It took Kimber CS over a year to finally get my TLEII to function correctly. On the phone they couldn't decide whether I was limp wristing it, over lubing it, under lubing, using bad ammunition or whether I had to get through the famous "break-in period."
And this was despite telling them that this wasn't my first 1911, and that the number of malfunctions I was getting (at least one per magazine) was likely a result of something being wrong with the extractor (it was external) as opposed to anything I was doing. But they simply wouldn't let me send the pistol back. It was always, "don't believe what you read on the internet...."
So finally I gave up and brought the pistol to Yonkers myself. I'm sure that ringing the buzzer at the gate probably surprised them. So again, I provided a written and detailed list of all the problems I was having and I mentioned that I really thought that it was an extractor issue. At this time, people were reporting that Kimber had begun replacing entire slides to get rid of the external extractor that they continued to defend so I asked about this. I was told "oh no, there's not a problem with the extractor. We'll decide what's wrong with your pistol and how to fix it."
My reply was that they could keep it until it was fixed because a malfunctioning pistol such as the one that I had just handed them was as useful as a paperweight to me. They sort of blinked.
2 months later the pistol showed up on my doorstep (no, they didn't call to say that it was coming back, UPS left a pistol on my doorstep- they didn't know). The slide was filled with metal shavings but it was a new slide. I guess maybe the "internet gunsmiths" were right.
My crumbled detailed list was also included, but nothing else, not even a list of services they performed on my pistol. Apparently that's a state secret.
So I get to the range, fire 3 rounds and the rear sight fell off. Apparently they replaced the slide but decided to use my original sights. Finding the little swartz spring on the floor at the range was sheer luck. I didn't bother to call Kimber about it. I didn't replace the sights with meprolights though and Kimber will never see another dime of mine.
So anyway, as to the SIS, Buck's post confirms what I've thought. I thought that a lot of thought and effort went into the design of that pistol. And then Kimber took that design, passed it on to the Kimber marketiing department that decided to give it the slick finish and inexplicably make those SIS serrations that (to me) totally eliminate this as being a contender for a good basis for a serious pistol. I would also bet that LAPD thought that the SIS was going to be a full-sized duty pistol. I will bet that it was Kimber marketing that decided to make it a "family" and offer it in an array of sizes.
The real problems with Kimber is that they're pushing quantity over quality. And they're trying to build a tight pistol without spending the time or money that it takes to build a properly functioning and reliable tight pistol.
Bookmarks