Dropped and Damaged my Kimber

[Mark 1911]

Update. I waited for two weeks but finally received my new mainspring housing from Wilson Combat. The part was on backorder, thus the delay.

I remember someone posting that one of the Kimber pins was larger than the Wilson part, they were right. Thanks for the heads up, I ordered that part too. What I came to find out is that all of the Wilson Parts are slightly smaller in diameter. The cap pin at the top of the spring, the retainer pin that inserts into the bottom of the spring, the cap pin that inserts into the top of the housing, and even the mainspring itself, all of them are just ever so slightly smaller in diameter than the corresponding Kimber parts. I ordered the parts I still need. Luckily they're all in stock. Hopefully will have everything I need in a few more days. The wait continues!

Oddly enough, the mainspring housing itself is a perfect fit, didn't need any filing or fitting whatsoever. Go figure.

 

[scottka]

Good to hear that you're making progress (kinda... haha). Hopefully the new parts will do it for you.

 

[MikeDVB]

When you get done replacing the Kimber parts with Wilson parts you'll have more of a WC gun than a Kimber :P

[Not technically, but I see the humor in it.]

 

[Tombs]

For the plastic vs metal debate, watch this video starting around 1:30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biMkNYWAzIk

I think that debate is more of a generational arguement. I like metal, but the fact remains that there's something to be said for the flexibility of plastic in the right applications.

Aluminium has no business in firearms anyway, as far as I'm concerned.

Lots are made with it, only a few get the right alloy cooked up.

Polymer is a lot better material in general. Especially polymer with a steel skeleton, and fiber reinforcement. That's superior to steel as far as I'm concerned. Straight polymer is in no way comparable to steel, though.

But in any case, aluminium isn't steel. (And yes, I use the english spelling of aluminium because the US spelling doesn't make sense in contrast to every single other metal.)

 

[Noway Jose]

Wow... All these posts and still no pic from the OP.

 

[MikeDVB]

Aluminium has no business in firearms anyway, as far as I'm concerned.

Lots are made with it, only a few get the right alloy cooked up.

So you're saying all of the aluminum framed Sig pistols are junk?

If I'm not mistaken, Sig has a pretty solid reputation, no?

 

[Mark 1911]

Update on the repairs.

Not passing functional checks.

I finally got all the parts I needed from Wilson Combat. The mainspring housing (MSH) required only a few file strokes to achieve the required clearance between the MSH and the grip safety. The Wilson Combat MSH is a work of art, no comparison to the OEM plastic housing.

Reassembled the pistol. But all is not well. Just to restate how this all happened, I dropped the holstered pistol and the pistol landed on the thumb safety on a a concrete surface. The impact was hard enough to break the plastic mainspring housing, and the hammer dropped to half cock position upon impact as well.

Without Slide Installed
Cocking the hammer.
Without the slide installed, I can cock the hammer back into half and full cock positions. At first if seems like the sear is working correctly as far as holding hammer position. However....

Thumb Safety
After installing the thumb safety, if I cycle the thumb safety off and on a few times, I can get the hammer to fall out of full-cock position, but does not fall all the way to half-cock. At this point if I click the thumb safety to the off position, the hammer will fall to half-cock.

Also, with hammer in full-cock and thumb safety on, if I squeeze the grip safety and trigger simultaneously, sometimes the hammer will drop out of full-cock but not all the way to half-cock. At this point, if I click thumb safety off hammer drops to half-cock.

With Slide Installed
Slide Installation
With hammer cocked, install slide as per normal procedure. After slide is installed, I can rack the slide back and forth a few times, hammer remains cocked for a few cycles, but on the third or fourth cycle, hammer drops to half-cock



Given the above malfunctions, I have double checked the installation of the sear spring several times, and it is properly installed. I can see no marring to the sear, disconnector, or to the surfaces of the hammer that engage with the sear. The thumb safety shows a very small area where some surface wear is apparent (shiny surface in pic below), but not sure that this would be enough to cause these issues.

If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. I have considered replacing the sear spring, but I don't think that's the issue because the hammer does cock, if it was the sear spring, I am thinking the hammer would not cock at all.

I can see no other damage except for the one spot above, but I can't understand how the thumb safety could be responsible for all the malfunctions. If there is something very simple that I am missing, I would like to know what it is.

If nobody can put their finger on the culprit, I may use this situation as an excuse to sent the pistol to Wilson Combat for an upgrade of the thumb and grip safeties, and upgrade the sear, disconnector, and hammer, maybe get a trigger job done as well.

 

[bwframe]

IMHO, I wouldn't screw around fiddling with this life saving device any further. I'd take it straight to a smith. INGO advertiser AllenM would be a top consideration.

 

[Mark 1911]

IMHO, I wouldn't screw around fiddling with this life saving device any further. I'd take it straight to a smith. INGO advertiser AllenM would be a top consideration.

Unless I am just plain missing something very simple and basic, I totally agree with you. This will likely end up being a Wilson Combat upgrade, and will be a much nicer piece when all is done.

 

[MikeDVB]

I'm sure AllenM can get you sorted as indicated. He does fantastic work. Having my new sights put on my 1911 Monday or Tuesday by him ;-).

 

[Mark 1911]

Thanks guys, I will try sending AllenM a PM.

 

[Mark 1911]

In my last post I mentioned that I would send AllenM a PM. That turned out to be the the right choice. I drove down to Avon and dropped my Kimber Pro TLE II with Allen. After a little troubleshooting, Allen pinpointed the problem to the trigger group. The thumb safety, sear, and hammer were ruined from the impact of the fall, besides the shattered mainspring housing. The hammer would easily drop out of full cock position, the pistol was no longer safe to carry.

I could have ordered just the parts I needed to fix it, but I decided to totally gut the pistol and replace the internals with Wilson Combat. I figured if I have to have the work done, why not spend a little extra and make a much nicer pistol in the end. Here's a list of the Wilson Combat parts I ordered. We ended up using an EWG firing pin stop for the closer fit:

Hammer, Deluxe Commander, Bullet Proof®, Blue
Deluxe Bullet Proof® Sear, A-2
Disconnector, Bullet Proof®
Sear Spring, Bullet Proof®
Slide Release, .45 ACP, Bullet Proof®, Blue
Thumb Safety, Tactical Lever, Bullet Proof®, Blue
Magazine Release, Tactical, Bullet Proof®, Blue
Firing Pin Stop, 80 Series, Bullet Proof®, Blue
Extractor, 80 Series, .45 ACP, Bullet Proof®, Blue
Firing Pin, .45 ACP, Bullet Proof® (still on backorder)
Firing Pin Return Spring, Extra Power
Hammer Strut Pin, Blue
Hammer Strut, Blue
Mainspring Housing Pin, Blue
Mainspring, 23#
Mainspring Housing Cap Pin, Blue
Mainspring Cap, Stainless
Mainspring Cap Retainer Pin, Stainless
Mainspring Housing, Flat, Full-Size, Blue
Beavertail Grip Safety, High Ride, Bullet Proof®, Blue

 

[Mark 1911]

Here's a pic of the pistol before the damage:

AllenM also posted a thread with additional details about the gunsmithing, some interesting details in Allen's thread here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...389-gunsmith_kimber_tle_tuneup_and_paint.html

The Happy Ending!!
Here's some pics of the pistol refurbishment that AllenM did. The original Kimber mainsping housing was plastic, the new Wilson Combat mainspring housing is steel, its a work of art, but there's an art to fitting these parts as well, and that is AllenM's special skill. Here's the pics after refinishing with Cerakote black graphite:

Again, just a special note of appreciation to AllenM. You can't go wrong with Allen, he's totally reliable, and he is blessed with a special skill. There just aren't many craftsmen of Allen's caliber around these days!

 

[AllenM]

nice pics. I need to learn how to do that!
Thanks Mark

 

[Mark 1911]

nice pics. I need to learn how to do that!
Thanks Mark

Allen - you don't need a real fancy camera. My wife took these with her Sony Cyber Shot, a little pocket camera, 7.2 mp. No flash, a little piece of red felt for background.

 

[MikeDVB]

Test fired it yet?

 

[Mark 1911]

Test fired it yet?

I just picked it up yesterday so I have not had a chance yet. Allen fired 40 or 50 rounds through it (he had to tune the new extractor). I had ordered the wrong recoil spring, so at first it wasn't running right. Changed back to the original Kimber recoil spring and it ran flawlessly. I plan to get down to the range next weekend and run another 50 rounds through it. If all goes well, which I expect it will, I will start carrying it again after that.

 

[MikeDVB]

Oh, I was just wondering. Just got my 1911 back from Wilson Combat with a new finish and I haven't had a chance to get to the range to shoot it yet .

 

[jedi]

Thank gun is missing some PINK in it. Just saying.