Kimber Ultra Carry

[sousana]

Primary carry is a Metaloyed Kimber raptor and my BUG is either a Metaloyed Ultra Raptor or Metaloyed Colt Officers.

In all the Kimbers I've owned and own, only one gave me issues and that was because it's previous owner considered himself a gunsmith. I bought the 4" Kimber for 350 but it cost me near 400 to get it back to working shape. Well worth it as this month it's gone past it's 12k round with me with not one issue.

 

[BB57]

I carried an Ultra Carry for about 10 years and found it to be very reliable. But there are some rules you need to follow with any short frame/short slide 1911 and in particular the officer model framed 1911s.

1) slide over run is already greatly reduced (and almost non existent on the Ultra Carry so you absolutely cannot use a shock buffer and expect reliable functioning.

2) Given the reduced slide over run, you cannot substitute a more powerful recoil spring. I ge the temptation - it's a lightweight aluminum frame 1911 so it seems like a good idea but it isn't. More spring than you need is. A bad idea on any 1911 as there is no free lunch. A heavier spring seems like it might over run and reduce reliability.

3) A lighter spring is a bad idea as well. It can cause 5e slide to come back at an excessive velocity and rebound, which while it does not reduce slide over run distance it does reduce slide over run time. In short stay with the stock spring Kimber provides as it's designed to work in the bigger picture.

4) All Kimbers have tight slide to frame fits and thus it'll need some break in before it is fully reliable, that can be 50 rounds or 500 depending on the gun, the ammo and the lubrication.

5) All 1911s like to be run wet. If you are a polymer frame pistol shooter used to running a pistol fairly dry, get over it. If you can't get over it and insist on running a 1911 dry, don't blame the pisto, when it isn't reliable

6) There are three types of magazines:

- tapered lip "hard ball" magazines designed to provide fully controlled feed with 230 gr FMJs;

- semi tapered lip "commercial" or "hybrid" magazines that are designed to feed shorter RNFP, hollow point and longer semi wad cutters. The semi tapered lips allow FMJs to still feed ok but delay the rise of the base to give shorter bullets a better angle at the feed ramp.

- parallel lip "wadcutter" magazines designed to feed short, lightweight semi wadcutter bullets. The parallel lips keep the base down longer and then suddenly release it,

I've gone into detail on the types of failures you get when you mismatch bullet and magazine with a 1911 in prior posts but zi can repeat it if fo,s can't find it

Short story with the Ultra Carry is stick with the stock magazine and avoid realy short semi wad cutters.

7) someone mentioned steel follower magazines need to be avoided with aluminum frame 1911s. That's partly correct. You need to avoid magazines with metal followers that compress, like the Chip McCormick Shooting Star magazines. The last round in the magazine will pull the top piece of the follower forward and it will "peck" on the feed ramp. Solid metal followers won't cause this to happen.

8) Finally, the Schwartz firing pin safety system was designed by Colt just prior to WWII and Colt intended to make it the standard on the 1911. But introducing another 1911 configuration with non compatible parts on the eve of a war didn't sit well with the US Army so they asked Colt not to introduce it. Post war, Colt wasn't selling enough 1911s to make the change economical.

Kimber adopted the system and ironically Colt purists don't like it. Many claim it isn't reliable. That's true - but only if you don't understand how it works and how it changes reassembly of the pistol. Military trained 1911 shooters would ignore the manual and grasp the grip frame and depress the grip safety in their manly hands and then proceed to try to ram the slide on the frame. The thing they missed was that depressing the grip safety raises the stud that deactivates the firing pin safety. When they try to slam the slide on with the grip safety depressed they are beating the slide against the stud. It is tapered at the front but it has to work against the much greater leverage of the grip safety and eventually the air, supporting it will break. The shooter inevitably blames the system, not his own ignorance.

 

[vinn]

Kimber looks good BUT, the internal workmanship can be poor. the one i am working on just now has internal that are too tight to cycle. even the instructions say " may be tight, will be broke in after 200 rounds " ! I had to put the main spring plug in the lathe and take off about 0.2000 inches.

 

[Kid44]

If it works...........

I shoot with my eyes closed, I don't need them.

Actually it's has a trough sight and shoots very well. I remember walking through Walmart, of all places, and saw this magazine with the pistol on the cover. Then it was off to my LGS to place my order. It took a few months to come in and they had told me that the price of the pistol had gone up and that I got a good deal. And another worker had said, a 1911 with no sights, why would you wanted something like that?

So here we are now. To each his own and I still enjoy owning the pistol just as much as I did when I first picked it up.

Joe

If it works for you that is all that matters. I had a co-worker at one time who had one, neat little gun it is.

 

[johngalt]

I don't carry it, but my Supermatch has been flawless as a target gun.

 

[double-dipper]

I have a Kimber micro, does that count? No issues after 100's of rounds.

I'll let you know in about 20-30 years from now if I ever had an issue with it.

 

[kraynky]

I had (me dumbazz) a RIA C45 (combat/officers size) that ran flawlessly, and even fed SWC. But I opted for a Kimber Carry in a weak moment.

It was nearly twice what the RIA cost me, but it wouldn't even reliably feed 230 gr ball ammo. Not to mention wide mouth JHP (GDHP), so I traded it back in at the LGS from where I acquired it, and got S&W 4516 ND. It runs great! Although a bit heavier it seems.

I do want another 38 super, and will probably go with a RIA,........ unless I find a "deal", which is very unlikely this year.

I think I'm done with Kimbers. Don't hate me, Yes I did try several different mags. Wasn't meant to be for me...