Will the "Real" Kimber Please . . . . ?

D

DLD

Inactive
I guess it's a good thing I bought my Kimbers before I discovered this web site.

Otherwise, likely I would be missing the joy of Kimber ownership. Incidentally, I was looking for another name brand. Hadn't even heard of Kimber; so I checked it over pretty carefully side-by-side with the traditional name brand.

I do appreciate the openness and frankness of most of the postings on the site.

Thanks
 
Yeah, that is why I find myself defending Kimber whenever the Usual Suspects start talking it down...I had the good luck to buy my first Kimber before finding this site and I am damn glad I did. I picked it up, a Classic Custom, NIB at a gun show for $525+tax and all of my friends that handled it were "ooh" and "ahh" and then when I SHOT it...god, I thought the most accurate handgun I would ever shoot had been my SIG P229, but this thing was better. (And the Gold Match I have now is even better!)
I am sure Kimber lemons DO exist...every brand puts out a lemon or ten after a few years. But I know I have yet to run into anyone in my neck of the woods that has had one.
 
I have an early classic custom out of Oregon. When I first took it shooting, it shot 9 inches low and the slide would not lock open after the last round. Sounds familar huh? I put in a colt slide stop, and filed off about half of the front sight. Now it shoots dead on the money and runs like a top.I have put thousands of rounds through it,not a hitch. It's a keeper! By the way I got for $450 NIB. :)
 
Oh yeah, well the first time that I shot my Kimber the slide flew off and embedded itself in my forehead. This required plastic surgery to correct. Everything was fine after that until I left it on the seat of my car and all of those MIM parts melted.

I then replaced all of those MIM parts with *real* Wilson MIMs because, as we know they're just naturally better. The next problem was that the slide cracked so I went down to my nearest aircraft factory and had them mill me a new one. Afterall, we know that they won't use junk. My Kimber/Wilson/Boeing now works like a charm.

Just Kiddin' :) I love mine too. I just thought that I'd be the first to rain on the parade.
 
railroader, I had a Kimber from Clackamas, Orygun too, paid $509. Mine shot two inches low at thirty feet and filed down the front sight and it was on the money from then on.

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"Gun Control Only Protects Those in Power"
 
People love Kimbers, and Glocks, and HKs, and Springfields, and Colts...

People hate Kimbers, and Glocks, and HKs, and Springfields, and Colts...

That about sums up the opinions you will find. My next pistol will probably be a Kimber Custom Compact- nice gun.

Erik
 
DLD, you have stated your regret as to joining this board, because you never knew anything was wrong with your Kimber. I shoot with a guy who has about 15,000 rounds (no parts replaced) through his, and I told him about this board, to which he replied, "I'm glad I haven't run across it"!

You have joined an elite club...the members of which sit around in fear and trembling as to when their MIM part is going to break, or their polymer trigger of mainspring housing is going to melt!

Today, I go to the range and will pass 5,000 rounds on my Classic Custom..Just firing away, pulling on that 3 pound polymer trigger, watching those holes grouping so close...on a sandbag it will still do 1.5 inches at 25 yds...not bad for a $509 gun that has never had a part replaced or tightened!

Semper Fi, Vet!
 
Big George,

Thanks for your reassurance. Also, glad to hear from another vet.

I bought 2 Kimber Compacts (Stainless and Stainless/Aluminum) before reading about the trials and troubles people have talked about.

It has been nearly 30 years since the last time I held a pistol, but all this "gun control" nonsense started to spook me. I joined NRA (life membership) - first time in almost 35 years I had membership in NRA - - - then off to the gun store.

I compared the Kimbers side-by-side with the more familiar name brands in the gun store. In fact, I had gone to look for one of the name brands - had never even heard of Kimber.

I was impressed with the Kimber fit and finish. It seemed that for the price, I couldn't do better than Kimber. Also, the compacts seemed to fit my hand better than the full-sized 1911s I carried during several Vietman tours.

An aside - - - When I was first being trained for defensive use of the 1911, it seemed that my best bet for hitting the target (pop-up silhouettes) would be to throw the pistol. I got better over time and had occasion to save my life once with my 1911. Even shot "expert" for record but shot "good enough" when it really mattered.

Regarding the metal injection molded parts - three or four are obvious. Not in a bad way, but in a very positive way.

Are there hidden MIM parts I should be concerned about? If so, where would I obtain parts of a different manufacturing technology - with a lower probability of failure?

Thanks, again for the positive input.

DLD
 
DLD,
If it aint broke don't worry about it. I own 5 kimbers, I carry a compact custom, and me and the wife have scoped and unscoped customs and gold matches, for competition. I have over 30,000 rounds experience, and found they are like any other high performance item. If you are expecting true high performance, you have to customize it for you to shoot the way you need it to. Kimber is a high performance handgun, and it has to be treated like one if that is what you want. My carry kimber has never had anything done to it, and will put 6 shots into a 1.5" hole at 25 yards. the scoped ones will do the same at 50 yards.

some people expect too much out of a gun under any conditions, and some get a heck of a lot more than they bargained for. Kimber is a value by my standards. For guns choose kimber for motorcycles choose harley. shoot to live, live to shoot.

[This message has been edited by 10mmrules (edited March 08, 2000).]
 
I think that 10mm has brought up a very good point that many people don't consider. As good or bad as it may be a Kimber is still just a factory gun.

I often hear Kimber criticized as being inferior to Les Baer, Wilson, Rock River etc. My answer to that is once again, AT THAT PRICE THEY'D BETTER BE. If they aren't you're getting ripped off. Before Kimber got into the 1911 game if a shooter wanted the Kimbers typical features than he/she had to go custom, and pay for it. Kimber has produced a factory gun with custom features at a production cost, one of the ways to do that is to use alternate manufacturing methods like MIM. No one in the gun industry thought that they could do it and Kimber proved them wrong (which really pisses a lot of them off). Kimber has also taken a bite out of the custom business (which pisses a *lot* of them off too) for good reason.

All of that being said, the Kimber is still just a factory gun. Comparing the Kimber to a custom 1911 is unfair to Kimber and is insulting to many of the fine gunsmiths working today.
 
Okay, 1300+ rounds later and I have a problem with my Stainless Gold Match. How do I keep all of these people around here from putting their grubby little fingerprints all over my pistol while they're fondling it? John
 
Exactly, Patrick. I hear the same old baloney line over and over "You aren't gonna get a custom gun for $600." Naw, ya think? But what I DID get for less than $600 in my first Kimber Classic Custom was a gun with more features than a Colt Enhanced Government Model, that was more accurate and much more reliable out of the box. And for two or three hundred dollars less than I would have had to pay for a Colt Enhanced Government Model at the time.
And that is (or was, with Colts' current problems) the real competition, not Wilson or Les Baer or Ed Brown.
 
Not to speak out of turn, but I believe the operative word in Big George's post is "on", not "through". The number given indicates rounds fired to date, not rounds fired in a day. 5000 rounds in a day would surely be a torture test for both gun and shooter!

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semper ubi sub ubi
 
Actually DLD I was glad to find this board for the opposite reason in regards to Kimber.
I,ve owned four Kimbers, a Custom Compact (steel), an Ultra Carry, an Ultra Elite, and most recently a Custom Compact Aluminum. The last three were problem children, each requiring two trips to the smith without the problems being fixed. These problems collectively included: Slide not locking open after last round fired, Extractor breaking in middle of range session, Magazine catch lock breaking during middle of range session, Jaming and repeated failures to feed. I take it back in regards to the magazine catch lock, it was replaced without further breakage. Now this was three lemons out of four pistol purchases, Yet "everyone" else I was meeting at the range or at the gun shops I frequent were saying they had never had or heard of anyone having problems with their Kimbers, I'll tell you I was beginning to develop a complex
:D. It wasn't until I found this board that I learned that others, quite a few others, had had problems with their Kimbers also. This past Tuesday I sold my wifes Custom Compact Alum.( again two trips to smith ) and bought, at her request, a Glock 30 for her to use as her carry piece.
I still look yearningly at the Kimbers when I'm at the store, however today I carry a Springfield.

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