# Problem with Solo Extended Magazines



## jblack58

I have a problem with both extended magazines for my Solo. When I load them to max capacity, 8 rounds, the last two rounds (7 & 8) do not sit correctly in the magazine, that is they are not parallel with the magazine lips. The front of the last two rounds are pushed down into the magazine so that if I try to stripped them out, they stick against the inside front of the magazine. I have to manually lift the front up before they can be removed. When I do this, it feels like the rounds are pivoting on the rim of the shell casing. This does not happen with rounds 1 thru 6, only the last two loaded. Also, this does not happen with the standard 6 round magazines. I am using Remington Golden Saber ammunition which is one of the recommended rounds for the Solo. Has anyone experienced this same problem and if so, what did you do about it?


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## chessail77

Disassemble the mags and clean and dry lube and retry them.....


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## jblack58

Thanks for your reply. I forgot to mention in my post that the magazines are new and have not been fired. I did disassemble, clean and dry lubricate one as you suggested, but still have the same problem. I think I will load them up and leave them for a while to see if loosening the spring helps any. Thanks again.


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## chessail77

Contrary to beliefs otherwise the springs don't loosen, might want to call customer service and see what they say....they might send a new mag to try......


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## rex

Have you tried them?The last few rounds not sitting parallel is normal,but the top round should always sit on the feed lips.By the sounds of it something's wrong if the nose is dipping but a pic would help.May just be a bad run,Kimber has had mag problems before.


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## halfmoonclip

Listen to rex. Put the mags in the gun and try them out, both for chambering the first round and shooting the rest.
Moon


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## Russ

Has the reliability of the Solo improved? 

I considered the stainless until I read the reports the gun is ammo sensitive. 

I enjoy Target shooting my CCW and that means Walmart ammo which last I read is not on the menu for the Kimber Solo.

Really a shame because the Solo is a very attractive feel good in the hand firearm.

Russ


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## jblack58

Here is an update on my problem with my extended magazines. I called Kimber customer service and they said it only happened when the 8th round was not inserted fully into the mag. They asked me to check to see if I had a small gap between the backend of the round and the inside of the mag. I went to the range and tried both mags, making sure the 8th round was fully seated in the mag. The 8th round of each mag would not chamber. The nose dropped down and it jammed against the inside of the mag. All the rest of the rounds chambered correctly and fired after removing the 8th round and reinserting the magazine with only 7 rounds. I then tried to manually strip the rounds out of a fully loaded mag with my thumb and each time the front of the 8th round would drop down as I pushed it forward and jam against the inside of the mag. Since I was pushing against the top of the case, I thought it might be causing the front to drop down so I tried pushing against the primer, since it was the center of the round, with a small dowel. I got the same results. I then tried pushing down on the front of the fully seated 8th round and it move forward slightly and the front went down with a definite snapping sound. It stayed down until I manually lifted it back up. I then emptied the mag and reloaded it, pushing down on the front of each round as it was loaded. The 1st thru 3rd rounds sprung back up by themselves as soon as I took my finger off. Starting with the 4th thru the 8th round, the front would not spring back up and stayed depressed. I have sent both mags back to Kimber and will let you know what they have to say when I get an answer.


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## rex

Great,hopefully they'll replace them.Hard to say without seeing them but my first thought is the spring is wrong or in wrong.Could also be an out of spec tube or follower.Let us know what happens.


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## halfmoonclip

Russ said:


> Has the reliability of the Solo improved?
> 
> I considered the stainless until I read the reports the gun is ammo sensitive.
> 
> I enjoy Target shooting my CCW and that means Walmart ammo which last I read is not on the menu for the Kimber Solo.
> 
> Russ, I had a spate of failures to fully extract, which led to a double feed jam. The problem arose after a couple hundred flawless rounds. Prior to that, and after a quick trip to New York, the gun has been willing to eat anything I've fed it, including 115 WWB and 115 reloads. Not at all sure why the bullet weight cautions, but they have not applied to my gun.
> Moon


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## zondfive

jblack - hopefully your absence of reply does not indicate that Kimber has taken this long to resolve your issue! 

Please let us know

Z


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## LwopBob

Hello everyone. I 'm new to this forum but upon reading about this problem I felt compelled to join. I've owned a Solo for a few months now with about 400 rounds through it. It has functioned flawlessly until last week when I received two 8 round mags. The last two rounds tend to 'nosedive' in the mag. I checked that they were fully seated and there was no gap behind the round. But if you apply a slight pressure (pushing the round forward) you hear a click and the round dives into the front of the mag. At the range yesturday the gun jammed everytime I loaded one of these 8 round magazines. Mostly on the 7th round. So, what I have is an 8 round magazine that only works with six rounds. Same problem with both new magazines. So Jblack is not the only individual having this problem.


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## rex

It's poor mag design,it's a flush fit isn't it?I don't know the Solo's so I don't know if it's 1911 spec.9s pose a problem from original spec because the round is shorter than the 45,the round needs to be held to the rear or the front via a rib so they can't rattle back and forth.If these are 1911 spec mags they should have been held foward to help prevent a nosedive,which is a trait even in the original 45.

Another problem that popped up in the days of +1 mags is they used a stock tube,modified the spring and follower to accomodate the extra round,and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't depending on the gun's individual specs of feedramp,barrel fit and ramp,and heighth of where the mag release held the mag.If it worked you were good and just had to keep an eye on spring replacement,if not you had to modify the gun.Wilson I believe was the first on this and I've had guns that would and wouldn't work with his mags.Eventually they extended the mag tube to be non flush to cure the problem.


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## CarlM

Just bought a solo ran 100 rounds of 147grain FMJ flat noes and I also had rounds taking a nose dive into the magazine as they are striped you by the slide. The bullet shape seems very important, Hornady 135 gr critical duty seem to function well so do the federal hydroshock. So I left the mags full for a couple weeks but still the rounds don't lie parallel. Each cartridge has to be fully seated to the rear of the magazine and the top round and the second round still don't lie parallel. Called kimber and they said they had never heard of the issue. Man I hate being lied to. I like the gun and will keep the gun but kimber really shocked me with their reply.


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## dickgray

*Solo mag problem*



CarlM said:


> Just bought a solo ran 100 rounds of 147grain FMJ flat noes and I also had rounds taking a nose dive into the magazine as they are striped you by the slide. The bullet shape seems very important, Hornady 135 gr critical duty seem to function well so do the federal hydroshock. So I left the mags full for a couple weeks but still the rounds don't lie parallel. Each cartridge has to be fully seated to the rear of the magazine and the top round and the second round still don't lie parallel. Called kimber and they said they had never heard of the issue. Man I hate being lied to. I like the gun and will keep the gun but kimber really shocked me with their reply.


I bought two 6 round mag (in addition to the one that came with the pistol) and two 8 round mags. They all have the same problem as described in these posts (the last rounds do not sit parallel and that results in the round having its nose below the lip of the mag - and the round will not feed). I have sent a letter to Kimber. They have surely know of this for some time. Too bad no one has not developed after market mags for the Solo as they could make a fortune off of Kimber's mistake.


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## sbubrick

I keep getting falure to eject with mine!


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## Markhb

sbubrick said:


> I keep getting falure to eject with mine!


As do I. I have tried all different ammo. As of now , my new Kimber Solo is an unreliable firearm.


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## LAGNAF

Had one went back to Kimber four times they could never did fix it sold it and ran away as fast as I could.


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## rex

That's the fix,then use the money for an EMP.I haven't seem one in existence locally but I've heard very little problems from them.


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