I recently acquired a new Kimber Stainless Target II chambered in 9mm at a price good enough to make me own a Kimber ($0). Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, this pistol had a laundry list of issues right from the factory. This made for a perfect project gun to rebuild and experiment with. Below is a list of most of the initial work completed on the pistol.
- Flush cut and crowned the barrel
- Replaced the slide stop (original slide stop was bent from the factory)
- Checkered the front strap
- Replaced the plastic mainspring housing
- Machined a fiber optic front sight from bar stock
- Marvel disconnector cut
- New ambidextrous safety
- New beavertail safety
- Heavier 19.5 pound mainspring
- Trigger job
- Techwell USA grips and magwell
- Shaped and tuned extractor
After completing all the initial upgrades to this pistol, I decided to start experimenting more. The discussions around full-size 9mm 1911s being over-railed/over-lugged got me thinking about how to address these issues. As it turns out, Wilson Combat already went through this process with the Experior which Marky has written about.
I started by cutting roughly one third of the frame rails off in the milling machine. On the Wilson Experior, they accomplish something similar by “scalloping” the rails to provide less surface area. Wilson’s version definitely looks sexier, but I believe my approach will work just as well. This isn’t too far off of other modern guns with fore and aft rail sections on the frame.
The next big experiment was to modify the locking lugs on the barrel. I did some research to see if anyone else had been down this rabbit hole and found mixed results. Ultimately, I decided to completely remove the second lug from the barrel and see what happened.
With all the modifications finished, I took the former Kimber to the range for an initial 100 round test fire. The pistol performed flawlessly with no malfunctions. I can’t see any evidence of problems relating to the experimental changes yet; however, 100 rounds is hardly a definitive test.
One question that I wish I could answer is how, if at all, was accuracy affected by these changes. When I first got the pistol, I didn’t shoot it before beginning this work. Now that it’s been modified, I’d like to know if the rail or lug cuts have degraded accuracy or made no change. Unfortunately I won’t be able to compare before/after targets on this one.
I’ll be interested to see how this pistol performs in the long run and if any of the readers have tried anything similar. Is cutting off the second barrel lug going to cause catastrophic problems in the future, will it be a net positive improvement, or will it not make a difference at all?
Chris W.
www.John1911.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
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