I am about to buy a Super Carry Ultra+. I have a Solo and love it. I am a little concerned about the reliability of the short barrel length. It's not hard to find bad reviews on these forums. Can anyone give me advise on personal experience with an Ultra+. Thanks.
Is a 3" barrel reliable
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Short pipe 1911s are the redheaded stepchild of the platform. The short stroke can create some timing troubles that are not apparent in 4" and 5" barreled guns and not all 3" models will be problematic. For those that are there are some simple fixes and tweaks that can make them every bit as reliable as their long legged brethren.
I bought a Super Carry Ultra HD for Christmas and it had some failure to feed and eject issues through the first 500 rounds or so. This is Kimber's state "break in" period, but there was a couple of things I did to insure that the gun performed 100%.
One of the things that make short barrels fussy is the cycle time. Given the same load, a 3" barrel cycles faster than a full size gun due to the lack of mass in the slide: a lighter slide will be driven rearward faster. Perhaps the single most effective adjustment I made to my Ultra was to install a square bottom firing pin stop. The square bottom makes the hammer harder to push rearward, thereby slowing the cycle. We're talking milliseconds here but it makes a huge difference to the little gun. These can be had from 1911 parts houses......bought mine from Wilson Combat.
Adjust extractor tension. The extractor in my gun was very tight out of the box causing a few stovepipes (again, related to cycle speed) and frequently tossed brass at my head. Simple to adjust with a little bending. I changed this one for a WC Bulletproof just because.......I'm sure the factory extractor was just fine but it did need some tweaking.
Polish the feed ramp! Unlike their larger brothers, the feed ramp on Kimber's Ultras is part of the barrel and is very easily polished to a mirror finish. The FTF issues in my gun would jam the bullet nose on this ramp, which Kimber does not polish on their builds. A little automotive polishing compound on a Q-Tip shines that ramp up beautifully very quickly. Not had a single FTF since I did this simple, quick adjustment.
With these few tweaks the gun has become 100% reliable with not a single failure to feed nor eject in the last 140+ rounds, from 230gr hardball range loads to Corbon +p 185s and 230s. Great little piece......I love this gun! Just can't decide which grips to keep on it!
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I bought a Super Carry Ultra HD for Christmas and it had some failure to feed and eject issues through the first 500 rounds or so. This is Kimber's state "break in" period, but there was a couple of things I did to insure that the gun performed 100%.
One of the things that make short barrels fussy is the cycle time. Given the same load, a 3" barrel cycles faster than a full size gun due to the lack of mass in the slide: a lighter slide will be driven rearward faster. Perhaps the single most effective adjustment I made to my Ultra was to install a square bottom firing pin stop. The square bottom makes the hammer harder to push rearward, thereby slowing the cycle. We're talking milliseconds here but it makes a huge difference to the little gun. These can be had from 1911 parts houses......bought mine from Wilson Combat.
Adjust extractor tension. The extractor in my gun was very tight out of the box causing a few stovepipes (again, related to cycle speed) and frequently tossed brass at my head. Simple to adjust with a little bending. I changed this one for a WC Bulletproof just because.......I'm sure the factory extractor was just fine but it did need some tweaking.
Polish the feed ramp! Unlike their larger brothers, the feed ramp on Kimber's Ultras is part of the barrel and is very easily polished to a mirror finish. The FTF issues in my gun would jam the bullet nose on this ramp, which Kimber does not polish on their builds. A little automotive polishing compound on a Q-Tip shines that ramp up beautifully very quickly. Not had a single FTF since I did this simple, quick adjustment.
With these few tweaks the gun has become 100% reliable with not a single failure to feed nor eject in the last 140+ rounds, from 230gr hardball range loads to Corbon +p 185s and 230s. Great little piece......I love this gun! Just can't decide which grips to keep on it!
I bought a super carry ultra this weekend. My first kimber. I immediately went to the range. The first 50 rds was 230 gr fmj and not a single problem. I then switched to reloads of win 231. Ran fine for first 75 or so, then started to ftf. It ejected and fed fine, but would close completely. I chalked it up to the fouling of chamber (win231 is fairly dirty). I hope that was all it was. Loved the guh though. Very accurate out to 15-20 yds.
Polished my feed ramp on Kimber Ultra CarryII
Federal semi wad cutters are notorious for FTF..because they are almost flat at the the top of the brass casing. A little time with Flitz and a q tip..They all chambered and fired. No FTF.. Amazing what a little time can do.
Federal semi wad cutters are notorious for FTF..because they are almost flat at the the top of the brass casing. A little time with Flitz and a q tip..They all chambered and fired. No FTF.. Amazing what a little time can do.
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I bought a Super Carry Ultra + two weeks ago. I love it. I put 200 rounds through it Winchester 230 FMJ. After about 150 the slide would fail to return to the closed position. I contribute it to a dirty slide with tight tolerances. I will run more through it this week end. I think it will be a great EDC once the thing loosens up a little. Go buy one if you haven't already.
BucMcMaster, that was a wonderfully informative and well written bit of advice. My only Kimber thus far is a Super Carry Custom HD. I love the 5" barrel for competition, but have really relished the idea of something more easily concealable for EDC. Your tips and tricks are goin' into my bag of tricks for future reference.
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8,281 Posts
I had a small Detonics, an early Colt Officers ACP and now a UC2 Kimber. Once properly cleaned and oiled and given enough break-in rounds, they all worked fine.
The Detonics never had a stoppage.
The Detonics never had a stoppage.
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My advise is buy it, you’ll love it. I had constant stove pipes the first 200 rounds of 230 fmj, called Kimber, they wanted it back. Only took 2 weeks to get it back and now 250 rounds later it runs flawlessly. It’s now my EDC. If it doesn’t work right Kimber will make it right CS is great IMHO. Follow Kimbers suggestions and clean it first using 230 grain FMJ for the first 500 rounds.
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2,650 Posts
Have two of the Ultra 3" Kimbers. Two most Accurite and reliable guns I own. If you have problems its usually breakin and mag problems. Both of mine were 100 percent after 300 rounds. My Eclipse Ultra has thousands of rounds through it. Only problems I ever had were with a Wilson mag. (Range use only now) I run the Kimpro mags and no problems.
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Since Smarshe was last on the forum on 12/08/13 I think it would be safe to say he hasn't seen your pictures.
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