Well, I gave Kimber a shot..

[amac]

No need to waste your time or cause frustration. Just buy a Dan Wesson Valor and you'll be set. My second 1911 and my last 1911. It's been flawless and I would definitely trust my life with it. I'd say it's the best value, semi-custom 1911 on the market.

[Army Chief]

... MOST over rated 1911 on the market, imo. Wilson is second.

An interesting statement that probably deserves to be backed-up.

I happen not to agree with this, but welcome your insights just the same.

AC

[DAT85]

I've owned 2 Kimber Series 1's which both never made it to the 2k mark without major problems.

1,a Series 1 Gold Match,went full auto at 1350 rds .Sear had a hairline crack which taught me a lesson about poor quality MIM.Sent it back,got it fixed,ditched it.

The other was an CCO sized piece which I bought used and after the 1st visit to the range had a really clean crack straight down the center of the grip safety. Replaced the grip safety and said to hell with it.Sold it at a gun show.

No more Kimbers for me.

Funny,my "overly tight" Les Baers have never went full auto on me.
I wonder why?

DAT85

[wetidlerjr]

No Kimbers for me as there are too many horror stories. The one I owned a few years ago was stolen before I had ran enough rounds through it to form an opinion. I do know, however, that I didn't have to buy a Yugo to know that they were junk.
YMMV

[cdunn]

I also owned a kimber once,and yes Templar I didn't listen to my friends that said not to waste my time or money.I thought that they couldn't be as bad as I've heard and still be as expensive or in demand as they are.Now I know and it wont happen again. a big thumbs up to kimber customer service they fixed it and shipped it for free EVERYTIME it went back.I believe most gun companies put out a lemon every once in a while when kimber puts out a pistol that works every once in a while.

[Army Chief]

Kimber found their market niche by providing 1911s with a host of custom features for box stock Colt pricing. That made them very attractive to new and/or recreational buyers, and for the most part, these shooters were low-round-count folks who were unlikely to expose any rough edges in the plan. Think "Bushmaster sales model" here.

Those who took their shooting a bit more seriously began to run into trouble after a few thousand rounds. The cost-saving shortcuts taken in production (MIM gets a bad name here, even though the technology itself can produce a very reliable component) resulted in a lot of broken guns. Those who rarely fired theirs stood up and cried foul, of course, though these tend to be the same kinds of people who chafe at the suggestion that DPMS produces a sub-par carbine.

The lesson that should have been learned along the way is that there is no such thing as a budget service-grade firearm, and you really do get what you pay for. Kimbers look nice, are well-appointed, and have brought no little interest back to the 1911, but they tend not to remain the choice of serious shooters or students of the design. That's not to say that they are garbage by any means, but like a bargain M4, there is definitely some time and expense involved in getting them up to standard. In the end, you're going to spend the same amount (or more) get a quality gun, but that's not entirely a bad news story, as what you learn along the way can actually be quite valuable.

AC

[ash]

i got a kimber warrior didnt run out the box after adjusting the extractor and adding every part 10-8 makes it runs like a honda! i think if you own any 1911 and shoot the piss out of it its going to need some tuning no matter what brand. some just come more ready then others. you have to be handy and no your gun to own a 1911 i think.

[mike boufford]

i got a kimber warrior didnt run out the box after adjusting the extractor and adding every part 10-8 makes it runs like a honda! i think if you own any 1911 and shoot the piss out of it its going to need some tuning no matter what brand. some just come more ready then others. you have to be handy and no your gun to own a 1911 i think.

And there you have it. There isn't a 1911 manufacturer out there who hasn't had to do some kind of warranty work on their weapon at some point even right out of the box; it happens. I have a couple Wilson mags in my bag which are finally breaking in after over 100 rounds being loaded through them. Out of the box, they were 100% garbage. Does this make their weapons garbage also? Hardly.

Kimber sells all of the 50 some thousand weapons it makes annually and has a lot of customers on backorder so they must be doing something right. If all of their weapons, and if even 10% of their weapons, were as bad as depicted on this thread they would be out of business by now. When warranty work is called for, it is normally handled professionally and expeditiously as happened in my instance. That particular weapon now runs lights out through the 200 rounds I normally put through it when I shoot. There are 4 Kimbers in my safe 3 of which have gone through break in and run just fine. The 4th is being broken in for my son and has just about all of the bugs worked out of it.

[one]

I have three HK .45 caliber pistols that did all that right out of the box...Without even lubing them.

And I might add that the poster you quoted didn't "tune" his pistol. He freaking rebuilt it with outsourced parts to get it to run right.

[one]

Hell...lets make it five HK .45 caliber pistols. I forgot about the SOCOM in the back of the safe and there was a USP tactical that I traded off.

Then there's been a Glock 21 and another 21SF.

A host of Colt 1911's over the years, including a 3" defender. Two Springfields .

The Kansas state troopers ran Sig P220's, then Glock 21's, now Glock 21SF's. My own agencies almost 30 Glock .45's. none of those have required a break in period. That's not even touching on all the privately owned Colt's, Sigs, Glocks, and HK's here.

On the other hand there have been five Kimbers that I am aware of and so far only one of them has ran right.