Kimber Pro Carry II user induced failure

I did some shooting yesterday with the Pro Carry II, and while it wasn’t a great practice session by any means, I was able to come away with some useful data about the gun itself. I’ve mentioned that the gun feels tremendously oversprung, and when reviewing slow motion video of some shooting I see that the slide is actually traveling forward and hitting cases at times causing them to fly forward of the gun. One of the other side effects of being oversprung is how easy it is to induce a failure.

In the video above, I cause a failure to eject by doing nothing more than pressing my support thumb somewhat firmly into the slide when I fire. You can see that the slide does move back, but the combined weight of the spring and the pressure from my thumb is too much for the gas in a 9mm to overcome, and the result is a stoppage. Now I’m not counting that stoppage against the gun, because that would be silly, rather I wanted a way to illustrate how something as simple as thumb placement can affect your gun’s ability to do its job.

After yesterday’s abbreviated range session of 150 rounds, during which the Kimber did encounter a legitimate stoppage, bringing the current total to 421 rounds and 4 stoppages. The current score is 86/100, with the possibility to regain five points if the gun successfully passes a re-test of the 10-8 Performance test after it gets through Kimber’s manufacturer specified break-in period.

8 Comments

  1. Caleb, I may have missed it, but have you ever done a test on Ruger’s SR9/SR9C?

    1. I have! I actually did extensive testing with the SR9c and the SR40; I found them to be generally reliable and good to shoot, although on the .40 I developed a deep seated loathing for the thumb safety.

    2. Not Caleb but I owned one and my wife still owns one. Collectively we have about 2500 rounds through them, which is not an Earth shattering amount, but enough to say they are decent. Both were EXTREMELY accurate. My biggest beef was the fact you can get similar size and weight guns that hold more bb’s. I wouldn’t choose it as my go to war pistol, but the average person could do far worse.

      1. “I wouldn’t choose it as my go to war X, but the average person could do far worse” is an apt description for any X made by Ruger.

  2. So did you do the thumb against the slide press on the other firearms you tested to this point? If not, why not? Don’t you feel it is important for people to know the inadvertent action could cause the similar issue on them . . . or is it just a way to post more negative commentary against Kimber? I’m sure you are aware, once a negative comment is made, whether it is explained as not really a flaw; people hang on to the negative viewpoint. Being a Kimber owner, I think I have heard more negativity about them in the past 6 years than positives. Yet I am still waiting to experience any issues with my SCHD-Pro, and my Kimber TacMags have not failed me yet.

  3. Look at that! I can see that the laser on your pistol is working without having it pointed at the palm of your hand.

  4. With the increasing popularity in 9mm 1911’s and your testing such pistols, it would be interesting to see how the S&W 1911 9mm and the Sig Sauer 1911 9mm fair with the 10-8 Performance testing criteria being that both pistols have the dreaded external extractor. 1911 traditionalists despise the external extractors, but falling in at under $1000-$1500 range on the free market, they are in the ball park for what most people (over generalizing) consider spending on a factory assembly line 1911. Caleb, what are your thoughts?

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