We have two Kimbers and a variety of Colts here as well as a pair of Tupperware guns(no glocks here). My Kimber, its an Eclipse full size model, Custom Shop edition(first year made). Bought it new in 2001 IIRC, came with an ambi safety and target night sights. Front sight went dark within months of purchase, had to have it replaced. Ambi safety poorly fitted and contacts slide, not a solid snap feel like it should be. For a custom shop gun, no excuse for that at all. My bad for buying it, but it looked sharp, and unlike anything out there at the time. Shoots good groups, has a nice trigger, have had no failures to fire with the series two safety. Now I have had some issues with the slide stop locking the slide open prematurely, slide stop contacts bullets and they lift the stop up. Had to file it down to finally fix it. Wife bought a new ultra carry II, the two tone gun a couple of months ago but we have yet to take it out to the range, so can not comment of reliability of it. Now my Colts? They work reliably, with Colt and Wilson mags. 1911's can work reliably as any other gun maker, including Kimbers. I suspect, and I'd be willing to test stock 1911s that jam for some users to see, that many jamming issues are a result of improper shooting technique, improper lubing, or a combo of the above. The next issue would be the use of MIM parts in places they don't belong, and that would account for many of the rest. Extractors and slide stops are easy to replace with proper metal parts.