Kimber Super Carry Pro - a review

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FWIW, if you want a robust 1911 over the long haul, aluminum alloy isn't the answer no matter who produces the pistol.

I have three all steel 1911s, and this one was going to have been a carry pistol with a somewhat low to mid volume round count each year. If it had worked like my Shadow, I'd have started carrying it after 500 rounds and then done maybe 1200-2400 rounds a year through it (with more practice on other 1911s).
 
Well, Kimber agreed to send out a prepaid shipping label so we'll see what they can do. Turnaround is running 4-6 weeks they said. I'll post back with an update when I get it back.
 
Every time I like a Kimber and consider it, I read something like this. Scares me off.
Yeah, me too. After my bad luck with the Gold Match, I swore I would never own another Kimber. I bought the CDP Pro Carry and the Pro Ageis hoping I wouldn't have problems and I got lucky. Had I known about the Dan Wesson Guardian I would have gone that route instead. FWIW, Ed Brown is now making a light weight alloy pistol in commander size. It's interesting to see what he says about the subject.
 
Every time I like a Kimber and consider it, I read something like this. Scares me off.

I had a CDP Pro II that functioned flawlessly. I never really intended to get rid of it. I recently traded it for an AR10 for two reasons.

1. Everybody needs an AR10.
2. I had worries about what I would do if the ramp on the frame ever became damaged or too worn to feed reliably.

I also learned what I wanted in a carry 1911. The carry melt treatment was nice, but all the extended control surfaces and ambi safety negated it IMO. Single sided safety, no extended controls and a bobtail ar all that is on my list.
 
UPS tracking shows Kimber got it today, so the time to repair clock starts on March 1st.

An interesting thing at the UPS service center when I dropped it off yesterday - the one lady thought it had to go next day air. She asked a 2nd lady, who came and looked at the prepaid label I brought with me. She saw it was going to Kimber and said, oh Kimber, they have a deal with UPS to allow it to go 2nd day air. Usually UPS requires next day. Makes me wonder how many pistols go back to Kimber that they have enough volume to setup an exception to policy like this? (wondering in a curious way, not slamming Kimber)

Another interesting thing, they had a no firearms on this property sign at the main entrance. But, you have to go there if you want to ship your pistol through them. Little odd! It wasn't a 30.06 compliant sign as Texas requires, it was more of a generic no knives, guns, what-have-you sign, so I went ahead and carried concealed in there, too. I just thought that was ironic.
 
Ankeny said:
Ed Brown is now making a light weight alloy pistol in commander size. It's interesting to see what he says about the subject.

The Ed Brown Kobra Carry Lightweight with 7075 frame uses a steel insert on the feedramp.

http://www.edbrown.com/kobracarrylw.htm

"A carry gun is generally expected to be shot enough to assure familiarization with the weapon and then is carried most of it's life. Occasional practice is fine, but if you plan on a high volume of shooting, you would be much better served with a steel frame gun. If you mainly plan on carrying the gun and shooting it occasionally, you will find the aluminum is a blessing on your hip. Just keep in mind that the cosmetic finish can be damaged much easier than a steel gun.

Normally, the feedramp might be damaged just by hollowpoint rounds impacting it repeatedly, but not with an Ed Brown. We have solved this particular problem by designing a steel insert for the feedramp. Now hollow point or solid nose ammo hits the steel insert and never touches the aluminum frame."

G27RR, sorry to hear about your issues and I'm looking forward to hearing how this all turns out. I don't plan on buying any aluminum framed 1911s but I am interested in the Stainless Pro Raptor and this review hasn't changed my mind. If Kimber produced this pistol in all stainless with a black coating I'd be on it in a flash.
 
Super Carry Pro update

I received the call from Kimber today (six weeks to the day from the day they received it) that my Super Carry Pro is on the way back to me. The good news so far is that they did find an issue with the fit of the barrel to the feed ramp. I had noticed that the barrel had what appeared to be a slightly asymmetrical cut in it before I sent it in, so I will be interested to see if it looks different now. They also said they worked on the feed ramp and polished it afterwards, along with adjusting the extractor tension. They didn't mention anything about the wear on the lugs so we'll see if they changed anything there and maybe forgot to mention it in the short phone call.

I am hopeful that the changes will get it up and running reliably. I am glad I sent it in rather than continuing to try things on my own, as it obviously had some problems as it came from the factory.

Pre-refurb work pictures:
IMG_1573.jpg

interiorslidefinish.jpg

KimberSCP850rnds.jpg

IMG_1558.jpg

Post-rehab pictures to come after I get it back and test it...
 
G27RR said:
I had noticed that the barrel had what appeared to be a slightly asymmetrical cut in it before I sent it in, so I will be interested to see if it looks different now.

My Kimber TEII barrel ramp is cut in the same asymmetric way so you might not see any change there.
 
Kind of crazy the Kimber includes metal followers since they seem to be known for problems in their pistols. I wasn't aware of that issue.
The follower issue with aluminum frame pistols is with the Devel style follower as used most prominently in the Chip McCormick PowerMag. They have a tendency to tip forward out of the tube and hit the feed ramp causing the gouges. Hence the new McCormick PowerMag+ follower design.

The Kimber TacMags have a "bullnose" follower that will not tip forward. It will not gouge the feed ramp.
 
It's too bad that you had to dump all that $$ into ammo with no results. I hope they fixed it for you. The aluminum frame Pro's do make great carry guns. I do wish they had ramped barrels though. The Kimber Ultra's do and they work great. I had different issues with my Pro but with a little extractor/ejector work it's 100% reliable as is the Ultra. They are both very accurate too.
 
JTQ - thanks for the clarification.

Alde - it was accurate despite the problems feeding, so if they got that taken care of it should be a keeper. I did at least get more trigger time in during all the testing, so it wasn't a total loss, but I should have stopped and sent it in sooner in retrospect.
 
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