pistol for my wife as we have given up on Para dependability. Yesterday we were shooting with our friends Kimber, using American Eagle ammo [147 gn. FMJ] and we experienced an extraction problem about 5% of the time. The problem was that a new round would chamber but the empty would not release from the extractor. The case would close on the round in the chamber and would have to be levered out with a thin instrument so the extractor still had a grip 0n the empty. Another interesting fact is that this was only with the women. Now these girls have shot a lot and are pretty good shots who I feel hold the gun firmly and are not "limp-wristed" shooters. The guys had no such failures but the girls did most of the sh.ooying of this gun. Anyone have experience with this Kimber in 9mm or thoughts about this problem? Thanks

The part in bold is a clue. While the gun itself may be part of the issue, part of the overall problem is the ladies. It takes more physical effort to make the small guns run.

In the world of 1911s, the 3" guns tend to be the most problematic. Likewise, Kimber doesn't have the best rep for reliable guns...in addition to that 1911s chmbered for cartridges shorter than the .45, 10mm, and .38 Super don't run as well without a little more fine tuning.

When you combine all this factors, a Kimber 3" 1911 in 9mm is a bad idea to start with even before putting it in the hands of those that may be lacking in upper body strength.

To be continued...

Agreed, Kimber's seem to be expensive, and particular......