Kimber Super Carry Ultra Vs. Springfield 3" Micro Compact

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I had a customer swing by this morning to try out a new IWB holster I'm building for him. I also let him test fit the Pancake holster I just completed for him using my Springfield 3" Micro Compact .45 ACP 1911 dummy from Rings for forming. The holster fit my dummy great - it slid in easily and snapped into place. When we inserted his gun (Kimber Super Cary Ultra 3" 1911) it was much tighter and we had to stretch it a bit with a zip lock baggy wrapped around the slide. This helped the fit a little, but it didn't feel like it was going in all the way and still didn't fit nearly as nicely as my dummy.

Upon further inspection, we noticed the distance from the top of the slide to the bottom of the trigger guard was about 1/8" more on the Kimber.

This is minor, but it seems the forward radius on the trigger guard is smaller on the Springer as well.

I can move the stitch line over 1/8" away from the bottom of the trigger guard, but it'll still be formed incorrectly. Any other suggestions? For what it's worth, I will be using the customer's gun when I form his holsters since he lives close, but I'd like to accommodate for the difference on future Kimber holsters without actually buying the real firearm.

[woodandsteel]

Hmm. That's good to know...

Frustrating, I'm sure! I wonder if the trigger guard on the Kimber matches any other 1911 dummies. If so, perhaps you could cut one of those down to a 3" barrel size (I've thought about this approach for 4" and 3.5" defender size 1911's).

It looks like the blue gun has a thicker trigger guard than a real gun, as well, which will create some play in the retention fit around the trigger guard.

[jlaudio29]

If you get a chance, post a pictre of them muzzle top muzzle with a ruler between the two muzzles.

Also have you measured the same area on your cbob to see if the kimber is the ones thats off or the micro compact.

Also with blue guns they are slightly smaller then the actual firearm anyways due to shrinkage that occurs with molding process. It should not account for 1/8inch since the shrinkage is usually only 2-4 percent overall.

I made a HK USP Compact 40/9 holster for a customer, i molded it off the blue gun, the fit was perfect, was not overly snug and was not loose, it was just perfect. Well ofcourse when i meet with the customer to give him the holster i have him bring the gun with him to test fit it. Sure enough the thing was so friggin tight it had to be forced in. I felt so embarassed and i told him it was insane that it did not fit because the blue gun fit so perfect. So i went and go the blue gun to show him the fit. We had gotten the actual gun into the holster and got it stretched enough for it to still have a little more rentention then id like and we then put the blue gun in and it was very loose. I did not take any measurements to compare them but i knew that dude to the injection process there is shrinkage. So now when im molding the holster with blue guns i will wrap them in seran wrap and it seems to add the right amount to the blue gun vs real gun.

Edited January 1, 2012 by jlaudio29