Kimber Custom II Firing Pin "Hiccup"?

D

Dave1911

New member
Hello,

I have about 2K rounds thru a Kimber Custom II. It was bought inspired by the present administration and purchased in 2010 :).

Yesterday my son was shooting the gun and it would not fire. Pull the trigger but no boom. He handed me the gun, and he was afraid I was going to yell at him for breaking it. I did not. But the gun was inoperable. Cycled the slide multiple times. Tried different mags and ammo. Pulled the trigger multiple times which in turn dropped the hammer but no boom.

After we got done the personnel at the range took a look at it. They depressed the firing pin block and pushed the firing pin through its motion. A long way thru its motion. And then one of them was able to fire 10 rounds out of it without any issue. Made me feel kind of stupid. We even shot 8 rounds of the cheap Al case Federal ammo I was shooting when it stopped working.

Anyone experience this before. Or know what exactly I stepped into here? I have read about the firing pin block being associated with the grip safety on these models. I am thinking about going back to the range today with an emphasis on grip safety. But as stated, 2K rounds thru it with no issue. Even when I was a complete noob 6 years ago, I never had this type of problem.

As a side note, I know there are lots of Kimber concerns out here. But this gun up until yesterday has been very reliable and accurate and is very "fun" to shoot. I have introduced a number of people to shooting in the last 6 years and this one is always a favorite out of my small collection that spans many flavors.

Thanks
 
Have you cleaned out the firing pin channel in those 2k rounds?
Click to expand...

I have not. As of yesterday, I have been thinking thru this. Should I liberally squirt some FP-10 thru there and leave it on the wet side.
 
So I've had issues with an HK45c and steel cased ammo. It wasn't that the ammo didn't function, it was that the steel cases didn't expand all the way to the chamber walls and carbon was getting blown back into the firing pin channel. I didn't notice and then one day it was just click, click, click, DA or SA.

That they moved the firing pin back and forth and it started working would make me think you might be in the same boat in terms of retarded firing pin motion. What I do is spray out the firing pin channel with Gun Scrubber (can also use non-chlorinated brake cleaner but I like an aerosol no matter waht you use for the added force), then I lightly lube the firing pin itself. You want the parts free flowing, so don't go crazy with lube. I was amazed how much junk blew out of the firing pin channel.
 
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Youtube a vid of detail striping the slide. Get in there and clean everything out. Lots of small parts and springs that are prone to failure if they get crud built up on em...
 
Definitely become familiar with how to take it apart before attempting it.
Thanks to the wonderful world of the web, it's not difficult.
All inertia firing pins are prone to this problem, what ever the gun.
I clean firing pin, spring, slide channel, 'etc, with a q-tip soaked in solvent, followed by a blast of brake cleaner.
 
Dave1911 said:
I have not. As of yesterday, I have been thinking thru this. Should I liberally squirt some FP-10 thru there and leave it on the wet side.
Click to expand...



I'm not sure what FP-10 is, but don't put any oil in there. When you're done cleaning the channel, it should be dry.
 
Have you cleaned out the firing pin channel in those 2k rounds?
Click to expand...
I have not. As of yesterday, I have been thinking thru this. Should I liberally squirt some FP-10 thru there and leave it on the wet side.
Click to expand...

You know, I am cleaning my firing pin and channel after each Bullseye match, and that is only 180 rounds of centerfire. (Last match, the firing pin and spring shot up straight in front of my face, during assembly, and it took days to find the thing!. It never hit the floor, instead it was hanging to a magnet on the metal cabinet. Must have gone up, hit the ceiling, came down and the magnet grabbed it! )

I am confident that you have an oil and gunk build up in that channel that will make river mud appear clear. You may also have some broken firing pin spring coils jamming the firing pin.

After you get in there, keep it oil free. Oil will congeal and clog up firing pin movement.
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I found a you tube on changing the firing pin and firing pin spring. I may just buy some replacements, disassemble, clean out the channel in a dry fashion, and reassemble with new parts.
 
Turns out I have a firing pin spring in my Wolff recoil spring package. Maybe I will just replace the spring for now.
 
Replace the spring if you want, but still be sure to clean the channel in the process.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Kimber has series 80 design. Doesn't it require removing the rear sight to disassemble the firing pin block and firing pin?

-TL
 
Inertia Firing Pin

If it has an inertia firing pin, just clean the channel. Or just spray the whole gun with WD40. It has fixed many guns for me in the shop. (No need to start the WD 40 debate again, ty) If that doesnt fix it, the safety plunger that blocks the firing pin (Firing pin block) , may need looked at.
Kimber has series 80 design
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The inertia firing pin goes till it hits something, but if slowed by dirt, the velocity of the pin will not be high enough to fire the gun.
th_inertiafiringpin.jpg
[/URL][/IMG] My GC shows how much travel the pin has.
 
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I had experienced a very similar problem with my Kimber Custom II. It is my primary range and training gun. I shoot about 3000 rounds per month from it. Last year I had the grip safety fail...worn out part. My gunsmith fixed the gun and it functioned just fine. I was on my way to Front Sight so I shot a couple of thousand rounds with it just to make sure it wasn't going to fail again. It was flawless. Cleaned it up, put it in its Pelican Case and away I went. Day two of a four day course and about mid morning, I pulled the trigger and got that deafening click. I checked the primer case and it had a very light strike on it. So as not to miss any action, I changed to my backup gun and finished the morning. During the lunch break, I went to my car and changed out the firing pin spring in the Kimber. I used it that afternoon and the rest of the course and it performed flawlessly.

I have to say that it was probably my fault. When you get to know your gun(s), you know how long you can go between recoil spring and firing pin spring changes. I exceeded the limit of this particular gun because I was so focused on getting to Front Sight with a flawless gun that I overlooked a very basic item. I always carry an assortment of recoil and firing pin springs in my range bag. On my EDC carry gun, the spring gets changed on a schedule. The last thing I want to hear when I really need my gun is a "click" instead of a "BOOM".
 
t4terrific said:
I'm not sure what FP-10 is, but don't put any oil in there. When you're done cleaning the channel, it should be dry.
Click to expand...

I occasionally remove my firing pin, and clean the channel with Hoppe's #9, re-install the firing pin, and oil it liberally (FP-10). And I apply LOTS of oil after every range trip. Never has caused any problem.
 
TangoLima said:
Kimber has series 80 design. Doesn't it require removing the rear sight to disassemble the firing pin block and firing pin?
Click to expand...
Kimber has its own grip-lever-controlled (Swarz-like) firing-pin safety. You can easily remove the firing-pin stop, firing-pin spring, and firing pin, but the firing-pin-safety plunger and its spring can't be removed without removing the rear sight. I soak that area with Hoppe's #9 and then FP-10 (oil) every cleaning, and I doubt that the plunger and spring will ever need to be removed ... I don't think Kimber intended for that to ever be necessary.
 
Inertia firing pins can be stopped or slowed down by dirt and gunk or a little Burr ! I had an old Berreta that would fail to fire about once in 100 rounds .The pin would rotate a bit when fird and a burr on the pin and one on the hole aligned and no go !!
 
It took all of ten minutes to change the firing pin spring and clean out the channel. Too much kid stuff to get to the range. This is an area that I have never looked at.

Given I am at about 2k rounds in this gun, are there any other areas I should be looking to maintain. The only thing I had done before this was basic field strip and clean and replacement of the recoil spring.
 
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