Looking at getting a 1911, and came across a nice Kimber but have heard a lot of negative comments on the forum over time.

Are Kimbers still an issue?

My 1911 smith, widely-regarded around here as one of the best 1911 smiths in the business, had this to say when I asked him about Kimber: "They're no better or no worse than any other production 1911."

I've two: A 10mm Custom II GFO and a Rimfire Target. They both needed a little smithing to be 100% reliable. Others have had theirs be flawless right out of the box. Still others have never had theirs run right.

Yes.

I have an acquaintance that recently bought a brand new Kimber Custom TLE RL:II and it has had a lot of issues. He works as the manager of a medium sized gun shop, knows his stuff and thoroughly inspected the gun before he dropped over $1k for it.

Well like I said, its had a lot of teething issues and Kimber has been no help. He's trying to work the issues out himself, I know he's change recoil springs but that didn't help.

I have no personal experience with their customer service but have been told it is not the best in the industry.

In conclusion I wouldn't drop a dime of my money on a Kimber unless I got to shoot it extensively before I purchased it.

I had a kimber ultra cdp years abi in 45. It was a great shooter and never malfunctioned. I traded it and regretted it. This year I bought one just like it in 9mm. It is even better. It's a higher end Kimber, but it's a very nice 1911. I'm a Colt guy, so I can't be called a Kimber fan, but the cdp is a very nice pistol.

I’d pass.
The only good Kimber 1911’s are the earlier 1990’s guns.
I just sold a new TLE to a customer and on his first trip to the range the thumb safety plunger popped out intermittently when engaging the thumb safety. I’m sure Kimber will fix it because they have good CS, but my customer paid descent money for a gun he can’t shoot.

I would pass. I had an Ultra CDP years ago. It would only function if I used Wilson mags. The factory mags were useless. And cleaning the thing?? Was absolutely torture. There was a small paper clip like pin if I remember correctly on the guide rod assembly and during reassembly if you didn’t have it lined up perfectly…it would go flying across the room into the unknown.

Any used gun - or used anything else - is a crap shoot. Having said that, the Kimbers that have the worst reputations are any of the 3-inch-barreled and the ones with a funky-looking short external extractor that is also supposed to be a loaded chamber indicator.

I currently own more than 1/2 a dozen Kimber 1911s and I have probably owned double that over the years.

ALL of mine were great performers and I have had no trouble with them

I have to agree with mdj, the Ultra CDP is a great pistol. Here is mine pictured with my Pro Elite

My Pro Carry II, Custom II and GFO (the latter 2 being 5 inch Government models) all ran out of the box with factory and my handloads. These were all 2017 or later production pistols. I think Kimber from the mid 2000- until the mid 20 teens should be avoided, those were not good years for Kimber in my opinion.

I no longer have the .45’s as I am moving into the 9mm more and more. I have a Pro Carry II in 9mm inbound, but I won’t have it for another week. I hope it shares the good functionality of the other .45 models I have previously owned. Of course 9mm 1911’s have slightly different traits and quirks and it may take me a bit of experimenting until I have hand loads that suit it.

quote:

Originally posted by sigarms229:
I have an acquaintance that recently bought a brand new Kimber Custom TLE RL:II and it has had a lot of issues.

No offense intended, but, "a lot of issues" isn't very informative. What issues? Were they ever cured? If so: What did it take?

I love 1911s, but, I'm under no illusion production 1911s are as likely to run well, right out of the box, as most modern plastic fantastics. It's just the nature of the beast.

Of my five 1911s and my one 2011, only one 1911 and the 2011 ran flawlessly out of the box. Even then: The 1911 wouldn't feed several popular HP rounds until the gun had two or three hundred down the pipe and one of the 2011 factory mags is wonky.

All four of the 1911s took no more than about $100 of gunsmithing to be made right.

Oft times it's no more than a bit of extractor tuning. (I never did understand why, when STI came up with the 2011, they didn't give it a modern external extractor.)

Lord Vaalic, there is a time period, and I'm sorry, but, I don't recall what it was, during which Kimber had consistent QC issues. Maybe hit one of the 1911-specific forums and ask. I'd avoid Kimbers manufactured during that time period. But Kimbers before then, and since, should be as GTG as any other production 1911.

Around that same time, Kimber's CS apparently was pretty bad. Everything I've read suggests those days are over, too.

I do know that, when I called them about my Custom II GFO's issues, they asked me to put another couple hundred down the pipe and, if the problems remained, then send it in to them. I've a very good local 1911 smith, so I took it to him, instead.

I've had a half dozen Kimbers over the last 20 years or so. I see so much Kimber trashing on the internet, but mine have all been good guns.

All my Kimbers have been 100% reliable. My first Kimber was a Custom (1) and has an excellent trigger, shoots all brands of ammo including my reloads.

I have 2 Kimber Micros, also 100% reliable with factory and reloads.

I know Kimber had, at one time, some issues with MIM parts, but I believe that has been resolved.

I’ve had a half dozen or so and the two TLE / RL II’s were flawless for the most part. All the pro carry models I had had teething issues and needed a 500+ break in period.

Full size guns overall seemed more reliable. My TLE / RL II I carried on duty eventually went down with a bad mainspring.

So are they good pistols - yes. Are there lemons - yes…. I now own 3 1911’s - none of them Kimbers…

quote:

Originally posted by odin:
All my Kimbers have been 100% reliable.

Same here. Not even one hiccup.

I’m glad to see so many positive reviews. I own two of their revolvers and think they are fantastic guns, especially with a 6 round capacity in their small package. I think anyone in the market for a small framed .357 should look hard at the Kimber or Colt, and having had both I prefer the Kimber.


I’ve owned two of their 1911s and neither was at all reliable, even long after the 500 round break in period. That was many years ago though. I am in the market for a 1911 now though and might give them another chance. They are pretty available around here which is nice.

quote:

No offense intended, but, "a lot of issues" isn't very informative. What issues? Were they ever cured? If so: What did it take?

Mainly failures to feed, some failures to eject. The feed failures with all makes of magazines, Wilson, Checkmate, Chip McCormick, Mecgar, and all types of ammo. Still isn't resolved. Accuracy is good, reliability isn't.

The point I was trying to make is here is a new manufacturer TLE II and it won't run. Too many other good options on the market beside Kimber. For example my Springfield Garrison has been perfect thus far and it was less $800.

I once worked for a shop that was a Kimber Dealer,

about one or 2 per 10 we received had issues out of the box, before the customer got to see them,

mostly mag catches, for whatever reason, they did not do a good QC on them, and they would stick, I taught a few guys how to remove them, take the catch down to the 3 pieces, clean and put back in the gun and they would then work fine,

often there was some grit the caused them to stick , or they did not turn the catch all the way like they should have during assy,


then once in a while a customer would bring them back for various issues, (some I am sure were customer related) but Kimber always took them back, repaired, and all was good afterwards,


personally, for the money, a Springfield or Colt , or better yet, Dan Wesson is a better buy,

eta, FWIW, in this area, resale on Kimbers is generally not that great,

I’m not sure they were ever on a list to be “avoided”. Kimbers are and have been as reliable as any other 1911 in its class.

People falsely expect that you can buy a 1911, treat it like a Glock and it will be as reliable as a Glock. Simply is not so. That isn’t the fault of Kimber. Or they completely lose their mind about MIM parts, but don’t seem to mind paying MIM prices. When a MIM part starts to wear, replace it with a tool steel one. If you even shoot it enough to replace it.

If I wanted a Kimber, I’d buy one and feel secure in my purchase.

I have a Custom II and it had a couple minor issues in the first few hundred rounds though it’s been great lately. For the price I paid (a lot less than they go for nowadays) I really like the fit/feel and the finish. Mine is pretty accurate and the green FO front sight is quick to pick up.

I will say that I have read—and personally experienced as mentioned above—about more issues with Kimbers than almost any other 1911 maker. I don’t believe that Kimber as a whole is as reliable as say Springfield. There seems to be much less reporting of teething issues with every other manufacturer save for maybe Taurus.

Despite the “gamble” so-to-speak when purchasing a Kimber, they have some really nice models in their line up and the ones I have held have all felt very well fitted. I don’t carry mine as it’s a range toy only so an occasional bobble isn’t the end of the world.

I believe current production Kimbers are fine. When I first started working at the shop over a decade ago, a lot of our customers were grousing about their Kimbers, many that we sold them. Springfield, Colt, SIG and pretty much any other 1911 brand we sold at the time didn't garner nearly the amount of complaints as Kimber did. Around that time I asked a friend who was running the West Coast Armory pro shop back them what was the brand of gun that had the most problems with customers for them at the time. He told me that Nighthawk was the worst, but Kimber was a close second. Both brands facilitated a lot of returns to their respective factories for West Coast at the time. I do remember having to send back more than a few Kimber 1911s ourselves, though the majority of those were officer-size pistols.

Fast forward to today: we don't have nearly the number of defective complaints regarding Kimber nowadays. Since the passage of their Solo debacle, we've had one problem K6S (wonky cylinder that never should've gotten past QA, but did anyways), one or two Government 1911s with premature finish wear issues, a Micro380 or two with stoppage issues and a small handful of 3" officer-size 1911s (maybe 3 or 4?) with problems serious enough to require a return to the factory. It wouldn't surprise me if there were others that I've forgotten, but based on what I DO remember, their as-received quality isn't really out of line with most other gun brands these days. Currently Ruger has been the most problematic for us in sheer numbers, but we also sell a LOT of their guns relative to the amounts we've sold from other brands so percentage-wise even they are only slightly above the curve when it comes to problematic products.

Over the past 4 or 5 years, the only problematic Kimbers that we've had at the shop were actually not 1911s. There was a couple of Micro 380s that required warranty repair right out of the box, and a K6S that had to go back and be 'corrected' before we could sell it with a clear conscience. During this time frame I don't believe that we've had any complaints by customers on how their Kimber 1911s bought from us during this period have operated. In fact we've had more high praise than anything else. HOWEVER we have had more than a few complaints from customers on how poorly their Kimber bolt-action rifles have shot with regards to consistent accuracy. But that's a topic for another forum.

I've heard of occasional finish durability issues (premature excessive wear) with some of their 1911s, but haven't seen but one of those in the flesh. And even with that one it seemed that a LOT of rounds had been run through it at the time, though that was denied as being the case by its owner.