Range Report
Well, the rain finally let up and I got a chance to get to the range...I'd already disassembled and inspected the "new" 9mm Kimber Stainless II paying particular attention to the extractor's tension and the slide stop's engagement with all of the magazines as well as removing the recoil assembly and push feeding some rds thru it. I also put a GI type recoil spring guide rod and plug in place of the full length one, numbered the magazines and properly lubricated everything...
I ran a few Blazer aluminum 115s, UMC 124s, Fiocchi 124 TCs, Speer Lawman 147s, WWB 147s, Ranger T 147s, Ranger T 115 +P+s, but for some reason I forgot to try the Ranger T 127 +P+s, although I'm pretty sure they'll run just fine...anyway, this pistol does NOT like a 147 FMJ bullet...it consistently left an empty cartridge in the chamber and tried to feed another on top of it...I'm guessing the empty couldn't get out due to the nose profile of the next bullet in line ??? I didn't try the UMC 147s I had due to not wanting to potentially stress the extractor any more...I may get brave and try a few of them later on just to see if they'll run, but I don't have high hopes for'em. The 147 Ranger T HPs ran fine for the limited number of shots I tried - also, the original owner said he had fired 25 rds of 147 Gold Dots without problems....everything else ran fine. I only loaded three rds per magazine during this "testing" phase ...
My first three shots was from the 10 yd line with the Blazer 115 FMJs and produced a cloverleaf in the X ring making me a happy faced new pistol owner....
The Fiocchi 124 Truncated Cone FMJs didn't make a good groups past 15 yds, which was disappointing, being beat out by the "cheaper" UMC 124s...
I had hoped for better functioning with the 147 FMJs as their accuracy was good, but it just didn't happen...and even though it has ran fine on the 147 HPs so far, it does make me wonder if it'll lock up with them as well sometime....
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I've got a lot of 123 and 125 grain lead round nose and truncated round nose bullets as well as some 115 JHPs to load...so, if any of you have a favorite recipe , especially using Bullseye powder, I'd appreciate the info...also, I'd like to know what has been your most accurate factory loads....
Yep, I'm pleased with the pistol...nary a hiccup at all that wasn't the ammo's fault...BTW, the owner's manual does recommend round nosed ammunition as this is a 1911 style pistol...sigh...
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Also, the factory mag as well as the MetalForm "Springfield" type mags functioned perfectly. The original owner had put 100 blazer brass 115 FMJs as well as the 25 Gold Dot 147s without incident and my "check for function and accuracy" shooting added just 56 more rds for a total of 181 rds so far...yep, I think this one is good to go with no worries of it needing to be shot a lot to "break it in" ..
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Keep those ammo suggestions coming....