[Kruzr]

Swartz designed the firing pin block for Colt, he had nothing to do with Kimber's external extractor.

There have been problems with some of the external extractors on the shorter guns, I don't think that can be doubted. But, what most people who post about their problems can't seem to accept is that they are in a minority and the majority of new out of the box Kimbers are just fine. Every gun maker puts out guns that have problems.........no matter how much you pay.

 

[Kruzr]

I wondered how long it would be before those pictures showed up in this thread too.

I didn't think we could make it through this thread without them.

Sorry (not really ) for reposting the stoppage photos but there's no question this is a real problem for many of us.

But what you can't seem to accept is that "many of us" is a very small percentage of Kimber owners.

 

[Kruzr]

If that's true then why did Kimber decide to replace the slides with internal extractor models? If Kimber is in to production on External extractors and it was just a small percentage then why didn't they simply a) make the gun work, b) replace the slide with another external extractor that did work, or c) offer a refund and take the gun back. By taking the path they did I think it's pretty clear that there's a problem and not just a bunch of internet badmouthing by "a very small percentage of Kimber owners". Admittedly, I don't own any Series II Kimbers (and never will) which also means my Kimbers all have internal extractors, but I've heard enough complaints on this and other forums that I have no doubt that the problem exists no matter how much damage control rhetoric I hear from Kimber dealers. Like I've said before, if you think this is fantasy, here's a simple test you can try at home. Do a search on this or any other 1911 forum for Kimber Series II or External Extractor problems, then do a search on Kimber Series I (or pre Series II or Original Series or whatever you want to call it) problems. See which search requires the most memory.

First off, if you do a serach on Series II it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with external extractors. Kimber made Series II guns for almost 3 years before they came out with the external extractor.
You also have to look and see that almost all the problems you read about, are with the Ultras and some Pro size guns. If you count the posts about the problems and exclude the people who keep posting the same complaint and pictures in every thread about extractors, you'll see they certainly don't make up much more than a small percentage.
Manufacturers change their methods for economic reasons. The externals ended up costing Kimber more (IMO).

 

[Kruzr]

Whether they are great or the cause of all problems, the external extractors are on their way out. We got two new Kimbers in last week. One was a plain Custom II with an internal. The other was a Stainless TLE and it had the external.

If I had to guess by what I see, I'd say Kimber will use up their stock of external extractor slides and then they will be gone........except on the Team Match and the other high dollar one.

 

[Kruzr]

Now all they have to do is get rid of that "schwartz saftey system"(or whatever thay call it) That's something else that was never really nessessary, needed, or wanted...

Actually, I hear there will be a new loaded chamber indicator that I'm sure will be hated by 1911 afficionados.