Kimber 45ACP I'm SHOCKED!

Kimber turns out great pistols , they go the extra mile , tight frame , smooth up the rough edges . I on the other hand have a Colt New Agent ( trench sights & CT Laser grips ) a carry gun . My friend liked my pistol and bought the same gun but made by Kimber , cost twice the price but the workmanship is outstanding , almost too pretty to carry or shoot . 230 FMJ's have enough fire power , +P rounds will beat the heck out of the pistol , if it's your fun gun that shoots accurately I would baby it , clean it after every firing , lightly grease the rails and barrel bushing , drop of oil on the disconnector . Change springs when fired cases eject erratic . What I like is the firing pin strikes on Kimbers are dead center on the primers , well toned barrels link up . You get what you pay for . Good Luck with your new Kimber it's a beauty .

Chris
 
Last edited:
It is my fun gun at the range and it will be a nightstand and glove box gun. I'll take very good care of it and treat it nicely but I am gonna shoot it, because that what I bought it for. The superb accuracy I've seen just makes me want to shoot it more. It's had a total of 3 +p rounds and that # will rise as I make sure the pistol will reliably function with it, but 90% or more of it's shooting will be standard 230 grain "ball"

With all the hate I see towards Kimber I just don't see it a d could not be more pleased.
 
CarJunkie
The 1911 is designed to shoot 230gr. FMJ 's . Are you into reloading , very easy round to reload . I also only shoot 230 FMJ 50 rounds every week . Learn how to completely dissemble the pistol , very easy. I give it a complete cleaning every 500 rounds . Keeps it running trouble free .
 
I've got a Kimber Pro Carry 2 and have been happy with it and its performance. I need to take it out for some range time. I haven't shot it for groups in many years but I can usually hit where I'm aiming with in 3/4 of an inch. I love shooting SWC 200grn reloads, love the little clean holes cut in the paper.
 
I can't hit a sub 1" group at 25 yards with any pistol other than an AR. But my Kimbers are very accurate being minute of soda jug at 50 yards. I hear lots of complaining about Kimber reliability but after about 6000 rounds with 3 guns I have had zero issues.
 
I have heard that current Kimber mags are lower quality. I would check on that. There are good mag makers out there: Wilson and a variety of others
Click to expand...

Kimber .45 mags used to be made by Chip McCormick but I don't know if they still are.
 
The Kimbers are very fine 1911s. I was shocked the first time I fired my Ultra Carry .45. At 25 yards it was dead on and put the bullets in amazingly tiny groups.
 
I have 2 1911 Colt's 5 & 3" love shooting them . Kimbers are beautiful well made firearm , they remove all the rough edges , tight slides and highly polished . What's not to like . New autos need some TLC for 500 rounds to break everything in . 45's use FMJ's in the beginning after that feed it whatever you want. I treat all autos the same way , Service 45 were like rattle traps but fired every time , some things get better with use.
 
I am now at roughly 125 round count from brand new. I have experienced 3 last round failure to feeds from the 80ish round count to the 125 round count. All 3 failures occurred with a Chip McMormick 10 round magazine. It has flawless with the 8 round Wilson mags that I have.

I have found no faults in the pistol itself and it's no doubt more accurate than I can hold it. If I do my part I'll have no issue hitting a bulleye at 25 yards. It's cleaned and oiled now ready for more shooting.
 
Car
It shows you there's nothing wrong with the pistol , I only load 5 with a 7 round mag . I try not to stress anything . Last round locks back the side when loading less and works 100% do it that way . Why even think of the slide having feed problems squeezing out that last round . Load less and concentrate on your shooting is more important.
 
Yeah I just use the 10 round mags at the range because it's less loading time. I need to work on shot to shot consistency. I I take my time and really concentrate and do all the right things I'll hit dead center at 15 yards. For serious work (defense) the 8 round Wilson mags will get the nod for that. I love this Kimber pistol and I'm gonna do my best to be as proficient as possible with it.
 
I’ve owned a number of Kimbers in various models and calibers and each has been a reliable excellent shooter and quite accurate. I think Kimber is the best value available in 1911s.
I’ve also owned Wilson Combat, Ed Brown, Dan Wesson, Colt, and Springfield 1911s. I’ve chosen to keep two brands, Les Baer and Kimber.

Kimbers do get a bad rap by people parroting what they hear from the uninformed about using MIM parts. These anti MIM people need to do a bit of research on the subject. As a retired mechanical engineer, I have no issues whatsoever with MIM parts. I think it’s cutting edge technology. How many have ever had an MIM part fail?

Now for the negative - I don’t like the full length guide rods they put in some of the full size Kimbers but they are easily replaced.

My two cents.
 
I've had a Kimber II since 2010. A bit of a rough start, had to dimple the slide stop to get it to work. Filed the front sight to zero it. Only other thing was the massive thumb safety, replaced it with the small Colt safety. It's very accurate, very few hiccups, maybe 2 or 3 in 3000 rounds. I did boost the hammer and install a Colt sear spring.
 
I am now at roughly 125 round count from brand new. I have experienced 3 last round failure to feeds from the 80ish round count to the 125 round count. All 3 failures occurred with a Chip McMormick 10 round magazine. It has flawless with the 8 round Wilson mags that I have.
Click to expand...

When I first got my Kimber, and was shooting it to get ready for my concealed-carry qualification, I started having problems with feed issues... the second to last round would always nose-dive into the magazine... this with the mish-mash of 7- and 8-round magazines I had at the time. I switched to Chip 8-round PowerMags... and I have not had a problem in 15 years.

A couple of knowledgeable swipes with a file on the front edge of the ejector would have fixed that.
Click to expand...

In hindsight I know that... it would have been nothing to swap the extractor or just tune it a little, but this was in my early days of 1911-ship. Oddly enough, my brother, who owns it now, doesn't have this problem... and the pistol is unchanged.
 
Kimbers do get a bad rap by people parroting what they hear from the uninformed about using MIM parts. These anti MIM people need to do a bit of research on the subject.
Click to expand...

For a while, Kimber had some QC problems as well... this was repeated across the internet, so for a while everyone who had one malfunction immediately went bonkers about poor build quality.

The other big bugaboo is the plastic mainspring housing. To be honest, until I read this hoary internet lore, I never even knew it was plastic... and it made zero difference to me in what was a fantastically shootable pistol. Haters gotta hate...
 
I've had no problems with the plastic mainspring housing or MIM parts on the Kimber or any other brands for that matter except for a broken ejector on a Citadel(329.00 pistol).
I've shot thousands of rounds thru a couple new style S&W revolver with MIM hammers and triggers etc. No problems. Also the Kimber and a Ruger CMD. If I'm not mistaken some Wilson parts are MIM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top