Greetings all -
I was finally able to take my new Warrior out to the range last night, along with my CDP Pro and a large variety of rounds to put them through their paces. The Warrior is my second Kimber and I was able to compare and contrast the two pistols over a two hour range session.
I purchased the CDP Pro last April as my primary CCW, along with a number of KimPro 8 round Tac mags. It had approximately 250 rounds through it before last night - all 230 gr FMJ WWB without a single failure of any kind. I did replace the standard grips with a set of Hogue wrap-arounds and was very satisfied with the resultant feel and pointability.
I purchased the Warrior after shooting the CCW instructor's personal weapon and seeing nearly surreal accuracy and nice handling qualities from his. While I could certainly use the CDP Pro in a HD role, the addition of the rail to mount a tactical light, all steel frame, and the fine accuracy I experienced with the other Warrior convinced me on the spot to place an order for one to be my primary HD weapon. I did some comparison shopping however, Steve Savina (who sold me my CDP Pro) had the best price and with the great service experience from before, he's earned my business for Kimbers.
I had mentioned on another CDP Pro thread that compared to the new Warrior, the CDP Pro's frame to slide fit at the muzzle end was not as tight - I could move the slide slightly side to side (1/32" or so) where the Warrior did not allow for any lateral play. The barrel to slide lock-up was tight, so I had not even noticed the difference until I was able to examine them side-by-side.
Field-stripping the Warrior was easy and I observed a very tight fit in barrel / bushing and slide to frame fitting. No tool-marks or marred finish anywhere. Slide functioning and trigger break were excellent. The thumb safety was nicely fitted and worked with a comfortingly smooth "snick" on and off. My dealer (Steve Savina, of Savina Firearms) was a true gentlemen - I had asked him to assess the trigger before shipping it to me when it first arrived at his shop. He offers trigger jobs to 3.5lbs with no creep prior to shipping the gun to the new owner. He measured the pull at 4lbs 10 oz with a slight amount of creep. After explaining I was looking for a 4lb pull with no creep, he recommended I run 250 rounds through it and that it should settle into a 4 lb pull without any 'smithing work. If there was still some creep, I could boost the trigger a few times to eliminate the residual if I really needed to. Overall he believed I would like the trigger without any work and he was correct. The $60 saved will be turned around into more practice ammo instead.
On to the range...
Up front, functioning was FLAWLESS over 210 rounds of mixed loads and another 40 rounds of PD ammo. I had 60 rounds of 230 gr FMJ WWB, 120 rounds of 185 lead SWC w/5.8gr of AA#2 handloads I had worked up several years ago, and 30 rounds of Remington 185gr MC to work through the two guns and then looked at accuracy results for 3 types of PD ammunition. 230gr Speer Short Barrel Gold Dot, 230gr Speer Gold Dot, and 230gr Winchester SXT. Both the Warrior and the CDP Pro gobbled up everything I threw at them without a hitch. I was not shooting for accuracy - I was able to keep everything inside 5" at 25 yards and everything inside 2.5" at 7 yards. I was looking for reliability and handling attributes during this range session, so there were no slow fire tests. (Averaging 1 shot/sec).
I did run a brief accuracy and function test on the PD ammunition to determine if the guns had a preference one way or another at 7 yards. Happily, the 230gr Short Barrel Gold Dot ammunition provided 2" groups out of the CDP Pro (the standard 230gr Gold Dots performed just about as well - I can't say which is better given the few I tried of each, but there was no real perceived recoil difference and without a chrony to chart muzzle velocity, I would defer to Steven Camps' website (HiPower and Handguns) for the .45 ACP PD tests where he measured 4" and 5" barrel results. I was disappointed in the SXT accuracy out of the CDP Pro. There was a significant difference in the accuracy. Still within 5" at 7 yards in rapid fire, but not as accurate as the Speer Gold Dots. Happily the SBGD 230 gr round fills the need for a carry round and is resting comfortably in the CDP Pro on my hip as I type this.
While the Warrior didn't like the Gold Dots for accuracy, it really liked the SXT rounds. I was able to produce three shot groups touching one another at 1 shot /sec at 7 yards repeatedly. Given the performance of this round documented elsewhere, the SXT is my HD round for the Warrior.
Handling-wise, the Warrior’s heft was noticeable when picking it up off the shooting bench compared to the CDP Pro. Once pointed downrange, it balanced nicely in hand. Surprisingly, there was less of a difference in perceived recoil than I would have expected, given the difference in weight between the two. Grip-wise, I am not a big fan of the Nutter Butter grips on the Warrior and I missed the front strap checkering that is present on the CDP Pro. That being said, I am putting a set of Hogue rubber wrap-around grips on the Warrior as soon as I locate the correct sized Allen wrench. I really enjoy the Hogues on both my CDP Pro and my pre-B CZ-75 – they provide a comfortable, repeatable, natural grip for me. While I a certain there are a number of conventional grip panels that could fit the bill (such as Gunners, VZ, and others), without an ability to try them side-by-side, I’ll stick with the Hogues. FWIW, my CDP Pro rides in a Matt DelFatti OWB at 4:00 position and I do not experience excessive printing or interference from the grips when attempting to draw the pistol. The only additional mod anticipated for the Warrior is to replace the MSH with a Kimber extended magwell version. This combination was on the original Warrior I tried that convinced me to buy one for myself and after trying the stock set-up, I realize the Hogues and the mag-well will provide me with the natural grip interface I shoot well with.
All in all, a very satisfying experience with my two Kimbers. I recognize that there are folks out there who have had issues, (and they are discussed at length here on this forum and elsewhere), but in my personal experience, I can honestly recommend either without any reservation whatsoever. Well done, Kimber!
Cheers,
Pk
(P.S. I did not have a chance to try the Kimber .22 conversion on the Warrior. I had posted earlier on my initial experience with the conversion unit on the CDP Pro and the challenge with Wal-Mart 550 round Remington Golden bulk-pack ammo. I did get to try my new .22 Kadet conversion for my CZ-75 and it gobbled those same 36 gr HP rounds without a hitch over 80 rounds. I hope to try the Kimber conversion on the Warrior next week when I go back to the range. In the interim, I am at least pleased that I have one kit that enjoys the cheap bulk pack stuff to practice with!)
I was finally able to take my new Warrior out to the range last night, along with my CDP Pro and a large variety of rounds to put them through their paces. The Warrior is my second Kimber and I was able to compare and contrast the two pistols over a two hour range session.
I purchased the CDP Pro last April as my primary CCW, along with a number of KimPro 8 round Tac mags. It had approximately 250 rounds through it before last night - all 230 gr FMJ WWB without a single failure of any kind. I did replace the standard grips with a set of Hogue wrap-arounds and was very satisfied with the resultant feel and pointability.
I purchased the Warrior after shooting the CCW instructor's personal weapon and seeing nearly surreal accuracy and nice handling qualities from his. While I could certainly use the CDP Pro in a HD role, the addition of the rail to mount a tactical light, all steel frame, and the fine accuracy I experienced with the other Warrior convinced me on the spot to place an order for one to be my primary HD weapon. I did some comparison shopping however, Steve Savina (who sold me my CDP Pro) had the best price and with the great service experience from before, he's earned my business for Kimbers.
I had mentioned on another CDP Pro thread that compared to the new Warrior, the CDP Pro's frame to slide fit at the muzzle end was not as tight - I could move the slide slightly side to side (1/32" or so) where the Warrior did not allow for any lateral play. The barrel to slide lock-up was tight, so I had not even noticed the difference until I was able to examine them side-by-side.
Field-stripping the Warrior was easy and I observed a very tight fit in barrel / bushing and slide to frame fitting. No tool-marks or marred finish anywhere. Slide functioning and trigger break were excellent. The thumb safety was nicely fitted and worked with a comfortingly smooth "snick" on and off. My dealer (Steve Savina, of Savina Firearms) was a true gentlemen - I had asked him to assess the trigger before shipping it to me when it first arrived at his shop. He offers trigger jobs to 3.5lbs with no creep prior to shipping the gun to the new owner. He measured the pull at 4lbs 10 oz with a slight amount of creep. After explaining I was looking for a 4lb pull with no creep, he recommended I run 250 rounds through it and that it should settle into a 4 lb pull without any 'smithing work. If there was still some creep, I could boost the trigger a few times to eliminate the residual if I really needed to. Overall he believed I would like the trigger without any work and he was correct. The $60 saved will be turned around into more practice ammo instead.
On to the range...
Up front, functioning was FLAWLESS over 210 rounds of mixed loads and another 40 rounds of PD ammo. I had 60 rounds of 230 gr FMJ WWB, 120 rounds of 185 lead SWC w/5.8gr of AA#2 handloads I had worked up several years ago, and 30 rounds of Remington 185gr MC to work through the two guns and then looked at accuracy results for 3 types of PD ammunition. 230gr Speer Short Barrel Gold Dot, 230gr Speer Gold Dot, and 230gr Winchester SXT. Both the Warrior and the CDP Pro gobbled up everything I threw at them without a hitch. I was not shooting for accuracy - I was able to keep everything inside 5" at 25 yards and everything inside 2.5" at 7 yards. I was looking for reliability and handling attributes during this range session, so there were no slow fire tests. (Averaging 1 shot/sec).
I did run a brief accuracy and function test on the PD ammunition to determine if the guns had a preference one way or another at 7 yards. Happily, the 230gr Short Barrel Gold Dot ammunition provided 2" groups out of the CDP Pro (the standard 230gr Gold Dots performed just about as well - I can't say which is better given the few I tried of each, but there was no real perceived recoil difference and without a chrony to chart muzzle velocity, I would defer to Steven Camps' website (HiPower and Handguns) for the .45 ACP PD tests where he measured 4" and 5" barrel results. I was disappointed in the SXT accuracy out of the CDP Pro. There was a significant difference in the accuracy. Still within 5" at 7 yards in rapid fire, but not as accurate as the Speer Gold Dots. Happily the SBGD 230 gr round fills the need for a carry round and is resting comfortably in the CDP Pro on my hip as I type this.
While the Warrior didn't like the Gold Dots for accuracy, it really liked the SXT rounds. I was able to produce three shot groups touching one another at 1 shot /sec at 7 yards repeatedly. Given the performance of this round documented elsewhere, the SXT is my HD round for the Warrior.
Handling-wise, the Warrior’s heft was noticeable when picking it up off the shooting bench compared to the CDP Pro. Once pointed downrange, it balanced nicely in hand. Surprisingly, there was less of a difference in perceived recoil than I would have expected, given the difference in weight between the two. Grip-wise, I am not a big fan of the Nutter Butter grips on the Warrior and I missed the front strap checkering that is present on the CDP Pro. That being said, I am putting a set of Hogue rubber wrap-around grips on the Warrior as soon as I locate the correct sized Allen wrench. I really enjoy the Hogues on both my CDP Pro and my pre-B CZ-75 – they provide a comfortable, repeatable, natural grip for me. While I a certain there are a number of conventional grip panels that could fit the bill (such as Gunners, VZ, and others), without an ability to try them side-by-side, I’ll stick with the Hogues. FWIW, my CDP Pro rides in a Matt DelFatti OWB at 4:00 position and I do not experience excessive printing or interference from the grips when attempting to draw the pistol. The only additional mod anticipated for the Warrior is to replace the MSH with a Kimber extended magwell version. This combination was on the original Warrior I tried that convinced me to buy one for myself and after trying the stock set-up, I realize the Hogues and the mag-well will provide me with the natural grip interface I shoot well with.
All in all, a very satisfying experience with my two Kimbers. I recognize that there are folks out there who have had issues, (and they are discussed at length here on this forum and elsewhere), but in my personal experience, I can honestly recommend either without any reservation whatsoever. Well done, Kimber!
Cheers,
Pk
(P.S. I did not have a chance to try the Kimber .22 conversion on the Warrior. I had posted earlier on my initial experience with the conversion unit on the CDP Pro and the challenge with Wal-Mart 550 round Remington Golden bulk-pack ammo. I did get to try my new .22 Kadet conversion for my CZ-75 and it gobbled those same 36 gr HP rounds without a hitch over 80 rounds. I hope to try the Kimber conversion on the Warrior next week when I go back to the range. In the interim, I am at least pleased that I have one kit that enjoys the cheap bulk pack stuff to practice with!)
