Kimber Schwartz Safety

[oldschool]

Kimber Schwartz Safety

Here’s the problem; I was getting light primer strikes ( I reload and I was testing some dogfood rounds long story). I’d get a faint primer strike but not enough to detonate the primer. So I’m thinking bad mainspring or perhaps crudded up firing pin or maybe broken firing pin. Nope the “tab” on the slide for the Schwartz safety is no longer there just a hole where it used to be.
I can email the pic but I’m in the middle of a DNS propagation with my hosting server.
Now what is the best solution to this problem? Series 70 firing pin? Pay to have a gunsmith remove the rest of the offending parts? Or call Kimber? Cheaper the better I like the series 70 firing pin the best as it is cheapest and drop in solution? I’m going to go back to carrying this gun and I’m not too concerned about the legalities of a legal shoot I’m more concerned about it not firing. Till it gets fixed I’m just as happy with my FN Hi-power SFS in 9mm.

If anybody can provide me with a vendor and part numbers that would be great.
Thanks,
Ray

 

[Stasher1]

I think the best solution would be to call KImber and have them fix it properly. Why even consider a "band-aid" fix like a series 70 FP if there's a possibility that you may need to use this pistol to defend yourself?

If you don't want to ship it back to Kimber, remove the rear sight, take out the FPS pieces and replace the sight.

 

[Kruzr]

Kimber is the only one who makes parts for their safety. You will have to send the gun back to them for a replacement. Since you have to remove the rear sight to do it, it's best to let them do it..........the Kimber fixed sights are in very very tight.

 

[Stasher1]

..........the Kimber fixed sights are in very very tight.

I've seen this repeated as gospel many, many times over the past 4 years and it's simply not true in all cases. Some of their sights are difficult to remove and some just pop right out. Mine came out rather easily with a brass drift and a small hammer.

 

[King Red]

Like the above poster stated, when I went to remove my Kimber rear sight, all it took was a couple whacks with a brass punch and a hammer. Once the rear sight is out, the Schwartz safety just pops right out, it's only two parts. No need for a gunsmith. No need for a new firing pin.

However, you will need to retain the "lever" portion of the Schwartz safety in the frame because it acts as a spacer for the sear. This is necessary because the Kimber frame is machined differently to accomodate the extra part. So you might want to call Kimber and get them to send a replacement.

If you ever had to defend yourself with the gun and the question came up about the safety, simply point out that most other 1911 manufacturers do not utilize that safety. To name a few, Les Baer, Wilson, Springfield, etc. As I understand it, the Schwartz safety is used be Kimber in order to be compliant with California law, therefore pissing off the rest of us.

 

[Gary Frost]

I think the firing pin is made of a softer metal than the firing pin block. I have a 9mm Kimber that went auto. I found the shoulder of the fp was so battered and mushrumed the fp stuck forward. I could not remove the fp because it was so battered. I removed the rear sight and through a little hole I could get a small pointy file in there and remove enough material to be able to remove the fp. I have removed the schwartz safety from all my series 80 kimbers, problem solved. Removing the rear sight is easy. Remove the elevation screw, flop the sight foward and loosen the set screw before you give it a whack. Also while you have the sight off inspect the hinge pin they break all the time.

 

[oldschool]

Bye Bye Schwartz Safety

Well since THR went down shortly after I started this thread I decided to find out just how “hard” it is to move the rear sight. I too had heard all the wives tales about how hard it is. Well its not very hard to remove with a 6” bench vise & proper pads a big hammer and a drift punch. Lets just say its taken me longer to compose this post than to do the deed. Why? I started thinking long term reliability and I figured that the odds of the safety breaking (100% since it has happened ) again (about the same) is greater than the chance of legal problems in a good shoot cause by having removed it. Or it refusing to go bang when I really really need it to.
Now if that front sight is that easy to remove I may replace the sights myself.
Also Nutro dog food for mid sized dogs is pretty close to .452 diameter and is easy to load, in a primed and sized case, and minute of office garbage can accurate at 40’

 

[Dobe]

I learn something everytime I read these threads