I bought my Kimber Ultra CDP II just about two years ago as a primary carry piece.  At the time I just didn’t like any of the options in my “arsenal” for carry.  The Glock 19 was a little too big and heavy.  The Sig P232, while the right size, is a .380ACP which didn’t inspire confidence, even with Hydrashoks.  The Kel-Tec P11 was both small and light, but I always had a bit of nagging doubt about trusting a $230 gun. 

Anyhow, the Kimber seemed to be the answer to all of my needs.  It was small, light, concealable, and packed a respectable punch.  I promptly put 500 rounds through it to verify its reliablity.  I learned that it only likes certain brands of ammo, but when fed with that ammo using good magazines that it was very reliable.  In order to maintain proficiency with it my usual range routine was to start off the session with one box of .45 through the Kimber, followed by firing whatever other guns I had brought, and finishing up with another box of .45 in the Kimber.  I try to get to the range every week, although there have been a number of times where I went two or three weeks between sessions.  Because of this it’s hard for me to exactly estimate how many rounds I fired through the Kimber.  If I had gone every week for two years, it would be over 10,000 rounds.  My best estimate, though, given the missed weeks, would be somewhere over 8,000 rounds.

When I bought the Kimber I was sure to read the manual and learn all of its controls and how to disassemble it.  There was also this interesting chart on Page 7 concerning spring replacement.  I remarked that it seemed to be a pretty short replacement cycle for the springs, but then promptly forgot about it.  The replacement cycle is every 1800 rounds for the recoil spring, every 5000 rounds for the firing pin spring, and every 5000 rounds for the mainspring.  Given this, it’s kind of surprising that the recoil spring hadn’t broken a long time ago.  It finally failed the Friday before my trip to Colorado, causing me to rely on the KelTec for the trip, as it was the most concealable (at least with the holsters I currently own; the Glock and Sig tend to print more as they ride kind of high—I need to find a nice low-rider IWB rig for the Sig).

This is just a friendly reminder for all you gun owners to read your manuals and replace your springs if you have been neglecting it like I did.  In the meantime, this has pointed out to me the need to have a high-quality .45 backup (or perhaps a .357 snubby).  Something small, light, trustworthy, and highly concealable.  I’m going to go to the Dallas Market Hall gun show this weekend and take a look at some of the small .45s and lightweight .357s.  I’ve had my eye on the Para Carry as well as the Springfield Ultra Compact as good small .45s.  Para also has a new double-stack .45 called the Warthog which might be promising.  The downside is that they’re all in the $900 range (although I’d hope to get a better deal at a gun show).  On the revolver side, perhaps something like this Taurus might do the trick.  What will ultimately decide it will be how it feels in the hand and how concealable it seems.