What is Kimber thinking?

B

Brutus

New member
14 years ago, when Kimber's were top of the line offerings I purchased a Super Match, this was my dream gun meant to replace my 35 year old Gold Cup.
It is a wonderful pistol, extremely accurate and beautifully built.
After 12 years of service the rear sight self destructed, which I consider not a big deal for an adjustable sight on a semi automatic so I had my local GS order a new one and had it installed. Problem is after 2 years I am now about to get my 4th. sight. Everyone has failed. Sure seems to me that if Kimber spent 1/4 of their marketing budget and applied it to quality control they might keep customers like me.
PS. My Gold cup still has it's original sight on it.
Guess I'll be giving my hard earned dollars back to Colt or maybe Dan Wesson. :mad:
 
Kimber has been trash since Ron Cohen took over and drove them into the ground, just as he has done with Sig Sauer.

The early Kimber models were great. Anything with a "II" in the name is very spotty. Their customer service is terrible, and the warranty is only 1 year - vs lifetime for most firearms.

I once had a Kimber Stainless TLE II. It would never run right. Customer service told me to run at least 500rds through it to complete "break in". This was during the initial panic buy in 2009 and ammo was hard to get and expensive when you could. So it took quite some time to get 500 rounds through the gun. Not to mention frequent jams. After I got 500rds through the gun, I contacted them again.

Now they told me the warranty was up and I'd have to pay to ship it to them plus whatever the labor charges were to fix whatever was wrong with it. I sold it at a hefty loss and would never consider them again.

There are many more excellent companies with quality products and great customer service that deserve my money. The Springfield TRP is a fantastic gun. Buttery smooth. Super accurate. The one and only thing I didn't love about it was the front strap checkering was a little more aggressive than I would have liked, but I could have had that knocked down a little.

I've always liked and lusted after the Dan Wesson 1911's, too... but I have never owned one.

From the sounds of your experience... it might be time to move on. Or at a minimum, find a quality aftermarket sight set to have installed. I don't think Kimber is going to do you any favors.
 
My thoughts exactly, was wondering if a Wilson, Les Baer or Ed Brown sight would fit with the least amount of hassle. Have you noticed how when a company makes a marketing guy the CEO the company goes in the pits.
That's because, like my signature says, to a marketing guy, marketing is his hammer and advertising are his nails, that's all they know. :(
 
Wow, that is frustrating. I've had 5 Kimbers with the Bomar type rear sight. No issues. The Kimber rear is an LPA cut so Dawson, Kensight, and probably others, will have replacements...
 
Last edited:
Always interesting to read of someone trashing Kimber. I own 8 different Kimbers. The oldest being over 25 years old and the youngest being several months old. I have never had an issue with any of my Kimbers. I have found them to be extremely accurate out of the box and after running a couple of hundred rounds through them, never had any malfunctions. The key to Kimber, as most 1911's is to change the recoil and firing pin springs before they go bad.

It is also important to keep a 1911 clean and lubed. I can run 5 or 6 thousand rounds thru any one of my Glocks without cleaning it and there is a good chance the gun will continue to run. However, I would never do that to a 1911. My EDC gun is a 1911. It gets cleaned every time I shoot it, whether it be a box of 50 rounds or 3 or 400 rounds. Maybe a bit, pardon the term, overkill, but, when my life depends upon my gun, I want it clean, lubed and ready and I know it is reliable.
 
45GUNNER you are a lucky man. I treat my firearms the same as you.
This is not my only bad experience with Kimber. Made the mistake of buying a Target II in 10mm when they were first released. Right out of the box the extractor broke. Returned, fixed and sent back three weeks later. Gun was a total jammomatic, wouldn't make it through a single magazine. Finally got 2 colt delta elite mags and that problem went away. Each time I communicated with customer service I was treated in a very sarcastic manner, pretty much they claimed I was the problem. Now I've been around the block a few times so I know better than to initiate problematic conversations with a rant. Each time I called their customer service I made a point to be courteous and not condescending. Can't say the same about them. Of course if I had to go to work everyday and listen to people complaining I might get a bit grumpy too.:( Hope you never have to deal with them.
 
To me there's a difference between "trashing" a brand and pointing out a repeated problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
seems to me that if Kimber spent 1/4 of their marketing budget and applied it to quality control they might keep customers.
Click to expand...
Couldn't have said it plainer. Beauty there is only skin deep in many cases...and customer support, after the obligatory 200-300 rounds to "break it in" 'cause we build them so tight, BS; seems spotty at best, IMHO. YMMV, Rod
 
Brutus said:
Sure seems to me that if Kimber spent 1/4 of their marketing budget and applied it to quality control they might keep customers like me.
Click to expand...




Even though I truely feel your pain about having some issues with your sights I've always thought that was a goofy thing to say. Kimber can afford a lot of nice full page ads because they sell a ****load of 1911s, not the other way around. For every one of you that has a problem there are 4,000 others that are very happy with their Kimber. It's simple math, very simple, no matter how many people want to bash them. I've always said I love the Kimber hate, it keeps the prices down a bit on the ones made in the 90's. ;)


I much prefer the older ones, I'm in the same boat as 45Gunner though, between me and four of five friends we've owned 15 of them. Other than a couple crappy mags and one extractor that needed a little tweaking no problems at all in tens of thousands of rounds. Kimber most likely puts out as many dogs as Dan Wesson does total 1911s. That doesn't mean the other 70K of them don't work very well. Again, it's simple math.
 
Last edited:
Rinspeed, in the case of my target II I might agree as it is a mass produced example but in the case of a Super Match not so much, this is their top of the line offering demanding big bucks. My problems with it are a result of Kimbers decision to lower costs with cheaper parts in order to feed their perceived marketing needs.
 
I have a couple Kimbers and will say they're OK, but nothing special. If you want quality in a 1911 without going bankrupt the DW line is hard to beat and their customer service is outstanding.
 
What is Kimber thinking

Local Guns Shop says the same things as everyone here.
he's sold several that Customers order. He doesn't stock them.
They break and Kimber won't fix them A one year warranty.
Wife bought a Kimber Ultra carry II. It is not stainless. It is carbon steel slide and aluminum frame with a nickle, teflon coating? Salesman said "yes I is stainless steel. Says so right her on the slide." Bass Pro Nashville.
 
Haha I've cleaned my glock after one. Seriously I clean my guns every time I fire them whether it's one round or 100. I even baby my Glock 19. It looks brand new with just a little barrel wear. I actually enjoy cleaning them so it happens often.

The only problem I've personally seen with Kimber 1911s that my friends have is that the finish seems to be a joke. Looks great at first but wears down or totally off fairly quickly. They usually work alright with a handful of failures but it's never a huge issue. It's spotty enough to make me weary but not so much that I'd shun them.
 
I have a pro carry II that has had a ton of GI ball run through it ith no difficulties, this is a nicely made and accurate pidtol. I purchased a Micro Carry .380 and shot several hundred rounds when it failed to go into battery. A call to Kimber CS and two days later ihad a newly designed recoil spring and rod in my mailbox, not a problem once the new parts were installed. Nothing wrong with that CS incident. I wonder how many of the Kimber hate club have actually shelled out the purchase price for one?
 
I don know why in the world you would continue to use kimber sights when there are so much better options available

I recommend dawson precision.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top