Looking at a Kimber 1911 .45 acp

[SharuLady]

Hi, I am looking at a Kimber Pro Carry II 1911 .45 acp to possibly purchase at the local gun shop here. I really like the feel of the weapon and it fits my hand well. I don't know a lot about this brand but I know it is made in the US. Have read reviews of it on the net but would appreciate any info or opinions from others here.

TYIA, Ruth

[rintinglen]

The three Kimbers I've fired have all performed well, very well in one instance. I think you'll be very happy with it.

[9.3X62AL]

Two Kimber 1911A1s fired, at the "extremes" of their product line--a rack-grade mil-spec variant, and a full-dresser target model. Both ran flawlessly on hardball and on cast RN loads that duplicated hardball performance. The target model handled gentler target loads (Lyman #452460) at 750 FPS very reliably, too.

My current 1911A1 variant is a Series 80 Gold Cup, and a Colt Commander variant will be joining it in the safe after a few projects get finished. My personal preference is the Colt make, but other makers put out good products, too. My old agency authorizes Colt, S&W, SIG-Sauer, and Springfield Armory variants in 1911A1-series pistols.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a pro carry. Its the old external extractor gun. When i first got it it had some reliability issues. I send it back to kimber and they adjusted the extractor and i dont think its missed a beat in 10 years since. The big thing sometime after i sent it to them was that everybody was sending them back and kimber was changing them over to internal extractors. Mine ran so good i never sent it in. Its so reliable that its my go to home defense gun. I trust it that much. I used it for years as my main ccw gun too. There isnt much bluing left on it from carrying it but I kind of like it that way. It looks like a good old gun and thats just what it is. Only thing i ever did to it after the trip to kimber was to install a set of night sights on it. Guns a shooter too. I took it to a couple ppc matches just for grins and have a couple trophys to prove it. Ive got 3 other kimbers. All three are great guns. Dont know if i was just lucky but ive had bad guns from colt and springfield. Especially springfield. Ive yet to have a bad kimber.

[69daytona]

I have a custom carry 2 and have ran every style of hallow point both cast and jacketed through it also trundacated boolits and have never had one problem with the gun.
They came with a 3-4lb trigger with adjustable trigger stop thats adjusted from the factory.
The only other 1911 I have that comes close (actually better) is a Colt built in 1913 for commercial sales.

[Alan]

I have 2, and love them both - and Ultra Carry .45 and a Custom Target II in 9mm. The 9 sometimes fails to lock the slide open, but it hasn't hit the magic 500 round mark either. When new they are TIGHT. They are fitted like a much more expensive custom, but instead of spending $500-1000 on hand labor to make them silky smooth, they tell you to shoot the dickens out of them and contact them if there are still problems after 10 or so boxes of ammo. Personally, I would rather do the shooting. 8)

[garym1a2]

My TLE-RL2 is great. Runs 100% on my 200SWC's.

[SharuLady]

The three Kimbers I've fired have all performed well, very well in one instance. I think you'll be very happy with it.

Ty for your reply and your experiences with Kimbers. That is great to hear. I think I will be happy with it as well. :grin:

Ruth

[SharuLady]

Two Kimber 1911A1s fired, at the "extremes" of their product line--a rack-grade mil-spec variant, and a full-dresser target model. Both ran flawlessly on hardball and on cast RN loads that duplicated hardball performance. The target model handled gentler target loads (Lyman #452460) at 750 FPS very reliably, too.

My current 1911A1 variant is a Series 80 Gold Cup, and a Colt Commander variant will be joining it in the safe after a few projects get finished. My personal preference is the Colt make

Ty for your reply and information, it sounds great. I am new to casting boolits so I am not quite sure what you mean by "hardball" and "cast RN loads. I hope you are able to get your Colt Commander soon. [smilie=s:

Ruth

[birdadly]

"cast RN loads" he means "round nose" boolits, like the jacketed ones in the store, but lead.

I have a 3" crimson ultra carry and I have been casting for it since last year. It packs quite a punch coming from that little barrel, but I still think it's fun.

I'm still figuring out the best loads for it, but so far my only issue is after maybe, 50 or so rounds, the slide won't close all the way after the prior eject. I'm assuming it's just too dirty, as after a cleaning and another range visit, it's just fine. Also during the first several hundred jacketed bullets, this never happened.

So get it and enjoy! -Brad

PS... oops, just read your 1st message again and see you're getting the Pro size, so hopefully a little less felt "punch" :)

[SharuLady]

Ive got a pro carry. I dont think its missed a beat in 10 years since. Its so reliable that its my go to home defense gun. I trust it that much. I used it for years as my main ccw gun too. Only thing I ever did to it after the trip to kimber was to install a set of night sights on it. Guns a shooter too. I took it to a couple ppc matches just for grins and have a couple trophys to prove it. Ive got 3 other kimbers. All three are great guns. Dont know if i was just lucky but ive had bad guns from colt and springfield. Especially springfield. Ive yet to have a bad kimber.

TY so much for your reply and all your info. It all is very helpful. It seems you have had very good results with your Kimbers. :-D

Ruth

[SharuLady]

I have a custom carry 2 and have ran every style of hallow point both cast and jacketed through it also trundacated boolits and have never had one problem with the gun.
They came with a 3-4lb trigger with adjustable trigger stop thats adjusted from the factory.

TY very much for this info and your reply. It is great to hear that the Kimbers are able to use all the different ammos and have no problems with them. The one thing I also liked about this .45 was the trigger. It is so smooth and easy to pull. [smilie=l:

Ruth

[375RUGER]

I have an Elite Carry. It is my primary carry gun. I've had it for about 13 years. Have fired at least 5 different types of handloaded ammo in and never had a problem. No problem with factory either. The only .45 i have bought that I didn't immediately do a trigger job on, it wasn't required.
I'd buy another Kimber anyday.

[SharuLady]

I have 2, and love them both - and Ultra Carry .45 and a Custom Target II in 9mm. The 9 sometimes fails to lock the slide open, but it hasn't hit the magic 500 round mark either. When new they are TIGHT. They are fitted like a much more expensive custom, but instead of spending $500-1000 on hand labor to make them silky smooth, they tell you to shoot the dickens out of them and contact them if there are still problems after 10 or so boxes of ammo. Personally, I would rather do the shooting. 8)

As I am new to all this, I am unsure if this is even relevant or not but when I was looking over the manual I saw that they said to break the pistol in with 500 rounds of ammo but also to clean it frequently while doing so.

Another poster (Birdadly) had an issue with the slide not closing completely and after cleaning it it stoped giving him a problem. So could this possibly help with your issue with the slide? Just curious. Ty for your reply. :)

Ruth

[SharuLady]

My TLE-RL2 is great. Runs 100% on my 200SWC's.

This is good news as well. Ty for ihe info and reply. :)

[SharuLady]

"cast RN loads" he means "round nose" boolits, like the jacketed ones in the store, but lead.

I have a 3" crimson ultra carry and I have been casting for it since last year. It packs quite a punch coming from that little barrel, but I still think it's fun.

I'm still figuring out the best loads for it, but so far my only issue is after maybe, 50 or so rounds, the slide won't close all the way after the prior eject. I'm assuming it's just too dirty, as after a cleaning and another range visit, it's just fine. Also during the first several hundred jacketed bullets, this never happened.

So get it and enjoy! -Brad

PS... oops, just read your 1st message again and see you're getting the Pro size, so hopefully a little less felt "punch" :)

Ty so much for the explaination, after you explained it I realized I knew what that was. Duh! Wow, 3", I bet that does pack a punch. 8-) I read in the manual that I needed to shoot 500 rounds to break it in properly but also to clean it frequently. Glad to hear it is working ok now for you.

Actually, I did purchase it this afternoon so now it is home with me. My Husband likes it as well, but I told him this one is mine! [smilie=1: He said ok, I want a 357mag anyway! :lol:

There is a new indoor shooting range that has opened up 20 mins from our house, so I am going to try it out. ;-)

Ruth

[SharuLady]

I have an Elite Carry. It is my primary carry gun. I've had it for about 13 years. Have fired at least 5 different types of handloaded ammo in and never had a problem. No problem with factory either. The only .45 i have bought that I didn't immediately do a trigger job on, it wasn't required.
I'd buy another Kimber anyday.

TY for your reply. It seems the Kimber is easy to please with different types of ammo. the only upgrade I am thinking of is night sights. I am planning on taking a ccl course as I plan to use this as my carry weapon. :)

Ruth

[9.3X62AL]

Ruth--

"Hardball" generally means GI-spec 230 grain RN FMJ bullet at +/- 850 FPS from 5" barrels.

[NickSS]

I have owned a lot of 1911s of every make and style you can think of over the last 45 years and once properly broken in and with good ammo they all run well. One of the most reliable ones I had was built by a Navy Armorer with GI parts on an Essex cast frame. I put over 20,000 reloads mostly with lead bullets through that gun and it never jammed even once. My worst one was a Colt series 70 Mk IV. It took me nearly a year of working on it to get it to be reliable but once working right it went through 25000 rounds without a problem. I own a Kimber Elite II and have not had a single problem with it and it is a good accurate gun. The only thing I personally do not like about my Kimber is the plastic hammer spring housing. After a month or so I bought a steel one and now I do not have a problem with it.

[SharuLady]

Ruth--

"Hardball" generally means GI-spec 230 grain RN FMJ bullet at +/- 850 FPS from 5" barrels.

OH, ok, not ever being in the military I am unfamilar with that terminology. But that is interesting to know. Ty for your explaination. :-)

Ruth

[SharuLady]

I have owned a lot of 1911s of every make and style you can think of over the last 45 years and once properly broken in and with good ammo they all run well. One of the most reliable ones I had was built by a Navy Armorer with GI parts on an Essex cast frame. I put over 20,000 reloads mostly with lead bullets through that gun and it never jammed even once. My worst one was a Colt series 70 Mk IV. It took me nearly a year of working on it to get it to be reliable but once working right it went through 25000 rounds without a problem. I own a Kimber Elite II and have not had a single problem with it and it is a good accurate gun. The only thing I personally do not like about my Kimber is the plastic hammer spring housing. After a month or so I bought a steel one and now I do not have a problem with it.

I had been looking for a pistol for a long time (just the right one for me) many factors determining my needs, wants, feel, quality and cost. Lots of reviews read but the most deciding factor for me was/is the help and comments from all the great people here on the boards. I can't thank all of you enough! :smile:

:?: I wonder if Kimbers are still using the plastic hammer spring housing?

Ruth

[W.R.Buchanan]

Ruth : if it says Kimber on it it will probably be a pretty good gun. They are among the best production made Pistols ever built. Everyone I have had my hands on has been really nice.

I personally want the Kimber Carry Pro with the round grip and a 5" barrel, however it is not on the CA list so it is LEO (law enforcement only) However the 4" barreled version of the exact same gun is on the list, so I can buy a 4" version, but can't buy the 5" version. Go Figure!

There is no shortage of idiots in this world, many live in CA.

You'll love your Kimber. Never heard a bad word about one.

Randy

[SharuLady]

Well it is definately a Kimber. :) The more I handle it the more I love it. :grin:

That does seem to be a nonsense rule when you can have the same gun but only difference being a 4" barrel instead. Sad to say but there are a lot of idiots in this world, some worse than others.

Ruth

[W.R.Buchanan]

Ruth: Yes another example of this specific stupidity is the fact that you can have a Black Glock, but the same gun with a green frame is not on the approved list.

In CA to be on the list, you must submit 3-5 copies of each and every variation of every semi auto pistol you want to sell here. This has prevented me from buying an STI 1911 for many years. Mainly because STI refused to send a bunch of $2500 guns to be destroyed by the idiots in Sacramento.

Remember CA has the largest market for guns in the US, and in fact it is bigger than most all of the US combined. Outfits like Glock and the other big company Glock clones can afford to play the game because their guns are not that expensive at the MFG's level, and they can bet on big sales numbers to offset the loss of a few guns for the idiots to abuse. STI si not going to sell that many guns here as they a re a more specialized product so they won't get the volumn. If we could jsut get all of the compoanies to stop selling to LE it would get fixed in a minute. FAT Chance.

Also since foolish politicians like Arnold signed in legislation in before they quit we will no longer be able to buy any new 1911 style pistol after this year anyway. 1911's don't have a mag disconnect and that is a new requirement. Luckily the Micro Stamping technology doesn't work so they have put that requirement off for now. I personally think the company that is promoting that technology needs to be burned to the ground, but that's just mee!

This state has many faults. Democrats are the biggest one by far as they tend to be very foolish and adopt knee jerk solutions to problems and want to do what they think is best for you. Big problem when they don't have a clue what is best for anybody!

Also since the Republican Party has already written this state off, I don't expect to see Mitt campaigning here at all. Pretty said testament to our system when the 7th largest economy on the planet is written off before the game even starts! Time for teh electoral college to go the way of the Dodo!

My vote (and I vote for 4 people) doesn't even count in the slightest here, and the fact that nobody will even campaign here means they don't really give a ship. If people in other states started pushing their legislators to direct the national commitee to push funds to CA candidates things would change. It would take about 20 years to swing the tide back to neutral.

But NO!!!!! We've been written off just like several other states. I saw it on O'Reilly last week so it must be true!

I'll say something here, and this is something the rest of you guys around the country need to get your heads around!

This state sets the standard for virtually all restrictive legislation in the US. And is the breeding ground for most of the idiotic behavior in the world!

If it happens here, It will be coming to you soon! WE live and die as a country, not as a single state.

Believe me,,, State lines don't stop much of anything, because "insanity knows no boundaries!"

Randy