Is Kimber having quality issues lately?

[FlyinBryan]

the only kimber ive owned is a procarry2.

it was tight and a little troublesome at first but i sent it back and got it back pretty quick with no probs.

it was never really right till i got the wolff extra power spring kit for it.

ever since then its been great.

very reliable and extremely accurate.

i would rather have not had ANY problems out of it since it cost me 650 bux, but i like it so much i stuck with it till i got it running the way i like.

by the way, its a 2003 model with the external extractor.

it runs 100% now and is my carry gun.

 

[M203Sniper]

...now and always, why not buy a Colt instead.

 

[JohnBT]

"After 20,000 rounds his gun is totally worn out."

Now that's really strange, even if it was an aluminum-framed Kimber. My Stainless Gold Match has about 20k and looks about like it did at 4k or 5k.

John

 

[wtfd661]

My Kimber has been a great gun, not a single problem in 3 yrs now of regularly shooting and carrying it. I couldn't give it a higher recommendation for a CCW. I believe that I'm not the only satisfied Kimber owner out of the 100's of 1,000's of owners out there. I also believe that since Kimber way and above out sells most other 1911 manufactures (combined) just the sure percentage of guns manufactured vs others will lead to a perceived "higher failure / return rate".

The fact that they have been one of the top (if not the top) selling 1911 manufacture for a lot of years now, would seem to me to say that they have been producing and selling a quality product. The argument of, they slick up their 1911's to sell to the uninformed/new shooters and other arguments doesn't really hold water for me.

Bottom line, in a free market system over time you either produce and sell a quality product or you go out of business.

One last thing, if you look at some of the PD's/Units/US Olympic shooting team that have switched to a Kimber after, in some cases thousands of man hours of test & evaluating, and are still with Kimbers, I think that also has a lot to say.

By the way I can post this opinion without trashing any other 1911 manufacture, because I also believe that you can't go wrong with a Colt, Springfield, Smith, etc. cause the above also factors would apply to them equally (except the "most selling").

 

[45auto]

I don't know if Kimber is, certainly sounds like it, but they clearly are the leading seller, so they will have more "complaints" than anyone, based on an equal percentage.

Add the failed external extractor, poorly designed series II FP safety, "apparent" large sales of sub 5" 1911's and no doubt a lot of complaints IMO.

The 5" ones I've shot have been great.

Every gunshop I go into is KIMBER front and center and then the "rest". So, complaints may be falling on deaf ears. Or, the vast majority work fine.

 

[PcolaDawg]

I love my Kimber Ultra Crimson Carry II, but it is back at Kimber's custom shop right now.

But only because I'm having them install some Tactical Wedge nightsights to the gun.

So far, the gun has been awesome and ... I miss it.

 

[mljdeckard]

My Custom II is by far the best gun I have ever owned or carried. If I were allowed, I would carry it to war tomorrow.

I am not in a position to seriously comment about Kimber's overall quality, other than to say that everyone I know who owns one is thrilled to death with it. Kimber turned the semi-custom market on its ear, and I have always thought there is lingering resentment from people who were spending four figures on 1911s. All of a sudden you could get a good mass-produced, $600 1911 with a hand-fitted frame-slide fit, which had been unheard of before.

I very much agree with the above posters who suggested that the high numbers of Kimbers in circulation inevitably produce a higher number of problems, but not necessarily a higher RATE. ALL GUNS BREAK EVENTUALLY. If more people have them, more people will shoot them, which means more of them will fail.

 

[Hawk]

With the operative concept being "recently", I don't know.

I had an Ultra CDP-II that suffered from, as Douglas Adams would have put it, "nonlinear, catastrophic structural exasperation," or to put it another way, its MIM firing pin block frame plunger and ambi safety just got "fundamentally fed up with being where they were." This was exacerbated by Kimber's designated representative explaining to me that my eyes were deceiving me as such things didn't happen. Since they didn't happen, they saw no reason to address the issue - it not being there and all.

In the years since, I've read what seems to be fewer and fewer complaints of that nature and even read several reports of prompt and courteous customer service.

At some point, reports of old problems should probably be declared irrelevant and no longer reported. My FPB, safety and CS issues are probably "there".

 

[cat9x]

** WARNING FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE **

Seeing that forums are inherently troubled by hearsay i'll give my experience.

My father purchased a Kimber Desert Warrior as a Christmas present for me last year. Gorgeous gun btw. Sadly enough it took me nearly 2 months before I had a chance to get out and shoot it. When I did, using the factory magazine and 3 different brands of 230gr. FMJ I had continual FTF's and the slide would not lock back on the last round...ever. I tried 3 other magazines from 3 other manufacturers with the same results. Also, every 50-75 rounds the grips screws would back out.

I picked up the phone and called Kimber. I shipped them my pistol and recieved it back within 2 weeks. They polished the feed ramp, replaced the factory magazine, adjusted the extractor, and installed grip screw bushings and test fired 75 rounds (according to the pistol worksheet). The pistol functions flawlessly now and Iam happy with my Kimber.

 

[JohnBT]

"The fact that they have been one of the top (if not the top) selling 1911 manufacture"


www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/stats/afmer/afmer2006.pdf

Kimber - 60618

Baer - 1665

Brown - 845

Glock, Georgia - 26,542 - (Look for yourself)

 

[Boba Fett]

May want to get something else

I was recently in a local gun store talking to the owner. I was considering putting my 10mm Witness up for consignment because I wanted to consolidate some guns into a Kimber Custom II, and so I asked if he could order one in.

I was at my local gun store the other day speaking with one of the sales guys. They have most popular handguns and rifles on the market and a lot of them. I told him I was looking at getting a Kimber 1911 Ultra II Carry. And I asked his opinion. He and most of his family and friends are military or law enforcement.

He said that he wouldn't go with a Kimber, not because they were poor quality, but because there was an issue with sand or dirt getting into certain mechanisms of the gun and causing it to lock up and not fire.

I asked what he would go with instead and he pointed me to SigSauer and H&K. Apparently he and a friend did a torture test on one of each that included mud, sand, sea water + sand/silt, and chucking them great distances. After each test they fired each time.

Now, not simply taking his word that Kimber had that problem, I started researching Kimber and found that, as so many people have pointed out in this thread, their quality and service records have been an issue for enough people for a long enough time to give me pause (haven't seen anything yet to substantiate the dealers mechanism jamming claim).

So I'd go with the Sig or H&K. Pretty much comparable prices.

That being said, I've shot the Kimber and a Springfield 1911s. I like them both. And if you are simply getting the gun as a fun range gun, I wouldn't worry about Kimber's quality and service issues as much.

 

[Hawk]

Fun with numbers

AFMER2006 only lists domestic production.

Hence, I've sometimes wondered about those Glock numbers - perhaps only the ones that Glock Smyrna "massages" due to import restrictions (?)

Similarly, the Springfield numbers only include those qualifying as "domestic" which I believe excludes everything up through the "loaded".

Imports are only listed by country which, for 2006 includes:
Austria: 328,000
Brazil: 253,000
Croatia: 142,000

The Austrian numbers should make the Glock figures make a little more sense. I have no clue what portion of "Brazil" constitutes SA 1911s but I'm betting it's not chump change. It would also include most all of Taurus but I don't recall offhand if the PT1911 was in the catalog then and it's percentage of sales is unknown, at least by me.

1911s are also stirred into semi-auto numbers found in AFMER2006 for...

S&W: 223,000 (I'm assuming S&W's 38,000 in Maine aren't 1911s).

SIGARMS: 75,000 (I wouldn't be surprised to learn that a fair chunk of this is GSR type stuff.)

There were 1,128,000 handguns imported in 2006 and around 1,230,000 produced domestically including allowing for exports. I don't know how many of those over 2 million were 1911s but I'd bet Springfield, SIG and S&W account for more than a few.

And, with that, I'm not seeing 60,000 out of Yonkers as being such a huge number that a larger than average intertubz back chatter can be written off as due strictly to the large number. In the amount of time Kimber shipped 60,000, S&W shipped over 480,000 handguns. I would expect S&W complaints to be running eight times Kimber's and that doesn't seem to be the case, even with every lock failure cross-posted dozens of times.

Even Colt managed to ship 15K 1911s in '06. STI is down for 5K.

Kimber might be the largest domestic producer of 1911s only but I'd be uncomfortable even making that assertion without knowing SIG's and S&W's contributions.

 

[JohnBT]

Sure, and those big glossy Kimber ads must suck in the newbies, too.

I don't know a thing about Glock production, except what I read about their upgrades/recalls/improving perfection.

John

 

[45auto]

I would expect S&W complaints to be running eight

If S&W actually made that many 1911's, I think you'd see 8 times the amount of complaints. But, they make other designs that don't have the initial issues, consumers wouldn't "put up" with the 1911 "stuff" with other modern designs IMO. And, all I shoot are 1911's, but even I have to "smile" a bit!

I'd bet Sig doesn't even outsell STI. Smith...I'd be amazed at 10,000...but don't know.

You can walk into most gun shops and get a decent idea of what sells, if you go to enough of them and some large ones. I have yet to see any place where Kimber doesn't have (5-10) to 1 ratio of any single brand. But, that's my area anyway.

I've "read" Springfield at one time was "close" to Kimber sales, back when they flooded the market with $399 GI's. I doubt they are close to Kimber now.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I have no clue what portion of "Brazil" constitutes SA 1911s but I'm betting it's not chump change.

I would think Taurus would be a big chung of Brazil.

 

[Hawk]

I mentioned Taurus - and that I wasn't sure when or how many might be PT-1911s.

If S&W actually made that many 1911's, I think you'd see 8 times the amount of complaints. But, they make other designs that don't have the initial issues, consumers wouldn't "put up" with the 1911 "stuff" with other modern designs IMO.

I can only speak for myself but I don't tolerate "stuff" with any new handgun including 1911s. I expect any 1911 I buy to run with the same expectation anyone would have for, say, an M&P polymer handgun.

Allowing for more complaints because it's endemic to the 1911 design might be valid but it's not something I'm comfortable with.

 

[45auto]

Allowing for more complaints because it's endemic to the 1911 design might be valid but it's not something I'm comfortable with.

I'm "with you" on that.

And, I don't believe it's nearly as bad as I "read" on the "net", based on my experience. But...it's hard not to believe there's more "issues".

I'd love to take some of these guns I read about, and put my mags and reloads through them just to see, discounting Kimber's external extractor and FP safety problems.