Just got my Kimber Ultra Carry II back from the factory about two weeks ago. The orig post of the initial problems can be found here but this is the summary: 750-800 rounds through the gun with constant failure to feeds and go fully into battery (not a "break in" issue). I sent the gun back and Kimber replaced the slide (I had the external extractor), polished the feed ramp, polished the chamber, replaced the magazine, replaced the recoil spring/guide rod assembly, and modified the ejection port. I was happy that all the work that was done to the pistol so I invested in a beautiful set of wood grips and made my plans for all the fancy upgrades I was going to do to it. I also bought two brand new Wilson Combat mags to prevent any future failure to feed issues. Then I took it to the range in the exact condition it was shipped to me for pre carry testing………
Kimber did a tremendous job fixing the failure to feed issue….so much so that it now fails to eject. I fired about three magazines thru it without issue. Then the next six magazines produced 11 failures to eject (each time the casing would be extracted about a 1/3 of the way from the chamber), one failure to go into battery, and one instance of the slide stop prematurely engaging. I then took the gun home stripped it and cleaned/oiled it. I returned the next day to find that again the first two magazines fired without fail but the next 50 rounds produced four FTE’s. All of these malfunctions seemed to happen across both the factory mag and Wilsons equally.
I have called Kimber and this rep was very polite and helpful immediately offering to send out a prepaid UPS label. So it will be going back to Kimber again and probably for another eight weeks like before.
To put the reliability of this pistol in perspective, at the same time I was testing it I was teaching my girlfriend to shoot. I had forgotten my Ruger MKIII so I had to grab my father’s Phoenix Arms HP-22 .22 rimfire (purchased new on a whim for $110 about ten years ago). This diecast pistol was filthy, hadn’t been shot in probably eight years, and the feed ramp seemed to have some zinc corrosion like found on a battery terminal. We fired about a hundred rounds thru it with two stovepipes.
I am so angry that I have to sit back and laugh at the fact that the Phoenix’s finish is superior to my $850 black oxide Ultra Carry II that I was going to send to Robar for the NP3 finish despite never ONCE carrying it due to the reliability issues. I am not a Kimber basher and I DESPERATELY want the gun to work. I love the ergonomics, accuracy, and looks (except for what I consider to be a poor finish at least cosmetically). Also, I am stuck with it now as I refuse to sell an unreliable defensive pistol to someone as it has the possibility of costing them their life and there are really no gunshops where I live to trade it except for Gander Mountain where I’m sure I will be overcharged for whatever I trade it in on.
I am a police officer and own/shoot a large variety of handguns (including a Colt Combat Commander and Series 80 gold cup) on a regular basis. I have several thousand rounds thru each of my various handguns and literally have never had a malfunction in any unless it was purposely induced for training drills. This is not a case of user error or a maintenance issue. In roughly a thousand rounds I have had this Ultra Carry fail on a level far above any pistol I have ever seen or heard off.
All this being said, so I stick with the Kimber on the hopes that the third time is the charm for the factory then do my upgrades or should I get another pistol. I carry it off duty only and get limited .45 ammo for free so the only 1911’s I am interested in are lightweight 3” officer style model preferably a dual tone gun with nights. Or should I give up all together on 1911’s and stick with my flawless PM9 at all times.
Kimber did a tremendous job fixing the failure to feed issue….so much so that it now fails to eject. I fired about three magazines thru it without issue. Then the next six magazines produced 11 failures to eject (each time the casing would be extracted about a 1/3 of the way from the chamber), one failure to go into battery, and one instance of the slide stop prematurely engaging. I then took the gun home stripped it and cleaned/oiled it. I returned the next day to find that again the first two magazines fired without fail but the next 50 rounds produced four FTE’s. All of these malfunctions seemed to happen across both the factory mag and Wilsons equally.
I have called Kimber and this rep was very polite and helpful immediately offering to send out a prepaid UPS label. So it will be going back to Kimber again and probably for another eight weeks like before.
To put the reliability of this pistol in perspective, at the same time I was testing it I was teaching my girlfriend to shoot. I had forgotten my Ruger MKIII so I had to grab my father’s Phoenix Arms HP-22 .22 rimfire (purchased new on a whim for $110 about ten years ago). This diecast pistol was filthy, hadn’t been shot in probably eight years, and the feed ramp seemed to have some zinc corrosion like found on a battery terminal. We fired about a hundred rounds thru it with two stovepipes.
I am so angry that I have to sit back and laugh at the fact that the Phoenix’s finish is superior to my $850 black oxide Ultra Carry II that I was going to send to Robar for the NP3 finish despite never ONCE carrying it due to the reliability issues. I am not a Kimber basher and I DESPERATELY want the gun to work. I love the ergonomics, accuracy, and looks (except for what I consider to be a poor finish at least cosmetically). Also, I am stuck with it now as I refuse to sell an unreliable defensive pistol to someone as it has the possibility of costing them their life and there are really no gunshops where I live to trade it except for Gander Mountain where I’m sure I will be overcharged for whatever I trade it in on.
I am a police officer and own/shoot a large variety of handguns (including a Colt Combat Commander and Series 80 gold cup) on a regular basis. I have several thousand rounds thru each of my various handguns and literally have never had a malfunction in any unless it was purposely induced for training drills. This is not a case of user error or a maintenance issue. In roughly a thousand rounds I have had this Ultra Carry fail on a level far above any pistol I have ever seen or heard off.
All this being said, so I stick with the Kimber on the hopes that the third time is the charm for the factory then do my upgrades or should I get another pistol. I carry it off duty only and get limited .45 ammo for free so the only 1911’s I am interested in are lightweight 3” officer style model preferably a dual tone gun with nights. Or should I give up all together on 1911’s and stick with my flawless PM9 at all times.
