Kimber TLE-RL jamming.

[HouseofCash]

I owned a TLE-RL for a while, but sold it a few months back. I never had any problems with it jamming or anything. It was a pretty nice gun.

Any-how my Father-in-law also has one, it is new and olny has about 500 rounds put though it. It is jamming all the time. He has tried all kinda of ammo for it, even some hand loads. Plus, he has tried all kinds of mags in it, the stock Kimber mag, Springfield and colt mags, Even a Wilson mag, but, it just keeps jamming.

All I can think of is his recoil sping needs to be changed, maybe it was bad from Kimber. Can any one else help me with what might be the problem here? I mean these guns just are not spost to jam, it is jamming like 12-15 rounds out of a box of 50. Thats just not somthing I would trust my life on. He is a pretty good shot and was a lifer in the Marines, so, I know he knows how to shoot, he is not limp wisting, or any thing like that.

          Any help?
                 Dave.

[Castaway]

The tighter the pistol, the more break-in rounds you generally need.  Mine wouldn't swallow a semi wadcutter for about 500 rounds.  Now it eats them with regularity.  Can you be more specific about the jamming?  Is it a failure to feed, failure to extract or failure to eject?

[HouseofCash]

It is failure to feed.

        Dave.

[Castaway]

You said you tried all types of ammo.  One step at a time, to be specific, have you tried factory, or factory equavalent 230 grain ball?

[HouseofCash]

We have tried the Remington UMC 230 grain, it also jammed pretty bad.

          Dave.

[Castaway]

A few things may be causing the problem.  There's a difference in failure to feed and failure to chamber.  I suspect we're talking about chambering as you've tried different magazines.  Possibile causes are: dirty chamber, dented cartridge case, obstruction in the barrel, weak recoil spring, lack of lubrication or the extractor may be applying too much pressure on the right side of the cartridge case.  I'm sure you've eliminated the first three possible causes.  Before I'd replace the recoil spring, I'd run a fingernail down the front side of the extractor and see if there's a rough spot that catches the cartridge rim before it snaps around the base of the cartridge.  Also, try a drop of oil on each rail race and the top of the barrel.   Could be the recoil spring, but I have my doubts in a newly assembled pistol.  Keep in mind, all this is compounded by the fact Kimber's are manufatured to very tight tolerences, that's the trade off for accuracy.  Frustrating, but I'd shoot a few hundered rounds in it before I sent it back to Kimber, unless you find a faulty extractor or other part.  One option is to swap out a spring from a pistol you know functions and see if that eliminates the problem.  Good luck

[Lloyd Smale]

if its a kimber id bet on the extractor