Opinions on kimber solo carry.

[MUSICALGUNNUT45]

I like the looks of the kimber solo carry does anyone own one and if so what do you think of it.

 

[smalls]

There's a recent thread on the solo, and I'm pretty sure everyone who owns one that posted said it's been back to Kimber 2-3x.

 

[Blue68f100]

I do not believe the Solo is available to the public just yet. There original lease was premature and had all kinds of reliability problems. Slightly larger is the Ultra Carry II in 45acp or 9mm, 3" barrel.

 

[StrikeFire83]

I do not believe the Solo is available to the public just yet. There original lease was premature and had all kinds of reliability problems. Slightly larger is the Ultra Carry II in 45acp or 9mm, 3" barrel.

For a gun that's not available to the public yet, Kimber sure seems to have sold quite a few.

MUSICALGUNNUT45,

Where the Kimber Solo is concerned, words like "junk" and "garbage" come to mind. But don't take my word for it:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=612588&highlight=Solo

http://www.firearmstalk.com/forums/f15/kimber-solo-carry-42304/

http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/defensive-carry-guns/118821-kimber-solo-range-report-grips.html

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=314091&highlight=solo&page=2

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=314432&highlight=solo

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=330674&highlight=solo

 

[rellascout]

Stumbled hard right out of the gate.... Run away do not buy IMHO.

 

[dcarch]

I have a perfect anecdote to describe how I feel about the Solo. Don't worry, it makes sense (eventually). A buddy of mine was at BASIC, and the DIs "attacked" in the night. As soon as he heard the shots fired, he threw on his helmet, grabbed his M4, and ran to the door before anybody else in his barracks could react. He threw the door open, jumped out, and one of the DIs rolled a flash-bang right up to his boots, incapacitating him for the next ten minutes. The moral to this story? Don't be the first one out the door. How does this apply to the Kimber Solo? Anytime a new product is launched, it's an unknown. Never be the first guy to run out and drop $750 on a gun that they read a nice writeup on in a magazine. Let someone else "catch the flash-bang", wait for the recalls, then, once it's established as a real product, go out and have fun. At this point the Kimber Solo is still in the novelty stage. If I was in your shoes, I'd wait for a year or so and see if it shakes out as a good gun or not. Then, if it turns out to run well, buy one and enjoy.

 

[montgomery381]

I have seen one Kimber in action and shot another. Both failed miserably. I want to like the Solo but I would not buy one. At best it would be a 50/50 chance of getting a good gun and I can't bet that kind of money.

 

[MICHAEL T]

I will keep my PF-9 KelTec and my Kahr CW-9 both work

 

[Nakanokalronin]

I have a Solo that has not had a single malfunction with feeding, firing or ejecting. I've used 115gr, 124gr and 147gr. ammo. Its currently loaded with 147gr. Gold Dot ammo.

The one issue I had was the slide not locking back on a few occasions. What I noticed after taking off the grips was that the mag was getting pashed on the side of the slide stop. This seemed to mean that there was too much play in the mag well opening. I sent it to Kimber and in 4 weeks they sent it back with a new slide and barrel. It oddly seemed to fix it for some reason and I'm still not sure why. Either way, its a good gun but its really pushing the limit of how small a 9mm can be.

Its a tad slippery in the hand due to zero checkering or serrations on the front and back grip straps. Even with the grip tape and slightly larger wood grips you see in the picture, it still slips at round 5 or 6. Kimber has a nice little teaser picture of the extended 8rd mag on their online shop but has yet to make it available for purchase. I'm hoping it will give a 100% secure grip since I don't like readjusting my grip with any gun until the mag/cylinder is empty. Like any new design, it seems to have had a few teething issues. I've had no cycle failures but be aware that this 9mm is crammed in such a small package, Kimber suggests using 124gr. - 147gr. ammo only.

 

[legion3]

Saw two for sale at the local gunshow this last weekend.

At the price they were asking $880 no thank you.

Although it did feel very nice. Way to many issues for that kind of $

 

[Zerodefect]

I agree, that you'd probally be thankful if someone did stop you at the door with a flashbang so you couldn't buy one of these things.

I mean they screwed up the mag release. The MAG RELEASE! How hard is it to push the silly button after you install it to see that it actually works!?!?

Sorry, but Kimber is circleing the drain. They could write a book on how to wreck a perfectly good 1911 company.

 

[18DAI]

Another overpriced, overhyped, single shot pistol from Kimber.

At least Kimber now pays shipping for their poorly made guns.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

I'll just add that I've had no mag release issues. Since its been 100% reliable with whatever ammo I've put into it, I'm pretty satisfied with mine. Never had a single issue with any of their 1911s I own as well.

 

[StrikeFire83]

Nakanokalronin, really glad you got a good one, but even yours had to go back to the factory once.

"The Kimber Solo, newly-redesigned so now it only has to be returned to the factory once or twice before it works as advertised!!! That'll be $800 please."

When a gun company consistently can't make its product functional after 3 and 4 trips back to the factory, at what point can the product be officially anointed as a failed design.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 4 or 5 times...the gun is garbage.

 

[JShirley]

I really liked the feel of the Solo at SHOT. Then again, I really liked the feel of the STI LS-9. I plan on putting at least a few hundred rounds through one next week.

 

[hardluk1]

If for no other reason but the price there are to many others than can fill the bill better for less money. Nothing special about it. I have carried a pf-9 trouble free for 2 years and around 2000 rounds fired. Now a couple kahrs. All have been shoot a lot with zero issues also.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

I had a PF-9 and although it was a nice slim gun to carry, the trigger and recoil was not my cup of tea. I really didn't want to put some slip on rubber sleeve since it defeats the purpose of it being so thin. The Solo is a SA trigger and a really smooth one at that. The fact it has a thumb safety is because its a SA trigger which I like since my carry guns are either 1911s or something similar. Right now my jacket weather gun is a Kimber UC II, summer carry the Solo, and a P238 for pocket carry.

I know there is no excuse for a gun going back to the factory other than the design itself. The geometry is quite different than the other small 9mm guns and is a complete new concept for Kimber. I'm not defending Kimber or the Solo but since mine works fine now I have to say that I'm pleased with it so far....they just need to make those extended mags available for purchase.

 

[hardluk1]

After reading the last post I went over to my gun store to play with there kimber solo. Now to me The kahr trigger is more than a bit lighter and a bit longer and smoother than the solo. To me there is some increase in pressure as i pull on the solo trigger. That may smooth with use. I also find that for a claimed single action trigger pull is not as nearly short as say a glock after the first shot or is it as short as most any true single action trigger. After several of us played with my cm9 kahr and the solo side by side all felt the kahr had a better feel. Good thang there sooo many handguns for us all to pick from. Why is there a safety on any stricker fired gun . It makes as much since as the kahr pm9 with the saftey option. it is hard to compare the KT pistols to ether the kahr or kimber but the KT do there jobs just as well.

 

[RetDep310]

American Rifleman had a write-up in this month's issue. Gun looks nice, but do I really want to spend that kind of money on a gun that is "required" to shoot premium ammo, and not 115gr for practice? If I have one, I want to shoot it alot, but the factory says you need to replace the recoil guide/spring every 1000 rounds!! I would hope to get a few more rounds than that out of a spring.

 

[trex1310]

I read somewhere that Kimber named the pistol the "Solo" because
that's the number of consecutive rounds it will fire.