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Are Kimbers good to go, or trash?

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  • Are Kimbers good to go or solid pass?

    • Kimbers are legit. I would buy from them no problem.

      Votes: 31 54.4%
    • No, Kimbers are not good guns.

      Votes: 20 35.1%
    • Glock Boyz unite!

      Votes: 6 10.5%

    • Total voters
      57
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    Sam7sf

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    Zach knows his shit.......

    When he speaks about his experience, I listen.......

    When you've been here a few years.......you know....who knows.........and who doesn't.....

    Not kissing his feet and have never met the man........ just an honest opinion..............
    Indeed. He's my go to when I don't know, can't remember, or am too lazy to look it up. lol.
     

    Havok1

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    Relevant knowledge matters. Facts matter. These two things are mostly based in hands on experience and observations. Observational data is still fact. Why did x-gunsmith get more kimbers in than any other handgun make? Even if we don't know the exact reason, these guns are often showing up at shops I have been in or had affiliation with than others. Nutnfncy did a run and gun of one. Problems out of the box. His reputation is one that he's not going to fake results.

    Until the gun industry operates like the auto industry and we can see failure rates/consumer reports, these methods you like to attack are often the only thing people have to make a handgun selection. Plenty of people who you attacked on this thread have lots of experience with 1911's.
    a logical reason for why someone could see more Kimbers was discussed multiple times in this thread. Because Kimbers are more popular.

    It would be nice if more information was readily available, but it isn’t.


    Not sure who you are referring to that I “attacked” but it’s not hard to see that the people who have the most negative things to say don’t tend to be the owners of the products. if the vast majority of the people who have owned a product have good things to say, then it’s worth questioning where the negative experiences are originating from. If people feel “attacked” then I can’t help that.
     

    magholder

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    Sep 23, 2021
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    I'm kind of new to the 1911 market, just got my first one last week for carry. I'm usually a fantastic plastic carrier (Glock, Sig, HK). I go to the range with a friend who is a big 1911 fan boy and he's excited because "I'm finally converted". So we go, put some rounds down range, then he says, "Try this one. It's legit." I think it was a Kimber Lightweight Custom chambered in .45 ACP. It's a nice looking gun. It has this two-tone color to it where the frame has this "gun metal" color and the slide is black. Really tacti-cool looking.

    So I load a mag, and I start shooting it. It's okay, I think the sights are off a little bit (slightly right). It's definitely not shooting where I think I'm pointing. The grip isn't the most comfortable. The grip safety doesn't have any rounded off bevels, it's pretty harsh actually, almost like a block. Also the grips seemed like they were loose (I could make an audible noise by shaking the gun). I told my friend that it was cool, but he might need to tighten his grips to the frame, and his front sight may need to be re-aligned. But in my head, I thought the gun was kind of trash as a shooter.

    Where does Kimber rank in the 1911 world? Just judging by their prices, they seem to be right around the price range of Springfield Armory, or even slightly more expensive depending on model. Would you rank Kimber above Springfield, or vice-versa?

    edit, this was my friend's gun:
    View attachment 346281
    I've got a Kimber 1911, it's a fun gun to have, but I've never carried it. I carried 1911's back in my early days, but don't anymore as I still to the polymer guns.
     

    Havok1

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    With owning and shooting 111's for over 35 years, and having wellover 50 to 60 1911's pass through my hands during those years, I would consider my knowledge to be somewhat relevant regarding the 1911 platform.

    I have never owned a Kimber and never will, simply from shooting som in past and seeing their problems firsthand. IMO if you own a Kimber and it works then count yourself lucky.

    If asked my opinion I would never buy a Kimber or recommend them. There are just way too many other options and cheaper.
    Nothing wrong with preferring something else. I understand if people like other things, and I never said kimber is the best. I just said they are good guns, and they are. It doesn’t really make sense when you say to consider myself lucky if mine works, when most people never have issues, so I’m in the majority of people who are happy customers.
     

    Sam7sf

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    if the vast majority of the people who have owned a product have good things to say, then it’s worth questioning where the negative experiences are originating from.
    This is where the end of the argument would be, if people published failed rates because it wouldn't matter how popular something is. How popular something is in a way is irrelevant. KelTec being a great example. They are very popular lol but they make guns as if they are high on coke. Keltec has been the target of a strange supply and demand issue in the past. People still flock to them despite almost everyone in the industry knowing they produce junk.

    For me, and after having hands on experience with a lot of 1911 brands, the one thing I have always given Kimber an F on is value. They have gotten better with asking prices, but for the asking price, they seem to generate a lot of controversy. They appear to generate more than others. Because none of us have access to failure rates, again, if more people in this thread say they had problems, that's relevant. Superficial, but sometimes superficial feedback matters.

    Here's an example:
    Sig p320. Compact. Tan frame, N/S. Excited about it. Take it up into the woods with some American eagle ball. Stove pipes every third round. I was shooting third gen Glocks for ages, without any of them having feeding issues. Even some getting fed sub gun ammo. Despite the logic of thinking about failure rates and getting a lemon, I said: f this POS.

    Drove back into town. Traded it for an XD. XD shot everything.

    For the same asking price (At the time) Kimber was a joke compared to an IWI 1911. A flat out joke.
     

    candcallen

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    2   0   0
    Jul 23, 2011
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    Little Elm
    Possibly irrelevant feedback because it was early 2000's, but that was the last time I used a Wilson combat mag and it was trouble.
    My Wilson mags from then were junk too. 10 47ds. They are supposed to be legendary and may be now.

    I found mecgar mags always work in everything.
     

    zackmars

    Free 1911 refinishing
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    Nov 4, 2015
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    My Wilson mags from then were junk too. 10 47ds. They are supposed to be legendary and may be now.

    I found mecgar mags always work in everything.
    The issue with the 47D is that it is an 8 round mag in the body of a 7 round mag.

    They seemed to work ok with 185gr ammo, but not 230's. Converting them to 7rd mags always worked.
     

    popsgarland

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    I don't own any 1911's as of now. But, I did have a Star 1911 in 9 MM NATO and never had any issues with it. Wish I still had it.


    I did take a poll of Kimbers 1911's. I polled 1,000 people and 500 liked Kimbers, 300 didn't like them and 200 said...what is a Kimbers. So by my poll the majority of the gun owners like Kimbers.

    Isn't it great how 1,000 people can speak for over, 3,000,000,000,000 people and without us knowing anything about the poll.
     
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