Posted: 3/22/2004 6:48:17 AM EDT
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Ok all, i was going to buy my first 1911 a couple months back, but ended up having to spend the money on my car instead. I've been shooting my HK USP Tactical for a while now and enjoy it, but i've always loved the look and feel of a 1911. I was thinking of going with a Kimber, as i've heard good things. Im looking for something between $800-$1200 that will be accurate for target shooting, and reliable enough to carry if i desire(but im not looking for a compact size gun). Is the Kimber a good way to go? The one that caught my eye was the Eclipse Target II with the 5" barrel. Is this a good model? Any other reccomendations for my price range, etc? Thanks! -Daniel |
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Since you have a moderate budget for a 1911 I would go with the others on the Brown, Baer, Wilson, etc. Personally, I wouldn't trade a soggy turd for a new Kimber series II. Got one new, (full size) and it ended up having a chipped barrel on one of the lands right inside the muzzle. So, it shot flyers all over the place. The firing pin safety was also not adjusted right and if my grip wasn't perfect the hammer would fall but the pin wouldn't move so it caused all sorts of failures to fire. Kimber said they would fix it but I would have had to pay for the shipping. One of the happiest days of my life was when I traded that gun. Now, an original Kimber without the silly firing pin block might be worth looking at though. |
| springfield quality seems to be as good or better than the kimbers, usually for a lot less. that said, the only les baers i've handled were works of art. the display gun at the nra show was so tight my 240 lb buddy could't rack the slide. shot one at the range that the owner said had 15k rounds through it. gun still shot better than i can. if you can swing it, buy from les. |
I'd set my Kimber CDP II down across from a Brown, Baer, or a Wilson -- they will sit fairly close to each other in the safe I imagine. Right next to the STI and the Dan Wesson.  Your Kimber experience sounds like an anomaly, not the norm. |
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I bought a Kimber Eclipse Target last month. It now has 2,000+ rounds through it and it has not choked on any of them. Accuracy was very good with win 230gr FMJ, but it really shines with reloads. I never thought I could shoot this well with a pistol. Maybe I just got lucky, but I doubt it. Must have gotten lucky with the extra Kimber blued mags too, because all of them work very well. I think you'd like the Eclipse, and sticking with the 5" is a good idea. BTW I bought a Galco Avenger holster, and it works extremely well also. Maybe I'll go get a lottery ticket. |
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I think you might be better off with the eclipse. It has bo-mar night sights stock To get a les baer with night sights you are looking at $1500. If you are thinking about Les Baer used samples show up on Gunsamerica.com occaisionally for $1000 or so, and then it would just be a matter of switching to night sights. My Les Baer had a pretty heavy 5.5lb trigger so you may end up with a trigger job. The eclipse looks great to me, just add a mag well and it's done. (or if you don't like magwells it's allready done.) The Eclipse is probably the best value in Kimbers line right now: 30LPI frontstrap checkering Bomar Night sights front-rear cocking serrations close toleranced fit (from what I have heard they should shoot like the Gold Match) ambi safety decent trigger weight etc. (lighter than Baer no matter what they advertise). Normally I would worry about SS in 1911's but I have used gold match SS range rental 1911's that have seen a lot of rounds 24,000+ without much cleaning and they still shot great and were totally reliable. The les Baer premier II's are deffinitely more accurate but you will probably end up spending $1300-$1500 to get one. I don't think the Eclipse will depreciate much either so if you buy it and use it for a year and decide to switch to Les Baer it will probably only cost you $100 tops. Les Baers will probably screw you for $200-$500 in the re-sale department. I got mine used for $1100 and lost $125 to sell it here. |
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Yeah, my bum Kimber probably is not the norm. But, half of the problems were caused by the firing pin safety. An unneccesary part that caused the gun to let the hammer fall without striking the primer. Sure would be bad to hear a click instead of a boom when the stakes are high. Not to mention the fact that it uses a specific firing pin, and that little plunger part jumps out of the gun when detail stripping and is a PITA to get back in. If you lose it you are screwed. Oh, yeah, Kimbers have a slide release notch that is not Colt spec so buffers can sometimes keep you from pulling the slide back to release it from a locked positon (not really a big deal, but...). So, Kimbers are good guns over all, they typically have great machining and tolerances, but they have introduced a whole new operating system within the gun that, like anything, has a failure rate and when it does fail it renders the gun temporarily inoperable. Not to mention that a firing pin block is a solution to a non-problem. Totally unneccessary. Can you live with that in a gun? Do you want to support a company that designs guns for you, the customer, or a company that is more interested in compromising your weapon's reliability (and safety) by kowtowing to lawyers and legislators from Commieville, I mean, er...Kalifornia? |
Was that really neccessary? I mean, then someone can make the comment that the VP from Kimber has said he supports and will vote for John Kerry. Thats enough reason for some of us to choose alternatives to them as well. |
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Ok, well i took suggestions and waited and saved some more cash. Well, a lot more, as i had forgotten about my tax return. Now i technically have about $2500-$3000 i could spend. So what are the reccomendations now? A Les Baer(seems to be a very good choice)? Any other reccomendations out of the 1911 realm that i haven't considered that you might reccomend? Thanks! Daniel |
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I would recommend having one built by a competent gunsmith, if your looking to spend up $3,000 on your first 1911. My first 1911 was a LB Monolith HW. *Don't rush your decision, read up on exactly what you want, and have it built. JMO www.1911Forum.com |
You looking to blow your whole load at once? How about one of those Valtro's? www.valtrousa.com/  [unbiasedopinionmodeon  ]I'd personally get a Dan Wesson and use the $$$ you saved on something else. |
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With $2500 to $3000 you sure can get yourself into something nice! As stated above, just go ahead and get it custom built especially for you from individually selected top quality parts configured to your liking. in addition to the 1911forums check out www.pistolsmith.com A lot of great 1911 smiths post on that board. |