What kind of accuracy should I expect from a Kimber Ultra?

[FTF]

CDP Series II.

I dunno... I'm no crack shot, but I do shoot about every week and I'm beginning to get upset with my accuracy from this pistol.

At 7 yards, I can make one ragged hole. At 15 yards, it opens to about 3". This is all slow fire... firing rapid that 7 yard string will open into 3" and the 15 yard will open to about 6".

Is this to be expected from such a small frame .45? Are my shooting skills just that sucky? Same results with basically all ammo I shoot through it, although I have shot a few boxes of wadcutters through it and I shot good as hell with those. I guess it's not meant to be a tack-driver, but it's damn near a thousand dollar pistol... argh.

I'm debating selling it for a full-sized and maybe some cash. I like carrying it for the .45 factor, but I hate shooting at the range, I can embarass myself with a S&W 9mm auto that costs 3x less... although it is 3x as heavy.

Sigh.

 

[browningguy]

It's a tiny pistol with a very short sight radius and harsher recoil, unless you are a really expert pistolero that's probably all you should expect from it. They really are more difficult to shoot well, that's the only reason I don't carry one, I need all the help I can get.

If you can't accept that level of accuracy you might want to go back to a full size.

 

[lycanthrope]

Well my Kimbers are all tack drivers, but the short sight radius of the Ultra can make things a lot harder. Are you using handloads?

 

[M2 Carbine]

I'd say that the average Kimber will shoot a much tighter group than the average shooter can hold.

Get someone that you know is a very good shot to shoot the gun .
It could be that the gun is at fault.

I consider myself just a decent shot.
Most of my guns shoot better than I can.

Here's a couple of my targets and I figure that a good shot could cut the spread at least in half with my Kimbers.

5 inch bull.


8.5x11 inch target.
Kimber 3 inch Eclipse. 50 yards.


Kimber Tactical Ultra 3 inch. Texas 15 yard concealed carry target at 100 yards.

 

[FTF]

OK, I'm feeling slightly better. At least until I saw M2's groups at 50 yards.

I don't use my own reloads. I try to use good stuff like Atlanta Arms. That's probably the 'worst' that I've run through it... some Remington, but at least over here, it's kinda pricey.

Maybe I should just accept it's a compact pistol and deal with it. That seems to be the consensus. Is there another compact (under 30oz) .45 that can combine good concealability as well as good range accuracy up to 25 yards? I think I'm asking too much from this pistol... it's never going to be that tack driver that a full-size would be I should have gone with the 'pro' model

Maybe I should be content with my ragged holes at 7 yards and leave it at that?

 

[M2 Carbine]

Mostly I, and friends, shoot my 200gr lead SWC reloads. The accuracy is noticeably better than anything else we shoot.

I've got 3, 3 inch Kimbers and a 4 inch compact. Friends have a couple of the top of the line Kimber full size pistols. What we noticed when we first got the Kimbers was the 3 inch guns were more accurate than the full size Kimbers and they would beat any other 1911's that we have.
They may be harder to shoot but they are accurate.

When my friend first bought the Ultra and full size Kimbers he gave them to me (unfired) and said See what you think of them.
After shooting them for a week I told him, I'm going Kimber shopping.

 

[Browns Fan]

I traded a combat commander for an ultra carry. The first time I took it to the range, I noticed how much more accurate it was compared to the ol' commander, so for the heck of it , I moved the target to 50 yds, and was making head shots with it. I attribute this to the tighter slide/frame fit and the MUCH better sights.

This gives me an idea; I wonder if I bought an SA GI (you know, with the crappy sights), practiced with it, and then use the Kimber for IPDA. I would think after using the old sights in practice, acquiring sight picture would be dramatically better and faster when switching to the Kimber.

Waddaya think?

 

[M2 Carbine]

I don't know.

I pretty much shoot a different gun every day and it takes a minute to get adjusted to the sights each time.