Anyone here use a Kimber as a duty gun?

[kaltblitz]

Does anyone here use a Kimber as a duty gun? What setup do you have? Can you please post pics.

[MattC]

A really good article about what to look for in a duty 1911

Choosing a 1911 for Duty Use

Fyi: Kimber is not on the list.

[Sproggy]

I would take that article as Gospel. Very few people know what it means to run a 1911 on duty like Hilton Yam does.

[Sam]

A good friend of mine used to carry a Kimber Warrior on patrol and SWAT duty in his department. It was a plain stock factory Warrior. They recently switched to S&W M&P .45s.

[Dave L.]

I have a warrior that runs 95% of the time(99% with good ammo), but I'm still going to gut it out next month- the only thing left "kimber" on it will be the frame and slide.
Kim-pro finish is shit too.

[Sidewinder6]

I was looking at some of those Kimbers because under the glass, they look nice but having heard so many comments I decided not to let my black gun disease return for this impulse. After looking at my current very old and well worn Govt MkIV, I decided on a HK45 as my next carry gun. Im waiting on holsters and additional mags. My 'duty' days are over but hey, I live in South Florida.

[Stretz Tactical Inc]

I just sold my warrior on gunsamerica. Good ridens to that gun! I had to take it to the factory 6 times in one year. If I didn't end up realizing I knew someone by the fifth visit, it would have been more then six times. He worked on the gun personnally and squared it away. I had constant fail to feeds, plunger tube came loose, thumb safety got bent because of that. The finish started to wear off with no holster use and only 250 rounds through it. When they refinished the slide, it didn't match the frame. Then they refinished the frame and it didnt match the slide. My friend finally sent both out together and now they match.

A well known retired operator and trainer, with probably more knowledge about 1911's then most will ever have, said warrior's "have fleas".

A lot of trainers will tell you that they see problems with kimbers all the time in their classes.

[Erick Gelhaus]

I run a Kimber on duty and have for over eightteen months. Kimber used to be on Hilton's list. Hilton worked on mine back in mid '06.

Departmentally, we've got over forty 1911 pistols on the road, half of them are Kimbers. I have not seen, nor have I heard of, these Kimbers having issues.

Set-up wise ... I'm carrying the Kimber with an X200B on it.

[Dave L.]

I'm not saying they don't know how to make a 1911 run. I'm sure all the guns that go to specific units are all hand fit and fine tuned before they show up in the hands of end users.
I am saying all the other guns kimber puts out have extremely shitty quality control. Obviously kimber is only worried about 1st time customers when they should be worried about lifetime customers.
They lost a lot of people's business in the last 4 years and it continues.

[Sproggy]

I agree. Its really a shame that their QC and customer service is so shitty because I think they produce the best looking production 1911's to be had. But regardless of how they look, nobody wants to spend a few thousand dollars on a pretty POS. Springfield on the other hand is apparently doing excellent work right now. Maybe the geniuses at Kimber will catch on when more people start passing on their guns in favor of Colt and Springfield.

Thats not to say that they are all bad, but the number of lemons they seem to be turning out is unnacceptable. You shouldnt have to buy a Kimber and have to pay a competent gunsmith work it over for reliability. I would love to have a Warrior, but I work too hard for my money to throw it away.