Kimber Stainless or Not?

J

Jonpod

New member
I am going to buy a Kimber Custom. This is the full size all steel 1911-A1. I like the looks of the stainless the best then the blued and last the parkerized one. Is there any difference between these that could help me in my decision? For instance, I've heard that stainless ones aren't fit as tight as the others. Is one more difficult to keep clean? I would appreciate all input. Thanks
 
Haven't seen a whole lot of them - but of all I have seen they seem to be equally tight.

Personally I like the blue the best, then parkerized, then stainless. But that is a matter of personal taste. Functionally the finely polished blue will show holster wear the most rapidly. Then polished stainless, and the parkerized finish is the most durable.

The blue is most prone to rusting (unauthorized oxidation), then the parkerized - with stainless giving you the best rust protection.

All in all, I'd recommend you follow your sense of esthetics.

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Jim Fox

[This message has been edited by JimFox (edited May 28, 2000).]
 
I am not a great Kimber expert as I have only one. Rikwriter is a Kimber guru, but I very much like my Stainless Covert. All three finishes have ups and downs but I like stainless for wear and rust resistance. To me its easier to clean. Living in a humid climate that is important. Blue looks sharp. Parkerized is a rugged military finish. If all else is equal I would recommend stainless but unfortunately price is never equal with finishes.
 
Personally I reccommend the stainless, especially if the gun is meant for carry. There is no difference in tightness between the stainless and parkerized guns that I could tell.
 
Jonpod,

I have a full-sized Kimber Custom/Classic in stainless. I strongly recommend this pistol. Kimber's manufacturing quality is excellent and its out-of-the box accuracy is simply the best I have ever experienced in any autoloader (including Sigs, Glocks, pre-WWII Colt 1911A1). In addition, the stainless design is very easy to maintain and very durable.

In the last months, there have been many TFL threads and comments that "bashed" Kimber. My experience has been just the opposite -- the pistol is outstanding.

One final comment: I experienced a slight (1 to 2 percent) jam-rate during the first 500 rounds fired (generally 230 grain FMJ). After this break-in period, however, I have had zero failures-to-feed with an additional 2000+ rounds fired. Therefore, if you experience minor break-in jams, I would not worry about it until you have fired 500+ rounds.
 
Gee, my Kimbers haven't had any problems.

My second favorite is the Stainless Custom (sorry, the Pro CDP is the first - Ambi safety you know...) and it is a real sweet shooter.

Heard alot of BAD things about Kimbers. So I bought a Springfield Armory 1911-A1 Stainless. First 80 shots it locked the slide back! No, not with the slide lock, with the gritty slide fit (yes, I cleaned and heavily lubed the slide) and it required striking the slide with the heel of my hand to free it...

None of my Kimbers have been close to this to break in. Each are up to around 200 or 300 rounds and working fine. I just need more $$$ so that I can feed them. They all out shoot me. Shucks, one day I was shooting eggs with the Kimber Ultra... at 25 yards! (50% of the time=not bad for me!)

You can do worse than Kimber...
 
I prefer a carbon steel gun over a stainless, however, I like the look of a "silver" gun over most blued pistols. I have seen some great looking blued pistols, but they begin to look like crap after a couple years of use. If you can afford a $150 or so I would have a blued gun hard chromed after it has been broken in a bit or wait until it needs to be re-blued. The stainless guns I have owned still showed signs of rust. A hard chromed gun will wear like iron and looks great. You can specify anything from a highly polished "pimp gun" to my favorite of matted rounds and brush polished flats.
 
I have two stainless Kimbers. Like them both. The only thing that I could add would be that they need a little extra attention with respect to lubrication vs their blued cousins. They make up for that in that they are extremely easy to clean.

Get the one deep down that you want.

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John
 
Get one of the TWO TONE KIMBERS. They look good, and you can let us know which parts hold up the best.Do what BENNET RICHARDS says, use TUFF-CLOTH and you won't have to worry about the finish.I now use their products,( grease etc.) on all my guns, and like the dry lube products the best.They work !! :)
 
I'll second on the 2 tone finish- I have a Combat Carry and it looks just as sweet as a $1600 Wilson IMO- I'm not comparing them, only on the looks department- gets "many" compliments at the range.
 
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