Kimber 1911's, What do you think?

[AERacing1813]

Hey Y'all, just curious to reach out and get some feedback what you guys think about Kimber 1911's?
Personally, NEVER owned one although if I had the chance to get one in a trade I would really like to try one out for myself, I just haven't been offered one that appealed to me, so I can't speak much on liking or hating them.

I've personally heard/read many "failure" stories about them, but I've also read a lot of good stuff on them, they seem to be a hit or miss company but then again why would someone gamble $1000+ on them when they can buy a proven platform for that elsewhere I've even noticed a few gunsmiths won't work on them just because of the name "Kimber".

I've handled a few, fitment on the full size ones I've held felt pretty nice, trigger was nice, in my opinion they're one of the nicer "modern" 1911's in terms of looks. When I held the Micro pistols that look like 1911's I was not impressed at all, fitment was sloppy, trigger on my SKS felt better, etc...

Anyhow, Just looking for feedback from someone who has actually owned one, was the experience good or no? If not, why not?

[Aguila Blanca]

Over-priced, "iffy" quality.

[CalmerThanYou]

I have a Master carry Pro. Quality is actually very good. Performance is not such I would trust my life to it. It is a range gun for me, and seldom at that.

[LineStretcher]

I have a full size Kimber Custom II Stainless 1911. It took a while to settle in but now it shoots great. It runs best just a little on the wet side and when I say wet I mean wiped down with a oiled cloth and then assembled. I opened up the rear sight dovetail and added a Trijicon RMR. Would I buy another? Yeah, probably. I like it.

[Nick_C_S]

I have one. I like it well enough to shoot it a lot. I drive it hard; and it takes it.

But it's not my bottom-of-the-line Springfield.

If I had it to do all over again; I would have just gotten two Springfields.

[mk70ss]

My Eclipse Target Elite was awesome. Great gun.

[Targa]

My brother has an Ultra Carry, it has been excellent and a really good shooter.

[jmr40]

Several years ago Kimber went to an external extractor on their higher end versions. There is nothing wrong with an external extractor, my S&W 1911's use them. If done right they work better than the traditional 1911 extractor. But for whatever reason the Kimber version gave problems. That is where most of the bad reputation came from.

Kimbers base model 1911 never used the external extractor, they are priced very much in line with everyone else's 1911, and they never had any issues. Unless I'm mistaken they are no longer using the external extractor on any of their 1911's and reliability is no longer an issue.

My personal experience is with one of the Custom II's and it has run perfectly for about 20 years. Never the first malfunction, accuracy is just fine as is fit and finish. In my experience they are good guns that still get a bad rap for a temporary problem that was corrected years ago.

[FLJim]

I recently got the urge for a 1911, in part precipitated by fondling a used Kimber Custom II at an LGS. Felt really good in the hand. Sights looked good to my eyes. Liked the trigger. Asked a friend who's a 1911 addict. "Kimber's QC has been hit-or-miss for a few years, but if it runs out-of-the-box you'll be GTG." Researched. Yeah, Kimber's QC does appear to have been dodgy, lately, but Custom II owners seem almost universally pleased with their Kimbers.

In the meantime, though, another LGS got a never-been-fired Remington 1911 R1 Enhanced in trade. My friend claimed "May be the best production 1911 currently made. May even be better than some semi-custom 1911s." Researched. He wasn't lying. The store was selling it for $50 less than the other store's used Custom II, so I went that way, instead.

(I was not disappointed, btw.)

[Roamin_Wade]

Kimber came along in a time when Colt was resting on its laurels. They merely reverse engineered them. A move often seen in Russian aviation. I have heard countless times that they don't install as much clearance in the slide-to-frame area causing them to quickly start malfunctioning. If you want a pretty safe queen, buy a Kimber, but if you want a durable and capable pistol, make it a Colt. They will digest anything and they won't bind up after 20-30 rounds.

[Charlie98]

I'm having a good laugh reading some of the comments here. I've owned 6 different 1911's... they are all gone except my 2 Kimbers. The Colt I had was a piece of junk (mid 80's production.) My Springfield had issues, although in hindsight I could have fixed them with most likely a new or tuned extractor; I sold it to my brother and he still has it. The 2 Taurus 1911's were a combination of very poor build quality (#2) and very poor material (#1,) so those are both gone, even considering their lifetime warranty. I have 2 Kimbers, my first approaching 20 years old... never had a problem with it. I change the recoil spring out every 1000 rounds or so, rub a little RIG +P stainless grease on the rails... and off it goes. My second is actually older, but I bought it as NIB just a few years ago... it, too, is tip top. It does have one problem... the safety plunger needs to be restaked, a relatively quick fix.

After shooting my Kimbers, friend of mine went out and got a 4" CDP. His does have an occasional feeding problem... which, after working with the pistol and comparing it with mine, I've determined the breech face cut is too small... I believe the slide coating built up right there on the cuts, and some cartridges will hang. Kimber immediately sent him a shipping label, and turned the pistol around in about 4 days. Easy peasy.

You can say what you want about Kimber. I'll admit, they built up a lot of hate in the mid-2000's with some QC problems... it appears they have that fixed. The new Kimbers I have looked at seem to be well built pistols with some nice features. I consider the price fair... not great, not awful, but you get what you pay for, certainly.

Every manufacturer kicks out a lemon or two. Over the past 30 years, I've had problem firearms from most every manufacturer, including Colt, Browning, S&W, and Ruger.... and that's just handguns.

[Aguila Blanca]

Several years ago Kimber went to an external extractor on their higher end versions. There is nothing wrong with an external extractor, my S&W 1911's use them. If done right they work better than the traditional 1911 extractor. But for whatever reason the Kimber version gave problems. That is where most of the bad reputation came from.

I have to disagree. In my corner of the world, Kimbers had a lousy reputation for reliability (or lack thereof) years before they ever thought of trying an external extractor. It could be argued that they tried the external extractor in the hope of improving their reliability. Obviously, that didn't work.

[spacemanspiff]

A Kimber TLE was my first 1911. Loved that gun. Poured thousands of rounds thru it. Eventually, it started to get extraction/ejection problems. Some part needed replacing, but after going to two different gunsmiths, whose main theory was 'recoil springs', and that NOT fixing the problem, I just traded it in for a Colt.

My Kimbers problems were NOT because it was a Kimber, or poor quality control. It just didn't get the attention it needed by a qualified pistol smith to determine why ejected cases were getting chewed up, or just jamming in the ejection port. Had that problem been fixed, I would still own that Kimber.

I knew when I bought it that Kimber had some QC issues, and more lemons existed amongst their products. But I got lucky, and my Kimber served me for a nice long stretch.

[Hammerhead]

Bought a 9mm Target II recently. Everything is very nice except for the extractor and firing pin stop. They were not fitted at all, just installed. Th extractor was so loose it rattled. Took out the fp safety and fit a new extractor and fps.
Now i have an awesome target gun, super accurate at the 50 yard line.
Im satisfied.

[totaldla]

Kimber shipped a lot more pistols than the other 1911 makers. The typical forum commando doesn't get to hear about how my Kimbers have run fine over the years - instead they hear from the mindless haters who parrot around the singular failure they're familiar with.

I looked at the ATF numbers - Kimber was the largest producer a decade ago.

Now a person has more choices today than 20 years ago when it was just Kimber and Colt. But Kimber still makes a nice 1911.

I'm not interested in 1911's anymore, but if I were there sure are a lot of nice ones out there for reasonable prices.

[Erno86]

I kinda tricked-out my Kimber Eclipse Custom II in 45 ACP. It has about 20,000 rounds through it. The metal injection molded (MIM) plunger tube cracked in two around the 18 thousand mark.

I occasionally have to run a Wilson Combat chamber brush in the chamber, because of failure to go into battery.

I like the heavy Kimber Tungsten guide rod that I put in it...but it's sometimes against pistol competition rules.

It likes Winchester 185 grain semi wadcutters the best for factory load accuracy.

[rock185]

AERacing, FWIW I have owned a half dozen Kimbers within the last ~20 years. Mine were all the full sized steel framed guns, so I can't comment on any of the smaller/compact versions. One had a minor issue as received. The other 5 worked reliably from day one with any factory or hand loaded ammunition I used. As to customer service, some years ago a Kimber magazine developed a crack. I called Kimber. All they asked, was where to send the new magazine.


A 38 Super Eclipse, purchased new a couple years ago, has not disappointed. It was so reliable with factory ammo, and reloads using 38 Super, 38 Super Comp, 38TJ and 9X23 Win. brass, I decided to fit a 9mm barrel also. With no adjustments or changes, other than the 9mm barrel and magazine, the gun has been literally 100% reliable with a variety of 9mm ammunition. I just wish my Colt 38S SCGs had displayed reliability and barrel/slide/frame fit equal to the standard production kimbers I've owned...

So, I'd like to be one of the in-the-know guys who chalk Kimber's success up to slick, full color magazine ads etc., but mine were all good guns........ymmv

[Charlie98]

Oooo... Kimber pron! My two Kimbers... a Pro Eclipse II (4" stainless) and my Pro Carry II (4" alloy.)



At the range with my buddy's CDP...

[KyJim]

I had a Kimber. It was one of those with an external extractor. Troubles. Kimber variously says you're limp wristing or you just need to shoot it another thousand rounds. I say I've owned and shot 1911s for years. Kimber says too bad. I say I'm not buying another Kimber. 20+ 1911s later, I still have not purchased another Kimber 1911.

A good company can make a lemon. A good company takes care of the problem. Kimber didn't. The only Kimber I would consider is their revolver and the only reason I might not buy it is because I'm still ticked off for their lousy service.

[BringEnoughGun]

I bought a new Master Carry Ultra a few years ago with lazer grips and all. It is a beautiful gun. A good friend of mine told me Kimber is the only way to go. I had it 2 months when the black started wearing off of the slide. I called Kimber, and they said too bad. After some conversing he told me they would refinish the slide in stainless for another $75. I paid way too much for it to begin with...it shoots well enough. I'll never get another. I've got a Colt Commander I've had almost 40 years with lots of rounds through it, and it still has a better finish

[RsqVet]

For the money there are often better choices. At the 800-900 dollar range I shrug my shoulders, when you get to the 1200 plus range I stamp my feet for there are Dan Wesson and others out there that are clearly better choices when talking that kind of money.

Took a 1911 armorer class.. many a time the words " those with a kimber will note it does this here is how you fix it" were uttered.

As others have mentioned their external extractor did not help at all - saw a few of those that simply were a no go in terms of function.

Lastly do not be fooled by the "custom shop" stamp on a Kimber -- there is nothing custom about it and there is incredible little if any and fitting or tuning that goes into one -- it's a factory gun like any other.

[silvermane_1]

I wouldn't buy/own a Kimber, due to past qc problems and the folks that own Kimber are into some anti-freedom activities.

[FLJim]

Charlie_98 wrote:
I'm having a good laugh reading some of the comments here. I've owned 6 different 1911's... they are all gone except my 2 Kimbers.

I'm happy for you that you've had good results with your Kimbers. Nobody's saying "Kimber is garbage." They're saying Kimber's QC has been less-than-stellar for several years. That means some people, perhaps most, are going to get product that works well. Others not so much.

The problem, to my way of thinking, and the reason I think I'd be inclined to shy-away from Kimber, isn't so much their QC issues. As many have noted: Kimber probably sells as many 1911s as everybody else combined, so you're more likely to hear of problems with their products. No, the the thing that concerned me more was repeated reports of Kimber's responses to problems. Their CS doesn't seem particularly customer-friendly. Compare to Ruger, who traditionally bends over backwards for their customers (I've first-hand experience with that). Then consider most of Ruger's product line is considerably less expensive.

[Nathan]

The Kimber story is simple.....they made a well finished 1911 with all the bells and whistles at a competitive price. They even started out with tight profit margins by using many quality parts. As their reputation strengthened, they started mim sourcing parts until now they are nearly 100% mim, except where non-mim is cheaper or the only safe option. Then they learned that by adding a couple of beavertail variations, sight variations and trigger variations combined with 100 finish options, that they could sell one design from $700-$2000.....yes, the $2000 Kimbers have the same junk parts!

Now, there is a positive side to this. Kimber really knows their one design. They have pretty good tuning and good factory mags....look like checkmate....this means that most Kimbers shoot pretty good and most are reliable...

From what I can tell, the problem is when one doesn’t run. Kimber can’t seem to figure it out. The parts cannot be recut as they are mim. Replacement parts may fix it, but may not. A gunsmith should be able to identify the root cause and fix it, but that might be all new internals swap and maybe some frame machining!

So you might say well, Colt and Springfield have these issues or all 1911 pistols have these issues....they do, but there are more people who know the Colt pattern and Springfield pattern...essentially they know the quick fix.

So, when you pick your Kimber, ask yourself, what am I really getting over buying the cheapest one? Over $1000, should I really buy a Dan Wesson!

[Charlie98]

I'm happy for you that you've had good results with your Kimbers. Nobody's saying "Kimber is garbage." They're saying Kimber's QC has been less-than-stellar for several years. That means some people, perhaps most, are going to get product that works well. Others not so much.

Not really... go back and read the comments prior to my post. There are some QC complaints, sure (and probably deserved,) but many of those comments are just silly, and they may not have used the word 'garbage' but you can read that into their comments. Everyone's experience is different because everyone's pistol is different. I mentioned my original 1911 was a Colt... I guess my Colt was what some people experienced with their Kimbers. I don't hate Colt for it, but I don't have that pistol anymore, for sure. However, I'm not a hater... if I was in the market for a new 1911 (and I will be later this year...) I'll surely look at a Colt, and probably Springfield, too, even though I had less than stellar experiences with both.

Someone here mentioned Ruger... I have had something like 7 Ruger single-actions... none of them have been worth the metal they were made from. I don't hate Ruger for it, but I won't buy another... sooooo, I guess Ruger is my 'Kimber.'