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Kimber Warrior Prob FT completly E

I purchased a new Kimber Warrior several months ago. I have put approximately 2000 rounds through the pistol. On occasions I have FTE problems using a variety of ammo, and magazines from Metal Forms, CMC, Wilson's, and even cheap Magar. What happens is that usually the last round once fired pulls the shell from the chamber but the extractor holds onto the shell casing and slams it into the lip of the ejection port dang near spliting the case in half. I called Kimber and they told me to remove the extractor and bend it by hand. THis really pissed me off since I had just purchased a pistol (my first high end 1911) for just over $1000. I kind of expected the guy to either tell me to send the weapon back in or he would send me a new extractor.
Anyway I did this and still have problems from time to time with FTE and even FTF. I have had better reliablity out my $400 Springfield. I love the way the Warrior feels and shoots, but these problems are really ticking me off when I hear how everyone talks about how reliable the Kimber is.
Any suggestions from those of you who have Kimbers?
 
Hate to say it but incorrect extractor tension is a common problem for EVERY brand of 1911. As you've probably figured out, magazines generally have nothing to do with failures to extract or eject. The reason Kimber told you to bend the extractor is because it's cheaper for both you AND them, to tell you a fix for a common problem over the phone rather than spend the money to ship the pistol to Kimber and back for a fix that takes less than a minute. If the problems continue, I strongly suggest calling them back and telling them so. By the way, the problem sounds more like a failure to eject rather than extract.

I realize the frustration though, given the price of the pistol. But my experience is, the price of the pistol has nothing to do with whether or not you will find something wrong along the way or even out of the box. I've already seen a $2600 Sig X-Five with extraction problems of it's own and the gun hadn't been fired other than factory testing. We had a NightHawk Custom pistol in a few weeks back at my range with ejection problems. Strangely enough, the ejector was loose. Surely a $2000 pistol would never leave the shop in that condition, right? Wrong...Stuff happens and no one's perfect. However, this is especially true of a mass produced pistol like the Warrior. Even Glocks, guns that are famously reliable, occasionally have issues. As we speak, Glock is dealing with a problem with Gock21's failing to fire in the LAPD.

I probably could come up with a number of possible reasons for the symptoms you are seeing on your Warrior but the reality is, I'd be guessing wildly having never laid eyes or hands on your gun. I'm not experienced enough yet to talk you through diagnostic questions like, exactly where is the slide when the FTF's and FTE's occur? When you have the failure to extract, has the next round been loaded into the chamber? If not, the gun may be short stroking but that's more than likely a shooter issue rather than the gun itself.
 
gcmj45acp said:
Hate to say it but incorrect extractor tension is a common problem for EVERY brand of 1911. As you've probably figured out, magazines generally have nothing to do with failures to extract or eject. The reason Kimber told you to bend the extractor is because it's cheaper for both you AND them, to tell you a fix for a common problem over the phone rather than spend the money to ship the pistol to Kimber and back for a fix that takes less than a minute. If the problems continue, I strongly suggest calling them back and telling them so. By the way, the problem sounds more like a failure to eject rather than extract.

I realize the frustration though, given the price of the pistol. But my experience is, the price of the pistol has nothing to do with whether or not you will find something wrong along the way or even out of the box. I've already seen a $2600 Sig X-Five with extraction problems of it's own and the gun hadn't been fired other than factory testing. We had a NightHawk Custom pistol in a few weeks back at my range with ejection problems. Strangely enough, the ejector was loose. Surely a $2000 pistol would never leave the shop in that condition, right? Wrong...Stuff happens and no one's perfect. However, this is especially true of a mass produced pistol like the Warrior. Even Glocks, guns that are famously reliable, occasionally have issues. As we speak, Glock is dealing with a problem with Gock21's failing to fire in the LAPD.

I probably could come up with a number of possible reasons for the symptoms you are seeing on your Warrior but the reality is, I'd be guessing wildly having never laid eyes or hands on your gun. I'm not experienced enough yet to talk you through diagnostic questions like, exactly where is the slide when the FTF's and FTE's occur? When you have the failure to extract, has the next round been loaded into the chamber? If not, the gun may be short stroking but that's more than likely a shooter issue rather than the gun itself.
gcmj-you are correct in your assumption it is a failure to eject, that was my mistake. Granted the Warrior is a massed produced weapon, but when a company talks about how extremely reliable a weapon is and how it is the weapon to have when your in the thick of it and the weapon does not perform it really ticks me off. I have been a police officer for 16 years, and a SWAT operator for 10. When I decide to use a particular weapon for duty I expect it to work. I understand weapons have problems and none are perfect. I carried the same Glock 22 for 14 years and never had a malfunction, period. I have always prefered 1911's and a couple of years ago we allowed to carry 1911's on the SWAT team. I started with one of my Springfields and saved my money till I could afford a high end 1911. The one I picked was the Warrior, and now I am really wondering if I should just go back to my Glock, or the old Springfield which I have owned for 11 years and fired thousands of rounds through with only one stove pipe, and three faliure to extracts.I have sent the Warrior off, and will see how it goes when it comes back and make my decision if it worth carrying and will work when the chips are down. I guess I just expect that when a weapon cost an arm and a leg that it should at least work out of the box.
 
tle/rl problem

Problem:

I am new to this site but from what I am reading I think I may be having an extractor problem. I'm a police officer in Colorado. I go to the range once per month and shoot 100 to 200 rounds. I usually have one jam per range where the fired casing sticks to the face of the slide and does not eject. When the slide returns home the front of the spent casing hits the back of the next round causing a very good jam; the spent casing has to be pryed off. Racking the slide will not clear the malfunction even with the magazine removed because the jam causes the spent casing to be pushed just over the top of the ejector. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. This is the only problem with the gun I have ever had but not one I ever want to have while working.

P.S. Denver police officers are no longer allowed to carry Kimbers because of jamming problems.
 
Ejected cases directed back at shooter.

Recently purchased a new Ultra Raptor II, and had multiple cases eject hitting me on the forehead and cap. Contacted Kimber and was told to reduce tension on the extractor. This failed to solve the problem, even when the tension reduced enough to occasionally cause a failure to eject. Sent the pistol to Kimber at their request, but no offer to pay for shipping. They replaced the ejector, and polished the feed ramp and slide rails. The pistol continued to have problems ejecting cases toward the head, although less frequently. Called Kimber again, and Dennis immediately, and I might add without me requesting, offered to have the pistol sent back overnight via UPS at their cost. This was on a Monday. Tuesday UPS picked up the pistol. Thursday Dennis called me personally, told me they made an adjustment to the ejector, changed the extractor, again polished the ramp, and made a slight modification to the slide stop. On Friday, UPS arrived with the pistol. Fired approximately 200 rounds without problems except a few cases fired in a Chip McCormick magazine, which will be modified or thrown away. Although none of us want to pay a large sum of money for a firearm and have problems, the 3inch barrel 1911 is a finickey beast due to the inherent shortness of the barrel. I appreciate Kimber taking care of the problem, and that Dennis took the time to personally deal with it.
 
Extractor Tension

Both my Kimbers, Custom Stainless II and a Stainless Aluminum Compact, had zero extractor tension. This seems to be a problem with Kimbers, though someone in this thread said all manufacturers have this issue. My only other expereince is with 70 Series and earlier Colts, which did not demonstrate this problem, at least mine did not.

Adjusted tension and all reliability issues went away.

Great pistols otherwise.

CX
 
Bringing back the faith Thanks to Jim @ Custom Shop.

Just got my Eclipse 10mm back from Yonkers and let me say they did a fine job, everything on my list was addressed thanks to Jim at the custom shop. I ran some of my dummy 180 gr HAP rounds through it pulling the slide back and forth till the last shell ejected and man what a difference I can feel the smooth engagment to full battery none of my rounds were scard dented or crimmped due to FTF's. I then went to my indoor range and shot off four clips of the 180 HAP's 8.9gr using 800X and some flat nose lead rounds, everything felt really good bullets fed into chamber smooth as silk without one miss fire. At 25 yards 180gr HAP's were grouping pretty tight @ 1" Even though it should have fired out of the box I'm very happy and feel more confident after the tune up. I'll pump another thousand through it this weekend using three kinds of bullets and two kinds of brass. But let me say one thing, as soon as I fed the dummies through it I could tell right away by the smooth engagement going into full battery that it was going to be a winner. So far so good I may be able to trust my life with this thing after all, I'm now not regreting the departure of my 1006 and the feeling of did I make a big mistake may all well be in the past. I shoot way better with my Eclipse 10mm it's way more comfy in the hand faster action and now reliable, after I put close to two thousand rounds through it I'll give a range report and holster it for when I really need it. Again I'd like to thank Jim for listening and correcting a major FTF problem and cleaning up and tunning my sweet sweet Eclipse.:)

This what they addressed in my letter and then some..
1) Polish barrel chamber
2) Frame to slide fit corrected per specs.
3) Replaced grip screws.
4) Mag catch adjusted.
5) Barrel chamber polished.
6) Barrel chamber reamed.
7) Cleaned up scratches on slide catch side of frame.
8) Cleaned up scratches from ejected brass on top of slide.

She deserves another pic she had a long trip home.


 
failure to chamber round

i have an eclipse custom II in .45. it has about 400 rounds fired through it. after the 200 round mark, i began having problems with the gun chambering rounds with rounds still in the magazine. i've had it happen 3 times since it began. when a round is fired, the slide comes back, ejects the spent case, and locks back failing to feed the next round. you can pull and release the slide (just as if you had a fresh mag) and the round will chamber fine. all 3 times have happened using the kimber factory mag. i recently bought a wilson combat 47d and haven't had the problem with it; however, it only has probably 50-60 rounds through it. maybe it is just coincidence that the problem hasn't occured with the wilson. anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem may be?
 
I had the same problem when my Eclipse 10mm came back from Yonkers I too bought to 47D's and it still did it. So I pulled the slide stop and gave it a real good cut polish and finished it up with a high grade polish problem gone. Bullets are hitting the slide stop some guys file it down a little I always try a cut polish first and if I still have issues I breakout the file or dremmel. If you look at your Kimber mag you will probably see a little indentation where the slide stop rubs against the follower I have pretty good clearance in mine now and I'm still using the stock MiM parts.
 
two problems, only solved the first...

tle II

problem 1: After 700+rds, mult. ftf. - one-time excessive use of oil caused undue build-up of residue, after several boxes of ammo.

solution: cleaned thoroughly. Now use only rem oil, and very sparingly.

problem 2: Other than problem 1, no trouble whatsoever, which is a problem because so many of you report troubles- I have none and I feel like a freak.

solution? hmmm...I may just have to live with this problem.
 
Discussion starter · #51 ·
Guys, let's keep this thread on track. It is intended to be a one-stop thread to get some problems WITH the solutions posted, so members can come and see if any of these problems mimic theirs, giving them some things to try on their own pistols.

If you have read through these and still don't see one relating to your issue, go ahead and start a new thread in the Kimber section. I will continue to edit and delete posts here so as to keep it cleaned up and reader friendly.

Thanks,
Brian
 
Discussion starter · #52 ·
Quote from my first post in this thread...

Kimber Common Problems and Fixes...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK guys and gals. Here we have a thread to post your problems you've had along with what it took to fix it. This is not here to be a stomping ground for customer service complaints or for general complaining. Technical information relating to these fixes is welcome, along with helpful pictures of breakages, revisions in parts, Etc.

Make sure you keep it to problems encountered with your resulting repair included. We are trying to consolidate some info here so people don't have to search so much and the myriad of these posts don't crop up so many different times.

This thread will be edited from time to time and extraneous information will be deleted. Don't be upset, we are only trying to keep this thread as useful as possible.

Thank you,
Brian Majors
 
Discussion starter · #53 ·
I've had a couple of requests lately to open this thread again. I'm going to open and sticky it back up top for a bit and see what kind of traffic it gets.

Take care,
Brian
 
Kimber BPTen - Thanks Brian!!

I last had a problem with my BPTen when it wouldn't feed. That was fixed by replacing the extractor with one that worked well (at Kimber)

I now have some durability data on the "new" one. It broke at about 15,000 rnds. or so. (I stopped counting accurately at about 13,000. I learned some things (beginning with the most important):
  1. I need to provide the Model and Serial number to Kimber if I want a replacement extractor
  2. I need to change the recoil spring more frequently (1500 to 2500 instead of 5000 to 7000 like I have been)
  3. Kimber provides external extractor replacements for free!
  4. The external extractor spring is unlikely to need replacement less than 500,000 rounds
  5. A replacement main spring and firing pin spring are indicated at around 5000 rounds
  6. Even though I was behind on my maintenance, the extractor lasted pretty long
  7. Carry a spare extractor (Kimber is sending me a spare) when at a match!

I know some of those things are obvious, (like, carry a spare!) but I didn't know Kimber would provide a spare until now.

I was not suprised it broke. I am pleased to have a spare now. I learned some things about maintenance intervals....:)
 
problem: 12 rounds out of 100 stuck on feed ramp, FMJ winchester ammmo.

answer: not feed ramp problem, but end of case i could see that the round when feeding was "cheese gratering" itself into the firing pin hole , cause ALL rounds had a perfect half moon divit of brass in the shape of the FP hole

looking at hole, couldnt see it, really couldnt feel it either.....

dremel tool "brrrrrrrrrr" problem solved.
 
Mag locks open with rounds still in mag. Here's what I did.

First, disassemble the pistol like for cleaning. Put away all the parts except for the slide stop, two mags and the frame. This is important as you will be using LIVE ammo for the work to be performed.

Take two mags. Fill one up with the problem rounds and leave the other one empty. Insert the full mag. Watch the bullet second from the top and see how much it will clear the slide stop. If it barely clears or rubs it, you can be almost certain that the jarring effect of recoil will make the bullet activate the slide stop and lock your gun open with a partial mag in.

Here's a pic: The bullet second from the top barely clears the slide stop (that semi round piece of metal next to my probe and the bullet). In fact, sometimes it pushes the slide stop slightly upwards.



Now, note where the problem area is and replace the full mag with the empty one. Again, note how the slide stop engages the follower and locks the slide open as designed. This will give you an idea of how much metal you can remove from the slide stop without impairing its function (this is the worst case scenario if you overdo it BTW).

Pic:



Next: Go to work! Remember that the key is patience. Remove a bit of metal, check for fit and clearance (using both empty and full mags), repeat as necessary.

Pic: This is the area that needs work.



Another pic



The angle of the bevel is not critical, just try to follow it. It is important that you keep everything square top to bottom however. When you are satisfied with your clearance, polish the work area up.

I'm just a dumb sailor and if I can do this, anyone can. :)

Now if I can just make this thing feed LSWC....

Hope this helps.
 
Pro Carry II

Problem: Customer stated that after major cleaning and overhaul, trigger periodically failed to reset. Also, mag failed to drop free.

Solution: Detail stripped frame. Noticed odd buildup of hard material in trigger channel. Cleaned trigger channel with picks. Customer had used loctite on loose bushing. Some had dripped into the trigger channel and combined with oil and carbon residue to form hard mass. After cleaning, pistol was 100%
 
Problem: unreliable feeding of LSWC

The Gun: Kimber CTII 10mm

The Bullet: 175 gr LSWC

Solution:

Two part answer:

First I set my OAL to 1.255"

Second I polished my feedramp and chamber.

Got my failures to feed down to 3 in 100 with these fixes.

See the pics below

This is the ramp



This is the chamber



Polishing the ramp with a soft Dremel tip and rouge.



Doing the same to the chamber



Shiny, happy ramp



When you polish the ramp and chamber, do not forget that you are doing just that: Polishing. Do NOT remove metal. You could compromise case support and get a KABOOM. Leave such work to smithys.
 
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