Kimber 45 acp extractor

K

kolob10

New member
Looking for a recomendation on a replacement extractor for my Kimber. It is out of warranty & I don;t want to pay UPS $25.00 to ship the gun back to Kimber. I can buy an extractor for that price & install it myself.

[This message has been edited by kolob10 (edited November 02, 2000).]
 
This is a sore point with me.
A customer of mine brought in her Ultra Elite with a broken extractor.
The hook snapped off straight at the arm!
After close examination, I've come to believe that the extractors that come on the Kimbers are CAST!
Combined with the cast grip safety, firing pin stop, thumb safety, slide stop, and plastic main spring housing, this makes for some rather disappointing materials when you consider these parts are found inside a 1000 dollar pistol.
Yeah, I know, a plastic mainspring housing doesn't affect much, but a cast extractor, to me is near criminal workmanship when you consider that the Ultra Elite is SUPPOSED to be a carry gun you can stake your life on.
If you have a Kimber, don't wait for the extractor to break, because it WILL.
Just go ahead and replace it.
BTW I have an Ultra Elite, and after replacing all the "sub-standard" parts it's my favorite pistol.
It's just a shame that I had to invest about 150 bucks in parts for a brand new 1K pistol.



------------------
Your mind is your primary weapon.
USE IT!
 
Use a Wilson Combat Bulletproof extractor. It is the best I have had any dealings with.Directions come with the part. you will need to tune the extractor during installation.The instructions tell you how.It is quite easy.
 
Hi, Ken,

I think it's worse than that; I believe they are MIM parts. MIM is a good way to make complex parts that do not undergo any real strain (like a safety). A 1911 type extractor should be made of the best quality spring steel. Anything else is, to use your word "criminal".

This is why the current crop of .45 gurus tell people not to drop the slide on a chambered round, since the cheap cast or MIM extractors they make or endorse won't flex without breaking.

Jim
 
That is true the rounds should always be striped from the clip on a 1911. The wilson combat bulletproof extractors really are better than a lot if the others also.
 
Hi Jim!
That's a new one on me, what's "MIM" ?

To my knowledge, it's been an accepted fact that you should never drop the slide on a chambered round.
This is asking an awful lot of the 1911 extractor no matter how good the quality of manufacture. You're just asking the extractor to flex far more than it should have to.
This (I believe) is one of the reasons John Browning went to a pinned, pivoting extractor with the Hi-Power.

So even if you have the "Bulletproof" extractor or other high quality replacement part, strip the rounds from the mag when loading.
This also has the VERY slight benefit of "edging" the second round forward just a little bit in the magazine, which may (or may not) increase second round reliability.

*Highly theoretical and NO way to prove it*


------------------
Your mind is your primary weapon.
USE IT!
 
If one was to get a new extractor, should you also get a new firing pin stop, so that it can be fitted to the extractor? If so any recommendations on brand. Are Kimber firing pins also MIM parts. If so than I might as well get a new one also. Heck while I am at it, I might as well get a new slide stop and mainspring housing too. Well maybe a will try to get some use out of the standard parts first. Of any of the parts listed above, which take fitting and which are drop in.
 
Hi, Ken,

MIM is metal injection molding. I have dropped the slide on live rounds many hundreds of times on GI .45s and have never (that's NEVER) had an extractor break or fail to engage the rim. If the extractors are made right, that is not too much flex.

And BROWNING did NOT go to a pivoting extractor on the HP. Browning's original HP extractor was like the 1911. FN went to the pivoting extractor in the postwar (money saving) upgrade when they changed the slide and also went to a 2 piece barrel. JMB was long dead at that point.

Jim

Jim
 
I have found I have the best luck with Wilson Combat parts.Buy the best ones he makes.The firing pin should be a dropin, no fitting.The Slide stop May require fitting,sometimes not.The Mainspring housing Quite often requires fitting.Your firing pin stop is probably OK. A new one might require minimal fitting.I have change out most parts on a 1911 at one time or another.Most of the parts you mentioned are not hard to fit especially if you have a few directions to get started and remember go slow and it is a lot easier to remove metal than to put it back.Also there are a lot of parts out there and some fit better than others and are easier to install.Some don't fit worth a dam no matter how much fitting you do.Buy top quality parts like wilsons to start with and you will be a lot better off.I know. I have learned the hard way too many times.If you decide to change a thumb safety buy a couple of extra plunger springs.sometimes changing a plunger spring out can make all the difference in how well a safety operates.You want the safety to be very positive in both the safe and fire positions.if it is not it will either wipe off too easy or move back to the safe position while being fired.Either can mean disaster in a bad siduation.
 
Thanks for the "word" on MIM Jim.
and now for the ugly part...
This is VERY difficult for me but, well
uhm
I was wru, whro, roon, w.r.o.n.g.
I was wrong.
THERE!
I did it, don't EVER expect me to do it again.
LOL
No, I'm not surprised that you haven't seen an extractor break, it's a long service item and if properly made, "should" last for a VERY long time. (several decades?)
So no, it "probably" won't break, but then why take the chance when it's so easy to load from the magazine?
I suppose someone might want to load single fire, but I can't imagine why?
Of course in street encounters, you do whatever you gotta do to make it go BANG!

------------------
Your mind is your primary weapon.
USE IT!
 
Thanks for all the info on Kimber parts. My Kimbers shoot great at the range but actually I carry a Glock 30 daily for personal defense as it has never failed to feed or fire after several thousand rounds.
I quess I should update my Kimbers if I decide to use for personal carry. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
Hi, Ken,

You did IT? Horrible! I shall have to report your actions to the guru control center and they will dispatch an agent to take you in for a session with a shrink.

I have been shooting 1911, 1911A1 and clones for something like 50 years and a lot of the current conventional wisdom is BS. Many of the gurus who claim the pistol (properly made) is fragile simply have no idea what happens when it is fired! As an example, I have never seen anyone (except yours truly) mention that the slide does not push the hammer gently back, it slams it back so hard it bounces off the grip safety and impacts on the bottom of the recoil spring tunnel. Look at the bottom of any used 1911 type and you will see the dents.

Jerry Kuhnhausen, whose books are akin to bibles, knows a lot about the 1911. But his illlustration and description of the operation shows that he does not really know how one works. He thinks the barrel is fully locked and stationary until the bullet has left the muzzle. Not so. The barrel begins moving from recoil when the bullet moves and is in motion when the bullet exits. That is why they call it a recoil operated pistol.

Jim
 
Hi, Walter,

MIM parts are steel, and it is sometimes very difficult to tell them from forged milled steel. MIM is a form of compressed metal, similar in concept to the old powdered iron that was (unfortunately) used in some older guns. Modern techniques are better and the product is better; MIM parts, like plastic parts, are perfectly OK in the right places. The right place is not where the part must take very much strain or act as a spring.

Jim
 
Just bought a 1991A1 Colt. Is my extractor ok? How about the other components? Any MIM parts? I bought it as a platform to build a custom gun. What should I change out? Thanks, Sam
 
Sear & disconnector are MIM on 1991 Colts. Terrible! Not all MIM parts are that bad, but Colt seems to like junk sears. Can't tune them for beans. If you're going to use it as a basis for a custom gun, plan on replacing those at least.
 
Right,Jim.And the 1911 was designed to drop the slide on a chambered round,that's why the slide locks back when the magazine is empty.JM knew soldiers would need quick reloads!

I have 15 1911 pistols,including 8 Colts.I've fired untold gillions of rounds through all of them,never had a broken extractor.Had to re-tension a few,but no catastrophic failures.

Wilson makes good stuff,yes,but I think they are a bit pricey.I use Kings products quite a bit-just as good,half the cost.

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If it ain't broke,don't fix it!
 
In March 2000 issue of shooting times it has an article on how Kimber's are made. It says the extractors are made of 6150 vanadium chromium, the same steel used in high-quality handtools such as Snap-On and Sears. It says the hammer disconnector, thumb safety and slide latch are MIM. It also says when MIM small parts are heat treated to same hardness as a cast part, the MIM producted part is stronger because the grain structure is about 20 percent more dense. The article was by Layne Simpson.
 
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