Kimber

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I just got a Custom Stainless II last week and so far I have put around 350-400 rounds through it. This is my 1st 1911 and I am beyond stoked about it's performance!
 
lol i never know what to think about kimbers..

literally 50% of the reviewers say theirs is great, never had an issue.

the other 50% say theirs were total pieces of crap.
 
literally 50% of the reviewers say theirs is great, never had an issue.

the other 50% say theirs were total pieces of crap.
2 out of 29 posts does not equal 50% negative. About 5% is closer. I have 4 kimber 1911s and 2 rifles purchased over the last 10 years. They are all great guns and I am a very picky person. I recently bought a wilson combat to see what I was missing. The answer is not much. The wilson is a fine pistol but for the money the difference over my kimbers is very,very, small. Everyone gets bad guns from time to time and the companies should make it right for the dollars involved. I also believe their is a substantial amount of ignorance concerning firearms that explains at least half of the complaints we see on the forums. When you say you will never have something that 95 % of other consumers love, the odds are not in your favor as to being an objective critic.
BTW just received eclipse 10mm and no hiccups and shoots just like the older models.
 
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Love mine. My Stainleass Target II is a sweet reliable shooter and my wife's .22 Rimfire is just as good. I also have relatives and friends that own Kimber's, some even with the external extractor, and they all work great. I will surely buy another. I've been eyeing a CDP II
 
2 out of 29 posts does not equal 50% negative. About 5% is closer. I have 4 kimber 1911s and 2 rifles purchased over the last 10 years. They are all great guns and I am a very picky person. I recently bought a wilson combat to see what I was missing. The answer is not much. The wilson is a fine pistol but for the money the difference over my kimbers is very,very, small. Everyone gets bad guns from time to time and the companies should make it right for the dollars involved. I also believe their is a substantial amount of ignorance concerning firearms that explains at least half of the complaints we see on the forums. When you say you will never have something that 95 % of other consumers love, the odds are not in your favor as to being an objective critic.
BTW just received eclipse 10mm and no hiccups and shoots just like the older models.


I've owned six 1911's so far, from a bone-stock ORM 1991A1 to a full custom Combat Elite bowling pin gun. Ignorance and/or lack of experience with the platform definitely not the cause with my feelings for Kimber products. My "ignorance" didn't machine the mag catch hole in the frame oversized. My "ignorance" didn't forget to radius the Series II FPS plunger in the slide causing numerous failures to return to battery until it was removed. My "ignorance" didn't cause the mag catch to snap in half. My "ignorance" didn't forget to radius the chamber mouth so brass would catch on it and not make it into the chamber.

When a "carry" model is incapable of making it thru a 200rd range session without a failure while the other guns on the table coast through it just fine, the problem isn't operator error or ignorance. I paid $697 for the gun and then put another $700+ into it in an attempt to make it reliable enough to carry every day. Unfortunately, it never made it to that point.
 
tcsnake said:
My question is how do you like YOUR kimber 1911?

I have three Ed Browns, two Dan Wessons and two Kimbers with no plans to get rid of the Kimbers ... they're great pistols. Here's my Tactical Entry II which I use in USPSA matches and it's excellent both in terms of reliability and accuracy. I like it so much that I plan to send it out for an ion bond finish since the factory finish is starting to show quite a bit of holster wear on the slide. I also plan on adding Heinie straight eight sights to make it faster to shoot during matches. I primarily use it for matches but would absolutely trust my life to it with any .45 Auto ammunition.

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I bought it brand new on my anniversary, 10/11/02
That is pretty much what I expected. Kimber clearly went through a period when they missed the mark on their MIM QC, and many folk paid the price for that in terms of getting guns that simply broke small parts like mag catches and slide stops and such...

I've been lucky; my first Kimber was bought in 2004 or so, and since that time I've owned a number of Kimbers without a single mechanical failure. I have every reason to believe, based upon my experience and the experience of those around me, that the current crop of Kimbers are solid pistols.
 
I have STI, DoubleStar, Kimber and Sig 1911s, also had a springfield. I like my Kimber raptor I did have the thumb safety break on the strong side. I called Kimber and they sent me a new one that day. No complaints with Kimber.
 
I paid $697 for the gun and then put another $700+ into it in an attempt to make it reliable enough to carry every day.
You obviously had a defective pistol and whoever works on your guns is screwing you and or does not know what they are doing. I think you proved my point that irritated you in the first place. Why would you spend that kind of money? Have someone that knows 1911's check it out. Some old guy like me at the range can point you in the right direction for free. Take care.
 
I bought a Pro Elite, in .45 for my wife, several years ago. She ALMOST didn't get it for Christmas because I like it so much. I can't comment too much about reliability on the Pro Elite. I doubt we've put 200 rounds through it.
A friend of mine bought an old Pro-Carry, in .40, 10-12 years ago, and something wasn't quite right with the fit-up of the barrel. He sent it to Kimber for repair, and sold it to me as soon as it came back.I don't know how many thousands of rounds I've put through it, but, it's never missed a beat!:p
I've heard about a lot of Kimber issues, over the last few years, but, fell in love with the SOLO, and HAD to buy one. I pick it up Tuesday. Hopefully, Kimber has all the bugs worked out!
Now, I need to find a reasonably priced set of Crimson Trace Laser grips for the SOLO, and maybe a few spare mags.:banghead:
 
I have a Series I Custom Classic.It has been very reliable with ball and 200gr LSWC.Very accurate and a usable 4.5lb trigger pull.I have been shooting this 1911 more to see how the MIM parts hold up.Seems the older Limbers like mine seem to fair better than the newer ones.The switch from an internal extractor to an external one did not fair too well and Kimber went back to the JMB system.
I would only buy another one if the price was right,other wise there are better options for the same money.
 
I owned two Kimbers over the years, one stainless pro carry and one ultra carry, stainless as well. Both were awful and so was Kimbers customer service. Those were my first and last 1911's after that debacle ended I never wanted to see another 1911 again. My wife loves 1911's so I'm sure I'll end up with another but it certainly won't be a Kimber.
 
LOL, this is the 3rd Kimber based thread I have responded in tonight...needless to say, I'm a fan. I have a Ultra Carry II in .45 and a Solo as my smaller carry gun. I used to carry an LCP for my smaller carry gun, but it's been permanently replaced. :)
 
love mine cdp pro. raptor ultra, stainless target 2, super carry pro, eclipse 10mm.
 
I am a new owner of a Custom II and have no complaints so far. 600 rounds with two failures, but that was "stock magazine" related in the first 50 rounds. Retired that magazine to the dust bin and not a hiccup since with Wilson's. The pistol is as accurate as I am and I like it.
 
I am a new owner of a Custom II and have no complaints so far. 600 rounds with two failures, but that was "stock magazine" related in the first 50 rounds. Retired that magazine to the dust bin and not a hiccup since with Wilson's. The pistol is as accurate as I am and I like it.

When I bought my first Kimber and started having issues, I was shocked to hear their CS rep tell me NOT to use Kimber magazines in my Kimber handgun. He told me to instead use Mcormick mags. Why not strike a deal with Mcormick and ship those with the gun? Oh yeah, because it's cheaper for Kimber to let me deal with it.
 
i have a new kimber custom2 mfg date 11-11-2011 and i just got it broke in. i love this gun but i did have 1 problem with it,premature slide stops. i called kimber and they are sending me a new slide stop with a detent. i also went ahead and ordered a wilson combat bullet proof slide stop so i will keep the new kimber part for a spare. ive seen that alot of people are having problems with kimber slide stops and most of them used a wilson as a replacement and it fixed the problem. other than that, its rock solid
 
I love my 10mm target II.

What lb recoil spring do you use? And do you shoot hot loads or the standard stuff? I ask because I'm pretty sure the Dan Wesson RZ10 isn't going to be available by the time I save up the money, and a 10mm Kimber Target or Eclipse is my backup plan.
 
My first 1911 was a Raptor and it has been great for about 4 yrs now. In fact, I ran another 100rds through it this afternoon. Beautiful gun and a keeper.

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