Dan Wesson

I bought a Kimber ProCarry II in 2006. It has been flawless, no complaints. Trigger is crisp, cycles all ammo, smoothest shooting gun I have ever owned. Even though it only weighs 28 ounces, it is still fairly heavy for an EDC so I don't carry it a lot. But I have gone through MANY pistols over the years and this Kimber is one I have always said I will NEVER get rid of.

Worked a high volume LGS for awhile and Kimber was one of the highest return/complaint lines I experienced.  They were not Sig Mosquito level , but they had enough issues that I steered clear of them.

They do look nice though and came out with some good looking models.

Purchased a Kimber Classic back in the 90's, one of the Yonkers guns, and it runs fine.
I suspect that like any business, the guys that start a company know what they want to do but they get replaced by guys that only want to make money.

Yep exactly lol

I bought a Micro 9 for my wife on 3-27-21. The first time we went to the range I ran 2 mags through it then handed over to wife. It fired fine me. When she takes over, every 3rd or 4th round the mag dropped, would fail to extract, fail to load, stove pipe. Brought home cleaned, lubed, racked the slide constantly for a day or 2. Brought wife back to range, I ran a mag through, then handed back to wife. Same thing as before, except mags would drop after 1st or 2nd round.
Bring back home, clean again, run rounds through racking slide by hand 0 failures.
Go to range alone. 115gr 124gr target ammo 147gr +P
target ammo dropped all 4 mags on 2nd shot every time. +P after every round.
Called Kimber started RMA process. Wanted to know if they wanted clean or as is? They said as is. Upon boxing noticed the hammer was burred and had been eating into the beavertail.
They changed 10 parts and I haven't fired the gun since getting it back.
My wife has been anti gun her whole life. Due to the times, she feels it is necessary to learn and arm herself. This gun has slowed her want down. Pretty Sad!

It is only anecdotal, but a friend of mine bought one about 15 years ago, and he really likes it.  While no one is sure how his new Kydex holster played into him shooting himself in the ass with the Kimber, the pistol worked just fine, and since getting rid of the holster, he hasn't shot himself in the ass again since.

I have had two friends shoot themselves in the ass with 1911 pistols...

I have one on order. It will never see a single round.
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I have one, Kimber Super Carry Pro, I like it, somewhere around 7000 rounds through it. It has been reliable with factory ammo, my handloads have been rough. It still looks nice and shoots nice, but I think my next gun will be a Dan Wesson. I do enjoy it and I am happy I got it. Factory ammo and its pretty great, sights came zeroed perfect, I put it on a rest and I knock the center out of the bullseye. Incredibly accurate, but not incredibly reliable. I would recommend Kimber to a guy on a budget, but I would push someone to a Dan Wesson to a normal fella.

Basically this.
If the 1911 isn't built with 100% of the parts cut from a solid block of steel they are crap.

You really should.  Best gun ever.

Have 2 Kimbers, a Pro CDP II, and a Yonkers Custom. Both have been 100%. The CDP has been bobbed and uses a Ed Brown main spring housing, and all MIM parts swapped during this work. Carried it for years, and trust it. The Custom Classic was bought from a gunsmith and it is exceptional. But it has been completely re-worked.......... If I were buying another 1911 I would either go with another Colt, or a Springfield.

Since Dan Wesson exists, there is absolutely no reason to buy a Kimber. DW price is comparable with significantly higher quality.

When I sold guns the hierarchy of guns going back to the factory was as follows: Bersa thunder->Sig 1911->Kimber 1911-> Rossi lever action-> Taurus semi auto. That's a good indicator I think.

On a similar note, never buy a Bersa thunder.

ETA: I totally forgot about the Sig mosquito and Walter p22. Those were frequent flyers back to the factory also.

I've never been disappointed with the 3 Kimber pistols I have.  Mine all run like they're supposed to.  They are also all from the bottom end of Kimber's price spectrum.  Their more expensive models seem to have a lot more bling without offering better internal parts or better fitting.  Once you get away from their lower end guns and get into the higher priced models I'd buy somebody else's gun and if asked for an opinion I'd recommend looking at DW or Colt or Springfield.

It's kind of a moot point for me these days since the only 1911 that would pry money out of my pocket would probably be a 5" Colt Combat Elite.

I have 5 Kimbers one full size custom II very early model an officer sized stainless a 3” compact and and 2 Tactical Pro II’s one 9mm and one 45 the 45 has the external extractor all have been solid accurate and reliable pistols and the 3” model is amazingly accurate!

I love 1911’s I have a Sig Sauer in 357 Sig And two Detonics combat masters as well.

Just my 2 cents.

There will be hate for everything out there. Gun, car, kitchen knife. Just buy what you like

Heard a lot of hate.

Picked up a NIB (never fired) custom2 for $500.

Put 200 rounds through it last weekend, it ate everything, from every mag I owned, zero difficulties.  Looks nice. Trigger is decent, kept them on the paper as fast as I could pull the trigger at 20y, in spite of my bad habits (which are legion).

Just paid too much for some WC mags.

No reason to believe I can’t trust it.

Not exactly the same story as mine, but close enough for the purpose of this discussion

This last year some time after buying a kimber 10mm and having it go full auto with the second magazine, I decided buy once cry once.
Purchased a Dan Wesson Razor back in 10mm.
The slide seized to the rails.

Yeah both were fixed and returned to me.
But the Razor back has shot some of the best groups I have ever shot with a 1911 type pistol.
So it can happen to all manufacturers.

If one were to buy a Kimber, it absolutely must be either full size or commander.  Buy only in45 ACP,  all other calibers will be trouble.  

1. Full size 45 never had an issue
2. Full size 10mm nothing but trouble until I installed WC extractor
2. Full size 9mm same as above.  New WC extractor fixed the gun.

I almost feel sorry for folks buying Kimber’s micro 1911.  They all look pretty but from personal experience almost never  work.

I’m done with Kimber.

Ironically, I had a TLE RL2 and it was a giant POS.  It was at the time that they tried the external extractor.  It would run for about 1 mag.  I sent it back multiple times.  They ended up replacing the barrel...and the new barrel looked like the rifling machine failed mid bore.  The rifling went super twisty, like a screw...then just hogged out the end of the muzzle.  It was absurd that they shipped this...nobody even looked down the bore.  


I called them and they replaced the entire upper...slide, barrel, everything.  


It eventually ran, the one time I took it to test it.  Sold it for a loss.  

The plastic MSH can be replaced.  I replaced mine myself.  Also sent it back to them to add an ambi thumb safety.  Works fine for me.  Stainless II.

My first 1911 was a stainless Raptor.  Just found the paperwork for it, bought it 10 years ago.  Long since sold to my brother.

It was a nice gun, almost never malfunctioned.  

Only other one I've had was an Ultra Carry Pro.  Again, pretty reliable.  Bought that maybe 4 years ago.  Maybe put 500 rounds through it with 2 or 3 FTFs.  Sold off last Summer.  

Internet opinions are to be taken with a grain of salt.  Example, Shield magazines don't work worth a shit and yet mine have been flawless.

Don't know about the current state of affairs at Kimber, don't care, I'd buy a DW or Springfield if I was getting another at that price point.  Besides, I equate Kimber with Ryan Busse now, and he's a steaming pile of a human.

I bought a Stainless II way back when. It has been flawless. It is so tight, it can be a PITA to disassemble. It has shot dozens of competitions with no issues. I have friends who have had Kimbers that are jam-o-matics. That is the story of Kimber. Either you got a damn good gun or you got a dud.

I have an ultra carry in 45 that runs well.

To your point, I am nervous about paying for a 10mm. I think a 45 is a lot harder to screw up.

When kimbers first came out they were solid.  Over here past two decades they’ve had more misses than hits

Their returns for repairs is crazy in house.  Personal word of mouth conversations with old big ups…tells me what I already knew

I have had a Kimber Warrior since 2008 I believe. No issues whatsoever with mine. My friend bought a CDP II several years after me, fired one round and the gun seized. He had to leave it with the gun shop to work on because he couldn't unlock it. At this point in time, I wouldn't buy another gun from them. They are expensive for what they are and there are better companies for the same money. For the record, I do love my Warrior!

My personal distaste comes with dealing with their rifles.  Poorly executed with less than zero customer support.

I had a 2000’s  CUSTOM (series70) 45acp never a problem.
I have a recent Custom II Target 9mm (Yonkers) flawless.
I had a recent Camp Guard 10mm. Very accurate, wonderful shooter, was not reliable.

IMO- stay 45 or 9mm and Gov't model size, the further you stray from those perimeters more troublesome they become.

Custom 2 in the late 90's.  Grip safety stopped working.

Personally, not an issue.
Technically, a fault.  For a $800 gun, in 90's money.

Agreed

Hmm, still back and forth about this Kimber, really I’d like to trade it for a Colt of similar features.

I had an Ultra carry II stainless and the two tone. The stainless was bought used. No problems at all. The two tone had a couple ftf on the first two mags, one each. I added a drop or two of oil to the slide and no more issues.
Just my two cents.
My friends wife used their full size lumber in a two day class and had no problems.

I would have thought with her small hands and possibly limp wristiing it she would have had issues but she didn’t.

Get what you want.

Edit….
Can’t go wrong with the Dan Wesson

Bringing a 2018 thread back from the dead!

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Double tap

It's a Kimber thread. What did you expect?

Those of us that like them, like them.

Those of us that don't, don't.

As you can tell by the time line of the thread, it's been going on for years.

It's also nice to see a new post in this forum from time to time.

Gun shops hate them cause everyone wants them but doesn’t buy them and they gotta send them back all the time
Kimber hates them cause they clog up thier repairs
The sales ceo hates them cause they gotta explain why a $800 plus gat with a design over a century old doesn’t work

I have a Custom II, and never had any issues with it.

It's a tack driver.

Don't remember it's age.

I have a Warrior I got when it first came out , I ordered back when it came out Apr 05 I think , its been a good one ,finish wore off but it`s been carried , atv gun , truck gun , had a cust tac 2 beautiful gun it was a jammer , had a had a full sizw cdp yrs bak I boght new had hammer follow through ,  a friends Eclipse hammer broke , I look  and look at them they look great but you may get a good , may not I love the little 3 inch 45 almost bought one a few times but passed , did get a 3 in Colt 45 Defender in Stainless its been flawless for a small 45 .I am looking at Kimber `s all the time but slow to buy one .

Kimber in 05 was great. Kimber in 2024? Nah

How about in 2018?  

I mean somehow you took a 100 plus year design and still continuously tuck it up :/

I have a number of Kimbers and I - partly - understand where the hate comes from.

1) The older Kimbers are excellent, if you don’t screw with them.

Way too many people get a Kimber and then before they ever shoot it, want to “upgrade it”.  That approach works fine with the average rack grade full size 1911 in 45 ACP, and mostly works with Commander sized 1911s and in 9mm.

But when you start talking about the 3” and 4” Kimbers there isn’t much room to bubba with the engineering:
- the shorter slide models have less slide over run, the 4” pro series Kimbers have very little, and the 3” Ultra series Kimbers have none.
- adding a shock buffer is screwing with the slide over run and engineering.
- changing the recoil spring is screwing with the engineering and the feed cycle.
- using a non Kimber magazine is screwing with the engineering.
- using a magazine with the wrong feed lip design for the bullet shape is going to screw with the feed cycle.
- using a 47D magazine is just asking for a broken extractor.

2) Way too many people don’t understand the need to break a reasonably tight 1911 in before you’re going to get peak reliability. That’s going to be anywhere between 200 and 500 rounds.

3) Way too many people want to run a 1911 dry like it’s a Glock.  1911s need to be run wet. Ideally, in anything other than freezing weather you’ll grease it if it slides, oil it if it rotates and give it all a light coat of oil.

If you’re doing shit like a 2000 round or 5000 round torture test, you’re just a dumbass. Go buy a Glock and enjoy the craftsman staple gun trigger.

4) The current Kimbers have created a couple issues:
- Kimber has come out with some budget priced models to stay competitive with other low to mid grade 1911s like the Springfields, Rugers, S&Ws etc.
- However some Kimber customers expect to get old higher end Kimber quality out of a budget model Kimber.  That isn’t a reasonable expectation and it’s not going to happen.

5)  In addition to the above mentioned use of 47D magazines breaking extractors the other main cause of Kimber damage is operator error.   The Military wasn’t my first exposure to a 1911 but it was close.  The assembly and disassembly of a 1911 is still largely based on the military method.  However that doesn’t work all that well with a Swartz system equipped 1911.  The Swartz system was actually developed by Colt just prior to WWII and was both intended and accepted for new military 1911s.  However with a new world war on the horizon the US military backed off and ordered new 1911A1s with out the firing pin safety as it did not want to add a new model of 1911 into the logistics system on the eve of war nor a different manual of arms.

The firing pin safety on the ll versions of the Kimber is operated by the grip safety and it’s a good approach as it keeps the trigger pull separate from the firing pin safety activation.

The problem is that if you depress the grip safety on a Swartz system 1911, it raises the stud in the top of the frame to activate the firing pin safety plunger in the slide.   Unfortunately what happens is that way too many Kimber shooters don’t understand quite how the system works.  When reassembling the slide on the frame, they hold the grip frame firmly in their manly meat hooks, depressing the grip safety and raising that stud into the path of the slide. They then try to ram the slide on the frame and when it stops due to hitting the stud, they back up and whack it harder.  It’ll eventually brute force its way past the stud, levering the system to press back on the grip safety, but it over stresses the parts and they eventually bend or break.  The Swartz system is of course blamed, when it’s straight up operator ignorance.

6) The new Kimber revolvers are in my experience, excellent, superior to standard S&Ws and Rugers, and at least on par with or superior to a performance center S&W or custom shop Ruger.   But the design looks a little different and that inspires some hate.

This Kimber Custom Compact CDP has been superbly reliable with excellent combat accuracy, but it’s about 15 years old.



This stainless pro carry is on par with the Ruger SR1911 and I have no complaints about either.



Both these Micro 9s have also been very reliable and accurate for the type. The Micro compensator actually works and significantly improves follow up on double taps and controlled pairs.



The Gold Match II replaced my Colt Gold Match back in my Bullseye pistol days and I’ve never regretted it.  It’s a superior pistol.  

The Ultra Carry at the bottom was my EDC for about a decade and has around 20,000 rounds through it.  It needed a full 500 round break in, but it was relentlessly reliable with both 185 gr and 230 gr Golden Sabers after being broken in.




I have K6S revolvers in both 2” SA/DA and 3” DAO versions.  The DA triggers are superb, equal to my S&W performance center 625 race gun.  It’ll be heresy to say it, but the Taurus executive at the bottom also has a superb DA trigger, better than any stock trigger I’ve encountered on an S&W.