After lots of shopping and handling pistols, my wife decided she wanted a Kimber Micro 9. I have recently purchased a progressive press and begun working on a nice load for her…I hope to get her in a class soon where she may be expected to fire 150-200 rounds over a weekend. Gun has functioned flawlessly to this point, but she has been reluctant to shoot more than 2 magazines in a single outing (5’1”/120 lb and a new pistol shooter)….VV N320 lists 3.9-4.6 for a 115 RN…I’ve run a ladder down to 3.2 and achieved a very noticeable reduction in recoil, but am now seeing a single FTE per magazine….thought a lighter recoil spring would help…I’ve talked to Wolff, ISMI, Sprinco, EGW, and Galloway- no one seems to offer the spring I’d like to try, nor do they offer any suggestions. After-market recoil springs seem to be available for a number of different guns in a sometimes wide range of weights/rates, but I seem to have reached a dead-end with this 3.15” barreled Kimber….I won’t give up until I’ve heard from y’all, though! Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions.
Down-loaded 9mm…
- Thread starter Jody Simcox
- Start date
slobhunter2
Silver $$ Contributor
Buy a replacement spring and start clipping a coil at a time until you get the desired results, keep the original spring to use with full power loads.
Inceptor makes lightweight bullets out of powdered copper suspended in resin. Their 9mm bullets weigh only 65 grains. The published loads for these yield speeds of roughly 1500 fps but with significant recoil reduction. It made a noticeable difference for me. Your wife will love these...
www.inceptorammo.com
www.inceptorammo.com
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
If possible, orient the spring end with cut coil against a hard surface as it will tend to dig into anything soft (plastic) as the flat end has been removed.
JayHHI6818
Silver $$ Contributor
I’ve run a ladder down to 3.2 and achieved a very noticeable reduction in recoil, but am now seeing a single FTE per magazine
Try 3.3 or 3.4 and see if FTE stop. .1 or .2 grains shouldn’t increase recoil very much
Try 3.3 or 3.4 and see if FTE stop. .1 or .2 grains shouldn’t increase recoil very much
Keep the Kimber at full power. It's a SD gun. Let her practice 1-2 mags at a time on that while training with other pistols.
It's about trigger time, sight acquisition and follow-through.
So, get her two other guns too, a G17/G19 & a TX-22.
Glocks manage recoil much better than Kimbers. A buddy has > 10k rounds through his Taurus TX-22, says it's the best 22 he's ever shot.
It's about trigger time, sight acquisition and follow-through.
So, get her two other guns too, a G17/G19 & a TX-22.
Glocks manage recoil much better than Kimbers. A buddy has > 10k rounds through his Taurus TX-22, says it's the best 22 he's ever shot.
1. Change to 100 or 95 grain 380 ACP bullets.
2. Use Titegroup or WST powder. Use loads for 380 pistols. increase as needed for proper functioning.
she would have been far better off to get a single stack “Commander” with 4.5 inch barrel. Heavier, but less recoil less blast and more controllable. I know 10 year old girls who shoot single stack 9s but balk at shooting a 380.
2. Use Titegroup or WST powder. Use loads for 380 pistols. increase as needed for proper functioning.
she would have been far better off to get a single stack “Commander” with 4.5 inch barrel. Heavier, but less recoil less blast and more controllable. I know 10 year old girls who shoot single stack 9s but balk at shooting a 380.
My assumption is this is a self defense pistol, so I'm not sure how much modification I would do to the pistol to shoot a lighter load. I applaud you for trying to make this comfortable for your wife but a malfunction in a stressful situation would not be a good thing.
My wife is very much like yours, she will shoot just about anything once, but on a normal range day a couple of mags and she's done. The solution came in the form of a gift from her brother, a Sig mosquito 22, she absolutely loves it and will shoot it longer than any other because it is much more comfortable.
Being able to shoot this pistol and enjoy it has increased her gun handling confidence and overall shooting ability when she does shoot a larger pistol. When we go to the range she will shoot the 22 while working on skills, or just having fun, and finish with a mag or two from her defense pistol.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
My wife is very much like yours, she will shoot just about anything once, but on a normal range day a couple of mags and she's done. The solution came in the form of a gift from her brother, a Sig mosquito 22, she absolutely loves it and will shoot it longer than any other because it is much more comfortable.
Being able to shoot this pistol and enjoy it has increased her gun handling confidence and overall shooting ability when she does shoot a larger pistol. When we go to the range she will shoot the 22 while working on skills, or just having fun, and finish with a mag or two from her defense pistol.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
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SVT_Tactical
Gold $$ Contributor
Civil defense ammo also has much reduced felt recoil
know this doesn't help with reloading but might find some extremely light projectiles to mimic the load. or just buy those, not to expensive really
know this doesn't help with reloading but might find some extremely light projectiles to mimic the load. or just buy those, not to expensive really
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divingin
Gold $$ Contributor
Couple of suggestions:
First, fast pistol powder in a small case will not have the ignition problems rifle rounds do with low charge weights: You can go pretty much as low as you want without running into pressure problems caused by light charges igniting weirdly. Function is another matter.
I agree with the suggestion of cutting down the spring if you can't find a ready-made spring in the weight you want. You can re-bevel the end by using a short piece of tubing or pipe to hold the floppy end, and a rod press-fit inside the spring in the chuck of a power drill or drill press. Use light pressure on a piece of sandpaper or other abrasive surface. Worst case, round off the cut end using a file.
Last, a lot of new shooters have more trouble with the sound of the shot rather than the actual recoil of a pistol. Try doubling up on hearing protection: Correctly inserted foam plugs, with a set of muffs over that. Stuffing each earcup with a half a bag of cotton balls will greatly increase the attenuation of the muffs.
First, fast pistol powder in a small case will not have the ignition problems rifle rounds do with low charge weights: You can go pretty much as low as you want without running into pressure problems caused by light charges igniting weirdly. Function is another matter.
I agree with the suggestion of cutting down the spring if you can't find a ready-made spring in the weight you want. You can re-bevel the end by using a short piece of tubing or pipe to hold the floppy end, and a rod press-fit inside the spring in the chuck of a power drill or drill press. Use light pressure on a piece of sandpaper or other abrasive surface. Worst case, round off the cut end using a file.
Last, a lot of new shooters have more trouble with the sound of the shot rather than the actual recoil of a pistol. Try doubling up on hearing protection: Correctly inserted foam plugs, with a set of muffs over that. Stuffing each earcup with a half a bag of cotton balls will greatly increase the attenuation of the muffs.
Get a wheel gun for practice. Should fire with any load.
divingin
Gold $$ Contributor
It'll fire, but going light on charge, you need to watch for stuck bullets (unlikely, but can happen) and backed-out primers jamming things up.
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