Are Kimber's really crap?

[Reno82]

I love my Kimber 10mm. Didn't have any problems as of yet... have about 700 rds through her.

[chupacabrachus]

Kimbers are great once all of the kinks get worked out. It seems like the 3 and 4" models have more problems (naturally) than the full-size. I've said it before though, I would certainly not trust my life to one "out-of-the-box" to be functional.

[Vandal]

Zero problems with my Stainless II since I bought her on 24 Jan. We actually went out on the town tonight to get a movie and some pizza. My roommate took his flawlessly running Taurus 1911 along too.

I see a lot of hate for Kimbers from those who don't have them or because the same speaker heard about a problem from a friend, or the friend of a friend.

Other than William Wallace on here have I heard much that couldn't easily be solved by a quick trip to the smith for a tune or at the worst a vacation to Yonkers, and most of those issues seem to be similar across the spectrum of all high end, uber-tight custom 1911s from Kimber, to SA, Nighthawk to Wilsons. The lower end ones that are closest to the military tolerances seem to run just fine. The more you play with them, the less reliable the 1911 gets no matter the brand. And if you get anything less than the 5" you are guaranteed to have some kind of hiccup along the way.

[Dirty Rod]

From my experience, Kimbers have tighter tolerances than some of the other makes and, as such, need at least 500 rounds to break in so many have a lot of FTF and FTE issues early on. The extractor issue does seem to be real as many of them need to be tuned and Kimber did seem to go cheap with the plastic MSH and the underpowered recoil spring on the Pro Carry's. That all said, I upgraded to Wolff springs and my PC2 is about the most accurate of all my guns including my Springfield Loaded 1911 and my XD with trigger job and match barrel.

I alternate between carrying my XD and my Pro Carry II and I trust my life to either of them.

[Brickboy240]

I have "heard" from several internet sources that Kimbers were not that great.

However, before I bought my TLE II, I had borrowed and shot three Kimbers from totally unralted owners and all shot perfectly.

After buying the TLE II, I have found that it too shoots with no troubles and is scary accurate. About 2 mags into the 500rd "break in" period...for grins, I put a mag full of Hydra Shoks in the gun...thinking it might jam. Well, it ran just fine. I then ran two mags of Winny XTPs through the TLE at around 250rds and again - no hangups at all.

I too was very worried that the tightness of the new TLE was going to cause problems but to this day...not one jam or bobble. The tight TLE II eats everything I throw in it.

The internet "experts" may tell you Kimbers are troublesome, but I did not find this to be true at all. The internet "experts' also told me that my XD40 was going to rust and locing block was going to crack, my Glock 22 was going to k-boom and other "expert" advice that has never happened....so take it for what its worth!

If you ask me, my experiences with Kimbers has been very positive. I will say that all Kimbers I have shot were fullsize 5" guns that were all steel.

- brickboy240

[Palmguy]

I had problems with mine out of the box, FTF with 230gr FMJ with factory, 47D, and CMC mags. That said, a sample size of 1 is insufficient to mean anything and is statistically insignificant. That goes for good and bad.

From what I've seen (body of work type of scale), if I were looking to get one, I'd be looking for a series I.

[ForTehNguyen]

havent had any problems on mine (except .45 ammo costs), bought it used too

[joeythefish]

Originally Posted by Joeywhat

They're not bad, just not worth the price tag. From what I've been told they used to be fantastic pistols.

I own a Kimber Custom II and it has yet to fail me. Great pistol, you just have to look around to find a good deal that's all cause yes they are a little pricey.

[ForTehNguyen]

buy used if you can, bought my tactical custom II for $650

[VT RAIDER]

My friend purchased two Kimbers last year... An Ultra CDP II and an Eclipse Target II... The Eclipse was flawless and has had no issues and is a tack driver... the CDP was accurate as well but had feeding issues but after a ramp polishing by the local gunsmith no issues... also my friend hated the Kimber mags and picked up some Nighthawk, Wilson Combat, and Chip McCormick mags as replacements... I would not go any less than a 4.25" barrel 3" and 4" barrels are often mentioned on the forums as problematic... I think Kimber makes a good gun, but they are a little pricey IMO...but Kimbers fit my hand so well and shoot so accurate that if I purchased a 1911 I would have to give them serious consideration. I have heard their service is good but not as good as it used to be... People on one forum, gun store, podcast, etc... will say it is the best, but then others will name several options that are better... Shoot it and see if you like it...