2nd time shooting my Kimber - Bummed

[AustinBoy]

Let me say this, other than the failure to feed issue, I LOVE this gun!

It fits my hand perfectly.
I like the recoil. (had a XD40 Sub compact, recoil was insane)
I shoot better with this pistol than any pistol I have ever owned.
TIGHT groups at 25 yards!

They say to find a gun you are comfortable with and enjoy shooting, this is it for me.

But, the FTF will be a deal breaker.
An unreliable gun is like an unreliable airplane. You don't want either one.

I really hope it "breaks in" or Kimber repairs it.

AB

[WildBill]

An unreliable gun is like an unreliable airplane. You don't want either one. AB

Either way you could crash and burn.

[Oldgringo]

winchester white box isnt expensive ammo and at 1 dollar a bullet someone made a nice profit off you.

The last WWB I bought ran about $35/50 plus 8.25% tax. That makes WWB cost about 75¢ per round. Granted, there is more expensive ammo.

It must just be me, but for what a NYC made Kimber costs, I don't expect malfunctions. Yes, I do have a Kimber. It's a Custom Target II 1911.

[WildBill]

It must just be me, but for what a NYC made Kimber costs, I don't expect malfunctions. Yes, I do have a Kimber. It's a Custom Target II 1911.

Yeah, it must be just you. It's not a malfunction, it's a break-in period.

[Oldgringo]

It must just be me, but for what a NYC made Kimber costs, I don't expect malfunctions. Yes, I do have a Kimber. It's a Custom Target II 1911.

Yeah, it must be just you. It's not a malfunction, it's a break-in period.

If a $1,000+ handgun requires a "break-in period" before it's safe to use, it should come with the ammo to break it in. Yes Bill, it is me.

[G26ster]

The last WWB I bought ran about $35/50 plus 8.25% tax. That makes WWB cost about 75¢ per round.

Are you sure it wasn't the 100 rd box? I paid $35 for my last 100 rd box at Wally World.

[Oldgringo]

The last WWB I bought ran about $35/50 plus 8.25% tax. That makes WWB cost about 75¢ per round.

Are you sure it wasn't the 100 rd box? I paid $35 for my last 100 rd box at Wally World.

I have mispoke.

It was a 100 round box for $35 (+/-). I haven't bought any centerfire handgun ammo since loading up with ammo and primers after the current POTUS was elected. The past couple of years I have become fascinated with my CZ 452's in .22LR.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

I called Kimber.

This is what they said:
1. they won't do anything until I have put 450-500 rounds through it. (makes sense)
2. Was told to only use expensive 230gr FMJ. NOTHING else during break-in.(this is going to expensive quick!)
3. fully load all magazines and let them set at least 48 hours before initial use. (hmmm. strange)

That's why I will never purchase another Kimber.

That is not acceptable to me, and I will not support a company that adopts that policy.

That's an additional 100-150 bucks they slap on the owner because they don't want to make sure their parts are fitted correctly BEFORE THEY SELL THEIR PRODUCTS. It will cost you less to have a smith look it over, re-tension the extractor, and smooth out the spots that SHOULD have been filed down at the factory.

I've owned 2 springers, a Baer, an STI, and a Kimber, and the Kimber is the ONLY 1911 that has EVER given me problems out of the box.

Go figure....

Good luck regardless.

[LTUME1978]

I am getting the same response from Kimber. My Super Carry Pro went back to the factory almost two weeks ago. It had a long list of issues even after 600 rounds of break in (they wanted me to go to 800 rounds but I had enough of wasting my money at 600 rounds). There was so much wrong with the pistol that I asked for my money back. They initially told me that they would refund my purchase price and asked for the receipt. Then, they told me that the lady that runs the factory would have to look at the pistol first to make a determination and she would not be back until the 18th. They are also now acting like they don't want to refund my money. I told them that I used Winchester white box, federal ball and blazer brass ball for the break in. They told that none of that ammo was any good. They would not explain why and expected me to use $1 per round self defense ammo to break in the pistol (they are out of their minds).

I can tell anyone that is considering a Kimber to look at something else. You may get a good one but I am finding more and more folks who have bad ones (that have been back to the factory and are still bad) and they don't know what to do with them other than make them safe queens. By the time one pays a good 1911 smith to get the thing reliable, you could be very near the price of a real custom pistol. If you muyst buy a Kimber, don't get anything other than the 5 inch barrel. They seem to have more problems with the shorter barreled pistols.

[Excaliber]

Another Update.

I called Kimber.

This is what they said:
1. they won't do anything until I have put 450-500 rounds through it. (makes sense)
2. Was told to only use expensive 230gr FMJ. NOTHING else during break-in.(this is going to expensive quick!)
3. fully load all magazines and let them set at least 48 hours before initial use. (hmmm. strange)

The expensive Federal I was using was 185gr. Will switch to the 230gr.

Going to put a few hundred more rounds through it.

I have to say, my confidence is not high.

Still bummed.

AB

You could accomplish close to the same action breakin by hand cycling the slide and pulling the trigger on an empty gun 400 - 500 times instead of firing rounds.

Try firing 100 rounds at the end of that process to check results.

[WildBill]

You could accomplish close to the same action breakin by hand cycling the slide and pulling the trigger on an empty gun 400 - 500 times instead of firing rounds.

I was wondering why Kimber doesn't have a "break-in machine" that could do this prior to shipping their guns to customers.

[Slowplay]

You could accomplish close to the same action breakin by hand cycling the slide and pulling the trigger on an empty gun 400 - 500 times instead of firing rounds.

I was wondering why Kimber didn't have a "break-in machine" that could do this prior to shipping the guns to the customer.

I was the "break-in machine" for my Kahr CM9, doing a few hundred cycles of the slide. Now I can open any bottle, crack pecans, walnuts invidually w/ just my bare hands.

I've had decent luck w/ Kimbers (three of them - two 4" and one 5"), but I wouldn't buy another, if this is becoming more of the norm.

[Oldgringo]

You could accomplish close to the same action breakin by hand cycling the slide and pulling the trigger on an empty gun 400 - 500 times instead of firing rounds.

I was wondering why Kimber doesn't have a "break-in machine" that could do this prior to shipping their guns to customers.

Absolutely!

Can y'all imagine my angst if I were forced to pull my $1,000+ Kimber "Super Deluxe Blammo" and got drilled by some crackhead thug with an illegal .22 LR 'Saturday Night Special', all because my Kimber hadn't been fired the 500 magical times? Boy Howdy, would I be mad!

[Heartland Patriot]

I want a pistol to be able to run any ammo I can get my hands on. The factory Kimber mags are not known to be of the best quality. Lots of people switch mags to those that were mentioned before and have had good luck. Also keep in mind that Kimber states that the pistol needs 500 rounds to break in. I would buy some better mags and not be overly concerned until you get over the 500 round mark.

I have an old Ruger P89. It's not fancy, pretty or cool. It has only reasonably good accuracy, certainly not a target pistol. But that thing has run any and all brands of ammo I have ever put through it, any style of bullet (LRN, FMJ, JHP, etc.), and I even stacked several different types in a row to try and MAKE it mess up and it didn't. Kind of wish I'd have bought a P90 (.45 ACP version) to go with it, don't think you can get new ones anymore. To top it off, MecGar makes 15 and 17 round magazines for it that function like factory mags. If I were forced to sell all my firearms because I had to have the money, that Ruger would be the LAST pistol I would get rid of...if it were just a bit smaller, I'd carry it.

(I've tried, and its just a bit too thick. )

[KinnyLee]

If you muyst buy a Kimber, don't get anything other than the 5 inch barrel. They seem to have more problems with the shorter barreled pistols.

That's because the original design is the 5" Government model. When you shorten the slide, you alter the timing of the slide, brass ejection, magazine spring pushing the next round up, etc... You get the picture.