My first 1911!

[tnchevy]

Just got my first 1911 pistol last weekend and took it out to the range this morning. I got a Kimber custom II two tone. I know some of you may balk at this but I bought it in a 9mm. I am no stranger to pistols (own 5 more) and didn't buy this for personal protection but for a range gun. I shot 250 rounds out of it this morning and had one FTE and that was on the very last shot. I shot Winchester white box, blazer, and american eagle all in 115g fmj. The gun failed to eject on the last american eagle shell in the clip (also the last of all my rounds). I carry a ruger LC9 pro as my daily carry and I two other older ruger 9mm's so I figured I would stay with that caliber for this gun. I still may get a 45 in a 1911 in the future, possibly a ruger 1911. The Kimber is a sweet shooter and a joy to shoot, nearly no recoil in the 9mm configuration and very accurate.

[wurgs]

You will have to post back after a few more range trips to let us know if you still like it. I have always heard good things about Kimber but haven't picked one up yet. I have a Remington and just picked up a Sig in 22cal today for plinking and muskrat control. The 1911 is just an awesome platform.

[tnchevy]

I will post back. I am kind of a new comer to pistols but have been shooting and building rifles for many years, mainly in 22-250 caliber. I have more rifles than I have places to put them and that is what I mainly shoot at the range but I am becoming more and more drawn to pistols. I am not into collecting guns just too look at, I like to use them. Hopefully I can make it out to the range or my family farm soon to run a couple hundred more rounds through it. There are a lot of choices out there for "entry" level 1911's for under $700 and I was looking at several brands. Had a few people tell me Kimber was junk and to stay away but I liked the look and feel of the gun and it has a warranty so I gave it a chance. Happy so far.

[waumo1]

I have 2 Kimbers in 45 ACP and have thousands of rounds through both of them. Also a 38 Super with slightly less round count. The only problem I ever had was a broken lever on an extended slide stop which did not disable the pistol. I think the extended slide stop was something I added.

[tnchevy]

Good to hear! I hope my Kimber does as well as yours. I also shot a hundred rounds out of my Ruger LC9s. That gun has been flawless since I bought it about a year ago. Have put well over 1k rounds through it without one hiccup. The 1911 in 9mm is much more fun to shoot though. The one downside to a 1911 for me is the take down process. Not all that difficult but a few more parts than my 5 other pistols when it is all apart on the table.

[waumo1]

Takedown -

If you have the strength pull back slide until the slide stop takedown notch lines up and clamp it there with your right hand.

Pop out the slidestop. Control the slide while you remove it from the front. Then pick out the parts, of course controlling the recoil spring.

A full length guide rod may make this approach not be the best. I have no use for full length guide rods but I don't

bother to replace them if the pistol comes with one.

 

Edit - Oh yeah, check twice to make sure the pistol is unloaded first....

[foo.c]

Need pics!

[dcheeseman]

Just got my first 1911 pistol last weekend and took it out to the range this morning. I got a Kimber custom II two tone. I know some of you may balk at this but I bought it in a 9mm. I am no stranger to pistols (own 5 more) and didn't buy this for personal protection but for a range gun. I shot 250 rounds out of it this morning and had one FTE and that was on the very last shot. I shot Winchester white box, blazer, and american eagle all in 115g fmj. The gun failed to eject on the last american eagle shell in the clip (also the last of all my rounds). I carry a ruger LC9 pro as my daily carry and I two other older ruger 9mm's so I figured I would stay with that caliber for this gun. I still may get a 45 in a 1911 in the future, possibly a ruger 1911. The Kimber is a sweet shooter and a joy to shoot, nearly no recoil in the 9mm configuration and very accurate.

You have good taste in handguns! Kimber is a good firearm, I'm accustom to Ruger myself!

 

Daniel

[tnchevy]

Takedown -

If you have the strength pull back slide until the slide stop takedown notch lines up and clamp it there with your right hand.

Pop out the slidestop. Control the slide while you remove it from the front. Then pick out the parts, of course controlling the recoil spring.

A full length guide rod may make this approach not be the best. I have no use for full length guide rods but I don't

bother to replace them if the pistol comes with one.

 

Edit - Oh yeah, check twice to make sure the pistol is unloaded first....

I know how to take it down, just stating that it is a little more involved than modern designed pistols. This pistol came with a full length guide rod and I am leaving it for now, don't really plan on doing any "mods" to it except buying a couple of extra magazines.

[tnchevy]

Need pics!

Here you go.

[waumo1]

I know how to take it down, just stating that it is a little more involved than modern designed pistols. This pistol came with a full length guide rod and I am leaving it for now, don't really plan on doing any "mods" to it except buying a couple of extra magazines.

Just posting an alternate take down method that some people don't know. A guy years ago bet me he could field strip a 1911 in less than 5 seconds. He pulled the slide assembly off in one piece, slammed it down on the table and everything flew out except the barrel bushing. I wouldn't do that with anything but a junker.

 

The full length guide rod doesn't hurt anything that I ever experienced but it doesn't improve anything either.

[tnchevy]

Gotcha and I see what you are saying after re-reading your post. I have to clean it when I get home from work so I'll give that method a try.

[Spurshot]

Takedown -

If you have the strength pull back slide until the slide stop takedown notch lines up and clamp it there with your right hand.

Pop out the slidestop. Control the slide while you remove it from the front. Then pick out the parts, of course controlling the recoil spring.

A full length guide rod may make this approach not be the best. I have no use for full length guide rods but I don't

bother to replace them if the pistol comes with one.

 

Edit - Oh yeah, check twice to make sure the pistol is unloaded first....

 

It may be debatable whether a full length guide rod is necessary, but I've not seen nor heard that it creates any new failures. I have encountered only one spring failure in 40+ years, that would have been prevented with a guide rod.

 

The method mentioned about stripping the slide assembly, without removing the bushing and spring cap, is used by several captive spring designs of 1911 guns. My old Detonics was an example. That was the primary way of field stripping it. In a captive spring design, nothing has opportunity to fly apart.

[BlackZ71Silverado]

Kimber makes a good looking 1911 and they offer them in all different configurations. Good choice for your first one.

 

That failure to eject sounds like it may be a magazine issue since you said it happened with every last round. The magazine should be new but the magazine may actually have a weak spring.

Did this happen with more than one magazine?

Are you using the magazine that came with the pistol?

 

There's nothing wrong with the 9mm caliber. Modern ammunition and powders have come a long way. 9mm ballistics are extremelr similar to the .45ACP that people rave about. You are getting near identical performance and a larger magazine capacity, more rounds is always better.

[tnchevy]

The FTE was not on every last bullet I shot but only the very last bullet in the very last clip I shot for the day so just one FTE in 250 continuous rounds. I hope it was just the gun getting dirty or a bad/weak shell. I did read on several forums that the early 9mm 1911 had magazine/ejection problems but that it has mostly been cleared up.