Another question for 1911 experts.

[DAVE RICHARDS]

First off thanks to all those who have been patient with me through my "Kimber Blues". This question may seem stupid but this is only my second 1911 so the guns are mostly theory to me. I've often heard that 1911's are often finicky about the loads you feed them. That has not been the case with my Springfield Compact (4" barrel). After changing the original extractor for a Wilson bulletpoof model it's gone through about 3800 rounds with not one failure of any kind. Regardless of the ammo. I own Glocks, Sigs, Kahrs, S&W's, and other good quality guns. Some have needed work after buying. Most not. Anyways all of them have feed pretty much anything I've put through them including aluminum Blazer. I know lots of folks don't like it but it's worked for me. Until now. Those of you that have been reading know I've been through hell and back with my Kimber Ultra Carry. Since I got it back form Kimber I've shot over 250 rounds of PMC ball through it with zero problems. Also shot about 40 rounds of Winchester Rangers through it (my carry round). And today 15 rounds of Cor Bon !85 grain jhp's. I've been shooting the PMC because I have a case of it and found it to be good stuff. Anyways any of you familiar with the Cor Bon's know it doesn't have a hollowpoint so much as a big, gapping mouth! Then I started to shoot a 50 round box of Blazer's I have. 4 failures to extract out of the 50 round box. Same type of failure. Extractor lets go of the round, the next
tries to feed, gun jams, slide locked. O.K. so it doesn't like Blazer. Anyone else have feed problems in their Kimbers with Blazer? Like I said all my other guns shoot it just fine. Should I be worried the extractor problems are starting again? I'm a little paranoid after the last week. The guns already at 800 rounds so it's not a break-in issue. What's with the aluminum cases that might cause the problem? I want to (hope to) get to where the gun is totally reliable because it makes a great carry piece.

[Kruzr]

I don't think the fact that it's a Kimber has anything to do with it being a "finnicky" about ammo..........its the fact it's a 3" 1911. The shorter the barrel, the more critical the timing. I had a SA Ultra Compact (3.5" barrel) that would not feed hollow points of any kind unless I changed the recoil spring to a lighter one.......not a heavier one.....a lighter one.....weird. If it feeds all your carry ammo reliably and it feeds "quality" ball ammo, then I wouldn't worry about it feeding Blazer.

BTW, is your Ultra an internal or external extractor?

[DAVE RICHARDS]

External. From what I've read they've caused more problems than they tried to solve.

[4eyes]

Do you have another new extractor spring?

[Jim Watson]

Some guns just do not handle the aluminum cases of Blazer well. I don't know why. When Blazer was new on the market I tried very hard to get along with the 200g SWC (no longer available.) It was cheap, accurate, and made major power factor. But it would not run through any of three different Colts tried, even though the same bullet in brass case handloads feeds reliably.

I now shoot 9mm Blazer available very cheaply from Academy Sports in all guns, Colt, Glock, CZ. Does just fine. (But I still handload 9mm, too. I have the brass, bullets, and dies; and a 147 grain "subsonic" is softer to shoot than 115 or 124 grain ball.