Opinions requested on a Kimber

[Substance-P]

I am biased.

I love 1911s. I own and appreciate glocks...just can't bring myself to love them yet (although, I have promised my G19 that if it is good, I will send it off for stippling and some refinishing).

I honestly had problems with my G19 at first, primarily failure to feeds. I got it sorted out (a big part of it was me, as it was my first gun), and I have no doubt that it would do what I would ask for it to. Several of my other polymer guns have been 100% and are good reliable guns as well.

Within my 1911s, I have a varying degree of quality and cost. Some of the less expensive ones have required breaking in (a couple rounds down range)...some of my other ones have never failed once.

All of guns end up at the point where I am 100% confident they will function, or I get rid of them.

In regards to the question about Kimbers, I have a few thoughts. I have owned or shot extensively four different Kimbers. One has been perfect, one had sporadic failure to feeds, and two required multiple trips to gun smiths. Kimber sells a lot of guns and so the chances of catching a lemon increase because of volume. And, they had some serious problems when they tried to stick a rifle extractor on slides as an external extractor and it just didn't work out. I have heard of several shops shying away from carrying Kimbers (I have seen multiple "new" Kimbers in shops that have some rust starting).

Having said that, all of my Kimbers had great aesthetics and came with some nice options. When they worked, they were accurate. I also like the fact that Kimber brings a lot of different models to the marketplace that gives the consumer solid options and challenges their competitors. Having said that, the challenge for Kimber is that now Dan Wesson, Smith and Wesson, and STI are coming to the table with serious contenders in their price range. And Springfield has been a strong competitor all along. The Dan Wesson CBOB is a fantastic deal for under 1K, as is the STI trojan, and there are a whole host of S&Ws, Colts, and Springers in that category as well.

I think you could get a Kimber and be completely satisfied, a lot of people are. I also think that there are a lot of options in the 1911 marketplace depending on your price range and what you want to use the gun for.

[glockguy07]

Originally Posted by GJ1981

Lets see how my math is these days

1) My Glock 17 - 2 stove pipes at the last range outing
2) Glock 23 - FTF twice in the first magazine of break in
3) Glock 30 - Broke slide stop at round 19
4) Glock 21 - Frame cracked approx round 450, returned to factory

Springfield Professional - Zero malfunctions
Nighthawk Talon II - Zero malfunctions
Damn my unreliable 1911's

1) Could be limpwristing
2) Could be limpwristing
3) How the F did you manage to do that? LOL
4) See #3, I've heard of this, but never had an issue with mine in thousands of rds.

As far as your 1911s - I say we meet up at my local range and run our guns side by side for 750-1000rds, drop them on the ground every 100rds or so, well see who's fails first. No timeouts to oil/clean. We use the magazines that come with our guns - no aftermarket mags.

Don't worry the gravel isn't too hard on the finish. No shooter's mats.

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by glockguy07

...drop them on the ground every 100rds or so, well see who's fails first...
...Don't worry the gravel isn't too hard on the finish.

1911 shooters don't drop their guns on the ground. Hell, they don't have to!

[Cwood]

Lets see....

1911 America's Armed Services issued handgun for 75years.

Glock, oh wait they still don't issue it.

[GJ1981]

Originally Posted by glockguy07

1) Could be limpwristing
2) Could be limpwristing
3) How the F did you manage to do that? LOL
4) See #3, I've heard of this, but never had an issue with mine in thousands of rds.

As far as your 1911s - I say we meet up at my local range and run our guns side by side for 750-1000rds, drop them on the ground every 100rds or so, well see who's fails first. No timeouts to oil/clean. We use the magazines that come with our guns - no aftermarket mags.

Don't worry the gravel isn't too hard on the finish. No shooter's mats.

LOL....it has to be MY fault, Glocks are perfect Why is it MY doing that the slide stop broke from testing 230gr Hydrashoks? Again how is it MY fault for the frame cracking? Oh I get it I used the gun, damn had I only known. Do some research on the Professional, it's been through more than a 1000 round test, try 80,000.

Why do Glock people assume that a 1911 owner is concerned with it's appearance? I suppose when someone buys a gun for me I'll care what they think.

How many accounts do you have here now? exile? glockguy07?

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by GJ1981

Why is it MY doing that the slide stop broke from testing 230gr Hydrashoks? Again how is it MY fault for the frame cracking?

Prolly from dropping it on the ground, like you're supposed to with the Glocks.

[ATM]

I thought only French rifles were designed to be dropped on the ground.

I shot a friends Kimber 1911 (not sure of model but full size) last week and it felt good and was very accurate. I noticed it had some light rust on the barrel and scolded him. It's his first gun and I assumed he hadn't cleaned and lubed it properly. I hadn't heard about this being a problem with the new ones until this thread. I would want to run a lot of ammo through it before I trusted it as a primary defense pistol but it functioned fine that day.

[rhino]

I think it's funny how so many Glock-oriented people can't conceive a world in which a Glock can malfunction unless the operator "limp wrists."

If you want to see a nice variety of malfunctions with Glocks, go to a GSSF match with a few hundred people there. You'll see plenty, but I guess everyone there is limp-wristing.

Heck, I must have been limp-wristing every time I had a malfunction with a Glock myself. I am rather delicate, after all. I probably shouldn't be allowed to fire guns.

Back on topic . . . I'm not a huge fan of Kimbers with the "II" in their name. That means they have the firing pin safety, which sounds like a great idea, but it can lead to ongoing and thoroughly irritating reliability problems. Yes, I understand that many people reading this have one or more Kimbers that are 100% reliable, so there is no need to tell me that your gun is perfect. I've had trouble with series II guns and I've seen many others in matches and classes have similar problems. Defeating the Swartz-style firing pin block is easy, though.

The guns with the external extractors were abominations for the most part. I wouldn't even consider buying one (and again, I know people reading this have them and they are perfect) as just too many of the gun could not even be made reliable with multiple trips back to Kimber and/or other gunsmiths.

Now . . . if you can find an older Kimber (no "II" in its name), chances are you going to find an ultra-reliable gun. In addition to the lack of the unnecessary firing pin block and the foolish external extractor, the quality control at the Kimber factory was much, much better back then. They were still building their name and reputation, so they built better guns then (in general).

If I wanted a Kimber, I would prefer:

Pre-series II
conventional extractor (mandatory)
a used gun that I could test fire with my ammo and mags before I bought it, even if the price is comparable to a new gun

[paburger]

We are not a kinber dealer, therefore we can not order them in new. We do occasionally get the on trade. We had one specific gun that was a police academy student purchased to qualify with. He heard they were ultra accurate out of the box so that was his choice. Spent top dollar then never passed the academy. Took a pretty good loss on the sale to the shop. that specific gun went out and came back to the shop several times. When we asked why the last buyer wanted to trade back in he ststed "it just don't fit my hand" Just one more instance of buying on feedback from others and not using one's own sensibilities to choose. Some guys figure the more they spend the better the gun. So that would the make a Mercedes or a BMW more reliable than a Chevy or a Ford for example. A hand gun purchased for home protection doesn't need to be match grade just reliable and easy for the home owner to use. Extragavant detailing, trigger jobs, ect only add $ not reliability.