Kimber 1911s comments,thoughts inputs

C

CBlackjr

New member
What does every think about the Kimber. after I am done waiting my thirty days to get a new gun I am thinking about Getting a Kimber custom 1911. More specificaly I was wondering if they have just as many after market parts as the springfield armory or colts.
 
I have three - an Ultra Carry, Compact Stainless, and a Custome Royale. Al have been eminently reliable, accurate, and fun to shoot. I have upgraded the grips (all now wear wood) and sights (Ashley Express onteh Ultra, Wilson Night Eyes on the comapct). Casual reading of the gun rags & catalogs suggests that there's no shortage of aftermarket accessories or parts (not to mention the Custom Shop), but part of the reason I bought a Kimber is that it's 'right' right out of the box, with most of the options/enhancements most folks would do to a GM to begin with. I think htey're a good value. HTH, M2
 
I have handled, fired, and manufactured custom ammo for a good number of Kimbers, and I am convinced they offer the very best value for 1911's.

Plenty of parts; they're 'blue-printed' 1911's.
 
Plenty of parts; they're 'blue-printed' 1911's

Except for the Ultra's. The barrel and recoil spring arrangement in them is slightly different than anyone elses. May be why it seems to work better. I have an Ultra CDP, can't offhand think of anything I really want to change. :)
 
I have a Kimber Custom Classic and a Pro Carry SLE and love them both. I have not had any problems with either one.. :D

Good Luck but worth the wait
 
Kimber 1911's

I've got a full size Kimber stainless, and a PRO CDP. Both are great guns, and a bargain for the money.
 
Well, you seldom, if ever see them for sale used.

I've noticed that most of the better things in life tend to be the things people hold on to. My Kimber has been a lot like my old '84 Mustang 4 cylinder. Good looking, fun to run, and with a .22 Conversion unit, economical. For whatever reason though, mine hasn't been 100%(99.9% actually since nothing is really 100%) reliable, so it's one of the few guns I own that doesn't draw HD duty. In fairness to the Kimber though in that respect, I believe the problems are from ammo/slidestop/magazine, and easily cured. Since I have other choices for HD,for the time being, It doesn't bother me that it's only 99% instead of 99.9%. YMMV of course.
 
I have heard, but have no source info, that some of their smaller parts like slide stops suffer failure due to the manufacturing technique they use. Those parts are easily replaced. My Kimber Compact (steel) has given me zero problems but it doesn't get fired a lot.
 
They are excellent guns, the best production 1911s out there for the money.
I have had five, and put over 5,000 rounds through my first, a Classic Custom and now 7,000 rounds through my stainless Gold Match, which is my carry gun, without a single jam or parts breakage from either. Their triggers are excellent and they are unfailingly accurate in my experience.
 
I'm coming up on 7,000 rounds through my Gold Match. I did have some feeding problems early on, but they turned out to be magazine problems. On Wednesday I had my first real jam--a stovepipe--buy don't know why. It was, however, seven degrees outside and I was using light reloads. As for the MIM parts, neither of my Kimbers has had one single problem. And I do inspect those parts after every session to see if the MIM naysayers are correct.

What really knocks me out is the prices. Two years ago I paid $900 for my stainless Gold Match. My local dealer now has the same model in his showcase for $1129! Have prices gone up that much?

Dick
 
From what my local dealer told me, you'd have a little wait anyways because Kimber doesn't keep stuff on the shelf. He might have just been referring to the CDP line, though. I got the PRO CDP and I'll probably get one of their .40's once I recover from the Holidays. They're worth the wait.
 
Just Checking...

I have an ultra carry, and if/when I get some cash I'd like to get one of the CDP guns.

I'd like a little more barrel length, but want to use the same magazines.

Which of the CDPs should I get?

I'm thinking of just going with another Ultra, so I can swap parts if I need to. (decisions, decisions!!)

-Moss
 
I have the Kimber Gold Match in stainless. I had a few problems with it, but all of them are direct results of my hand reloads. Since I found the loads that I want for target, I have fired probably the last 12,000 to 13,000 with maybe 5 or 6 problems. Four of those problems were directly related to reloading problems (primers upside down, etc...).
The other two were failure to feed that were probably my fault.

I hear about those that don't like the Kimbers due to the MIM parts. I have put more rounds through this gun (about 17,000) than any other I own, and there are no parts that have broken or even look worn beyond what I would expect.

I also would like to mention that I usually shoot 400 to 500 rounds a week, and usually only clean this gun every other week. I know, I know, a bunch of you out there will flame me for that. I used to clean after every time at the range, but on a bet I let it go for 1000 rounds. I took $50 from a Glock owner, who bet me it wouldn't fire that many without a failure. Now I find that I don't need to clean as often.

I have a Les Baer Premier II, a Colt Custom 38 Super that Dane Burns converted to 9x23 and a stock Series 80 Gold Cup. I always seem to reach for the Kimber first, for either a house gun or to take to the range. All of the above are great guns, and the 9x23 is growing on me, but that is a pretty good indication of the quality of the Kimber.

Casey
 
I bought a Classic Gold Match this past Sept. for $926.00. The accuracy is unbelieveablely good. I had a lot of failures to eject at first, however. I replaced the factory magazine with Wilsons and that helped, but still had failures to eject. After 500 rounds, the failures began to be less, but I was bothered by them, so I sent the gun to Kimber a week ago to be checked out.

I couldn't believe the speed of their turn-around! They replaced the original magazine and inspected the gun, and test fired it. They couldn't find anything wrong with it. So I called them. They asked me to test fire it, and let them know what happened.

So, I took it to the range and paid close attention to my grip and technique. I fired 300 rounds through it with absolutely no malfunctions. That was the first time I could say that. I haven't had a chance to go to the range since then, but am looking forward to it.

I think my Kimber's problems were a combination of my relaxed grip on the gun, accompanied with a need for the gun to "break in" a bit. It's very tight, after all.

Anyway, I am hoping all my failures to eject are behind me.
 
I have extensively fired to Kimber Classic Customs. Very nice, both of them. No malfunctions. Almost as accurate as custom guns costing three times as much.
 
I have an Ultra CDP (that is what the store had on sale) and love it. I would, in all honesty, prefer the Compact CDP though. Same small grip, longer barrel and slide. I carry IWB and the extra inch of barrel actually stabilizes the gun better. I find my Combat Commander rides better than the Ultra, but the longer grip tends to print (the original reason I went with the Ultra to start with). The CDP package is, to me, worth the extra money just for the "melt" job. It really makes a difference over a long days carry. The Commander has a couple of sharp spots that tend to start rubbing after a while.
 
I have three, Custom, Custom Target and a SS Custom Target in .40 S&W. I am looking at three targets that I shot at 25 yds. from a rest. The blue Custom Target shot 5 rounds into 1 1/8". The .40 put 5 rds into 7/8". The Custom went 1 1/4". There are many high dollar 1911s made by some of the name brand custom shops costing $1200 to $2000 that do not shoot any better. The only reason I can see to buy the high dollar guns would be purely cosmetic.
 
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