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Hello to all, I have a chance to purchase a Kimber 1911 and would like some information. Is there a particular model or year that Kimber 1911 was not a good buy? Sorry for my ignorance, not familiar with Kimber handguns.

I've owned four Kimbers; 3 subcompact or Ultra models and one full sized. All were reliable and accurate from day one. I did have some issues with the factory mag that came with my 9mm Ultra sized Aegis (9mm 1911) but resolved it with Kimber Tac-Pro mags and Wilson Combat mags. All of the .45ACPs run with the factory mags (and any after market mags that I have tried). I have read that folks should avoid any Kimber 1911 with the external extractors but these have not been made in quite some time.

Good luck and God Bless!

IMHO, I find that most Kimbers are great buys and worth every penny you spend on them. Generally Kimbers are divided into Series I and Series II. The Series II weapons introduce an additional firing pin (also known as a Swartz) safety. Kimber was also producing early series II weapons with external extractors, but those were extremely problematic and Kimber eventually went back to internal safeties. In fact, one of my old Kimbers did have an external extractor that gave me tons of problems, so I sent it to Kimber America, who replaced the entire slide with one that has an internal safety. The gun was flawless after that. So as long as the Kimber you're planning on buying has an internal extractor, my opinion is buy away and be glad you did. Good luck!

I own two Kimber Series two models (Custom TLE II and a Pro Covert II). Both have been 100% reliable and they have eaten everything I put into the magazines.

Some people (Glock lovers mostly) will tell you "A Kimber can not go 2xyz rounds without a cleaning..." and you know what, their right. but what real life situation will you ever see where you need to get a truly high round count before you can clean the gun? Police officers, Concealed/Open carriers, hobbiest/enthusiasts, and nearly everyone else I can think of will never encounter a situation where they have to have an extremely high round count without cleaning. Soldiers in our military might but that is assuming they have that much ammo, no long gun of any type (or ammo for it), and no ability to retreat and/or support to back them up. So even for our men and women in uniform an extremely high round count for their handgun is unlikely.

I have two Kimber Ultras, one with the dreaded external extractor. I have had no issues with either, in fact, the external extractor is my normal carry piece.

Another Kimber owner here, I have the Tactical Pro II in 9mm, and love it. I bought it used, and was missing a few items. I also had a stripped screw on the grip. I called Kimbers's customer service, and they sent me everything I needed, and more FREE! They have a life long customer now.

G.A. Heath wrote:Some people (Glock lovers mostly) will tell you "A Kimber can not go 2xyz rounds without a cleaning..." and you know what, their right. but what real life situation will you ever see where you need to get a truly high round count before you can clean the gun? Police officers, Concealed/Open carriers, hobbiest/enthusiasts, and nearly everyone else I can think of will never encounter a situation where they have to have an extremely high round count without cleaning. Soldiers in our military might but that is assuming they have that much ammo, no long gun of any type (or ammo for it), and no ability to retreat and/or support to back them up. So even for our men and women in uniform an extremely high round count for their handgun is unlikely.

Even military who carry pistols into combat don't carry a load out of thousands of rounds. Furthermore, although I generally clean my pistols after every range trip, and even between range trips if the range trips are far enough apart, I have in the past neglected to do so on a couple of occasions, and the gun functioned flawlessly on the next trip. I really wouldn't worry about that. If a Kimber is going to have malfunctions, it will betray those malfunctions at the range, within a short period of time.

We have two of them, a Stainless Ultra Carry and a Pro Raptor, both series II pistols, and they have functioned flawlessly.

DO confirm it for yourself at the range, but then don't worry about it. Carry it, enjoy it, be happy.

I recently became a Kimber owner (Kimber Eclipse Pro II) and it's my favorite go-to carry pistol now. I've put about 350 rounds through it so far and I've yet to have a single hiccup.

I like the single-stack magazine, because it's a slimmer profile and more comfortable to carry on an extended basis. I also picked up some Wilson Combat 8-rd magazines, and I carry two spares when I'm packing the Kimber for a total of 25 rounds available.

I'm even debating selling my Springfield XDm 40 simply because I never shoot it any more.

G.A. Heath wrote:I own two Kimber Series two models (Custom TLE II and a Pro Covert II). Both have been 100% reliable and they have eaten everything I put into the magazines.

Some people (Glock lovers mostly) will tell you "A Kimber can not go 2xyz rounds without a cleaning..." and you know what, their right. but what real life situation will you ever see where you need to get a truly high round count before you can clean the gun? Police officers, Concealed/Open carriers, hobbiest/enthusiasts, and nearly everyone else I can think of will never encounter a situation where they have to have an extremely high round count without cleaning. Soldiers in our military might but that is assuming they have that much ammo, no long gun of any type (or ammo for it), and no ability to retreat and/or support to back them up. So even for our men and women in uniform an extremely high round count for their handgun is unlikely.

What is considered an extreme round count? When I got my first Taurus PT-1911, I decided to try something different with it.

I will always take a new, or new to me gun and strip it and clean it before I shoot it. With the Taurus, I took it out of the box at the range and fired a couple hundred rounds through it. Let it sit in the closet uncleaned, (REALLY hard to do), then took it the next trip to the range and fired another couple hundred. All before the first cleaning. It performed flawlessly.

I will routinely fire 100-200 rounds through my Kimber when they come to the range to play.

WEC wrote:IMHO, I find that most Kimbers are great buys and worth every penny you spend on them. Generally Kimbers are divided into Series I and Series II. The Series II weapons introduce an additional firing pin (also known as a Swartz) safety. Kimber was also producing early series II weapons with external extractors, but those were extremely problematic and Kimber eventually went back to internal safeties. In fact, one of my old Kimbers did have an external extractor that gave me tons of problems, so I sent it to Kimber America, who replaced the entire slide with one that has an internal safety. The gun was flawless after that. So as long as the Kimber you're planning on buying has an internal extractor, my opinion is buy away and be glad you did. Good luck!

I have a Kimber Tactical Custom II with an external extractor and have had NO issues with it. I purchased it used and I have put at least another 500 rounds through it since I've had it.

PBratton wrote:

G.A. Heath wrote:I own two Kimber Series two models (Custom TLE II and a Pro Covert II). Both have been 100% reliable and they have eaten everything I put into the magazines.

Some people (Glock lovers mostly) will tell you "A Kimber can not go 2xyz rounds without a cleaning..." and you know what, their right. but what real life situation will you ever see where you need to get a truly high round count before you can clean the gun? Police officers, Concealed/Open carriers, hobbiest/enthusiasts, and nearly everyone else I can think of will never encounter a situation where they have to have an extremely high round count without cleaning. Soldiers in our military might but that is assuming they have that much ammo, no long gun of any type (or ammo for it), and no ability to retreat and/or support to back them up. So even for our men and women in uniform an extremely high round count for their handgun is unlikely.

What is considered an extreme round count? When I got my first Taurus PT-1911, I decided to try something different with it.

I will always take a new, or new to me gun and strip it and clean it before I shoot it. With the Taurus, I took it out of the box at the range and fired a couple hundred rounds through it. Let it sit in the closet uncleaned, (REALLY hard to do), then took it the next trip to the range and fired another couple hundred. All before the first cleaning. It performed flawlessly.

I will routinely fire 100-200 rounds through my Kimber when they come to the range to play.

The numbers I often hear are 1000, 1500, 2000 or more. In my opinion no firearm should ever be allowed to reach that high of a round count before being cleaned especially if the firearm is a daily carry weapon. But you know what, my four 1911s (ranging from a 3.5" barrel to 5" barrels) have all been fired over 700 rounds before being cleaned. For the record I own two Kimbers, one of them is my daily carry.

TxDrifter wrote:

WEC wrote:IMHO, I find that most Kimbers are great buys and worth every penny you spend on them. Generally Kimbers are divided into Series I and Series II. The Series II weapons introduce an additional firing pin (also known as a Swartz) safety. Kimber was also producing early series II weapons with external extractors, but those were extremely problematic and Kimber eventually went back to internal safeties. In fact, one of my old Kimbers did have an external extractor that gave me tons of problems, so I sent it to Kimber America, who replaced the entire slide with one that has an internal safety. The gun was flawless after that. So as long as the Kimber you're planning on buying has an internal extractor, my opinion is buy away and be glad you did. Good luck!

I have a Kimber Tactical Custom II with an external extractor and have had NO issues with it. I purchased it used and I have put at least another 500 rounds through it since I've had it.

I'm also the one who traded the Eclipse Pro II to you! That's the one I was describing that needed to be sent back to Kimber for the internal extractor exchange. No problems since then, right?

Five or six years ago I picked up a Kimber "pre-Series II" (technically there was never a "Series I") 4" compact stainless made in '97 or '98 and it's as solid as a rock. That is one of a very few that can claim to be part of THE collection.... the collection that my grandson is waiting like a starving vulture to inherit. My son, like quite a few others about the same time, bought a basic "Custom II" a couple of years ago and had some minor problems....after a bit of research and inspection, he realized that Kimber had a few "out of spec" slide lock levers and took a fine file to it (the lever - not the gun) and made it 100% reliable. Kimber would have sent him the part for free, but he was on a "mission". The next weekend he detail stripped it and made a nice neat pile of parts, then worked his way through re-assembly. Before the weekend was over, he and his son (my grandson - the starving vulture) were detail stripping and re-assembling it in about 30 minutes just for fun.

What's that got to do with the original question? Idunno....I'm getting old...I ramble


surv

Hi, my name is CaptWoodrow10, and I am a Kimber owner.

Seriously, Kimbers can be an addiction. I have a Kimber Ultra Carry II, and plan on adding a full size to my inventory soon.
With my Ultra Carry, I had a few hiccups during the break-in period (First 300 rounds or so), but since then no problems. It eats whatever I put through it. I will say that I have never put more than 200-300 rounds through it without cleaning it after. I think it's more of a relaxation thing than an actual necessity, but I tell myself it needs to be done.

Let me set the record straight. I trust my life to a Kimber that is less than a year old. I have other guns which have also never had a malfunction, and to be honest the Kimber Pro Covert II is my goto gun for carry because it is reliable, light weight, and has proven itself. As for should you buy the Kimber, if its what you want then go for it. If it has Issues then I am pretty sure that Kimber will make it right based on what I have read and heard, however both of mine have run flawlessly so I have no experience regarding their customer service.