This may be long but it's worth it. I bought a Kimber Pro CDP ll, external extractor this summer. From the beggiining it didn't work. It had extraction problems and a serious problem where it didn't want to go into battery on the initial round, whether when using the slide release or slingshotting it.
First, let's get over the BS newbie questions:
1. i used 6 different mags, different companies, plastic and metal followers including Wilson combat 47d
2. I used at least 5 different brands of ammo
3. i used FMJ and JHP's
4. I used 165, 185, and 230 gr
5. four other people shot it, and it did the same thing
I sent it back to Kimber, after 500 rds of "break in" and they returned the gun to me with a new extractor, polished feed ramp, breechface, and new mainspring. when I got it back the extraction problems were a little better but it still failed to go into battery.
500 rds later and one broken MIM part later, I sent it back again a second time: same "fixes" same results.
Now, here is where it gets good. My dealer (who I worked for at his shop for many years and is a good friend of mine) decided to pull some strings. He buys in huge volume and bitched about my gun. This is what Kimber said they would do for him: Give me and two other customers new slides with iinternal extractors on them!
This suprised both of is, so the shop owner asked why and they told him "We have been having so many problems with them that we have to conclude that it isn't working for us". The owner asked if this was a quick fix or a return to the previous manufacturing. Would they be slowly phasing back to the iinternal extractors? This is what they told him:
"I am not at liberty to say complely, but between us, I wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen soon, real soon. It' s just a matter of working out a way not to loose too much face and dealer confidence in the external extractor models already on the shelves".
My dealer who is totally pro-external extractor was shocked to hear this from Kimber, not a distributor. He said that he thought all the hoopla he was hearing was internet garbage, but when Kimber admitted it he was shocked.
First, let's get over the BS newbie questions:
1. i used 6 different mags, different companies, plastic and metal followers including Wilson combat 47d
2. I used at least 5 different brands of ammo
3. i used FMJ and JHP's
4. I used 165, 185, and 230 gr
5. four other people shot it, and it did the same thing
I sent it back to Kimber, after 500 rds of "break in" and they returned the gun to me with a new extractor, polished feed ramp, breechface, and new mainspring. when I got it back the extraction problems were a little better but it still failed to go into battery.
500 rds later and one broken MIM part later, I sent it back again a second time: same "fixes" same results.
Now, here is where it gets good. My dealer (who I worked for at his shop for many years and is a good friend of mine) decided to pull some strings. He buys in huge volume and bitched about my gun. This is what Kimber said they would do for him: Give me and two other customers new slides with iinternal extractors on them!
This suprised both of is, so the shop owner asked why and they told him "We have been having so many problems with them that we have to conclude that it isn't working for us". The owner asked if this was a quick fix or a return to the previous manufacturing. Would they be slowly phasing back to the iinternal extractors? This is what they told him:
"I am not at liberty to say complely, but between us, I wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen soon, real soon. It' s just a matter of working out a way not to loose too much face and dealer confidence in the external extractor models already on the shelves".
My dealer who is totally pro-external extractor was shocked to hear this from Kimber, not a distributor. He said that he thought all the hoopla he was hearing was internet garbage, but when Kimber admitted it he was shocked.