The MIMber that Survived

[Rick McC.]

This is the one MIMber that I've held on to, a 20th Anniv. present from the wife:





I've done a least a small amount of work on all of my 1911's, but the one Kimber I've held on to required the most work to assure it's reliability.

I'll detail what I've done on the little Ultra CDP II, and try to differentiate between what was necessary for reliable function, and what work was done for enhancement purposes, including the replacement of MIM (metal injection molding or manufacturing) parts.

I received the little Kimber back in '06 as a 20th Anniversary gift from the wife. That, in a nutshell, is why it wasn't traded off long ago, and why it'll never be sold.

During it's first several range trips, it would exhibit failures to extract (FTE), and premature slide lock, which got more frequent as the pistol got dirtier with firing.

I knew how to fix those problems (extractor tension too light, and the inner lug of the slide stop needing fitting), and some other issues, but when I discussed the loose front sight with Kimber, they said they'd have to have the gun back to correct that problem, so they'd take care of the rest while it was there.

So, it went back to Kimber for a frame re-finish due to damage caused by poor thumb safety fitting, and to tighten up the loose front sight.

They were also going to take care of FTE's (too light extractor tension) and premature slide locks (poor slide stop fitting).

When it came back; the extractor tension was too heavy. So it then had failure to return to battery (FTRB) issues, and the slide stop problem hadn't been addressed.

To correct these issues; I set the extractor tension, and filed/stoned the slide stop inner lug.

Things worked OK then.

I didn't carry it much for a few years; as I prefer the Commander sized 1911's for carry, and own several other 1911's that are of higher quality than the Kimber.

A few years later I detail stripped the Ultra; and was appalled at the poor quality of the MIM internal parts.

At that point, wanting to make the Ultra the "best it could be" I replaced all the MIM internals plus other "high stress" parts with the high quality parts listed below.

Harrison Design Extreme Service hammer, sear and disco (which came as a pre-prepped ES ignition set), plus an ES hammer strut and pin,

A Cylinder and Slide (C&S) thumb safety and slide stop,

And a Wilson Combat (W/C) hammer pin.

After installing and fitting all of the above, during a subsequent test firing, a piece broke off the recoil assembly and gouged the inside of the dust cover pretty good.

I re-finished the bare areas, and Kimber sent me a new recoil assembly.

During the fitting of the thumb safety (I was replacing the ambi safety because it kept being knocked off safe during carry, and it was a MIM part) I found that the shield part of the TS didn't quite cover all of the cutout in the frame, and the bottom edge of the hole was just visible when the safety was in the "on" position. This modification is what required the hammer pin replacement, as Kimber uses an oversized hammer pin to secure the right side of the ambi safety.

Subsequently, the C&S TS was replaced with a W/C Tactical TS (which has a slightly larger shield area).

Everything's working OK now; (the little pistol is dead reliable, and has always been very accurate) but I'm considering getting a Colt Defender recoil assembly and seeing if that'll work in the Kimber.

It seems like a more robust unit; and the design looks to make it easier to replace the inner spring than the Kimber design.

[TLE2]

My Kimber just keeps working. I just spent hundreds to keep my DW from falling apart.

Curious how that worked.

[Rick McC.]

Originally Posted by TLE2

My Kimber just keeps working. I just spent hundreds to keep my DW from falling apart.

Curious how that worked.

My TLE II was the best out of the four that I owned.

It never had any problems, and the friend I sold it to was just talking about it last night.

He still has it, and it's still trouble free. I think it's about 10 years old now, maybe a little older.