Kimber Custom II Raptor, Decocks... Help!

[SLMPDcitycop]

Alright, I jumped in last month and bought a Kimber Custom II Raptor. Well, after stripping it down and cleaning and re-assembling it, I began to play with it.

Here's my question. When I have it locked and cocked (unloaded.) I minimpulate the trigger and the grip safety. When I finally drop the lock, the gun decocks (Well almost, the hammer falls almost all the way, but not all the way.)

So I figured I must have put a part together wrong, so I took it apart and re assembled it.

After looking through the manual, it never mentions anything about this decocking feature...

Did I screw something up or is this normal?

 

[Kind of Blued]

That's not normal. The hammer shouldn't drop unless the trigger is pulled, and even then, it should go past half-cock, all the way to fire.

DEFINITELY do not carry this gun. I'd recommend taking it to a gunsmith. They should be able to figure out wht you did wrong very quickly.

 

[ugaarguy]

Here's my question. When I have it locked and cocked (unloaded.) I minimpulate the trigger and the grip safety. When I finally drop the lock, the gun decocks (Well almost, the hammer falls almost all the way, but not all the way.)

When you say lock, are you referring to the thumb safety of having the slide locked open?

 

[SLMPDcitycop]

thumb safety

 

[SLMPDcitycop]

I sent it back to kimber today.

 

[76shuvlinoff]

Please update when possible. I have had a Raptor II since early last year and this is a new one on me. Thanks

 

[SLMPDcitycop]

The funny thing is I have had the gun for six month. It sat in my safe until two weeks ago. I shot it once, it shot fine. Stripped it, cleaned it and reassembled it. Then the problems started. The gun would fire with the safety on! Then it would do the decock thing.

The dealer who is also a gunsmith was amazed, he had never seen such a malfunction. Kimber is fixing it as we speak.

 

[ugaarguy]

In the six months you had the gun:

Did you drop the slide on an empty chamber? If so, how often?

Did you thumb the hammer down / manually lower the hammer? If so, did you allow it to rest at the "half cock" / safety notch position? If so, how often?

 

[SLMPDcitycop]

No, No and No.

 

[ugaarguy]

Well, that eliminates all the normal ways I know of to wear the sear edge (there are probably other ways). I suppose it doesn't matter now that the pistol is back at Kimber, but I'm curious as to what did cause the malfunction. Please let us know what the diagnosis is when you get it back from Kimber.

 

[Mainsail]

The gun would fire with the safety on!

My old AMT Longslide Hardballer did that too. So Kimber is the new AMT?

 

[SLMPDcitycop]

Finally got it back!

Well, finally got it back from Kimber, yesterday. The repair paperwork did not say much except "We recommend you use an oil based lube with Teflon, not the High Speed Gun Grease you had on the gun." They replaced the sear, and grip safety and thumb safety.

Funny thing is, I never dissassembled those parts of the gun. I just field stripped, cleaned it after the ONLY one time I shot it.

The gun functions fine now, just wondering how the sear broke.

I always thought the high speed, high temperature grease was better than the oil based on bigger caliber guns.

 

[benderx4]

A decocker on a 1911? Hmmm, that's a new one!

 

[Walkalong]

If the thumb safety was fitted improperly (too much material removed), it can allow the sear to move when the trigger is pulled when the safety is on. It it moves enough it will fall to the safety notch when you disengage the safety.

They fixed it by fixing this mating of sear/thumb safety. I just fixed a Dan Wesson with this problem by fitting a new Ed Brown safety. It allows zero movement now, without binding. I also shortened the lever on it a bit.

From Cylinder and Slides website.

The thumb safety should be checked first. To check the thumb safety, cock the hammer and engage the thumb safety - then firmly pull and release the trigger. The hammer must not drop. Disengage the thumb safety - the hammer should not drop. Do not touch the trigger again.

The next check is to determine if the thumb safety is holding the sear from partially disengaging from the hammer. ( I call this the click test - and remember - DO NOT TOUCH THE TRIGGER after disengaging the thumb safety.) After disengaging the thumb safety, place the hammer area of the pistol close to your so that you can hear the slightest click when you run this test. With the hammer area of the pistol held close to your ear, pull the hammer to the rear very slightly. Do not touch the hammer at all until you have placed the pistol near your ear. If you hear a very slight click when you touch the hammer this is the sound of the sear jumping back into full engagement with the hammer full cock hooks. Remember, you must engage the thumb safety, pull and release the trigger, disengage the thumb safety, holt the pistol near your ear, and then just touch the hammer slightly to the rear. If you hear a click the safety is allowing the sear to move slightly out of engagement with the hammer. The hammer hooks that the sear engages with are only .022" thick as made at the factory and if the pistol has had a trigger job done the hooks could have been shortened to .019". Any movement of the sear could leave the sear engaging the hammer with only a few thousandths. NOT SAFE! If you hear a click you must have the safety replaced or welded up and re-cut to stop any sear movement with the thumb safety engaged.