Originally Posted by BB57

Kimber still makes excellent 1911s.

They get a unjustified bad rap for a few reasons:

1) People buy them, run home and install new springs, shock buffers, etc, to "upgrade" them, and then wonder why they won't run. That's particularly the case with the commander and officer framed models where the slide over run is already limited. With those models in particular swapping springs and adding aftermarket gizmos seriously screws with he engineering.

2) Kimbers have fairly tight tolerances and you won't see the great reliability they are capable of producing, until you've put a couple hundred rounds through them. The average internet expert is already bashing it on his favorite forum before that happens.

3) Many 1911 owners schooled on series 70 and 80 Colts disassemble and re-assemble Kimber 1911s incorrectly. The Schwartz safety system is well designed and very durable, but it can be damaged by shooters who remove and put the slide back on the pistol incorrectly. It's activated by the grip safety, not the trigger, so if you try to remove the slide, or replace the slide with the grip safety depressed, the pin that de-activates the firing pin safety will be elevated into the path of the slide you are trying to remove or install on the frame.

The more intellectually challenged shooters will then try to muscle it on or off with a couple of good firm whacks while tightly gripping the grip (and depressing the grip safety. Eventually, the pin cracks and shears resulting in a failure. Which of course the shooter then blames on the design, on Kimber, or on pretty much anyone or anything other than themselves.

4) A related issue with many 1911s, not just Kimbers is that many 1911 shooters don't understand 1911 magazine feed lips and feed geometry of a 1911 in general. They also don't understand the relationship between feed lip design, bullet point shape and feed geometry.

If you have a Kimber and you don't mess with the springs or the extractor, and you use a Kimber mag, or an after market mag properly matched to the point shape of the bullet, and you'll get great reliability. Fail to understand any of the above and you run the risk of having some feed issues. Just don't blame the pistol.

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I own a Gold Match II and it's both superbly accurate and extremely reliable.

The same applies to my Kimber Ultra Carry II - it's unbelievably accurate for a short 1911 and mine has bene utterly reliable from about 200 rounds onward. The main thing with the Ultra Carry and Pro Carry pistol is to change the recoup springs on schedule - with stock replacements.