We still hate Kimber 1911s, right?

[HeavyDuty]

I was at the local Bass Pro the other night and saw a rather interesting 1911 variant - 5”, 10mm, stainless, blackened slide with a bobtailed gripframe. It was tight and cosmetically more than decent. I’m unlikely to actually buy another 1911 right now, but I was impressed.

Are Kimbers really as bad as their reputation here at P-F implies, or are we not letting go of a historic but outdated issue? Sample of one, and not a semi but my K6s is fine so far, and I know they moved production out of NY.

[SwampDweller]

I was at the local Bass Pro the other night and saw a rather interesting 1911 variant - 5”, 10mm, stainless, blackened slide with a bobtailed gripframe. It was tight and cosmetically more than decent. I’m unlikely to actually buy another 1911 right now, but I was impressed.

Are Kimbers really as bad as their reputation here at P-F implies, or are we not letting go of a historic but outdated issue? Sample of one, and not a semi but my K6s is fine so far, and I know they moved production out of NY.

I wouldn't say it's an "outdated" issue. It's gotten to the point where the gun shop I work at is loathe to buy Kimbers from our distributors because we're sick of customers coming back needing to send the gun in for warranty work.

Kimber still has the philosophy of "make them pretty and get them out the door, it's cheaper to deal with the few squeaky wheels later", and much of the gun industry is heading in that direction. Turns out it's a very profitable business model for them. Most people hardly shoot their pistols and will never know it's problems, and/or will blame any issues on other stuff. Of the ones who encounter issues you might be surprised how few actually try to get the manufacturer to make it right, most just make excuses for the pistol/firearm.

[Evil_Ed]

The last Kimber I had was also a 10mm...the extractor hook was a nub that apparently used The Force to yank casings out, since it really didn't have the meat to grab the rim. The ramped barrel was ok, but constant nose-down misfeeds in both the factory mags and in Colt mags. The first 2 rounds of every mag were basically "no". One grip panel was cracked from the factory; a flaw in the "wood" (blue wood?) that I wound up gluing back together.

Also, their firing pin safety gives me the willies.

Looking at 1911 boards in gunsmith sections, all the pro smiths seem to say the same thing...all the small parts are at best fragile. Thumb safeties like to break, frequently. Slide stops on occasion. Firing pin stops, frequently. Other random little bits will snap, including broken off hammers at the shanks...

If the guns were $500, I'd probably be way more enthusiastic about them; for that price, I could look at it as someone spent some time/energy fitting the frame, slide and barrel and putting sights on it. I can replace/fit all the rest of the small parts as I deem necessary, and not feel bad about it. As it is, spending a grand++ on a pretty gun where I'd wind up needing to refit and replace a bunch of parts...that's a "no" from me, dawg. Again, not even mentioning the firing pin safety. I understand it can be "fixed" so that the timing will always be right (I don't know HOW, just reading that it can be adjusted), but honestly it's probably less annoying to remove the rear sight, remove all the bits from the slide, and re-zero the gun without any of the firing pin safety stuff at all. Which is exactly what I wound up doing to that 10mm I had, before I got tired of wrestling with it at the range and sold it.

I wound up replacing it with a then-new Sig P220 in 10mm to scratch that single stack 10mm itch.

They're so pretty...yet so flawed.

[BobM]

I have a Desert Warrior I bought new in 2005 that works but I’d be leery about buying a newer Kimber, just based on the internet chatter.

[Navin Johnson]

I was at the local Bass Pro the other night and saw a rather interesting 1911 variant - 5”, 10mm, stainless, blackened slide with a bobtailed gripframe. It was tight and cosmetically more than decent. I’m unlikely to actually buy another 1911 right now, but I was impressed.

Are Kimbers really as bad as their reputation here at P-F implies, or are we not letting go of a historic but outdated issue? Sample of one, and not a semi but my K6s is fine so far, and I know they moved production out of NY.

Only places that carry Kimbers in my area are national box stores. This is based on their experience.....

[HeavyDuty]

Only places that carry Kimbers in my area are national box stores. This is based on their experience.....

Back in the Chicago area one of the biggest gun specialty stores (Mega in Plainfield, for those playing at home) carries the full line, but they carry everything.

What this has done is gotten me interested in seeing what other higher quality but mass production bobtailed 1911s are out there. I’ve been trying to get Ruger interested in bobtails for years, but no luck…

[KevH]

I posted this up yesterday on another forum in response to a Kimber query:

I currently own a 1999 production Custom Classic and a 2000 production CDP and have owned a few others over the years.

I had some reliability problems with the Custom Classic and sent it to a fairly well known pistolsmith back in 2008 who couldn't seem to figure it out. The great Dave Berryhill (RIP) agreed to take the gun and completely went through it replacing most parts with his own or with EGW parts. The gun has been 100% reliable ever since and is a prized possession although the only Kimber parts that are left are the slide, frame and barrel. My CDP is stock and is somewhat nicer than most of the later production guns.

As a police armorer in an agency that allowed the 1911, we had 20+ guys purchase TLE RL/II's and Warriors back when those were introduced. There are only two still being carried. The most frequent issue we had were plunger tubes coming loose and downing the gun. That became a regular replacement item. We had a couple of cracked firing pin stops and I also saw a broken thumb safety on a Warrior and other niggling issues, but nothing too catastrophic. Most guys that stuck with the 1911 moved on to an Wilson or Ed Brown or a true custom gun. On a side note, all of the external extractor guns had their slides replaced by the factory. Those were absolute garbage and the factory replaced it for free.

Regarding Kimber's offering today...

They still have nice slides, frames, and barrels that make a wonderful base for a decent gun with some minimal work put in by a good pistolsmith. Avoid Series II guns since their execution of the Swartz safety was below sub-par. Their problem is their small parts are lowest-bidder outsourced and will eventually need to be replaced.

If you want a 1911 just to play with at the range and say you have a 1911, they're good for that (especially at the $600ish price point). If you want a 1911 to rely on every day there are much better options (albeit more expensive).

[HeavyDuty]

I posted this up yesterday on another forum in response to a Kimber query:

I currently own a 1999 production Custom Classic and a 2000 production CDP and have owned a few others over the years.

I had some reliability problems with the Custom Classic and sent it to a fairly well known pistolsmith back in 2008 who couldn't seem to figure it out. The great Dave Berryhill (RIP) agreed to take the gun and completely went through it replacing most parts with his own or with EGW parts. The gun has been 100% reliable ever since and is a prized possession although the only Kimber parts that are left are the slide, frame and barrel. My CDP is stock and is somewhat nicer than most of the later production guns.

As a police armorer in an agency that allowed the 1911, we had 20+ guys purchase TLE RL/II's and Warriors back when those were introduced. There are only two still being carried. The most frequent issue we had were plunger tubes coming loose and downing the gun. That became a regular replacement item. We had a couple of cracked firing pin stops and I also saw a broken thumb safety on a Warrior and other niggling issues, but nothing too catastrophic. Most guys that stuck with the 1911 moved on to an Wilson or Ed Brown or a true custom gun. On a side note, all of the external extractor guns had their slides replaced by the factory. Those were absolute garbage and the factory replaced it for free.

Regarding Kimber's offering today...

They still have nice slides, frames, and barrels that make a wonderful base for a decent gun with some minimal work put in by a good pistolsmith. Avoid Series II guns since their execution of the Swartz safety was below sub-par. Their problem is their small parts are lowest-bidder outsourced and will eventually need to be replaced.

If you want a 1911 just to play with at the range and say you have a 1911, they're good for that (especially at the $600ish price point). If you want a 1911 to rely on every day there are much better options (albeit more expensive).

Thanks - I still have my Colt so I’m not desperate, but I really do like the way the bobtails fit me. I’ll pass.

[Leroy Suggs]

@HeavyDuty passing on a Kimber is a wise decesion.

[HCM]

I was at the local Bass Pro the other night and saw a rather interesting 1911 variant - 5”, 10mm, stainless, blackened slide with a bobtailed gripframe. It was tight and cosmetically more than decent. I’m unlikely to actually buy another 1911 right now, but I was impressed.

Are Kimbers really as bad as their reputation here at P-F implies, or are we not letting go of a historic but outdated issue? Sample of one, and not a semi but my K6s is fine so far, and I know they moved production out of NY.

If you want a bob tail 1911 I would look at Dan Wesson.

I've had 6 Kimbers counting a .22 and 4/6 had issues. The only one without issues out of the box was a 5" Series II in 9mm. I currently have a Kimber Warrior which runs but it was a duty gun trade in from a local PD which was priced such that it was worth taking a risk. It's finish worn but had clearly been tuned a bit by someone who knew what they were doing.