Quote:
Originally Posted by Grayfox
Kimber has almost as many "fan boys" as Glock. To them there's nothing better and they're the "coolest" 1911 made. Mostly they show them off because they paid too much for them and its "looky what I got!"
I am NOT a fan. I consider Kimbers to way over rated and seriously over priced. If it runs good, fine you got lucky. Enjoy it. But it still ain't worth the money.
Back when I was shooting IDPA regularly, I saw more Kimbers choke on the firing line than any other brand of 1911. They don't hold up under serious use.
I have shot them before. Decent gun. But not as good as claimed and certainly not worth the price. I don't want one and have no plans to get one.
Now I'll just settle back while the rabid fan boys plan their attack.  |
Two thoughts on this.
1) I’m not a Glock fan at all, in part due to the operating system limitations and in part to my early negative experiences with Glock triggers that felt worse than the average Craftsman staple gun. But that’s just me.
I acknowledge that they work and are consistently reliable handguns. That’s actually why there are so many Glock “fan boys”.
Kimber “fan boys” exist for the same reason - because they work and are consistently reliable.
Which takes us to point 2.
2) You observed:
“Back when I was shooting IDPA regularly, I saw more Kimbers choke on the firing line than any other brand of 1911. They don't hold up under serious use.”
There are a few sampling issues we need to discuss to qualify that observation:
- Kimber has been making 1911s since 1979, and for years they have been the largest single producer of 1911s. In short, when you are talking about 1911s made in the 40 years, Kimber 1911s will be the most numerous 1911s in the sample.
That means that all other things being equal more Kimber’s present means more Kimbers “choking”.
- Kimbers are mid tier 1911s that exist in between lower end 1911s and higher end custom guns. Kimber blurs that a bit with lots of options and models. That also makes them fairly popular with new tactical shooters who don’t want to show up with something like an RIA, but don’t want to spring for a custom gun.
- A growing number of shooters have been treating pistols like AR-15s and 10/22s, where the basic firearm is just a blank canvas for a wide range of aftermarket “upgrades”.
A full size 1911 is reasonably tolerant of that kind bubba aftermarket re-engineering, but the Commander sized 4”-4.25” 1911s have less slide over run than a full size Govt Model and the 3”-3.5” Officer frame pistols have essentially no spare slide over run to start with.
Kimber offers a lot of smaller 1911 options and shooters who “upgrade” them before they ever shoot them cause a lot of reliability issues.
- finally, as noted in my prior post, Kimber 1911s are fairly tight and require a fairly extensive break in period - up to 500 rounds on some of the steel frame target models. Steel frame 1911 Kimbers are pretty common at tactical shoots, and if the new shooter hasn’t put in the break in time, it’s more likely to choke.