Kimber Products Really That Good?

[mec]

"In fact, it seems the opposite is true... the production grade Colts seem to consistently be much more reliable right out of the box than the premium and super-premium priced 1911's."

Seen the same thing as you with the series 80 and 91 Colts. Southwestern distributor- LM Burney stopped ordering Kimbers a few years ago because he was having to return between 1/3rd and 1/2 of them. Doesn't know if they straightened out their quality control or not as the guns are so expensive he declined to re-order.

Springfield Armory went through the same thing right after they switched over to titanium firing pins and some other gimcracks. Current ones seem to work.

 

[robertbank]

Very interesting thread. I bought a NIB Norinco A1. Trigger was gritty, sights were small and hard to see well, internal examination suggested the milling operator went to lunch half way through his shift BUT the gun is tight, shot to POA and has never had a FTF issue with any ammo I have run through it. All forged parts if that means anything. Price $349CDN.

Now I have spent that much and more for new sights, hammer, sear, trigger, a little checkering. Gun is still reliable, no more accurate but much easier to see the sights.

I also own a Para SSP and have had no issues with this gun either. Price $1,000 Cdn.

I have an STI Trojan in 9MM. Great shooter, very accurate, fit and finish outstanding. Now have the slide locking back on the last round most of the time. Cost used $1,100 Cdn.

I guess what I am trying to say is that is is a bit of a crap shoot. Pick your price point, Decide on your definition of pretty and jump in.

We can't carry up here so it is a bit of a none issue BUT if I were living in a country where I felt it necessary to carry and could, I would go for reliability and carry either a Norinco A1 or the Commander size and spend the $600 Cdn I saved on powder, primers and bullets - I reload. Then practice like heck.

 

[Master Blaster]

The real Genisis of the tight slide to frame fit is owed to the gun games of various types, Bullseye being one of them. The shooters in this sport who want to get the very best accuracy from their pistols are partial to frame mounted dot sights. That means in order to get repeatable accuracy the slide to frame fit must be tight. Many custom smiths built guns for these competitors with that dimension tightened specifically so that a frame mounted red dot could be used. Kimber and some of the other companies started immitating the pistols being built by custom smiths most often and a tight frame to slide fit became one of their trademarks. In order to get perfect reliability all other parts of the pistol must be fitted perfectly as well.

For using iron sights or slide mounted sighting systems the frame to slide fit does not have to be tight. In the past Colts did not have a reputation for stellar accuracy and reliablilty. In years past Competitors at my club would buy a colt and send it off for a new barrel and bushing, as well as refitting of all of the parts before it would shoot well enough to win a competition. I see some Kimbers on the line these days and they seem to work quite well, folks even shoot top scores with them. The favorite though is Rock River Arms people are now ordering two pistols at a time from them and waiting 2 years for delivery.
They seem to be able to make a very tight pistol that is also very accurate and relatively reasonably priced.

Of the 50 regular competitors at my club about 5 are using Colt Gold Cups which they had smithed (all are older shooters, and many of the guns are 20+ years old and have had the barrels replaced with Kart barrels). No One has bought a new Colt for Bullseye competition in the last 8 years. Kimbers are being used by about 1/3 of the competitors (mostly the less serious folks although 1 is a high master using a Gold Match) and if one does not want to wait for a Rock River consensus is that any target sighted Kimber is the next best alternative to a custom gun.

 

[exgun]

I don't understand why anyone would use non-standard ammo in an automatic pistol and blame the pistol because it does not function. I have a Kimber Eclipse , a S&W 625, and a Blackhawk 3 screw 45ACP. They are all wonderful pistols in their own way and are a pleasure to fire. Guess which one feels the best with rounds going downrange. The Kimber. Never had a problem with it. Had a law enforcement and military career and have been shooting for over forty years and have fired so many weapons that I can't remember them all. Cris's statements show a committed company and I am as impressed with the company as I am with the product

Regards Ex Gun