Kimber Solo Reviews?

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Kachok

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A good friend of mine is itching for a compact CCW, he now calls me before buying anything since I am somewhat of a gun buff, but in this case I don't know what to tell him so I said I would ask on here. I am not a Kimber guy, never had that much money. Anyone like the compact Kimber or should he take my initial advise and get a Glock or Springfield.
 
I'm curious too because for all of the articles I have read praising the Solo as the greatest thing since sliced bread, I have yet to see one anywhere, or speak to a person who has actually seen one, or find a gun shop that has actually seen one. I'm beginning to think it is a figment of the Kimber advertising department's imagination.
 
I recently got into the 3inch sub compact nine addiction. A quest to find my favorite. Within a month I have purchased and shot a Kimber solo; a sig p290; a kahr pm9.
Kimber solo - I love to look at this little pisser. The aesthetics are stunning. But I sent it back to Kimber today because the safety was loose. It just won't stay on safe. I have only shot about 50 rounds through it. No failures ! I really want to like this one, but the jury is still out.

Sig p290 - I bought it used at a great price. I loved the way this gun felt the first time I picked it up. It is the first generation with the problematic trigger. Sure enough, it had trigger problems ! No big deal. I sent it to sig and they replaced the trigger group and sent it back. The trigger functions perfectly now. I shot about 50 rounds through it. I cleaned it and checked it out and now the front night site has lost its' glow. So it went back to sig a few days ago.. I really like that gun! I prefer hammer fired guns over striker fired. The sig is very accurate for a 3inch barrel.

The Kahr pm9 is the lightest and my go-to carry gun today. (for obvious reasons) I have about 200 rounds through it without any problems. The trigger is great. It is a wonderful pistol. I had a pm40 and let it go. It was a handful and tough to get back on follow up shots. The pm9 is much better for me to shoot easily and more accurately. The pm9 may turn out to be my keeper.

I'm really enjoying my testing of these 3 pistols. I was not surprised about the Sig and Kimber problems. I have a great LGS that takes care of me. I am patient with the manufacturers. I give them the chance to make thing right and so far, they have made things right.
I hope the Kimber turns out to be everything I hoped it would be. It wins the best of show hands down. It cost me $750 OTD. I hoped that the bugs had been worked out of the solo. So far mine has been reliable- except for a loose safety. No big deal to me. They will fix that. Good luck with your decision. I hope my ramblings help.
 
Happy Solo owner here. Mine has so far performed flawlessly right out of the box. Recoil with +P loads is robust, but not at all unpleasant, and it is accurate as well. I have even run cheap under-powered range ammo through mine, and it had no issues whatsoever.
 
Lot of choices out there! My ruger lc9 has been perfect so far and is my primary carry.s&w has the shield,beretta nano,kahr,keltec find a gun store and see which feels right in your hand.
 
I got a Solo for Christmas last year. We sold it a month or so ago. I had multiple failure to eject issues. Some of them where with handloads, but a few of them were even with premium 147 grain hollowpoints (as Kimber recommends). Then it would shoot some 115 grain ammo fine, but not others. It was too picky about ammo for me and since it would have been my carry gun, and I didn't trust it, I sold it. I could have sent it back to Kimber, but the trust was already gone.
 
I have heard NOTHING good about this pistol. Just a myriad of problems with the few out there.

You can do better at this point in its development.

RMD
 
Glad to hear the pistol actually exists. Hopefully I'll see one some day. One thing I have noticed in the reviews of the Solo, they are written as if this is the only scaled-down-to-9mm-size pistol out there. The Solo will have to be good to beat my EMP. I realize the EMP is a 1911 platform, which some don't like, but mine has been an extremely good product.
 
I've owned my Solo for a few months now, and have about 1k through it.

Yes, they are very ammo sensitive. Mine has been 100% with good, defense ammo, and Winchester 124 grain NATO ammo. The NATO ammo actually chronos a little faster out of my Solo than +P ammo. Using economy ammo in a Solo is a crap shoot due to the tight tolerances designed around self defense ammo. I've played a little with handloads, but, haven't worked anything up that was hot enough to be reliable in my gun.

I've taken it apart several times for cleaning/inspection, and haven't seen any evidence of some of the problems that were reported on the early guns.

Recoil is pretty snappy, and for a defensive pistol, the trigger isn't too bad, if you don't mind a revolver-like trigger.

The reason I chose the Solo over other mini 9s, was that a Crimson Trace laser grip was available. All of my defensive pistols wear them.
 
Had a custom shop model with the CT grips come in at work the other day and while it is certainly aesthetically pleasing, I just find the firearm distasteful for carry. The safety is silly small and hard to manipulate, the trigger is about on par with others in this class but not good by any stretch of the imagination, the firearm isn't exceptionally small compared to the others in its class, and Kimber firearms scare me in regards to reliability.

I'll stick with a Walther PPS-9, but usually my S&W 442.

-Jake
 
My wife has one with the CT grips and it shot fine if u use recommended ammo. I figure once u loosen it up it will shoot almost anything in the 125-147 grain area.
 
My father got himself one and I went out with him to shoot it for the last time a couple weeks ago.
Two problems (which cascaded during our shooting session):
1) Unless the slide is pulled back *completely* the round will fail to chamber, and will jam rather nicely. It feels like its pulled back completely when its really not, and the slide is not the easiest to grip (especially if your hands are sweaty because you're not used to the Florida heat!)
2) I did not have this problem, but it was very repeatable for my father as he slams the magazine in - not excessively hard, but harder than I do. When he does so, the slide closes because the slide lock just barely fits into its groove - chambering a round unexpectedly.

I told him it needs to be sent back to have the second issue dealt with, but I fear that the first one might just be by design and he'll need to adjust, though I guess its worth mentioning to Kimber anyway.
 
I've found the only way to reliably load my Solo is to lock the slide back, insert the magazine, and drop the slide with the slide release. Even with about 1K through mine, and leaving the magazines loaded, I can barely seat a loaded magazine, with the slide forward, and then, with the loaded magazine in place, you have the added pressure of the top round, in the magazine, pushing up, in to the bottom of the slide, making it harder to pull back.:eek:

As far as it "auto-forwarding" when inserting a magazine, with force, I've never forcefully inserted a magazine in mine, when the slide was locked back. All of my Glocks, and M&Ps will "auto-forward". Some people hate it, but, as long as the slide picks up a round every time, I think it is a good thing!:cool:
 
Update: Well I advised him against it, but his wife was dead set on the cute little Kimber. I went to the range with them so I can give yall a review. The Kimber was very ergonomic and just fit and aimed very well for a sub compact, the trigger was surprisingly good, and as expected from a Kimber everything was very smooth, now to the bad stuff, accuracy was so-so I suppose it is OK for a tiny gun but nothing special, and we did have one jam when we tried Winchester ammo in it. It lacks any sort of rail to mount a laser, which I would want on a super short barrel pistol, and the sights are totally worthless in low light. Overall I give it a B, nice little gun but for the money there are better choices IMHO.
 
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