tell me about em. your experiances, good and bad. pros and cons

My Kimber 1911 was the only firearm I've ever owned (and I own/have owned ALOT of toys) that I would not trust my life with. Kimber got 3 trys to make it run and failed.  If someone gave me a brand new Kimber in the box it would hit the EE as fast as I could snap pics and post it.

I had a 4" kimber that never ran right even after many trips to kimber and about a years worth of dealing with it.

I'll never own a kimber again, even one was given to me I'd sell it.

Mine has seen many thousands of rounds and the only failures were from limp wristing or failure to fully seat the mag. Nothing bad to say about it. Given the choice I would go with a 4" bbl on the short frame.

Earlier fullsize pre-"series II" are said to be very good 1911s. I'd agree with that from my experience. Not an ultra carry but I figured I'd put it out there so this thread isn't 100% Kimber hate which is more often than not based on their more recent productions.



 

Mine has been 100% out of the box.

I've got an Ultra CDP and have had no problems what so ever.  I've heard of some Kimbers being shit out of the box, but I haven't seen or experienced that first hand.

A friend at work has one and it's been back to Kimber twice now...

Personally I think it may be the cheap WWB he shoots.  I've seen rumors that it's out of spec long and that's why it hangs.

I've shot two Kimbers (including my friend mentioned above) and they've each hung up on me within 2 mags and the owners were having problems as well.  May be ammo related (see above).

Mine has never had a failure.  It shoots incredibly well.

Have a Kimber I am not in love with it but never had a failure with it

Out of the box 1911. It's a gamble. More of a gamble than a full size being a 3".

I have a Series I Classic Custom that runs flawlessly with any ammo I put through it.

That said, there is no way I would buy a new Kimber knowing what I know now.

Mine runs great and is my CCW gun of choice. I runs well with WWB, different types of HP, old reloads FMJ. Just shoots great and is more accurate then it should be. Will shoot one ragged hole at 7yrds, you gotta understand that I am old and my eyes not that great. I have to find a sweet spot in my progressive lenses to see the front sight.
I have a Crimson trace laser on it and using that it will shoot thru one slightly large hole three rounds at 7 yrds.
I know the 3inch guns are not supposed to run well but mine does.
Remember that the Ultra carry II has the Schwartz safety while the first model does not.

I had an Ultra Carry 2 and it felt pretty good. The bull barrel was very nice and very accurate for such a short 1911. It was nice to shoot and mine only malfunctioned two or three time and that was when I was breaking it in. I was trying to get my hours worth at the indoor range so I had lots of mags and went through 300 rounds of WWB in about 45 minutes the only thing it did was fail to go completely into battery and that was when it was very very dirty so I blame it on that. That was the good.

The bad: The steel that Kimber uses is questionable. I sweat a lot at work and with in a couple months the beavertail safety had lots of surface rust on it. I cleaned it and oiled it well, and the next thing I know the beavertail is rusting even worse and now the hammer is rusting on the side that touching my side. I don't want and expensive carry gun that I have to baby and clean all the time when my cheaper MilSpec Springer doesn't have this problem. After owning the Kimber, I know I don't care for aluminum framed 1911's, I don't like their steel, I don't like the fact that they use a plastic mainspring housing. Was nice to shoot, nice trigger, and very forgiving on recoil....but I will probably never own another Kimber again.

ETA: Also the safety was a let down. It was big enough but it didn't really feel right to me. It didn't have that nice "snap" when the safety was switched on/off. It was just kinda sloppy...IMO

My full size runs like a champ on FMJ, JHP, and even SWC.

That said, i wont touch ANY brand of a 3" 1911.   Even my Colt Defender jammed on ball.

Both of my 5" Kimbers work fine

I'm scared of little 1911s no matter the maker - bought a Kahr for that reason

3 inch 1911s are notoriously finicky.    Add the Kimber name to that and I'd not trust my life to one for CCW.  

If you must have a 3 inch 1911 I'd check out an old Colt Defender or the Colt New Agent.  

Otherwise, a Glock 30 or an HK45C would be good concealed pistols (along with others)

I saved a lot of money on ammo by shooting stuff my boy's Defender wouldn't feed. The Kimber ate it all up. Main take away is that no matter what you get, shoot it a bunch before staking your life on it.

My buddy got one. CRAPPY finish.FUnctioned good just bad finish. It would rust. Sold it soon after.

Do not recommend. The two or three I've shot or seen at classes have all choked - one before the guns got really hot.

One a friend had went back to Kimber twice that I know of.