Kimber Camp Guard 10 = Jam-o-matic?

[MrRob96]

I bought a new camp guard 10 yesterday, took it home, disassembled it, cleaned out factory oil, lubricated it well with remoil, then took her out to shoot.

I have never been interested in Kimbers but a 10mm 1911 that looks as pretty as this one was hard to pass up.

While I had it at home I noticed the slide kind of had a hitch when the slide stop was near the notch in the slide. I was also immediately suspicious of the tiny bump on the follower of the magazine that is supposedly a Kimber feature. But I figured at the slide velocities approaching the speed of light that my 10mm 180gr fmj load is known for, they'd be non issues. Damn was I wrong.

Every first round and every last round was a failure to feed where the round wedged itself between the top of the chamber and the magazine. I'd repeatedly have to smack the rear of the slide to get it to seat, sometimes quite forcefully.

Every other round with the magazine partially loaded caused this same kind of FTF. The pistol also had the habit of locking open about once per magazine though the magazine wasn't spent.

So it's frustrating that I purchased a Kimber and it needs to go right back to the other side of the country for repairs.

Anyone have suggestions or other DoA Kimber issues?

I've read that these guns might be ammo picky but I tried factory stuff as well as my hand loads that both my S&W 1006 and Sig P220 eat up all day long.

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[Stomper]

GLOCK <------ MrRob96 & Kimber

 

[MrRob96]

I wish I could get over my hate for Glocks. Then I could have some sweet double stack 10mm options to choose from.

 

[cigars]

GLOCK <------ MrRob96 & Kimber

Ahem....just saying.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Look at the bright side.. you're not bear poop!

10mm for big bears !

 

[Certaindeaf]

Ahem....just saying.

View attachment 378253

The gun jesus sayeth..

 

[MrRob96]

Look at the bright side.. you're not bear poop!

10mm for big bears !

I would have been bear poop...

 

[Kruel J]

Send it back to Kimber under warranty.

 

[Stomper]

Ahem....just saying.

View attachment 378253

GLOCK-21/30 <--- cigars

 

[MrRob96]

Send it back to Kimber under warranty.

I'm gonna buy a Wilson magazine and see if that clears up any FTFs before contacting Kimber for repair.

If that doesn't work the camp guard will be on it's way back to New York.

 

[Velzey]

This!

Send it back to Kimber under warranty.

I had a fellow come over last week and he thought it was his poor grip. So I shot it, good grief. It was a jamomatic! Didn't matter what ammo I used.

 

[Lilhigbee]

Sadly Kimber's reputation for reliability seems to be largely mythical. Quite a few comments here in various threads from people with Kimbers that have problems.
Jeannie has an Eclipse Ultra and an Eclipse Target, both in .45ACP, and they are both picky. They are most reliable with 230gr FMJ, but only to the point that they will sometimes get through a whole magazine without a hiccup. Put 230gr. HPs in them and you have a single-shot with spare ammo in the grip. I had to replace the slide stop on the Ultra to keep it from bouncing up at inopportune times. They are beautiful eye candy, and can probably be improved, but for what they cost they should be at least as good as my Ruger SR1911 out of the box.

 

[cigars]

GLOCK-21/30 <--- cigars

Just to be fair, I am a Glock owner. It was a b-day present for the S.O. She wasnt sure what to do with it so now itt's a safe queen. That's about all I have to say about that.

 

[Kruel J]

I bought a Kimber Custom Elite II about 20 years ago and it was flawless out of the box. But I agree Kimber is not what it used to be.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I have had both good and bad with Kimber! My compact ultra carry was flawless in the shooting part, but sucked in the finish dept. finally shot out the barrel and replaced with a nice shiny new one, and it is still flawless. My New Eclipse Custom 10 mm has run through aprox 240 rounds of 180 gr SIG 10 mm ammo and not one hickup yet!!!
I think build quality has suffered up until a few years ago, but mine have run like Swiss watches! The Brand new one should be a pretty reliable unit once I get it broken in! No need to tune any thing, it's pretty trick as it is!

 

[MrRob96]

Well the barrel looks like it wasn't finished after machining. I pulled the barrel out to check chamber support and could have cut my fingers on the burs left on the feed ramp.

Tonight after chambering a few rounds with a Mec-Gar magazine I noticed a nice smiley face getting cut into the rounds. The bur between chamber and feed ramp is actually scoring the brass cases.

 

[Stomper]

 

[Lilhigbee]

Kimber is now sourcing from these guys;

 

[MrRob96]

Kimber is now sourcing from these guys;

Impossible... Those guys would never let a gun like this out their door.

 

[MrRob96]

After some work on the bur between the feed ramp and the chamber, she's feeding a lot better. I need to do some more work and I'm sure I'll fix the FTF malfunctions.

The slide locking open early appears to be a common problem where the slide stop is too long and bumping some of the bullets as they come up the magazine. A bit of copper being deposited onto the slide stop shows the issue.