1911 reliability

aficionado · February 4, 2001, 06:53 PM

i have some questions that you gunsmiths might be able to answer.

i have a brand new kimber ultra carry cdp. i've fired about 400 rounds through it. out of that 400 rounds there have been about 20 malfunctions. the most common one is that the slide locks back prematurely. the slide catch is just barely catching the slide with the corner of the catch, not fully engaging it. i have used 2 different mags in the gun & the problem has happened with both of them.

another problem that has cropped up a few times is that the slide doesn't always go fully into battery. perhaps that's due to the slide catch snagging briefly, but i'm not sure.

finally, i've had quite a few failure to feeds. there are two different varieties of this. sometimes the nose of the bullet stays down like it's caught in the mag instead of being angled up. that type of failure seems to happen with the stock mag that came with the gun. the other kind seems to happen primarily with a full-size mag i was using -- the cartridge gets wedged with the bullet nose against the top of the barrel.

all of the failure to feeds have been with S&B ball -- no problems with the 100 jhp's i've fired through it.

the problems do seem to be tapering off, but it's hard to tell. is it likely that simply shooting a few hundred more rounds through the gun will solve them? or do these things sounds like something that would require gunsmithing to fix? i'm beginning to wonder if the cheap sellier & bellot ammo i'm shooting is contributing to the problems.

zot · February 4, 2001, 07:34 PM

the only thing that bothers me is the slide locking back
BEFORE mag is empty, right? had a old Ballister that had
some peening in that are and filed it sharp and it stopped
locking up. BUT on your gun I'd shoot at least another 600
rd.s before worrying. 400 rd.s its still a baby.

George Stringer · February 5, 2001, 09:30 AM

Aficionado, the feeding problems sound magazine related to me. Check the inside of the slide stop for brass marks. I believe you'll find that the bullet noses are hitting it occasionally. If so, file it back a little until the problem disappears. George

aficionado · February 5, 2001, 08:02 PM

thanks guys!

i'll keep shooting it. i'll try a different brand of ball ammo while i'm at it.

the slide stop looks nice and crisp; not beat up at all. i don't see any brass marks on it. when i cleaned it was black with powder residue, but i don't remember any brass marks before i cleaned it either. i'll keep an eye out for
that, tho.

i'm pretty sure that the failures to feed where the bullet noses were not elevated toward the chamber are due to the mag. the follower is kinda wobbly lengthwise & if you press on the front it kinda pivots down. looks to me like if that happens during firing the cartridge won't get stripped off right.

my fullsize mags don't have that particular problem, but
they were causing a different type of failure to feed where the bullet was actually wedged against the top of the chamber instead of sliding in.

i'll try some more mags when i get ahold of some.

February 4, 2001, 06:53 PM	#1
aficionado Member Join Date: December 7, 2000 Posts: 32	i have some questions that you gunsmiths might be able to answer. i have a brand new kimber ultra carry cdp. i've fired about 400 rounds through it. out of that 400 rounds there have been about 20 malfunctions. the most common one is that the slide locks back prematurely. the slide catch is just barely catching the slide with the corner of the catch, not fully engaging it. i have used 2 different mags in the gun & the problem has happened with both of them. another problem that has cropped up a few times is that the slide doesn't always go fully into battery. perhaps that's due to the slide catch snagging briefly, but i'm not sure. finally, i've had quite a few failure to feeds. there are two different varieties of this. sometimes the nose of the bullet stays down like it's caught in the mag instead of being angled up. that type of failure seems to happen with the stock mag that came with the gun. the other kind seems to happen primarily with a full-size mag i was using -- the cartridge gets wedged with the bullet nose against the top of the barrel. all of the failure to feeds have been with S&B ball -- no problems with the 100 jhp's i've fired through it. the problems do seem to be tapering off, but it's hard to tell. is it likely that simply shooting a few hundred more rounds through the gun will solve them? or do these things sounds like something that would require gunsmithing to fix? i'm beginning to wonder if the cheap sellier & bellot ammo i'm shooting is contributing to the problems.

February 4, 2001, 07:34 PM	#2
zot Senior Member Join Date: April 2, 1999 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 566	the only thing that bothers me is the slide locking back BEFORE mag is empty, right? had a old Ballister that had some peening in that are and filed it sharp and it stopped locking up. BUT on your gun I'd shoot at least another 600 rd.s before worrying. 400 rd.s its still a baby.

February 5, 2001, 09:30 AM	#3
George Stringer Staff Alumnus Join Date: October 12, 1998 Location: Earlington KY Posts: 2,299	Aficionado, the feeding problems sound magazine related to me. Check the inside of the slide stop for brass marks. I believe you'll find that the bullet noses are hitting it occasionally. If so, file it back a little until the problem disappears. George

February 5, 2001, 08:02 PM	#4
aficionado Member Join Date: December 7, 2000 Posts: 32	thanks guys! i'll keep shooting it. i'll try a different brand of ball ammo while i'm at it. the slide stop looks nice and crisp; not beat up at all. i don't see any brass marks on it. when i cleaned it was black with powder residue, but i don't remember any brass marks before i cleaned it either. i'll keep an eye out for that, tho. i'm pretty sure that the failures to feed where the bullet noses were not elevated toward the chamber are due to the mag. the follower is kinda wobbly lengthwise & if you press on the front it kinda pivots down. looks to me like if that happens during firing the cartridge won't get stripped off right. my fullsize mags don't have that particular problem, but they were causing a different type of failure to feed where the bullet was actually wedged against the top of the chamber instead of sliding in. i'll try some more mags when i get ahold of some.