Recently I have spoken with two of the foremost pistolsmiths in the country & both have stated to me that Kimber pistols are crap on the inside stating that they will self destruct internally after approx. 5000-7000 rds. Do you think this is a case of "sour grapes" since the aftermarket .45 market is slowly dying (thanks to Kimber) or perhaps they, thru years of accumulated knowledge know something we don't? Perhaps Wilson's old adage about not getting a $1500 pistol for $650 is true(?) Also, why don't we see more Kimber "race guns" on the shooting sport scene? No flames please: I own a Kimber that is the most accurate pistol I've shot.
Kimber Quality?
- Thread starter BOGE
- Start date
George Stringer
Staff Alumnus
Boge, when Kimber first brought their 1911s out they gave the first 100 away. At that point in time they were practically handfitting everything the way I understand it. But, I've talked to the guy who owns serial no. 101 and while the pistol groups well it shoots 1'left and 2'low at 25 yds. I've also talked to one or two people who have left Kimber for whatever reason and they also say quality control is going downhill. But, the biggest indicator to me is that when they first came on the scene there were rarely anything other than glowing reports from shooters. As time went by, mass production reared its ugly head and more and more folks complain about having to send the guns back for whatever reason. I've heard about Kimber using cut rate parts but I don't know this to be true. As far as lifespan it's still too early to tell. The reason you don't see more on the competition circuit is that winners tend to stay with what works and new guys tend to emulate the winners. George
I have two Kimbers. A Stainless Target and a Classic Stainless. The Target model I have been shooting in IDPA for going on two years now, with no problems at all. If coughed on some poor reloads I used once, but that wasn't the guns fault. Round count is approaching 2000. Very accurate.
The Classic went to Heinie for night sights the day after I picked it up. Have not got it back yet. The trigger pull feels better on it than the Target, and it appears to be a little "tighter" than the Target.
Will these guns start to "die" after 5000 to 7000 rounds? I do not think so. The Target looks as good as the day I bought it. I will post about the Classic as it was produced almost two years after the Target.
Johnboy
The Classic went to Heinie for night sights the day after I picked it up. Have not got it back yet. The trigger pull feels better on it than the Target, and it appears to be a little "tighter" than the Target.
Will these guns start to "die" after 5000 to 7000 rounds? I do not think so. The Target looks as good as the day I bought it. I will post about the Classic as it was produced almost two years after the Target.
Johnboy
Hi folks,
I got roundly flamed on another forum for saying this, but I have seen two Kimbers in the last two weeks, brand new, that would not function. One could not get through a full magazine without jamming with Winchester ball; the other jammed about every ten shots with GI ball. That type of ammo is lowest common denominator; it it won't work with ball, it won't work with anything.
My "flamer" haughtily informed me that I knew nothing about pistols and that the Kimber needs to be "broken in" for at least 500 rounds; in other words, spend two hundred dollars to make the gun work the way it should out of the box. And if it jams every third round, when do you start counting?
I will leave Kimbers on the shelf until I see better results.
Jim
I got roundly flamed on another forum for saying this, but I have seen two Kimbers in the last two weeks, brand new, that would not function. One could not get through a full magazine without jamming with Winchester ball; the other jammed about every ten shots with GI ball. That type of ammo is lowest common denominator; it it won't work with ball, it won't work with anything.
My "flamer" haughtily informed me that I knew nothing about pistols and that the Kimber needs to be "broken in" for at least 500 rounds; in other words, spend two hundred dollars to make the gun work the way it should out of the box. And if it jams every third round, when do you start counting?
I will leave Kimbers on the shelf until I see better results.
Jim
Jim, I've got a stainless Pro Carry Lightweight and a Gold Match. Niether would run with the supplied magazines.With McCormick or Colt mags the Gold Match runs 100% with anything, the Pro Carry runs 100% with Silvertips or HydraShok. 100% for me is 200 rounds through each, 2-3 times a month.
Jim I can understand your thinking. My Kimbers came with 7 rd mags. I do not care for 7 rd mags, I prefer 8's. I have been using Shooting Stars without any hiccups in my Stainless Target. The couple of times I did use the factory 7, it worked just fine. I should have my new one, Classic Stainless, together next week, and will post how it functions.
Jim, one would think so. It beats me why they're continuing to send out bargain basement mags when they've worked so hard to gain the reputation for producing quality pistols.Maybe a case of the corporate left hand not knowing what the corporate right hand is doing - "yes,sir, I save our company 75 cents on each magazine by going with this new company in Bora Bora." "Great work Jeeves, now if I could only get that lazy sales manager to figure out why our sales are falling....."
