[Richard]

Issues raised in a different thread notwithstanding, I have been having significant FTF problems with my Custom Pro CDP II. The gun has been examined by Kimber, and by two local smiths. My own examination convinces me that the problem rests with the barrel hood. Whenever the gun fails to feed, the cartridge appears to be hung up on the underside back edge of the barrel hood. This is true 100% of the time when trying to feed SWCs and often when trying to feed JHPs.

When I examine the underside of the hood with a jeweler's loupe, the rear edge looks rough, and that's where the cartridges are hanging up. The rim of the brass casing catches on the edge of the hood.

Question: What is the downside risk of polishing the edge of the hood a little with a dremel tool?

Thanks for any assistance with this issue.

Oh, BTW, I retrieved all of my records and found that I had paid a local gunsmith to professionally clean the gun because I didn't have a takedown tool at the time. That was before the gun was sent back to Kimber. The gun is quite clean, and cleanliness seems to have nothing to do with the FTF issue.

 

[PorscheVille]

What kind of magazine are you using?

I highly recommend using the Wilson Combat Elite Tactical Magazine. I have a Pro Carry and had one FTF at 750 rounds using the standard Kimber mag. That was one too many for me. I bought Wilson Combat mags and have never had another FTF. Now at 1350 rounds.

I can't really give advice on taking off metal...I'm just a YouTube gun smith which is worse than knowing nothing according to a gun smith I met today to install some sights.

Buying one magazine and testing with it is pretty cheap. I'd give that a try since it is the magazine's job to do the feeding.

 

[PorscheVille]

This is the WC ETM mag....*bonus: it holds 8 rounds* ....the gun smith today said that WC ETM was the best magazine out there.

 

[Lineman]

Go for it!!

If the barrel has a rough edge that is causing cartridges to hang up while feeding, I see no problem in smoothing out the edge. I would caution you against going crazy with a Dremel tool!! I would advise the use of either an extremely fine jeweler's file, a fine sharpening stone or some well oiled 600 grit emery cloth. The idea is to SMOOTH, not remove metal!!

Another course of action (and actually the first choice) is just to feed it a bunch of good old fashioned American made FMJ GI hardball (some folks, INCLUDING THE FOLKS AT KIMBER, commonly refer to this as breaking in your pistol!!! ) The rounded nose of the FMJ ammo will definitely knock the edge off and smooth it out. About 500 rounds should do the job. If that doesn't work, then have at with the abrasive action and some serious elbow grease!!

Good luck! BTW, the SWC and hollow points are hard to get some 1911 to digest. After the break in/polishing it should feed much better. Thankfully, I was blessed with a 1911 Kimber that has always ate anything that I feed it.

 

[PorscheVille]

Agree with lineman. In addition to testing a different magazine, I'd try FMJ ammo. If you keep having hang ups with FMJ and a WC mag, then you know the gun is the issue. Process of elimination. And yeah, go very light on the filing, polishing, etc. Metal is easy to take off and real hard to put back.

 

[Richard]

To try to answer everybody in a single post:

I use Wilson Combat magazines, and I keep track of which of them has feed problems. So far, neither of my two mags is any worse than the other one. I have no other magazines, and I purchased these magazines a little over two years ago from the same shop that cleaned my gun and test fired it. They recommended that I replace the stock Kimber mags, so I did. The magazines hold 8 rounds.

More than 800 rounds have been fired through the gun, and I just received my order of another 300 rounds of Remington UMC 230 gr. hardball today. I will definitely shoot all 300 rounds of this ammo before making a decision as to what I will do with the gun.

The folks at Kimber told me that the gun was not designed to shoot anything but 230 gr, round nose FMJ Ball ammunition, and that Kimber would not warrant that the gun would shoot any other ammunition reliably. Also, page #25 of my Kimber Operational Manual states: "NOTE: 1911 style handguns in 45 ACP were designed to function best with bullets that have a smooth contoured nose." The folks at Kimber pointed this out to me when I called them about my feeding problems with SWCs and JHPs. What really puzzles me is that it appears that other Pro CDP II owners are able to shoot these rounds reliably.

I used to own a very accurate Colt Gold Cup, and I regularly shot 190 gr. cast SWCs with no feeding problems whatsoever, so I guess I might have ignored the warning in the manual as being typical legalese. My mistake, I guess. It never occurred to me that a premium firearm like the Kimber might be less reliable than a Colt.

I shot 200 rounds of PMC 230 gr. FMJ ammo at the range a week apart over the past three weeks (last week and the week before - 100 rounds each week). Each time, I had two FTF stoppages. Four FTFs in 200 rounds gives me a 2% FTF rate, which is excessive, in my book.

I wish I had a way to take a clear picture of the barrel hood through a jeweler's loupe and post it so that you can see what I am referring to. Maybe I'll give that another try tomorrow. It isn't real rough, but it is certainly rougher than what I would expect from a custom shop. It is the bevel between the back of the hood, and the underside -- right where the edge of the brass must pass when feeding a new round. If I was shooting hand loads, I would wonder about the crimp, but this is all factory ammo.

With an open and locked slide and a full magazine of Federal Premium 185 grain FMJ Semi-Wadcutter ammo, the first round will not feed when the slide is released. It will never feed, and Kimber tells me that the gun was not designed for use with Semi-Wadcutters. I suppose that is a reasonable position for them to take, and I would understand it completely, if everybody who owned this model of 1911 had the same issue ...

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate the help.

 

[Richard]

Picture of Barrel Hood

This is the best I was able to do. Note the irregularities and tool marks in the edge of the hood. All of the edges of the barrel hood show tool marks. I am not a machinist, but this seems to be a bit rough, especially for a gun that is supposed to be of such high quality. I know for a fact that the gun came from Kimber this way, and that no local smith made these marks, because I saw them before anybody tried to fix the problem..

View attachment 404

I hope this helps.

 

[Islander]

I'm no expert, but I agree that doesn't look right. I'd call Kimber again.

 

[Richard]

Barrel Hood

I'm no expert, but I agree that doesn't look right. I'd call Kimber again.

They haven't really been very friendly, in my experience.

It costs me almost $100 to ship the gun back to their shop in New York, so I would like to limit the number of times I send it to them and then get it back with nothing really fixed.

Do you think this can be repaired by a local smith with some machine tools, or do you think the whole barrel should be replaced?

 

[Islander]

They haven't really been very friendly, in my experience.

It costs me almost $100 to ship the gun back to their shop in New York, so I would like to limit the number of times I send it to them and then get it back with nothing really fixed.

Do you think this can be repaired by a local smith with some machine tools, or do you think the whole barrel should be replaced?

Well, like I said, I'm not an expert. If you would rather go to a local gunsmith it's probably not a bad idea to have one look at it and see what they say.

 

[pbsdaddy]

Since the .45, like the 9mm and other auto loading pistols, head spaces on the mouth of the case and not the rim, I see nothing wrong with polishing the hood of the barrel.
When I polish the feed ramp or other barrel parts I use a Dremel with a bullet shaped polishing pad. As stated, don't go crazy. I use, most often, Dupont polishing compound. Put a bit on the pad then apply it to the desired area. After 20 seconds or so, remove the tool. If necessary, apply a bit more compound and repeat the process. You are done as soon as you see the metal actually has taken on a nice polished sheen. Looking at it through your lupe you will see you have rounded those machining marks. That's all you want to do.

 

[Richard]

Since the .45, like the 9mm and other auto loading pistols, head spaces on the mouth of the case and not the rim, I see nothing wrong with polishing the hood of the barrel.
When I polish the feed ramp or other barrel parts I use a Dremel with a bullet shaped polishing pad. As stated, don't go crazy. I use, most often, Dupont polishing compound. Put a bit on the pad then apply it to the desired area. After 20 seconds or so, remove the tool. If necessary, apply a bit more compound and repeat the process. You are done as soon as you see the metal actually has taken on a nice polished sheen. Looking at it through your lupe you will see you have rounded those machining marks. That's all you want to do.

Thanks, pbsdaddy! I might give that a try.

I am reluctant to do anything to the gun, but I am getting desperate to solve this problem that has been plaguing me for two years.

Have you seen any other Pro CDP IIs with marks like that on the barrel hood?

 

[pbsdaddy]

Machining marks are common on every gun. Some are a little more apparent than others. Even my custom made Bar-Sto barrel has a few.

 

[Richard]

Thanks for Your Thoughts

Machining marks are common on every gun. Some are a little more apparent than others. Even my custom made Bar-Sto barrel has a few.

Okay, thanks, pbsdaddy.

I no longer have my bench, or any of my tools. When I moved away from my home of more than 21 years in Illinois, I gave my tools to my son. I had intended to borrow my son-in-law's Dremel tool, but I am a little reluctant to start removing metal from the barrel of the gun lest I make the problem worse than it already is.

I might try to contact Kimber, again. They told me I could return the gun to them (again), but it costs me almost $100 to ship it to them. This time, I might try a different approach ...

Thanks, again, for your thoughts on the issue.

 

[Richard]

More FTFs

I received the 300 rds. Remington UMC 230 gr. FMJ ammo that I ordered early in the week, and decided to shoot some of it.

On Wednesday, I went to an indoor range and fired 30 rds. in 6-rd. groups using both of my Wilson Combat mags. I had no malfunctions.

Yesterday, I went to an outdoor range and fired an additional 94 rounds of the same ammo loading 8 rds. per magazine. I tried to fire 12 magazines for a total of 96 rds., but 2 of the rounds failed to feed, leaving me with 94 rounds fired yesterday (now 939 total rounds fired).

I had stopped shooting, and sold my guns and reloading bench more than 30 years ago, and I'm not getting any younger, so I don't remember things so well anymore. I took pictures of the two rounds that failed to feed, and of several of the ejected empty casings that I picked up from the bench and the concrete to post them for you to look at. I fiddled with my camera for some time trying to get the pictures in-focus, and these are the best I was able to do.

I wiped everything off with an alcohol pad before I photographed them. I can't remember if the empties should show as much evidence of heat as some of these, or of as much damage to the brass from mechanical manipulation, but I don't think the gouges in the brass near the top of the cases of the two rounds that failed to feed are anywhere near normal. I think they are so deep that they might make the cases unsuitable for reloading.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter. I am still seeing about a 2% FTF rate with the ammunition recommended by the manufacturer.

 

[NascarGuy]

I am having similar problems with my Raptor Ultra II. I have tried both the factory mag and Chip McCormick 7 and 8 rounders. Same result. I am hoping that break-in will resolve it. It seems to load better on FMJ rounds but I have had FTFs on those too. On JHP rounds, especifically Critical Duty +Ps and Federal HSTs, the bullet gets hung on the bottom of the feed ramp. I am going to disassemble the gun and take a look at the barrel. Maybe I have similar issues to the OP's.

 

[Richard]

Kimber Customer Support

I spoke with a representative of Kimber Customer Service in Kalispell, Montana yesterday, and Kimber is going to determine what is wrong with my gun. I believe (hope) that they will fix whatever is wrong, and will restore the gun to original factory specifications. I probably will not know more until I receive the gun back, and have had an opportunity to take it to the range.

According to Kimber CS, the company does not have a gunsmith training program to provide Kimber certified gunsmiths to all parts of the country like Glock does. The only certified Kimber gunsmiths are in Yonkers, NY. That makes it less convenient for us Kimber owners when we need work on our Kimber products.

I recommend that you contact Kimber Customer Service about your FTF problems. They might be able to help you.

 

[Richard]

Long story short: I wrote a letter to the CEO of Kimber, and was promptly contacted by Kimber Customer Service. They provided an RMA and a prepaid shipping label, and the gun was returned to them for repair. Kimber had the gun it its possession for a full four business weeks.

According to the Packing List, Kimber "modified" the Ejection Port and installed new night sights on front and rear. The gun was then test fired. It was returned to me dirty, but I suppose that is to be expected. I cleaned it thoroughly.

Bottom Line: I took the gun to the range on Monday and fired 100 rounds of Remington UMC 230 gr. FMJ ammunition without a hiccup. Then I switched to CCI Blazer 230 gr. FMJ with aluminum cases that the gun clearly does not like. I had eleven stoppages (FTF and FTC) in 100 rounds.

I'll stick with the Remington ammo for now, but still need to test the gun with JHPs. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Chuck43]

That's not unusual, I have a Kimber with over 10,000 rounds though it that I would carry to the end of the earth. I know it will function flawlessly with anything I feed it except for PMC, I will give you 10,000 to 1 odds that it will malfunction on the first magazine of that stuff.

 

[Richard]

That's not unusual, I have a Kimber with over 10,000 rounds though it that I would carry to the end of the earth. I know it will function flawlessly with anything I feed it except for PMC, I will give you 10,000 to 1 odds that it will malfunction on the first magazine of that stuff.

I shot 100 rounds of PMC e-Range on January 29, and another 100 rounds on March 5. I had 2 failures to feed on each trip to the range.