[JRyan]

I had thought about putting this one in the Kimber forum, since that may be the culprit (if no it's owner!).

I recently purchased a Kimber Eclipse Ultra. I also purchased a Wilson magazine for it. (I wanted two, but one was all they had.) This is not my first 1911 - I've a Springfield (full size) and Colt series '70 -and have not really had difficulty shooting them. I have also rented a Colt Officer and a Glock 30, shooting 50 rds from each. I used to shoot with a friend that had a Glock 23 and 27 and have many rounds from both. I rarely experienced a failure to feed on any of the above.

Today, I take the Eclipse Ultra out to the range for the first time with 100 rds of Win Clean 230 gr ammo. With the exception of 3 magazine loads, I had experienced a FTF each time I loaded the gun. The FTF's did not come with any particular round, ie., sometimes it would be the 2nd, the next mag it would be the 3rd. It happened on both the Kimber mag and the Wilson. Most of the time the round was caught between the mag and the barrel and twice (on each mag) the next round did not even leave the mag and the slide locked back as if the mag was empty. Needless to say this was not a good day at the range. It made me wish I had brought my Glock 26 to shoot as well.

I asked one of the guys who runs the range and he said it was probably limp wristing as opposed to the gun. As much as I have shot and as many .40's/.45's as I have shot I had a hard time believing this one. I did a search on here of other FTF problems and saw that imperfections on the barrel or faulty ejector can cause this problem.

I know most of us have experienced FTF's at one time or another, but is the first time I have seen something like this. Anyone else see or have a gun that did it this much? Limp wristing? The gun? Thoughts/idea?

 

[JRyan]

...Thanks. I'll give it more time. When it comes to shooting ammo and range time, more is better! If that doesn't work, I may be sending it back to Kimber.

 

[JRyan]

KimberRuger, the front sight appears to tight. Not a problem at this point.

Spoke with the dealer I bought it from just a moment ago. He stated that the Kimber's and some Wilson's he has sold need about 300-1000 rounds through them before they feed well. In fact, he wants me to call him again in a few weeks to let him know how it is progressing. If after a few hundred more rounds I am still having problems, I'll bring it in.

 

[JRyan]

UPDATE:

I took it to the range again and tried 100 rds of UMC 230 gr. Much better results, but still experiencing some FTF - approx 10 out of 100 rds. Both the factory mag and Wilson mag involved, but this time it only did it on the last round in the mag on every FTF. Two of the times, the slide simply locked back as if the gun was empty. The others the round was halfway into the chamber and then it just jammed there. I believe when I did some searches on previous posts I saw the sort of thing mentioned.

The accuracy? Great! Some excellent groups out of this Ultra. Get past this FTF thing and this will be one hot shooting 1911.

 

[JRyan]

Update as of 11-23-01:

After 500 rds and still having about 2-5 FTF's per 100 rds I spoke with the dealer and his suggestion was to send it back. Gave it to the dealer on a Wed, he sent it out on Thur and got it back on Tues. Wow! That was fast! Paperwork stated that after firing the gun, they did work on the slide stop and the extractor.

First 100 rds after I get it back and the very first magazine load locks open on the last round! The remainder are okay. Had an FTF in the next 100, but I determined that it was problem with that particular round.

A little over 800 rds now and the FTF problem appears to have gone away. It is even working with HP's (Win SXT's). Sure was frustrating there for a while.

Thanks for the info on 'break-in' period! Looks like that and a quick trip back to Kimber is all it needed. Now I have to contact Milt Sparks for a holster and I'm ready to carry.