Kimber Eclipse Custom II 10mm -- anybody seeing them?

[spaniel]

My LGS reached their Kimber rep as promised.  They said that based on the date of my order vs what they are shipping now and the rate of manufacture of that model, they are estimating (no guarantees) September shipment.

I told the LGS guy (I don't know if he remembers me but I've bought half a dozen guns from him personally) I was sorry if I was being a PIA over it and he said no worries, I'd been more patient than he would have been.   

Looking forward to my first 10mm...

[The_Shadow]

That's why it is good to stay in touch!  Hope it all comes together for you as intended.   

[REDLINE]

...they are estimating (no guarantees) September shipment.

Sounds like good news to me!

[Retired Squid]

There was another one of these Custom TLE no rail last week at an East Coast wholesaler $1087 is dealer cost. The arched MS housing is my modification, also 20# spring to replace Kimber 18.5# spring and FPS by EGW to slow slide w/o out over strong springs some use. My 200gr XTP Hornady loaded hot drops the case about 8-10 feet from me, w/o EGW FPS about 35 feet. Sure save wear and tear on gun by return slamming caused by 22# to 26# springs some use with 10mm running full power hot loads.

Custom TLE/RL 10mm with night sights standard.

[spaniel]

There was another one of these Custom TLE no rail last week at an East Coast wholesaler $1087 is dealer cost. The arched MS housing is my modification, also 20# spring to replace Kimber 18.5# spring and FPS by EGW to slow slide w/o out over strong springs some use. My 200gr XTP Hornady loaded hot drops the case about 8-10 feet from me, w/o EGW FPS about 35 feet. Sure save wear and tear on gun by return slamming caused by 22# to 26# springs some use with 10mm running full power hot loads.

Custom TLE/RL 10mm with night sights standard.

Got a link to that EGW FPS handy?  I was planning on installing one.  I assume there is fitting required?  With the long wait I figured no need to do research way in advance.

[Retired Squid]

They are worth the twice the price.

http://www.egwguns.com/top-of-the-gun-page-5/

[Intercooler]

Given how hard they are do you think EGW will machine one to a set thickness to match the original?

[Retired Squid]

They are very easy to do even without professional tools. All you need is knife honing (sharping stone) a 5 to 10 minutes of your time. Best part is you can remove the FPS w/o removing slide from frame, just lock slide back have to punches or something similar and push FP down and push down the keeper pin underneath, cock FPS down enough to prevent FP from re-entering hole (use a punch or metal pin about half diameter of FPS hole) the put finger over top to stop FP in case it was not still caught by the lower pin and then just pull the FPS out. If no micrometer to measure old FPS no big deal, just hone some and then put them back to back to see how much more to remove. Longest it's ever taken me has been 10 minutes or so, but I have large arthritic hands and have to work slow and easy.   

[Intercooler]

I had one from them before but they sent the wrong series and I didn't opt for a replacement. Did they put the radius on the edge for yours?

[Retired Squid]

The whole thing is the bottom is flat and not beveled, however if you want to bevel it some it is easy to do. You seem to be making this over complicated or over thinking the way it works. For someone with just basic mechanical skills this is a very easy install and is the best way to tame the slide's rear travel.

This is actually the way JMB originally designed the gun. But Colt changed the design at US Army request to make it easier for horse solders to rack the slide and not have to cock the hammer first to do so. I guess they wanted to eliminate a step while a guy was busy controlling horse, myself I always cock hammer before racking slide as it's a lot easier regardless of recoil spring weight.

[spaniel]

Thanks for the information, Squid.

[Intercooler]

  Here is the thing. They sent me the wrong one the first time and all the Henning blocks I have in my other pieces had the radius done plus fit with no modification. The original document I found concerning the design said the angle of that radius is critical (maybe it isn't). Stuff I read said if you don't break the edge your hammer takes a beating quick!


Let me see if I can dig up the original blurb.

[Intercooler]

The original 1911 design flat bottom on the left with 1918 version right (looks basically like what is in the Razorback) with radius dimensions.



Second one is someone doing it:

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=5&f=49&t=57328

They sent me an 80 Series the first time but I will re-order.

[Retired Squid]

You are welcome Spaniel, hope it helps you. I ordered two of them today for 80's series Colt LWC and Kimber TLE/RL that is a real nice duty type weapon.

They do sell drop in generic FPS, but those can in some cases move around too much and cause a malfunction. If you have a light weight hammer sure you could have a problem. My LWC will need the edge radius some besides the removal of their sharp edge because of lite weight hammer, or as some describe it on outside of gun "de-horn" the part which is a five minute job.

Putting that original radius on the FPS is not really 100% necessary or required, is easy to do a pretty close rendition for the light weight hammers, but not really necessary to do more then de-horn the edge for the standard hammers.

[Retired Squid]

For those not owning Dan Wesson 1911's of recent years, they use the original rounded radius on their FPS shown on left in image below and not the tapper one that Colt and others use on the right. 

Was looking at my new model Colt DE last night and could not believe the quality difference of the DW over the DE is astounding.