Posted: 3/27/2005 1:09:44 PM EDT
What are the major differences besides the kimber being 100 bucks cheaper and having night sights? 
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Kimber uses more MIM than Colt and has the roundly despised Series II FP safety (whereas the Colt has the sullenly tolerated FP safety). The Colt will hold its value better. Kimbers are good guns, I've been tempted by the TLE myself. But they have no soul and in the end, will never be a Colt. |
Oh horseshit. No "soul" my ass. The fact is, my Kimber Classic Stainless II is more accurate in my hands than any non-Gold Cup Colt I've ever owned. And I've had zero problems with the series II safety. |
If you buy the Colt you won't have to buy razor blades for a while. Just pop off the slide, lather your self up and shave away. That could save you $100.00 I bought a basic Colt Commander and it was dangerously sharpin more than one spot. It's stainless so I was able to fix it without ruining the finish. I do like the pistol but I was afraid to touch it until the edges were fixed. That aside I don't think you could go wrong with either one. |
"Colt... keeping pistolsmiths in business since 1911." The XSE was Colt's way of trying to escape the ass-kicking that Kimber and other competitors were handily giving them in the semi-custom 1911 market. I don't particularly think the XSE package itself is all that attractive; I actually prefer the way Kimber does some things. But at the end of the day, when you get the Colt set up like you want it, it will be the genuine article and not a copy. If you just want a gun that has the popular features out of the box, go for the TLE. It will shoot well and more than likely be a great gun. If you ever plan to have it truly customized, though, go for the Colt. |
really? hmm.....Live and learn. After dealing with their customer service a few years ago, I didn't really need another reason not to buy a Colt again, but I just got one. |
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First off, A stainless TLE around here goes for about 850 to 900 bucks. I bought my stainless XSE Gov for under 800 out the door. The only thing I did not like about the XSE was the grip safety which I swapped out myself. Others seem to like the stock one. I had a bad experience with a Kimber series II. I will not own one now. I have never had a series 80 fail. All of my Series 80 have good trigger pulls. Colt uses far less MIM than any maker this side of Wilson, high end guys. My XSE has a perfect barrel fit and shoots 1.5 off a machine rest. The new Colts have a dimble throat job and will feed anything. I am very happy with the XSE, but then I must be lucky, I have 4 Colts I am very happy with. If you are hung up on a tight slide to frame fit (which has very very little to do with accuracy) then get a Kimber. Here is my XSE bef  After the GS swap  |
I disagree, twice. Having both I can say there is no appreciable difference in accuracy from my experiences. Any accuracy difference will be small enough not to be noticed by 98% of shooters. And the Colt's quality, at least now, is equal to the Kimber. I suggest you check out the new Colts in person instead of making assumptions. |
I suggest you not assume so much. I have not only "checked out" new Colts, I have owned several. Not one of them was as accurate as any Kimber I have owned. |
Mine had 2, sear and disconnect. The last Kimber and SA had more than that. |
I'll bet you the Colt had a couple more than that. |
I'm sure the grip safety was MIM, and more than likely the thumb safety was MIM or cast. I haven't done a part-by-part examination of my Colts so I can't say one way or the other what's MIM and what's not. |
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Here is the thing, by my looking, the Kimber and the Colt are pretty close in price in my neck of the woods. Some dealers try and make an extra buck on the Colt. If you or I don't buy it, I am sure someone will. If you like Colt Fine, if you like Kimber fine. I had bad luck with Kimber, good with Colt. What gets me is people that want to drive Colt into the ground. The day that happens, Kimber can raise their prices to whatever they want. And yet these people that pick appart a $700 gun, keep buying $25,000 GM, or Ford or whatever product that get more recall notices than they should stand. Go look and shoot them both if you can. And if you get one you don't like, introduce yourself to GunBroker and go buy another one. |
