Kimber and reloads

[salvadore]

A friend has been having trouble with reloads reliably functioning in her shorty kimber. Not the ones I have lent her to try. One of the experts at the local indoor range told her kimber's didn't function well with reloads. Sounds like horse pucky to me....Anyone ever heard this?

[Petrol & Powder]

Horse Pucky indeed.
That "expert" is far from knowledgeable.

[Electric88]

Closest I've heard to this is just the standard disclaimer used by all firearms manufacturers that warns of not using reloads in firearms, or the warranty is void.

I do have a friend with a Kimber who refuses to use his own reloads in it. He reloads for other firearms, just not the Kimber. He's paranoid about blowing it up.

[phonejack]

My K6 has never had a factory round fired thru it. Bad advise given.

[Chihuahua Floyd]

Closest I've heard to this is just the standard disclaimer used by all firearms manufacturers that warns of not using reloads in firearms, or the warranty is void.

I do have a friend with a Kimber who refuses to use his own reloads in it. He reloads for other firearms, just not the Kimber. He's paranoid about blowing it up.

If I had a gun I did not trust to fire my reloads, I'd get rid of the piece of trash. Not that I think Kimber is trash, just saying. Tell him I'l take it off his hands if he don't trust it.
CF

[Plate plinker]

Well most autoloaders don’t like mouse farts. Obviously this guy don’t know jack squat.

Btw my team match 2 has devoured 10000 reloads. Guess it didn’t get the memo.

[rancher1913]

my wifes kimber does not like factory ammo, have not tried reloads in it yet. anybody have a video to "slick" the feed system on a kimber micro 9 like you do a rossi.

[bosterr]

I have a 5" Kimber Gold Match and a 3" Kimber Eclipse that shoots Accurate's 45-200H and Win. 231 with 100% reliability. Both barrels slugged at .451 and I size at .452. All rounds plunk just fine with a very wide variety of mixed head stamp brass. The expert doesn't know squat.

[LabGuy]

Employee at an indoor range does not equal an expert.

I used to reload
then I started handloading
now, I hand craft small batch ammunition.

[Bigslug]

The trick to feeding your pistol reloads is to hide them inside a factory ammo box, kinda like covering your kid's peas with mashed potatoes and calling it "whipped cream" :bigsmyl2:

[Dan Cash]

I have 4 Kimbers including one Officer size pistol. I feed them a truncated cone, 225 grain bullet with great satisfaction. Seating depth is the key. A friend of min bought a Kimber for IDPA and had nothing but trouble with it but he is hard headed and new to reloading. When we got together and I fet his pistol some of my reloads, it ran flawlessly. The Kimber does not seem to me as any harder to feed than any thing else.

[pmer]

Well if they are for a lady maybe they are too weak and don't produce enough recoil to operate the action. Or chances are they are probably loaded too long and get hung up feeding.

[oger]

There are far too many so called experts that no nothing. I honestly don't know how many Kimbers that I have but I do know that I haven't bought any factory ammo in at least 30 years. They all function as close to perfectly as is possible with anything mechanical using reloads.

[Moleman-]

I have ran many 50cal ammo boxes full of reloaded 45acp through my SS Gold match. Don't recall ever shooting any factory 45acp ammo since about 1988. Buddy of mine has the Eclipse and one of the compacts. Most of the reloads were either 230gr FMJ or cast 200gr SWC with other bullet types thrown in on occasion. I think the "expert" was just trying to sound knowledgeable when he didn't know the answer to the issue at hand.

[trapper9260]

It sound like the ones say you can not shoot cast because of leading. I did told one off about it.If they call them self a expert, they need to know more then they make out to know. If not sure ask someone that would know. There is too many so call experts out there and wonder where they learn to be a expert. I do not call my self a expert. But I see I know more then the ones that dose. Ever since I been on this site I learning more with you all help also at that. Thank you

[35remington]

Avoid like the plague any demonstrations or info on how to “slick” your gun. Without an understanding of how the gun works you are more likely to increase the chance of misfeeding and not at all likely to improve anything. “Feed ramp polishing” and “fluff and buff” is snake oil for those who do not understand how pistols work or why.

[birch]

--I have had a few 1911's that do not like truncated cones. The H and G 68 is truncated, but it has a long nose and feeds well.

If there is too short of a nose, the bullet will come out of he mag and get wedged on the top of the chamber--gets stuck on the little ledge left by the truncation and case rim.

See if your friend is shooting a short nosed truncated style boolit. If so, I am guessing that might be his problem. .....or, his OAL is too long, and will not chamber because of the tight chambers machined in some Kimber 1911s.

[country gent]

My 3 kimbers seem to have chambers on the tight side. Things to watch for is the cases are getting fully sized down as far as possible. Watch range brass and once fired brass for bulges from an unsupported chamber, this can be frustrating to say the least. When expanding and belling only enough to accept the bullet is needed. Over expanding or belling may leave a bulge under the crimp. Crimping a good taper crimp works solid but not to much as this also can cause a buldge at the case mouth behind it. If once fired or range pick up is being used check over all case length as the 45 headspaces on the mouth and to long cases may cause issues also.
While I wouldn't say mine are fussy the ammo loaded for them has to be right and in spec. The small 45s are critical as to load and loading. They may have recoil springs on the upper end due to lighter slide weights and other issues.
Also not being smart or cute here. How is her grip? The smaller pistols may require a stout grip and stiff wrist more so than the full sized models do. Another Gun related is how many rounds does it have thru it? Kimber recommends 200 rds or so for break in before ant issues are addressed. As far as tuning it, have a knowledgable smith work it over after 200-400 rds have been fired thru it. You didn't state what the issue it had was, Stove pipes failure to eject, Faliure to feed, not always locking up, all require different fixes.

[2shot]

What kind of trouble?

What caliber?

Short barreled pistols don't like being limp wristed. Especially noticeable with less than full power loads. Possible that she's got a less than firm grip and wrist?

2shot

[boatbum101]

Some Kimber barrels have chambers cut on the short side . Nothing that can't be fixed . Chambers can be cut longer & throats can too .

[fishnbob]

I have 2 Kimbers, a Pro Carry in .45acp and a Micro 9 for carry. I know manufacturers don't like handloading due to hot loads etc. Glock for instance states in the manual "Reloads void warranty" and we all know about their unsupported chamber deal. All my glocks and kimbers are fed steady diets of handloads with careful case preparation, selecting powder that agrees with handgun manuals and careful seating of bullets in both jacketed bullets and cast boollits. Never had a failure to eject in either while using a firm grip. BTW, I bought my Kimber pro carry from a guy who was fed up with FTE's and after I broke it in on factory FMJ's it has never failed me. It just needed the hell shot out of it for about 250 rounds and I loved doing it!

[FergusonTO35]

I don't think I have put a single factory round through my Micro .380. It just eats 'em up. I will say this, you must keep the extractor clean on this pistol. If you allow junk to build up on it you will eventually get FTE. That has nothing to do with reloads, just the old school small rigid extractor design.

[salvadore]

Forgot to thank you folks for your input. Should see her this Friday and will show her your posts. Thanks gang.

[oger]

Try running your reloads through a bulge buster, you won't believe how many cases actually size a little after normal reloading.

[Lefty Red]

A friend has been having trouble with reloads reliably functioning in her shorty kimber. Not the ones I have lent her to try. One of the experts at the local indoor range told her kimber's didn't function well with reloads. Sounds like horse pucky to me....Anyone ever heard this?Is it an Ultra Carry II? I had some problems with my first one. It went back to Kimber for barrel work. It was due to a bad batch. It was back within a week and shoots great!

My last and third UC2 was all blacked out and with factory night sights. It's perfect with anything I loaded it. But I do run mine through a bulge buster AFTER reloading. Like it was said before, reloads can get out of specs while loading.

BTW, I like the short 1911s and think Kimber does a great job on them. I have settled on a Colt Defender for my "Micro" 1911 only because it was an amazing deal and already had an ambi safety on it!

Also, I settled on Hornady Custom 200gr +p for my carry ammo. Seems to shoot where I some and in small groups. The 230gr was all over the place on my shorty 1911s.

Lefty

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[FergusonTO35]

A lot of my 9mm and .380 boolit loads have a little bulge and it's never caused a problem. The chamber should be generous enough to allow for reasonable variances, especially on a defensive gun.

[nun2kute]

I would argue with that "Pilgrim" that they are ALL reloads, I'm just a smaller Co. doing more quality work. With maybe some recycled components involved. That was probably just his idea of "Flirting" with your Girl.

[Lloyd Smale]

only problem with my kimbers (I have 3) is with my gold cup. I ran into a problem with that gun. Bullets I had oal set at that worked in all the rest of my 1911s wouldn't run in the gold cup. Swc's had to be seated deaper. Basicaly where the case was right even with the step in the bullet nose. Seated like that it doesn't miss a beat and other then my 9mm sti Trojan is the most accurate 1911 ive owned. My other two kimbers will eat about anything.