Hi All,
I have a 4" Kimber Pro Eclipse II. It is my favorite auto-pistol. Good looking, accurate, compact, reliable, and it' a .45.
My only complaint about this gun is that it requires the use of an "L" shaped piece of metal to keep the recoil spring compressed so that you can field strip the slide assembly for cleaning. I've seen other guns (like an STI competition 1911) that uses this type of guide rod system. The guide rod has a little hole in it that you put the rod into and it keeps the recoil spring compressed so you can pull the guide rod and captured spring out of the slide assembly.
This isn't a major problem, but I sometimes misplace this little "L" shaped rod (or my box of paper clips) and I have to search for this tool before I can disassemble the gun.
Does anyone know of I way that i can safely disassemble the slide assembly without this little tool or a paper clip? I've tried to compress the spring with my thumb and then guide the guide rod out of the slide while slowly releasing the pressure on the spring, but I haven't been able to do so yet (I didn't try too many times, just a couple of times this evening after I removed the slide from the frame of my gun).
Is it even possible to remove the spring and guide rod by manually holding the recoil spring and slowly guiding the guide rod assembly out of the slide? The spring tension is fairly stout and it seems like it's difficult to do. Maybe I just need more practice.
Any suggestions on what to do or should I just buy a couple of extra boxes of paper clips and keep these in my range bag?
Thanks in advance.
I have a 4" Kimber Pro Eclipse II. It is my favorite auto-pistol. Good looking, accurate, compact, reliable, and it' a .45.
My only complaint about this gun is that it requires the use of an "L" shaped piece of metal to keep the recoil spring compressed so that you can field strip the slide assembly for cleaning. I've seen other guns (like an STI competition 1911) that uses this type of guide rod system. The guide rod has a little hole in it that you put the rod into and it keeps the recoil spring compressed so you can pull the guide rod and captured spring out of the slide assembly.
This isn't a major problem, but I sometimes misplace this little "L" shaped rod (or my box of paper clips) and I have to search for this tool before I can disassemble the gun.
Does anyone know of I way that i can safely disassemble the slide assembly without this little tool or a paper clip? I've tried to compress the spring with my thumb and then guide the guide rod out of the slide while slowly releasing the pressure on the spring, but I haven't been able to do so yet (I didn't try too many times, just a couple of times this evening after I removed the slide from the frame of my gun).
Is it even possible to remove the spring and guide rod by manually holding the recoil spring and slowly guiding the guide rod assembly out of the slide? The spring tension is fairly stout and it seems like it's difficult to do. Maybe I just need more practice.
Any suggestions on what to do or should I just buy a couple of extra boxes of paper clips and keep these in my range bag?
Thanks in advance.