Overpriced Kimber Junk

Can I get the phone number for this gunsmith that does work at cost? Since that’s part of your original argument against kimber, you must know he will do it for everyone, because no practical man such as yourself would assume everyone knows a gunsmith that works pro bono.

ApacheCoTodd said:

"Yup. Got a local guy (family friend, in fact) that'll do it for parts cost."




Yup - that's called practice.
The worst (and sometimes, most expensive) work I've ever had done was free work.

Todd

Click to expand...

Some of the most expensive things in life are free.

buck460XVR said:

Everybody has an opinion and they're worth exactly what you pay for them.

Click to expand...

JMO, that and a buck will buy you a cheap cup...

bdickens said:

Some of the most expensive things in life are free.

Click to expand...

To true.

Pat Riot said:

I do believe that this is the first time I have ever heard of any Kimber firearm being referred to as “junk”. I have no experience with them except for shooting some friend’s Kimber 1911s, but all I have ever heard has been positive.

Click to expand...

I can assure you that back around 2000 Kimber was very commonly referred to as junk. The first time I went to buy one was from a friends shop who was a Kimber Gold dealer. He told me if I were going to shoot it then buy something else. The first four I seen (all brought to me to replace parts) were broke within the first 500 rounds therefore kimber wouldn't even send a shipping number. The slides and frames were great and the finish and machining was top notch but many of the parts used were junk (extractors....etc) . There was a lot of lawsuits, switching hands, CEOs, and even states since then. Customer service was well known to be terrible. I have no experience with any made since mid 00s. I own one in 10mm and it shoots great but does nothing my delta dont do and (at the time) costed much more. It will never see a high round count though. Just not a 1911 fan.

As far as jamming.....For 20 years vast majority of the guns brought to me to fix were 1911s that wouldn't run. Things seem to have gotten better though in the last 10. That or people just arent buying them to shoot.


Kimber must be better now than they were around 2000 or they wouldn't be in buisness. The original owner, an Australian fellow, passed away in the mid 00s after being forced out of the company. The company was moved from Oregon to New York, where we all should have lost interest anyway.

There were indeed issues with their 1911s way back in the day. But OP has specifically thrown his gauntlet at Kimber’s revolvers. Which, as far as I know, have always been top notch and equal to any of the other big names in terms of quality, fit and finish. Or better.

Sadly - one of the aspects of the internet is the continuation and endless dissemination - as well as embellishment - of fact-based rumor.

I was jaded for quite some time, even before my real interaction with the internet, as far as those *hot-house flowers* of the 1911 world from the likes of Wilson and Kimber.

All those early *factory customs* or *custom factory* or as I referred to them; *boutique* or *bistro* guns wore me out with all the manufacturers' admonishments as to their peculiarities EVEN as others stood shouting upon the prematurely declared graves of the bone stock Colt 1911 as well as Cutom Shop guns and even Gold Cups.

Eventually, everything smoothed out and Kimber and Wilson are tops in their game and in fact, have a GREAT deal to do with the 1911's, greater than ever, resurgence.

I for one have had 8--9 Kimbers and 3 of them are among my *never-sells*.

And yet, the relatively bad reputation that at the time was somewhat deserved - remains. Though, like chicken pox scars, while noted and used as a cautionary tale, the holders of the scars can and should be forgiven any effect they might have had in the past.

The Kimber revolver? For me it's a bit too much heavier than my 340SC and as such - I don't care about the single round.... Not yet, at least.

Todd.

ApacheCoTodd said:

Sadly - one of the aspects of the internet is the continuation and endless dissemination - as well as embellishment - of fact-based rumor.

Click to expand...

I agree. I take everything with a grain of salt. A lot of people think you get more "truth" from the internet than from printed material and I don't buy it. If I've learned anything from four decades of shooting and three decades of buying over 200 guns, it's that there's a lot of nonsense that gets passed around as fact. Much of it based on one guy buying one gun and having a problem with it that gets blown way out of proportion when he gets on every forum known to man and shouts from the rooftops about the offending make or model.

Fact is, no company produces junk and few ever did.

ApacheCoTodd said:

Sadly - one of the aspects of the internet is the continuation and endless dissemination - as well as embellishment - of fact-based rumor.

I was jaded for quite some time, even before my real interaction with the internet, as far as those *hot-house flowers* of the 1911 world from the likes of Wilson and Kimber.

All those early *factory customs* or *custom factory* or as I referred to them; *boutique* or *bistro* guns wore me out with all the manufacturers' admonishments as to their peculiarities EVEN as others stood shouting upon the prematurely declared graves of the bone stock Colt 1911 as well as Cutom Shop guns and even Gold Cups.

Eventually, everything smoothed out and Kimber and Wilson are tops in their game and in fact, have a GREAT deal to do with the 1911's, greater than ever, resurgence.

I for one have had 8--9 Kimbers and 3 of them are among my *never-sells*.

And yet, the relatively bad reputation that at the time was somewhat deserved - remains. Though, like chicken pox scars, while noted and used as a cautionary tale, the holders of the scars can and should be forgiven any effect they might have had in the past.

The Kimber revolver? For me it's a bit too much heavier than my 340SC and as such - I don't care about the single round.... Not yet, at least.

Todd.

Click to expand...

Of course! And the nice part about rumor is that, like the unique characteristics of hot-house flowers, the truth usually appears at some point.

I don’t have a Kimber-never have had the opportunity, and I often tend to wade in the shallow end of the firearm pool. But if I were in the market, at the price point, I wouldn’t kick any Kimber product out of my bed.

Sovblocgunfan said:

There were indeed issues with their 1911s way back in the day. But OP has specifically thrown his gauntlet at Kimber’s revolvers.

Click to expand...

I havent heard much negative about the revolver either.

CraigC said:

Fact is, no company produces junk and few ever did.

Click to expand...

The external extractor kimbers were pretty close to, if not, junk. And they gave Kimber a deservedly rough reputation. Kind of like the clerke first or the hundreds of winchester shotguns that eat their ejector because of a poor pin design (I have one of each in my shop that combined have less than 50 rounds both broke). If you shoot many rounds they will break. Not tens of thousands. Hundreds. (Talking about the winchesters and clerkes. The kimbers depend on which ejector you get) The slides and frames of those kimbers were well above average. And I never saw one that didn't have a superb trigger even for a 1911. Even Kimber gave up after having to service a large percentage of their guns and went away from the design. That combined with telling everyone to fire 500 rounds through a gun that was visibly broke and close to a single shot to "break in" was a bad move. As far as I know they make a decent products now, and for 1/3 the cost of the bad ones circa 00s. I would buy one again. But I know a few that had them that would never try again

But you are correct, things like those are anomalies. But they do happen. Even before the internet.

crestoncowboy said:

I havent heard much negative about the revolver either.



The external extractor kimbers were pretty close to, if not, junk. And they gave Kimber a deservedly rough reputation. Kind of like the clerke first or the hundreds of winchester shotguns that eat their ejector because of a poor pin design (I have one of each in my shop that combined have less than 50 rounds both broke). If you shoot many rounds they will break. Not tens of thousands. Hundreds. (Talking about the winchesters and clerkes. The kimbers depend on which ejector you get) The slides and frames of those kimbers were well above average. And I never saw one that didn't have a superb trigger even for a 1911. Even Kimber gave up after having to service a large percentage of their guns and went away from the design. That combined with telling everyone to fire 500 rounds through a gun that was visibly broke and close to a single shot to "break in" was a bad move. As far as I know they make a decent products now, and for 1/3 the cost of the bad ones circa 00s. I would buy one again. But I know a few that had them that would never try again

But you are correct, things like those are anomalies. But they do happen. Even before the internet.

Click to expand...

Not sure what the problem was with the External Extractor. The people I know that have one, they work fine. The problem was that the ones that didn't Kimber couldn't manage to fix. The issue now is if you have one that works and the extractor breaks it is no longer available (from any source that I know of) and Kimber no longer fits replacement slides for free. You would likely have to get one machined for it or replace the slide. So to say they are junk is a bit harsh. If that was true they would all have issues. However at this point they are a maintenance issue you don't need.

94045 said:

If that was true they would all have issues.

Click to expand...

The fact that they abandoned the entire setup and all the parts and such they had invested in after 2-3 years of having to replace entire top ends is a pretty good indicator that even kimber decided it was junk. But I do have one that works albeit with little use to really say. . I seen 4 that didnt work and one that did so 80 percent from what I personally seen. The ones that wouldnt work usually failed right out if the box. Either the extractor bradded out and failed or they just wouldnt extract. Not great odds though, in the pool of 5 that I personally seen.

ETA.. I also hadnt heard that they wouldn't replace slides for free anymore. I'd recommend something else if that's the case next time anyone asks me

Either way it's not relevant to the op bashing the revolver that I have no experience with. I was just stating that at one point Kimber was in fact on the poo list among 1911 builders. And back then there really weren't a ton of options

crestoncowboy said:

The fact that they abandoned the entire setup and all the parts and such they had invested in after 2-3 years of having to replace entire top ends is a pretty good indicator that even kimber decided it was junk. But I do have one that works albeit with little use to really say. . I seen 4 that didnt work and one that did so 80 percent from what I personally seen. The ones that wouldnt work usually failed right out if the box. Either the extractor bradded out and failed or they just wouldnt extract. Not great odds though, in the pool of 5 that I personally seen.

ETA.. I also hadnt heard that they wouldn't replace slides for free anymore. I'd recommend something else if that's the case next time anyone asks me

Either way it's not relevant to the op bashing the revolver that I have no experience with. I was just stating that at one point Kimber was in fact on the poo list among 1911 builders. And back then there really weren't a ton of options

Click to expand...

Let me restate that. I've been told they no longer fit new slides for free (for external extractor pistols). I have not personally owned nor returned an external model. If the price was right I would buy one but that would be at a much reduced price compared to the internal model.


Back to the OP. I have heard nothing to make me think the K6 is junk. Could someone with personal knowledge enlighten me?

All I've read about the revolver is that the trigger is usually pretty good and that it's quite heavy for the size gun. I think many of the guys saying its heavy are used to the scandium and poly framed small SD revolvers though. Cant say I've seen one broke but the guys i know who bought one will never fire a value pack of ammo through them between them.... If they are ever shot at all. I do know a guy who shoots a lot who has a new cobra and its holding up so far. He is talking about getting a da/sa kimber so maybe I'll get to see a high round count one soon.

94045 said:

Let me restate that. I've been told they no longer fit new slides for free (for external extractor pistols). I have not personally owned nor returned an external model.

Click to expand...

And I wasnt doubting you by any means. Just in case it came off that way. I was just under the impression that since they didnt fool with externals anymore that they would still replace the upper under the lifetime warranty. Mine will likely never be fired again until I'm dead and gone so to me it's no difference.

This guy's 100% troll, and a pretty obvious one at that.

crestoncowboy said:

All I've read about the revolver is that the trigger is usually pretty good and that it's quite heavy for the size gun. I think many of the guys saying its heavy are used to the scandium and poly framed small SD revolvers though.

Click to expand...

Personally, I wouldn't want to touch off full house .357 Magnum in a lighter gun. I have actually fired Buffalo Bore 180 gr hardcast in mine, and while rather stout it didn't leave me with tendinitis.

I have a problem with people who dismiss a person's opinion/experience just because they're a 24 year old. We were all that age once and, speaking for myself, I had opinions back then (based on experience) that haven't changed in the subsequent fifty or so years that have followed. Just because you're old doesn't mean you're right anymore than being young makes you wrong. Piling on someone who just because he is young and who has an opinion you don't agree with is just plain wrong. In terms of keeping our Second Amendment rights, we need all hands on deck in these times, young and old alike.
That said, I've found the exquisite da trigger pull on the Kimber K6 alone to be worth the price of admission.

Good or bad read the reviews. This is why I am here. I have a Kimber Pro II and two Kimber Clackamas rifles. Not all Kimbers are perfect.

SwampWolf said:

I have a problem with people who dismiss a person's opinion/experience just because they're a 24 year old.

Click to expand...

I never did that. I just questioned why he would post a topic asking questions about something he considered a piece of junk. If you have no intention of owning something why ask?

Mr. Mosin said:

My experience w/ Kimbers (2 of em), a Kimber equivalent of a tricked out full custom Gov't, wouldn't make it through a mag without jamming. $1k in parts and gunsmithing later, it *still* wouldn't run. Buddy sold it at a loss and bought a Ruger 1911. No serious issues thus far with multiple 10's of thousands of rounds through it. Another buddy had one of those little micro 9's. Couldn't get it to run reliably, with any ammo. Buddy traded it for a Ruger Alaskan w/ less than 100 rounds down the pipe.

Click to expand...

so all of your experience is with “a buddy”? Riiiiight, so YOU have no experience personally with them. Not to mention a “tricked out” 1911 and a micro 9 are hardly tell tale signs of the performance regarding their highly regarded revolvers.

I’d suggest taking these stories back under the bridge.

Ah, the old "my buddy." Sample size of exactly two, not even an owner of one. Credibility rating: ZERO.

SwampWolf said:

I have a problem with people who dismiss a person's opinion/experience just because they're a 24 year old....

...Piling on someone who just because he is young and who has an opinion you don't agree with is just plain wrong.

Click to expand...

When the person is asked to provide some thoughtful dialogue about his own experience and he can’t (or won’t) do it, I don’t care if they are 24, or 42, or 76. It suggests the person is not credible and may not be speaking from a position of authenticity. Furthermore, if said experience has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but is offered as justification for said opinion, I wonder how much experience the person has actually had with the topic at hand. Even further, when the person says they’ve never had a revolver jam on them, but then complains about not being able to make it through a full cylinder, I question their credibility.

He made the claim that kimber revolvers are junk, and his opinion is being dismissed by many others whose opinions run counter to his but are just as valid.

Given these points, I choose to dismiss this person’s opinion. Age has a little to do with it, but it isnt the only thing. Or even the main thing.

94045 said:

Kimber is a corporation. .

Click to expand...

Kimbed is a privately held company and always has been since Edleman bought them.