Did the gun continue to function or did it stop? I guess I should keep a spare assembly in my range bag
When I saw the failure, I didn't attempt to fire it again because the unpredictable alignment of the now loose pieces of the
formerly captive recoil spring assembly could have caused the gun to seize in mid recoil with unknown results other than probable damage to the gun, and possibly to me. The failure was detected on the last round, with the slide locked back. I'm pretty sure that's when the failure occurred, because the central assembly rod was hanging loosely about 3 inches in front of the muzzle after it became detached from its rear plate. Another shot would almost certainly have caused it to fall from the gun.
Since it happened during a training session, there was no upside to that risk. If I had been in the midst of an armed encounter and I needed to fire again, I would have taken the chance hoping that the springs would have lined up sufficiently in the very limited space to allow the slide to retract. I don't know if I would have gotten more than 1 shot out of it in this condition.
I already had a new recoil spring assembly in stock because I knew replacement time was coming up, but I didn't have it in my range bag, so I was out of luck for the remainder of the training opportunity that day.
Another point worth mentioning is that if you let the outer recoil spring (the 1800 - 2500 round one) get seriously beyond its recommended replacement time, intermittent and then increasingly frequent failures to extract and / or eject in a previously 100% reliable gun will help you remember.
I should also point out that these issues are not a knock on Kimber or the design or reliability of the Ultra Carry. Use of a carefully engineered captive recoil spring assembly with one short heavy spring outside and another tightly coiled spring with smaller diameter inside is the best way manufacturers have found to shrink a major caliber weapon envelope into the size of the Ultra Carry. This arrangement is less durable than the single long spring system used on full sized 1911's. This is a simple engineering fact, and not an issue if care is taken to follow the manufacturer's recommendations on maintenance. (There is no free lunch). Kimber was also gracious in sending me a new recoil spring assembly under warranty even though I had exceeded their recommended maintenance interval.
My takeaway here is to be careful to monitor the number of rounds fired over time in my guns(not hard with a 3x5 card and a pen in the range bag - even full size guns have similar recommended spring replacement guidelines) so I can consistently perform the recommended maintenance at the most conservative intervals in Kimber's recommendations.
Some folks, including armorer course instructors for Glock, Sig, etc., suggest simply scheduling recoil spring replacement on your appointment calendar once a year. This will keep you covered if you average no more than 200 rounds per month. If you shoot 400 rounds per month, just schedule replacements every 6 months. That's the system I had been using, but a few of my friends talked me into going out quite a bit more and shooting a lot in the last 4 months, and it wrecked the validity of my estimation system before I realized how far it had gotten out of whack.
The Ultra Carry is a very fine defensive weapon that is accurate, light, concealable, and very easy to shoot well. I will continue to rely on it for resolving serious social situations when nothing less will do.
Very frustrating.
