Kimber .45 Help/Clarification

[johnica]

I am looking into a 3" .45 Kimber, and have come down to two models.
The Stainless Ultra Carry II at $850, and the Ultra CDP II at $1050.
The Ultra carry does not have night sights, otherwise they are very close to the same it seems. Can anyone shed some light on this issue? How do they compare with other brands, and good or bad differences between them.
Are the 'inside' components the same, or the trigger systems?
I couldn't figure this one out so I came to the experts.

 

[Ala Dan]

Save yourself some money, and go with the Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry II~!

I could have had either, but I did not want to pay extra for night sights,
ambi safety, and the "melted look". My Ultra Carry II has been 100%
reliable, right out of the box. Lot of people here at THR will bash Kimber
for one reason or another; but I've owned the Ultra Carry II for well over
a year now and have experienced 0 malfunctions. Previously, I owned a
5" Raptor II that also performed flawlessly~!

 

[tegemu]

As far as I know, the only difference is the sights and cosmetics. IMHO not worth $200.00. I'd go for the UCII, I have one and love it, it is very easy to carry and shoot, it is my daily pocket carry gun and I don't think the Ultra CDP II would improve the carry/concealability very much, if at all.

 

[johnica]

Awsome, advice well taken-save the money for ammo!

Now the other thing that came to mind was 3" or 4"?? It appears that the frame/grips are the same, and I carry a kel-tec in a pocket so I am not to worried about deep cover.
Does the longer barrel hinder the carry IWB or maybe shoulder? It would seem the performance of the .45 would be much improved with the 4".

 

[Tin Gizel]

Another +1 for the UC2....i got one not in stanless with night sights and love it. Very easy to conceal, fun and easy to shoot. I was very impressed with the groups it shot.

As for the performance between 3" and 4" - here's my opinion. Yes, you should get more velocity and should get better grouping with a 4" over a 3".

However, either one is going to hit and put a hurt on anything you shoot at in a SD situation.

I guess it boils down to preference/appearance. If youre going for concealed carry, 3" just makes it easier as it's smaller. I wouldn't worry about any performance difference for SD between the two.

 

[osteodoc08]

I have the Kimber Pro CDP and I love it, however, if I had it to do over again, I'd probably save the money and go with the Eclipse series. The CDP is a fine looking gun, though.

The CDP series also have aluminum frames. So they would be lighter, but I'm not sure by how much. The CDP guns are also "melted" which supposedly makes for a better carry gun. I couldn't tell you because I've never had an "unmelted" one to compare.

The night sights, while are cool, really don't serve a tactical purpose for me since I'll just be shooting by feel. I think if I really need to use my sights, I had better find cover first.

 

[B. Adams]

I never thought twice about night sights until I bought a gun that had them on it. Now I don't think I'll ever buy a carry gun without them.

I've never shot a 3" 1911, but I've heard enough stories about reliability issues to make me concerned about carrying one. Maybe that's not an issue these days though, but my favorite carry pistol is a 4 1/4" Commander, which I have no trouble concealing. My other carry pistol is a 4" XD, so if I can conceal that, I can definitely conceal a 1911. I'd probably feel comfortable with a 5" 1911, but when I have a 4" one I don't know why I'd bother.

And no, a 4" 1911 should have a full size grip, while a 3" will be about 1/2" shorter.

 

[Kruzr]

It's stictly personal preference. Only you can determine if it's worth it.

You need to decide if you want night sights, front strap checkering, and not a single sharp edge on the gun. If those options are attractive to you, then the $200 difference is a bargain since it would cost about twice that to do this to the gun after you bought it.

 

[CWL]

I own an Ultra CDP, if I could do it all over again, I would not have purchased this. The Ultra Carry is enough.

Although the nite sites are pretty good, the melt-down look is not done very well. It was done on a machine grinder and is not very balanced or even. Actually, I think it was rather sloppy. Good melt downs are done by hand.

Save the money and use it to replace the plastic/MIM parts.

 

[glockman19]

Save yourself some money, and go with the Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry II~!

+1

I agree

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

ultra carry II, you can always change the sights if you don't like them

 

[992]

I have the CDP and the Pro Elite .In my opinion,the extras are worth the money.If you want the best ,then get all you can.
In my experience,the Pro Elite is the finest pistol I have ever had,and I have had most of the current crop of handguns,but I still need to try the Ed Brown 1911s.
PS,Next to the Kimbers,I love the Sig Sport,in .45.

Just my .02.

992