New Kimber "improved" extractor

[Tokarev]

I bougth a Kimber Pro TLE/RL II awhile back and have had nothing but failures to extract with the gun. I've tried different ammo, mags, shooting into the wind, closing one eye and then the other, etc. and nothing seems to correct this. Kimber sent me a new extractor once and I've sent the gun back to the factory twice. Still no luck. Kimber says I'm either limp-wristing or not lubing the gun correctly. I've been shooting 1911's for 20+ years and never had problems with limp-wristing or oil.

Has anybody else had this same experience? Kimber says spring tension is not the problem but they can't seem to resolve this issue or tell me what the problem is.

As things stand now, I am sick of dealing with Kimber and their poor customer service. Unless I can otherwise get this gun cured, I see no alternatives other than dumping it at a gunshow or buying a new slide from Caspian without the stupid tactical extractor.

[Pierruiggi]

I've tried different ammo, mags, shooting into the wind, closing one eye and then the other, etc. and nothing seems to correct this

shooting into the wind...

I don't doubt your experience and proficiency handling and firing handguns in general and 1911s in particular, but, have you let another shooter fire your gun? Does this yield the same FTEs?

I'm sorry to hear Kimber has not been able to resolve your problem.

There are several top notch gunsmiths here that may help you fix it, but perhaps you should take your gun to a qualified gunsmith personally.

Good luck.

[Tokarev]

Nobody else has fired this particular pistol other me and Kimber. There are a bunch of guys on 1911forum.com with similar experiences but nobody seems to have been able to come up with a cure. Also, this failure looks to be more common among the guys who own the compact-type Kimbers and not the 5" guns. Anyway, most of the guys on this forum are more serious about shooting so I thought I'd ask here.

Also, the few 'smiths I've talked to about this say they can't do much because Kimber uses a unique extractor with no replacement available.

[Deuce]

Bought a brand new CDP Pro a couple years ago ... didn't notice the F'd up feed-ramp. Had many feeding problems ... sent it in to Kimber as usual. They accused me of dremmeling the feed-ramp and said the best they could do was charge me $150 for a new frame. After months of back 'n forth, had to cough up the $150 to fix a BRAND NEW gun!

Dumped my other 4 Kimbers ... each of which also had return trips to Yonkers for this 'n that ... and never looked back. My new SW1911 is twice the gun any of my $1000 Kimbers ever was. Looking forward to a new STI Trojan for about the same money.

FYI, FWIW, YMMV.

[SiG Lady]

Sell it.

Start over.

Save yourself any further grief.

Mainly just don't throw any more good money after bad.

[JD45]

I'll second that. I learned a long time ago that if a gun isn't a family heirloom and gives you potentially costly problems, sell the thing. I like to let the buyer know what might need fixing, and it is usually minor.

[Lycanthrope]

The first run external extractors had problems with tension. I know of a couple that had to go back.

Later Kimber changed the slide design a bit so the rear of the extractor is exposed back by the firing pin stop. The early runs were thin and could crack there. I'm not sure how that figures into reliability, but it's a point of interest.

[Harmon]

i wonder what prompted them(and para ordnance) to change john brownings precious extractor design...i dont think i have ever had a failure to extract with a 1911(a buddy had a couple when STI had a 38 super extractor in a 9mm edge)

perhaps this is just a bad dream and they will go back to the old style extractor...

[Tokarev]

They're supposed to be coming out with a "Warrior" model that will feature the light rail frame but no firing pin safety and regular extractor.