Kimber Warrior

[pksbshp]

Shot my new Kimber Warrior .45 for the 1st time today, and found that it is very accurate. As for reliability, shot about 200 rounds of WWB ammo with a total of 5 or 6 failures to go into battery, it was fixed by just pushing the slide a little forward with my thumb no big deal, it's new...no failures to eject or stovepipes. This is my first 1911 pistol and I am impressed already. I really didn't know what I was missing......a great gun!

[nobs11]

Which mags are you using?

[pksbshp]

I used the kimber factory 7rd mag which seems like a piece of S***, factory 8rd stainless mag and a chip mccormic 8rd stainless. Every one failed to go into battery at least once. I'm not worried, or disappointed I'm sure after a couple of hundred rounds and a good cleaning it'll be runnin' fine.

[Max-the-Silent]

Shot my new Kimber Warrior .45 for the 1st time today, and found that it is very accurate. As for reliability, shot about 200 rounds of WWB ammo with a total of 5 or 6 failures to go into battery, it was fixed by just pushing the slide a little forward with my thumb no big deal, it's new...no failures to eject or stovepipes. This is my first 1911 pistol and I am impressed already. I really didn't know what I was missing......a great gun!

Just a caution.

One of my civilian friends bought a Kimber Tactical Pro and has had nothing but problems with it. He gave it to me to test before he sent it back to Kimber and it had multiple failures to go into battery exactly as you describe, and he had already run 500 rounds through it before I fired it.

He got it back from Kimber and the malfunctions are down from 1 in ten to one in 50, but he's not happy and I wouldn't be either.

Kimber generally makes a great product, but I know of many guys that have received problem guns within the last 12 months.

[pksbshp]

Just a caution.

One of my civilian friends bought a Kimber Tactical Pro and has had nothing but problems with it. He gave it to me to test before he sent it back to Kimber and it had multiple failures to go into battery exactly as you describe, and he had already run 500 rounds through it before I fired it.

He got it back from Kimber and the malfunctions are down from 1 in ten to one in 50, but he's not happy and I wouldn't be either.

Kimber generally makes a great product, but I know of many guys that have received problem guns within the last 12 months.

Well thanks for letting me know, I will continue to shoot it and I will be sure to let everyone know what happens on my future trips to the range. I hope I don't have to send it back to kimber but....I'm hoping not!!! I did have another issue though...when I received my gun one of the grips were loose on one side, so I tightened both sides up. After I got back from the range I noticed that both sides were loose??? Ahh minor problem....

[L-2]

Congratulations on your new Kimber.
Your problems sound minor and may go away with more rounds.

On mine, I put some #6 lock washers under the grip screws, which, so far, have helped the loosening grip screws. They still may loosen a bit and I'll take an Allen wrench with me when I go shooting. Be careful about overtightening, however, as I had one grip screw bushing come out with the grip and screw, which necessitated me having to replace a bushing as I destroyed the original bushing just getting it off the screw. The original design has the bushings staked into the frame but a touch of Loctite on the bushing (not the grip screw) into the frame is more of a modern way of doing things as I don't own a staking tool.

Other people have gotten/obtained small o-rings to put on the screws which probably work better than my lock washers, but the washers were what I had laying around the house. I suspect the o-rings would work the best. Kimber might even send these out to you if you call its customer service department during business hours to explain the problem.

From my layman's experience, the feeding issue could be a combination of break-in, lubrication, and/or extractor tension. You may already do this, but I make it a point to removed the extractor and clean it and its extractor tunnel every time I clean the gun. Before I did this, I didn't realize how dirty that area gets on a 1911, compared to other semi-autos I've owned.

I suspect your problems will go away, although, both of my Kimbers (a 3rd on the way) had to go in/back for additional work before getting reliable.

[XDshooter]

Use grease for lubrication. I've have the same problem with some 1911's.

I have found that 1911's need grease. And CLP seems to be the worse.


IF you want, if it still does it after using grease, you can buff the top of the chamber. If it's not smooth the round will hang up there since they go in at kind of a steep angle and rely on riding the top of the chamber to feed in.

[NiteQwill]

I too had several FTRB on my Kimber in the beginning. It was solved with KimPro tac mags, Wolff XP springs and new mag catch from Kimber (free). Hundreds of flawless rounds.

[pksbshp]

Thanks for all the good input guys!!! I guess I'm not the only one to have problems with grips...huh...it's not a big deal to me though the o-ring or lockwashers are good ideas though i'm sure either would work, just not sure why they didn't put them on at the factory???....as far as FTRB I'm hopeful that with a couple of hundred more rounds these issues will work themselves out....I hope. Now as far as grease what kind of grease would one use and where would one put it??? I'm using CLP currently, what should I be using?? Guys??

[L-2]

While I've tried & used grease, I've mainly stuck with regular gun oils, Outers, whatever came with various cleaning kits, Breakfree, I'm not too particular. I shoot such dirty ammo, I found all the dirt just sticking within the grease. I do often use grease on my looser fitting M1A rifle, though.

I've also buffed the top of my barrels' chambers, as well as the frames' feedramps, but I'm not recommending this to anybody else, as I'm no expert with these guns. I'm just saying what I've done as what's worked for me. On a Warrior, it's also going to take off some of that Kimpro II paint finish if that feedramp is buffed with a power tool. Basically, I'm just cleaning off copper marks on the top of the chamber and feedramp using a Dremel (dangerous tool when it comes to guns).

At the recommendation of a 1911 acquaintance & builder, he recommended throwing out the recoil spring after ~3,000 rounds to avoid slide/frame battering. I suppose a week recoil spring could aggravate FTRB issues, but 5" 1911s should work with a good 16 pound spring as designed. Your gun is new and has just a couple/few hundred rounds at this point, though, so it should be OK.

A comment on the stock mag. It's OK and pretty much just a recreation of the stock/original 1911 magazine, but with the addition of a base pad whenn it comes with the Warrior. While I've had no problem with the stock, low-end Kimber 1911 mag, I'll usually use Wilson 47D or Kimpro Tac mags.

[M. Sage]

I really have been lusting for a Kimber Warrior for a while now.

I'm pretty sure you should be putting a light coating of grease on the frame rails where the slide, uh, slides. Not sure what kind. Y'know... grease.

Oh, and because I think the Warrior is a very pretty gun:


Oh, and I see a Snap-on wrench!

[gmcal]

Is it jamming on the first round when loading a fresh mag and no problems after that, or throughout the magazine?

Are you using Chip McCormick shooting star mags or power mags? If you're using the shooting stars, try the power mags. If those don't solve the issue, try Wilson 47 d's or Tripp cobra mags. These are considered to be very good, if not the best mags out there. I use both 47de's (extended base pad for magwell other than that the same as 47d's) and CMC power 8's and have rare stoppages.

Don't skimp on the lube. 1911's generally need more than more modern designs. I've never used grease on my Kimber. CLP and Hoppes have worked very well.

[NiteQwill]

FWIW, I've always used FP-10 on my 1911 with no issues.

Don't forget to take advantage of Kimber's warranty. They have great CS and will take care of you.

[lehn20]

U gonna end up needing a reliability package done by a gunsmith somewhere

[pksbshp]

U gonna end up needing a reliability package done by a gunsmith somewhere

Awww come-on...I got 200 rounds on it would you give up so soon? All I had to do was just bump the slide forward a little with my thumb each time, remember it was only like 5 or 6 times in 200 rounds (the first 200 rounds).