External Extractor Kimbers

[MikeLadner]

Hey all...

I have a Kimber Custom that's about 5 years old now that I love, it's the only 1911 I currently own.

I have my eye on a Tactical Pro model. I like the features and looks of the gun a lot... and I'm ready to go buy one. But I have reservations about the external extractor. I know when they first started using them they had a lot of problems, but for every person I talk to that had issues with theirs, I talk to another that hasn't had any problems. So I'm just looking for opinions and or information about it... have they worked out the issues? Are people still having a lot of problems with them? Any links to pages etc are appreciated.. I'm ready to go first thing in the morning to pick one up.

Thanks in advance

[reflection01]

i was in your shoes a little while ago; ready to pick up a Raptor, however i decided to wait due to kimber's external extractor issues. Since then, in Dec 05, there were postings stating KIMBER IS GOING BACK to the internal extractor design. One of the posting came from a shop owner who received five (i think) new Kimbers, of which four guns had the internal extractor with the series II safety. i'm waiting to see one at my gun shop. good luck to you.

[MikeLadner]

Yeah, I've heard that too, but haven't seen anything on the webpage. On their webpage they talk about how great it is, especially for the "tactical models"... who knows.

I hate waiting, lol... but I hate ending up with a useless $900.00 piece of steel, too. I hate having to send something back to the factory, etc...

[EricS76]

I picked up a newly-shipped pro carry II in the 2nd week of december with an internal extractor. Seems they are bringing the internal ex's back. I didn't specify internal or external or anything like that, it just came that way. While I'm not convinced most of the externals are bad, if I were you, i'd wait and see if you can find a tac pro with an internal ex.

[Short Cut]

If it was a 5" model maybe, but a 4" model with the EE, I'd wait. That said my TLE/RL 5" Kimber with EE works perfect.

[hodgeman]

I've owned a number of 1911s
A Kimber series 1 with IE
A SA with IE
A S&W with EE
A Kimber series 2 with EE

All have exhibited great reliability and personally couldn't pick them apart from that standpoint. The Kimbers exhibited a much tighter fit and had a nicer finish overall. The SA didn't like some HP ammo. The S&W had the best trigger out of the box. All had an acceptable trigger however.

Despite all the talk about IE vs EE on the chat room, I'm not at all convinced there is any real issue about it as I've had great success with both types from three manufacturers. I've also heard of problems from various people about both types of extractors as well. I would personally buy it if thats what you want and see how it works. Chances are it will work as specified and chances are they'll fix it if it doesn't.

[Kruzr]

Kimber did have problems with the EE's on the 4" and Ultras. From the new Kimbers I've seen in the last two years, the problem wasn't anywhere near as widespread as the postings on the forums would lead you to believe but there certainly was a problem. That's why they went through 4 different versions to arrive at the final one. But, now they are going back to internals. This week we got two more 5" Kimbers in. A Custom II and a Raptor. Both were internal extractors. I'm not yet sure what they are going to do with the Pro size guns. The last external I saw on a new gun was three weeks ago and it was an EE on a Pro Carry. You may want to wait a bit until they use up all the EE slides.

[Zagger]

I have observed two EE 5" Kimbers closely, and both went for a few thousand rounds, then went Tango Uniform. Mine went in the middle of a class, causing great aggravation to all present.