Got two new shooting irons lately, thought I'd pass along my experiences for those interested:
The first gun I bought was the Kimber Target Rimfire, Kimber's new dedicated .22. It's aluminum, with their conversion slide on a lightweight dedicated .22 frame. The marketing buzz was that this was the reliable, accurate 1911 style rimfire we had all been waiting for. How could I resist that? Here tis:
Ok, nitty gritty: I paid $599 for this gun at my local shop. That's on the low end for this gun, and yes that's pricey but it's a Kimber and I wanted one so there.
Pros: The gun is LIGHT, and accurate. No matter the ammo, it groups tightly and POI changes little at 25 yards. It has good sights, an excellent crisp trigger and is aesthetically very pretty (imho). The disassembly is 1911-style (easy) and it runs clean. The grips are perfect and the 10 round mags seem well built and load easy.
Cons: It doesn't run worth a crap. Seriously. Out of the box, it fails to strip rounds cleanly on a full mag, often pushing them into breech at a severe angle, mangling the shell. The last 5 rounds of the mag run well, but the first never do. Tried over 30 different ammos, 2000+ rounds and it's consistently bad. The only ammo that runs it is Stinger and Viper, which are both extremely hot. Called Kimber and they are going to fix it (they say this is not indicative of the gun). So, as of now, the gun is on it's way back to the shop. They said they will have it back to me in less than a week, so that's good and hopefully I got unlucky. I suspect it's a spring issue, but we'll see. The other bad is that the finish on the aluminum slide is very easy to mar or chip. The sharp corners of the bottom have already given way to a shiny aluminum, and Kimber also said if the wear was excessive they would refinish at no cost. So, for all it's bad so far, the company seems eager to fix my complaints.
Overall, I am pleased with the gun but obivously very upset that a $600 gun runs worse than the cheap Jennings .25 I owned when I was 18. We'll see how it turns out, I might be very pleased once it returns.
Here is my second pistol: A new Taurus PT945
The Taurus is basically a Beretta design in .45, which is something I always wanted. It's an 8+1 DA/SA gun, ported with ambi controls. Again, a good deal at a local shop convinced me to separate cash from wallet. This one ran $399 with 3 mags, nib. Sights are white 3-dot combat style, rear is adjustable by wrench.
Pros: The Taurus PT945 is very well balanced, feels good and points naturally. So far, it's been extremely reliable and accurate. It's digested 20 different brands of 45, mixed in mags and has never had a hiccup. Going on 1000 rounds, it's been perfect. The porting really helps muzzle control, makes recoil very manageable and the fit/finish of the pistol is exceptional, no machining marks or ugly parts to speak of. Unlike many guns, the angle of feed is nearly straight-on, and the feed ramp is polished and smooth. The gun eats HP/SP/FMJ with equal aploomb. The trigger is decent, smooth and a nice letoff. Good for a combat pistol.
Cons: The porting, while serving it's purpose has a very negative side effect in that it throws burnt powder into the front sight, completely erasing the white dot, so much so infact that the dot can't be cleaned - it's gone. I have to apply white-out before shooting each time, but after 20 rounds it's obscured and completely black. Also, the porting obviously makes cleaning the slide and barrel much more difficult, but that's to be expected. The only other downside is the grips are very thin, very cheap feeling plastic ones. A finger groove Hogue rubber wraparound would be sooo nice but none is made IIRC. Taurus makes a contoured wood, but I don't like wood on a service piece so I'll live with what I have for now.
Overall, I'm thrilled with the gun. It's ideal and shoots as well if not better than my Sig220, with much less recoil. For the money, I'd say it's one of the nicest .45's on the market.
The first gun I bought was the Kimber Target Rimfire, Kimber's new dedicated .22. It's aluminum, with their conversion slide on a lightweight dedicated .22 frame. The marketing buzz was that this was the reliable, accurate 1911 style rimfire we had all been waiting for. How could I resist that? Here tis:
Ok, nitty gritty: I paid $599 for this gun at my local shop. That's on the low end for this gun, and yes that's pricey but it's a Kimber and I wanted one so there.
Pros: The gun is LIGHT, and accurate. No matter the ammo, it groups tightly and POI changes little at 25 yards. It has good sights, an excellent crisp trigger and is aesthetically very pretty (imho). The disassembly is 1911-style (easy) and it runs clean. The grips are perfect and the 10 round mags seem well built and load easy.
Cons: It doesn't run worth a crap. Seriously. Out of the box, it fails to strip rounds cleanly on a full mag, often pushing them into breech at a severe angle, mangling the shell. The last 5 rounds of the mag run well, but the first never do. Tried over 30 different ammos, 2000+ rounds and it's consistently bad. The only ammo that runs it is Stinger and Viper, which are both extremely hot. Called Kimber and they are going to fix it (they say this is not indicative of the gun). So, as of now, the gun is on it's way back to the shop. They said they will have it back to me in less than a week, so that's good and hopefully I got unlucky. I suspect it's a spring issue, but we'll see. The other bad is that the finish on the aluminum slide is very easy to mar or chip. The sharp corners of the bottom have already given way to a shiny aluminum, and Kimber also said if the wear was excessive they would refinish at no cost. So, for all it's bad so far, the company seems eager to fix my complaints.
Overall, I am pleased with the gun but obivously very upset that a $600 gun runs worse than the cheap Jennings .25 I owned when I was 18. We'll see how it turns out, I might be very pleased once it returns.
Here is my second pistol: A new Taurus PT945
The Taurus is basically a Beretta design in .45, which is something I always wanted. It's an 8+1 DA/SA gun, ported with ambi controls. Again, a good deal at a local shop convinced me to separate cash from wallet. This one ran $399 with 3 mags, nib. Sights are white 3-dot combat style, rear is adjustable by wrench.
Pros: The Taurus PT945 is very well balanced, feels good and points naturally. So far, it's been extremely reliable and accurate. It's digested 20 different brands of 45, mixed in mags and has never had a hiccup. Going on 1000 rounds, it's been perfect. The porting really helps muzzle control, makes recoil very manageable and the fit/finish of the pistol is exceptional, no machining marks or ugly parts to speak of. Unlike many guns, the angle of feed is nearly straight-on, and the feed ramp is polished and smooth. The gun eats HP/SP/FMJ with equal aploomb. The trigger is decent, smooth and a nice letoff. Good for a combat pistol.
Cons: The porting, while serving it's purpose has a very negative side effect in that it throws burnt powder into the front sight, completely erasing the white dot, so much so infact that the dot can't be cleaned - it's gone. I have to apply white-out before shooting each time, but after 20 rounds it's obscured and completely black. Also, the porting obviously makes cleaning the slide and barrel much more difficult, but that's to be expected. The only other downside is the grips are very thin, very cheap feeling plastic ones. A finger groove Hogue rubber wraparound would be sooo nice but none is made IIRC. Taurus makes a contoured wood, but I don't like wood on a service piece so I'll live with what I have for now.
Overall, I'm thrilled with the gun. It's ideal and shoots as well if not better than my Sig220, with much less recoil. For the money, I'd say it's one of the nicest .45's on the market.
