Kimber has a very interesting company history and made a diffinite impact on the 1911 market. Their business/marketing plan may not appeal to all potential 1911 users, but it does fill a niche (a rather large one) in the 1911 market.
Kimber's largest impact was rising expectations of 1911 buyers. When they were first introduced, they offered, in their base models, everything that everyone had have a gunsmith do to their Colt or Springfield Armory (SA) 1911 to make them function as a defensive pistol...much as SA made Colt improve their QC when they came on the market. The other thing that Kimber has done is been a consistent supporter of the US Olympic Shooting Teams.
When Kimber moved and introduced the "II" series, they took a reputation hit because of two things they added...the External Extractor and the Firing Pin Safety.
The Kimber niche is offering "custom" features on guns that could be seen and handled on a dealer's shelf. Much of this was window dressing, but there was a demand for it among buyers...it is pretty impressive when you consider that there wasn't the internet to receive feedback back then. QC seemed to go down as they increased production...this was in the early days of CNC manufacturing. Often it was a hit-or-miss proposition as to reliability
For a while the Series "1" Kimbers were in high demand and brought inflated prices. The other Kimber models that had a reputation for being reliable were the Warrior II series and the Gold Combat II series.
I've never own a Kimber, but I have shot several that belonged to friends or fellow IDPA competitors. They are functional out of the box, but I've never seen one make it through a two day class (1200 rounds) without having functioning issues.
If the features offered appeal to you, it was much less expensive than having it done aftermarket. If you're not going to shoot it in competition or train much with it, it might never have problems
Kimber's largest impact was rising expectations of 1911 buyers. When they were first introduced, they offered, in their base models, everything that everyone had have a gunsmith do to their Colt or Springfield Armory (SA) 1911 to make them function as a defensive pistol...much as SA made Colt improve their QC when they came on the market. The other thing that Kimber has done is been a consistent supporter of the US Olympic Shooting Teams.
When Kimber moved and introduced the "II" series, they took a reputation hit because of two things they added...the External Extractor and the Firing Pin Safety.
The Kimber niche is offering "custom" features on guns that could be seen and handled on a dealer's shelf. Much of this was window dressing, but there was a demand for it among buyers...it is pretty impressive when you consider that there wasn't the internet to receive feedback back then. QC seemed to go down as they increased production...this was in the early days of CNC manufacturing. Often it was a hit-or-miss proposition as to reliability
For a while the Series "1" Kimbers were in high demand and brought inflated prices. The other Kimber models that had a reputation for being reliable were the Warrior II series and the Gold Combat II series.
I've never own a Kimber, but I have shot several that belonged to friends or fellow IDPA competitors. They are functional out of the box, but I've never seen one make it through a two day class (1200 rounds) without having functioning issues.
If the features offered appeal to you, it was much less expensive than having it done aftermarket. If you're not going to shoot it in competition or train much with it, it might never have problems