Why aren't Kimbers considered competition worthy?

[PalmBeach1]

I guess in the end you're going to pay to play. Every company has their issues. And well stuff breaks. Run what you can afford and feels good

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My sentiments exactly.

[Jadeslade]

Kimber is good.

[jwayne]

I am running a Kimber TLE 4" 45acp in CCP,,,,,,,,it is an all steel frame,,,,,,I have replaced a lot of the factory parts; ie. sights,trigger,ejector,extractor,sear spring,,recoil and main springs.....stock disco and hammer working good so far!!! There are some people that don't like Kimbers I am not one of them----they are like women.....some need a little more foreplay!!!

[robertg5322]

Can't speak for any gun other than mine. It worked fine.

Of course I haven'd had the misfortune of actually having a gun that didn't work. Some needed a bit of work to get them where "I wanted them to be", but they worked out of the box, I just like messing with stuff, er I mean upgrading them.

[cowboy85306]

Howdy;

I have two Kimbers, a Stainless target II, and a Grand Raptor II. The Raptor is a .45, no slop in it, shoots well, feels right. The Stainless target II is something of a story in itself. Bought it new because I wanted a 9mm 1911 platform pistol. I was impressed with it for a while ; shot well, accuracy was more than I could use. It was great fun! Then, it started having the fired case escape the extractor before the case was entirely out of the chamber. The fresh round , coming into play from the magazine, would then tie the gun up. I figure more extractor tension was needed. I was happy again, for a while. Within less than 500 rounds, the problem was back. Retension again. Good again for a while. Then back again. Parked it for a time, shot other things. One day I pulled it out and measured the breechface by trying various caseheads in it; discovered the one size fits most Kimber breechface, which would easily accept a .38 Super casehead, and a .40 S&W casehead . I thought back, remembering my first .38 Super comp gun, made starting with a Springfield Armoury 1911 A1 in 9mm. The Smith had to use a cutter to enlarge the breechface on that one to accept the .38 Super casehead ( it would be years until the first "major 9" attempts, and eventual invention of things like 9x23 and .38 super comp ).

ANYWAY, I bought a Nowlin barrel ( the one that was not an entire "gunsmith fit" proposition ), and instead of a thorn in my side, that Kimber is now a joy to shoot, though it did take additional cash beyond the purchase price to get it there. Could I have sent it back to Kimber? Sure. How would the problem have been approached? Well, we cannot know now. I would guess as with most warranty work, if they put another extractor in it and it worked for a magazine full of rounds when tested, it would be proclaimed fixed and sent back. If the problem recurred, and I sent it back again ? Cannot say. The extractor and breechface are fine, however, with the larger casehead and longer caselength on .38 Super brass,

Edited August 23, 2015 by cowboy85306

[Bryan 45]

Kimber has sponsored at least the last 2 major 3 gun matches I've been at- Rockcastle Pro Am, where I picked up a certificate for a new GM Stainless, and the FNH 3 Gun. There were at least 5-6 certificates for Kimbers on the table at these matches alone. They have a couple sponsored shooters too that are good people. (One is an employee of Kimber.)

I've been a Kimber owner for almost 20 years. My old pre-series II guns have seen the most use. But the series II guns I have are also good shooters. I'm interested in trying out this new GMII Stainless when it arrives at my dealer.

[GunBugBit]

Clearly there are many Kimbers out there running great.

[robertg5322]

Clearly there are many Kimbers out there running great.

But they're just waiting to explode at the most critical moment, putting their owner's lives in danger, probably taking out innocent bystanders in the process. Cause they're Kimbers!!!! Damn you KIMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CoThG]

Have a Grand Raptor have used in SS a few times no problems, but really too nice to ruin the finish on. Would have to say if Love2shoot comments has to be a reason.

That said MAYBE if Kimber sponsored our sports more might be used,seems they are the only major 1911 manufacturing company who doesn't.

Available for sponsorship Kimber email me ;-)

Kimber spends all their advertising budget on glossy, full page adds in all the gun rags going after the naive 1911 shooter.

[Hello]

I shot a Kimber polymer double stack .45 to "A" class limited when I decided capacity was king and switched to a .40 S_I. If I could have squeezed a couple more rounds in it I probably would still be shooting it today. Liked the small grip and the soft recoil impulse of the .230 gr lead with clays.

[shooterclay]

I bought a kimber custom I in 2000 and have shot it in IDPA ever since, about 25K rounds later still shoots like brand new. At least the series 1 guns were awesome.

[JD45]

I shot a Kimber Classic.45 for 12 years. I did the trigger job on stock MIM parts. 50,000+ rds later, it's still fine. The stock extractor had to be be re tensioned when new. Other than changing springs, it still has all stock parts.

[mont1120]

I started in the sport with a Taurus 92 clone, then bought a Kimber Gold Match. I had a lot of problems, and they all pointed back to me, and how I was reloading. I think both the gun and my reloads learned together. It did stovepipe too much, jammed all the time, but after I improved my loads, so did the gun. As with all firearms, some bullet shapes work good, some do not. Got the trigger worked on, and now it is running top notch. Have at least 30,000 rounds through it, will replace the extractor this year. Did have to replace the ejector bar, the pin broke on it.

Their customer service is actually pretty good, and very responsive. I did purchase a back up 1911 (dreaded L10 shooter), a Springfield RO in .45. I can certainly tell the difference in fit, finish, and even velocity is totally different, with the Kimber superior. I now have a used STI Eagle coming to move into the Limited division at some point in the future, but I will always have the Kimber ready to go.

It would seem to me that the Internet can certainly take one opinion, and turn it into fact in short order. Truly if Kimber wanted into the USPSA world, they need to get after it the same way Springfield has. That company knows how to get product on the field, and into the hands of shooters, Kimber does not seem to share the same vision, which is their loss.