[SouthGun]

I got my Eclipse a few days ago. I stripped it down and did a thorough cleaning - lots of black plating oxide everywhere, but not much else..

Preface : My shooting experience extends all the way back to early March

Mostly 9mm with my H&K, and a few boxes of .45 through rented guns.

Off to the range with some S&B 230grain.

I shoot only to 15 yards because my skills are not too well refined, and I shot 7 round clips because the magazines seem overly stiff for that eighth.

Shooting two handed Weaver style :

The first set of 7 were a rectangle ~ 1" x 2 1/8", 2" off center.

The best 14 shot set was ( if you discount one flyer ) a grouping under 2" dia and 3/8" from center.

Summary : I am Quite impressed. Now if it will maintain this performance and be reliable, I will be a supporter of Kimber products. I am still wary of the MIM parts : they seem overly lightweight. And the Kimber Mag is pretty flimsy compared to the Wilson 47D, although both functioned equally well..

Regards : Keep that Brass Flying !!

 

[lockandload]

Congrats on your new gun. I just checked one out at the store this weekend and, to me, its probably the best looking 45 that I'v seen. Probably will be adding one to my collection soon. I just wonder about the black finish and holster ware.

 

[SouthGun]

I have gotten fairly adept at a full disassembly by now. After studying the animated 1911 trigger parts motion and making some drawings, I realized there were some other contact areas not addressed.

NOTE : I Did Not Touch the Sear-Hammer interface surfaces - I prefer a non full auto weapon.

Using small pieces of 600 sandpaper dry, then loading the back of the sandpaper with a rouge polishing compound stick, I polished the rest of all contact surfaces to a mirror finish. This was accomplished in two steps with firings in between.
The result was that the pull was shockingly well refined - a nice clean break, and still about a 3.75lb pull. I checked all safety functions and did an unloaded slide drop (Ouch!) just to verify the integrity of the gun.

I showed the gun today to 5 guys at the range today: one behind the counter passed it to another to feel the trigger smoothness ( first subtile 'attaboy' )

As I was packing up, I started talking with a few of the other shooters - much more experienced than I.... when asked as to what gun I was shooting and stating a Kimber, one asked if I also used aluminum cased ammo. I said, 'No', Nothing that expensive, 'Wolf steel cased' . That raised some eyebrows, but my smile revealed the joke - I shoot only nice UMC or S&B. Handing it to one of the guys and allowing them to drop the trigger, somehow, I think their opinion of Kimbers was raised a few notches ( second 'atta' ). Then they brought out Their guns to compare. I may be biased, but none were better, one was rough and one was Really poor.

I finally found the link for which I was searching
( with some kind help from HiltonYam ) http://www.brownells.com/benchtalk/04autumn1998/052.5%20lb%20Trigger%20Pull.asp

it pretty much details all the work I had done - excluding the hammer-sear and sear spring work.

I'm still considering replacing all the moving MIM parts, but for now, I have a nice shootin' Eclipse.

" Polish makes Perfect "

Best to ALL

 

[SouthGun]

Earlier Post from a week or so ago ...

Anyhow, I just got this Eclipse on Thursday, disassembled and cleaned it and took it to the range yesterday. My best grouping at 15 yds was a set of 13 rounds, 1/2" off center and within a 2" circle. I was very happy ( considering my shooting expertise is only 6 months old ), but I noted that some shots seemed to be less than optimal in that the trigger would slightly 'grind and break' rather than a clean snap.

SO, when I got home, I did another full breakdown and inspected the wonderful quality of the MIM 'precision' parts. The sear-trigger surfaces were well machined ( and I did not TouchThem ! ), but the rest of the cast surfaces were unmachined and the lower sear fork which mates with the disconnector had a bit of excess material sticking out. The bottom sear fork 'seemed' to have a slight radius (?) Anyhow, I removed the mold spur with some 600 paper, smoothed the rest of that fork a bit and polished with jeweler's rouge and cloth. The surface is still a bit pitted from molding imperfections, but I tried to not remove too much material.

I polished the trigger sides and yoke with rouge to a high shine - reassembled all and tried the mechanism without springs. I could still feel a bit of roughness. Apart again. I then polished the sides of the sear and inner area of the disconnector with rouge on a cloth - moving the parts quickly over the polishing cloth. I also polished the disconnector flat which interfaces to the trigger yoke and the round bearing surface of the upper portion of the disconnector. ALL the cleanup was done on un machined areas.

Back together finally with some nice moly lube. Results : my unskilled opinion, pretty smooth !

All safety functions work, disconnector tests okay, halfcock does not fall.

- I would have not attempted this with a 'smith-tuned machine, but the stock Kimber seemed like it needed some immediate assistance !!!

 

[Hero45]

I just purchased the Eclipse Pro Carry and can't wait to go to the range this weekend. I"ll keep you posted.

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Hero45
NRA Member