WANTED: DEFINITIVE answers as to whats wrong with Kimber 1911's.

Ive owned 3 Kimbers in my lifetime, and had issues with each one. When my PD allowed us to carry 1911's, I picked up a TLE which supposedly LAPD SWAT had also adopted. During my first outing with it, I had the pistol in slide lock and inserted a magazine...Then something fell out of the gun onto the ground. The plate that holds the firing pin in just fell out, with the pin stuck forward. Took it apart and found lots of metal shavings in the firing pin channel. Not a great start. Our duty load at the time was Winchester 230 Ranger, and every other mag I would usually get one that got stuck half way up the ramp. Dumped it and went back to Glock. I did carry a 1911 for my last 10 years though, a NightHawk Custom which ran no matter what.

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Originally Posted by HKGuns

I've never held a Kimber I thought was worth the asking price. My money continues to go to Colt / SA for 1911's. They're kind of like the SIG of 1911's with all the silly models. Speaking of SIG, some cat on HKPro was trying to sell a Sig "P226 Elite Emperor Scorpion FDE." -Seriously?

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The reason you see the similarity is because Sig’s current CEO was the CEO of Kimber when they started doing this.

I've had better luck with Kimbers than with Springfields.

My first Kimber was an Eclipse. It took 200-300 rounds to break in, but after that, no issues for the last >14000 rounds. The trigger is absolutely one of the best I have ever seen in a 1911. My son took it as his high school graduation present.

My next Kimber is TLE Pro. It came from the factory with the sights milled in at an angle, so the gun store sent it back. It returned a few months later, and after the first 50 rounds, it has been perfect. In fact it is so good, it is the one I shoot the most accurately. And it has a great trigger as well.

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Originally Posted by Straight Shooter

Ive read a lot of hate here and elsewhere about Kimber 1911's. I dont recall ever seeing exactly what the problems with them are/were.

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Coworker bought one back in early 2000's after seeing my Springfield and taking a liking to it. Was with him at gun store when he bought it and also there at his first trip to the range with it.

Guy paid a little more than twice for his Kimber as what I gave for my Springfield. He knew he wanted a 1911 but did not even look at any of the 'cheaper' 1911's when he was at the gun store. Went right past those cases / displays to the high dollar case on the end and picked out his Kimber. Most likely figured that more $$$ meant more good. (not suggesting that is not true in most cases)

At the range it was a jam-o-matic the entire time. Never made it through a single mag without at least one failure or another. He got frustrated after a bit and shot up a good bit of his ammo using my Springfield instead of the gun he just bought.

In all honesty, There was nothing 'wrong' with that Kimber. It was just really new and had some very tight tolerances. My Springfield was not in any way a 'rattle trap' but the difference in tightness / fit between the two guns was noticeable. Only thing his Kimber 'needed' in my opinion was a few hundred rounds sent downrange to loosen things up and it would have been fine from then on.

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Originally Posted by Hammer27

What is the round count on those pistols?

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TLE RL II needs a new bbl! It had been the competition gun of a Florida LEO (armorer, actually) when I bought it off him. Put a stiffer spring in it when I got it, and had it cerakoted. I've put a few thousand more rounds through it, and am looking at a new bbl now, to complete the tune-up. No hiccups since I got it, in '09.

Got the UC in '10 in almost new condition in a trade. I don't shoot it NEARLY as much as my full-size 1911's - it's snappy of course, but not unmanageable. Certainly less than 5k rounds so far, but again - nary a hiccup - even with hotter defensive loads.

I forgot about one Kimber pistol I owned until I bumped into the guy I sold it to. It was a well worn Kimber Ultra Carry II chambered in .45 ACP. Other than cleaning and lubrication it has had zero maintenance and it's been trouble free. The round count was around 7,000 when I sold it.

Kimbers suffer from being mass produced from low quality drop-in parts.

Sometimes you get a good one, sometimes you don’t.

They were never not full of low quality mim and they were never made anywhere but in NY.

Kimbers are aesthetically very pleasing pistols, the two I owned some time ago were functional nightmares.

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Originally Posted by Tanner

Kimbers are aesthetically very pleasing pistols, the two I owned some time ago were functional nightmares.

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What kind of issues did you experience? What did you do to resolve them?

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Originally Posted by T2C

What kind of issues did you experience? What did you do to resolve them?

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Mostly FTF, and issues with HP's. Dremeled feed ramp, but still, "not quite right". Fine as a range toy, but for EDC not so much, hence they were sold.