I'm being tempted by the 1911....

[MacTech]

Well, I did it, and the blame lies firmly on my CZ, for showing me what a comfortable grip actually is, and for it's incredible accuracy....

I traded the G21....

I picked up a used, but in great shape, Kimber Custom II with walnut grips, aside from a little holster wear, it's in decent cosmetic shape, cosmetics are irrelavent though, as long as it doesn't rust, I can deal with finish wear, it shows that the gun is actually used for shooting, and not a safe-queen

Basically, I've realized that the G21 *was* too big for my hand, when picking it up, I had been shifting it in my grip without realizing it to make it more comfortable, which ended up skewing the muzzle to the right, once I realized I was doing it, every time I picked it up, I noticed the shift, and it started to annoy me

So, this evening, I stopped off at my gun shop and looked at the 1911's, tried a few on for size, ranging from a rattly old Llama, a Colt Government model with Pachmyr/wood grips, a Kimber polymer framed 1911, and finally, the Kimber Custom II

What sold me on the Kimber over the G21?

first, the Kimber's grip just fit me perfectly, it pointed naturally, and had a nice heft to it, it settled into my hand comfortably, and I was able to get a good secure grip on it

Secondly, it had a buttery smooth slide action, it made the Glock feel gritty and sandy, and I'm fastidious about keeping my firearms clean

Thirdly, it didn't squeak and creak like an old screen door when I pulled the slide back to chamber a round (or snap-cap)

and finally, the trigger, oh, the trigger, smooth, light, and crisp, it took very little pressure to drop the hammer (I'm thinking it's in the 3-4 pound range), and the trigger feel was consistent and repeatable

It flawlessly fed my snap caps, and it eats my Speer GDHP rounds without a complaint

there's absolutely no rattles or looseness anywhere in the gun, barrel-to-slide fit and bushing fit is nice and tight, there's no slop in the barrel, and since the barrel is conventionally rifled, I'll be able to shoot lead bullets once I start reloading

I'll miss the 13 round capacity of the G21, but I *WON'T* miss the thick, meaty grip

I think the only mods I'll make to this will be a set of night sights, as the trigger is already nice and crisp, and the gun itself feels tight and solid, maybe a set of lasergrips, but that'll be the extent of it, this gun will remain a range gun/nightstand gun

Can't wait to try it out at the range this Saturday, see how accurate it is, given the fit and finish, it should be pretty good

It feels good to finally be part of the Brotherhood of the 1911

the gunshop upgraded my mag from a stock Kimber mag (they claim Kim mags are problematic) to a Chip McCormick 8 round Power Mag

 

[Stevie-Ray]

the gunshop upgraded my mag from a stock Kimber mag (they claim Kim mags are problematic) to a Chip McCormick 8 round Power Mag

Nice upgrade. They work.

 

[MacTech]

I've been playing around and tinkering with my Kimber for the last two evenings, and I'm really starting to "get it"

my biggest complaint about the 1911 before I bought one was the "low capacity" mags, now that I actually have a few decent mags for it (stopped off at the gun shop tonight, bought a new Wilson Combat 8 rounder and a used CMC 7 rounder) I realized something....

these single-stack mags take up almost no room, if I carry one 8 rounder in the gun (and one round in the pipe) and one in my pocket, I'll be carrying 17 rounds in less space than a 13 round doublestack Glock mag

this Kimber seems to have no trouble feeding or ejecting snap caps, ball, or even hollow points, it eats whatever I feed it with no complaints, heck, I even purposely loaded the last round in a couple mags pointing down a little bit (not slid all the way back) and the Kim fed it just fine, no hangs, binding or FTF issues

the firing pin in this gun is exceptionally strong, I perform a pencil test in my guns to confirm firing pin function, clear the gun, move all mags well away from it, triple check that the gun is clear and unloaded, hold the gun vertically, then drop a pencil in the barrel, eraser facing the firing pin, draw the hammer back, and fire, see how far the pencil flies

my Taurus PT-99AF (sold) would shoot the pencil up about a foot
my Glock 21 (sold) would shoot the pencil up about 8 inches
my CZ-75B shoots it about 7 inches up
my Kimber Custom II shoots it 2-3 FEET up!
that's one powerful firing pin spring in the Kimber!

I did field-strip it last night (and learned a few new four-letter words in the process, it's dammned annoying trying to compress the recoil spring plug and turn the bushing back to the closed position without it flying out of the gun to places unknown (note to self, buy spare RSP from Kimber, just in case....), however, thanks to my CZ-75B, the process was not totally unfamiliar, actually, aside from the barrel bushing and RSP, they share many field stripping techniques

I love the trigger pull even more now than I did yesterday, and I haven't even fired any live ammo through it yet!

And the worst part of this whole 1911 "thing"?

I already am planning my *NEXT* 1911 purchase, an older, inexpensive milspec 1911 that I can use to tinker on, my gun shop has an old Llama for $299, in pretty decent shape, as well as an old Essex with a Colt Government slide on it for around the same, but I'll hold off on those, maybe another RIA GI will come through the used counter for cheap money

Yep, I'm hooked all right, haven't even shot the gun yet, and I'm planning my next "fix"

Why did nobody warn me about how addictive these things are?

Oh, and one last question....
Dry-firing a Kimber Custom II, good thing, or bad thing, any risk of damage to the gun?

 

[MacTech]

Range report;
158 rounds fired (150 WWB and 8 Speer GDHP), NO issues or problems, no FTF, FTE, stovepipes, nothing, I pull the trigger, it goes *BANG*, just like it should, hollowpoints or ball, it doesn't care

I did a *lot* of two-holers, groupings were tight and generally within 1" at 10 yards or so, sights are dead-on true

Recoil actually surprised me, it had a tad more than I was expecting, and it was basically straight back at me, my previous G21 had a slightly softer recoil, bit also had a bit of lift at the end of the recoil push, the Kim had a straight push back and almost no lift, getting back on target was fast, very fast, double taps and rapid fire were quite easy and controllable

the trigger pull was brilliant, clean precise break and very little weight required to drop the hammer, combine the short, crisp trigger pull with a rather pleasant "pushy" recoil and minimal muzzle lift, and followup shots were almost stupid easy

I'm hitting the range tomorrow as well, taking *just* the Kimber, and using up the last 50 rounds of my WWB value pack, if it eats those just fine, it will be moved to nightstand duty, replacing the CZ-75B

I field stripped it the night I bought it, just to see how difficult the process was, and I greatly disliked it, it seemed overly complex and difficult, lots of fiddly little alignments, a slide stop that didn't want to go back into the frame, hanging on the front plunger, and a recoil spring that didn't want to go back into it's housing without either a fight, or attempting to launch the recoil spring into low-earth-orbit, I hated the process, I MISSED the simplicity of the G21

So tonight, I gritted my teeth and prepared for the worst....

It wasn't that bad, it turns out I had been overthinking the whole thing the first time I stripped the gun, the process is quite similar to my CZ-75B, with the barrel bushing stuff up front being the only major difference, once I had a firm grip on the recoil spring and cap and let it know who's boss, it gave me no further trouble, the only headache this time was getting the barrel link aligned properly, once that was done, it went smoothly

the Glock and CZ are still easier to field-strip, but the Kimber isn't as bad as I thought it would be

now, to fix my Lee Pro 1000 (stupid carrier clamp screw loosening up...) and start crankin' out some reloads

 

[vikz]

dont get one!!becs if you buy one you'll end up with 6 or 7 1911s..its a virus like the brd...been infected since 2004..

 

[onebigelf]

Quote:
Originally Posted by cinteal View Post
I really hope you get good results from yours, but I have to steer folks away from this make. I have owned 2, still own one . . . looking to sell. I bought mine because , A, I didn't have one, B, the finish was gorgeous (2 Pointmans with the reddish blue). When I really gave them a workout, several failure to feeds, a horrible, scratchy trigger, and I quickly tired of the sight picture. They are tight, as someone posted, but mine are not true. Gaulling is significant in both pistols. Now, all of this can be fixed, but by the time you pay to get it nice, you may as well have bought nice to begin with.

I have shot the gambit of 1911s. With the exception of trigger pull, Kimbers were the first makes I bought that didn't need a little work. I hear folks talking poorly of Wilson . . . bet they don't own one. I have the budget to play with these things, I realize that others don't. Still, in my pretty substantial experience with makes of 1911s, if I were going to buy midrange and do the least amount of upgrade/work, Colt would be my preference.
Thanks for an interesting post. And, after months of hearing all the DW fanfare combined with the Kimber bashing, I find it rather refreshing. Especially owning 2 Colts and a Kimber that are flawless.

Read a recent article about the DW galling. DW said it was "normal" and returned the pistol unrepaired. So much for the warranty. Turned out to be an issue with the factory mag follower hitting and digging in. Answer was to use Chip McCormicks, Colt Factory, or Wilson Combat mags (don't remember if Mec-Gars were tried at all).

John