I wasn't aware that Kimber used stainless barrels in any of their guns. I thought they were all carbon steel.
I wasn't aware that Kimber used stainless barrels in any of their guns. I thought they were all carbon steel.
@blr: Just FYI, if you click on the spreadsheet-looking button on the bottom left of the post toolbar, there is a way to include a table in your post. I took the liberty of cleaning those measurements up for you a bit.
Extractor:
Gun HookDepth HookWidth Rim Clearance Tension 10mm CQB 0.035 0.075 0.070 0.0005 10mm Kimber 0.027 0.071 0.074 0.001 EB(unfitted) 0.037 0.067 NA NA LB PII 0.043 0.070 0.070 0.001 Kimber DW 0.032 0.070 0.075 NONE
Breechface:
Gun Perpendicular to Rails Flatness 10mm CQB 0.0003 0.0000 10mm Kimber 0.001 0.001 LB PII 0.0000 0.0005 Kimber DW 0.002 0.0005
This is my extremely unshocked face. It's disappointing when it happens while they're still in the showcase, but it's absolutely rage-inducing when you're unboxing some of your annual big stocking dealer order and the most expensive gun in the box comes with the barrel pre-rusted.Originally Posted by blr
ETA: Reading this post aloud caused Gunsmith Bob to chime in that he's polished three this week. I had no idea, since I don't work there anymore. (The reason it's rage inducing is that you do not want to have to field-strip new, unsold 1911s to check for it, but unless the corrosion extends out near the muzzle or onto the barrel hood, the first person who is going to see it is the customer. This is an issue that should have been corrected, and yet has persisted for years.)
I also thought that Kimber barrels were left in the white carbon steel barrels.
Kimber's web site says barrels are "Steel" and the barrel bushings are "Stainless steel." No steel grades are specified, but I would conclude the barrels are not a stainless alloy.
It would not shock me to find that this is so. Shooting from the hip, and not having toured Kimber's plant, given the most frequent location of the corrosion it would appear that the guns are given their final erlin' up after assembly and the inaccessible portion of the barrel is just left to fend for itself.
The frequency of complaint is apparently not enough to cut into the bottom line, apparently.
When a company will return a gun sent in for repair to a customer with a part missing...
Nothing should be shocking.
Kimber references almost all of their barrels as "steel." Their Gold Match, Raptor, and Super Carry pistols are the only ones that I'm aware of coming with stainless steel barrels. All others are carbon steel left in the white, hence the oft mentioned rust on barrels that new owners inherit.
Last edited by Timbonez; 09-23-2012 at 08:34 AM. Reason: Grammar
The 45 extractors
Kimber in the middle.
The 10mm extractors:
Some more random pics:
While reading this thread in gunsmithing the other day, I was amused to note that the little Hall of Shame I had going atop the furnace while I worked there is still there:
Pardon the blurry cell phone pic; I'm on the road and have no access to good image editing software. All but one of the sears are from Kimbers, as is the thumb safety, both ejectors, and the barrel bushing. The broken parts date from a period running from '04 to '06. (There's also a broken MIM trigger bar from a S&W PPK and the cracked breechblock from the rental 228 up there, among the other detritus. The rear sight is from a Filipino 1911 whose owner wanted new sights, so I obligingly drifted that one out with my thumb before turning the pistol over to the 'smiths.)
Granted, it's just a dusty pile of anecdotes, from broken guns I'd hauled back to gunsmithing and subsequently tossed the broken part atop the furnace, and not representative of every broken gun seen in the shop in that time period, but from such anecdotes are my subjective opinions formed.
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