Kimber Ultra Elite jams. HELP?

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David Blinder

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I have a new Kimber Ultra Elite that seems to
jam 1-2 times per 100 shots with hollowpoints, regardless of brand or weight. It feeds fine with ball ammo. Any suggestions on how to solve this reliability problem?
 
Buy a Sig!

Sorry, I couldn't resist! :)

Please forgive me.

How many total rounds are through the gun?

Can you describe the jam? Is it always the same (always first round, always last round, failure of slide to go fully into battery, double feed, always with just one magazine, or with any of your magazines?, etc)

Could be many factors so provide us as much info as possible.

I have read in various places that any 1911 with less than a Commander length barrel (4.25 inches) can be problematic with reliability, regardless of who works on it. On the other hand, Kimbers have a reputation for getting it right.

You say it always shoots great with hardball (I assume 230 grain hardball?). Try feeding hollowpoints with the same weight that have a hardball profile (Federal 230 grain Hydrashok, Remington 230 grain Golden Saber). If those feed flawlessly, then take a look at the profile of the ammo that is causing problems (bullet shape, bullet weight, +p load, etc). Keep accurate notes and stick to ammo that always goes bang. Isolate the characteristics of the ammo that causes problems and the situations in which the malfs occur and get on the telephone with Kimber -- discuss the facts with one of their reps.

Hope this helps!
 
I had a similar problem with an eary Ultra Carry. Contacted Kimber and they had me ship them the weapon. Six days later it was back in my hands and has worked 100% for the last couple of hundred rounds.

My advice is to contact Kimber's custom shop by e-mail, it seems to work much better than trying to call them.
 
Thanks for the feedback. The pistol has about 1000 rounds total.The jam is failure to feed into the barrel and it usually occurs mid-way through a clip. It does it with factory mags as well as Wilson Combat. The ball ammo is 230gr. FMJ and I have also used 200 gr. wadcutters with no problems. I have tried the following hollowpoints: Hydroshock 230gr, Cor-bon +P 185 & 230gr., Hornady 200gr XTP, Winchester 185gr silvertips, Remington Saber 230gr. These all had at least 1 jam per 50 shots with the Cor-bon's the worst. I did contact Kimber and they told me to send the pistol back and they would correct it. I'll update you when I get it back from the custom shop.
 
Since you say it has 1000 rounds through it, I would try a new recoil spring before sending it off. Compact .45's are rough on recoil springs.
 
Good luck on having Kimber fix it for you.
I have had two Kimbers and neither would feed hardball (would feed my reloads 100% of the time). Kimber could or would not fix either of them. Kimber did replace the barrel in one of them but it came back with the same problem and Kimber made me a
"Special Deal" on the barrel. Ain't it great when they make you pay for part of the repairs of their problems!
Kimber makes a great firearm but you are on your own if it does not work 100% out of the box. This is the kind of company that I will no longer be a customer of.
 
I had a compact custom doing the same thing, I polished the breachface, and it went away.

------------------
10MM Magnum.... tried the rest, now I got the best
 
blunder,
I have a Pro Elite. The only time it jams is with the meggar mag it came with. Before you send it back try a different brand mag and get the feed ramp polished. Good Luck.
 
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