Im thinking of buying a Kimber Custom TLE and would like to know what others think of Kimbers? The stores that sell them say they're the best. Those that don't sell them say they're not all that great. I like the look of Kimbers and they seem to have a lot of custom features. But I want to hear some of the pro's and con's of Kimbers.

i have a polymer pro carry, never had a problem very accurate.

Have a CDP II. Love the looks. I think the quality. is great. Had lots of misfeeds on breaking in which got better as the round count went up. Very tight when new. Kimber manual states 500 rounds of breakin needed. I can say it's the most accurate pistol that I have.

kimber was one of the choices for me , shot many differnt guns at the range.  went with the para limited instead -big mistake.  every one who has on likes them

I was just looking at a few Kimber 1911's this weekend at an upstate gunshop. I was also looking at the Brazillian made, Taurus line-up. The salesman said that the quality between the two was almost equal. However, most folks go with Kimber because of an "assumed" quality superiority as well as it being American made. Even with the $400.00 + price difference. And, according to the salesman, a 1911 should be American made.

Disclaimer ... This is not my opinion. I know very little about 1911's, and Kimbers in general. But, the folks who sell both brands, think the Kimber offers no superiority, except being American made. Oh, and one more thing, the clerk was carrying a Kimber 4" 1911 style gun with Lazer grips.

As far as their foreign made shotguns are concerned, they have met lukewarm reviews.

You will not be disappointed with a Kimber.
It is a fine handgun, well made and accurate.

I love my Kimber CDP II Pro.
It did need some break in. Some will argue that a gun shouldn't need a break in period but I didn't mind putting up
with a few jams the first 200 rds. It has been 100% reliable since then. In fact I just shot 200 rds this past week with
zero issues. And it's more accurate than I am.

i am looking to get the kimber Pro Crimson Carry II,a friend of mine has the pro cdp and loves it.

No problems with mine (Stainless TLE II). I love its looks and it's very well-made. My brother has put thousands of rounds through his (two of them, don't remember the exact models) without issues.

El Guapo owns a grand raptor II.  And the bird can shoot...    ...

I have heard that they have some QC issues as of late.  I was originally going to get a CDP II but got kinda scared off by reading the problems some people were having.  They also use a lot of mim parts which I don't have that big an issue with, but for the same price I went with double star who doesn't use any mim parts.  They are great pistols when they run out of the box but if you get a lemon you will curse the 1911 gods.  

Kimber pistols are mass produced guns and just like any other mass produced products, you see lots of good ones with good number of bad ones.  Their external extractor models were flunkies (and they don't produce them anymore).  You'll see more Kimbers at local gun shops compared to other high end 1911s (Wilson, STI, Les Baer, Dan Wesson, Caspian and so on) as it is mass produced and relatively inexpensive to others.

People who owns Kimber swears by them.  There are also people that I know and met who used to have Kimbers, would not consider them at all for various reasons (quality issues, they found something better).  

I've never owned one nor have desire to buy one as there are other options in that price range (like Double Star, S&W, Sig 1911s) and for little bit more, you can get entry level 1911s from Les Baer and so on.  .

Bottom line is, does Kimber fit your need?  Is it within your budget?  Does it feel good on your hands?  

In 2005, I was going to buy a Kimber, and at that time they had terrible quality control issues.

I bought a Colt stainless 5" bbl Gold Cup for target practice. Ran perfect out of the box!

2 years later for CCW, I bought the Colt Defender, needed a 200 round break-in, but didn't need any loving care, like polishing the feed ramp, etc.

Maybe their quility issues are over.

Here is a link to a varity of problems people have had up to the present day.

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=117851

With all that said, I guess you could get a lemon from any manufacturer, but imo, the colt is a nicer gun.

Quoted from JChris97

I love my Kimber CDP II Pro.
It did need some break in. Some will argue that a gun shouldn't need a break in period but I didn't mind putting up
with a few jams the first 200 rds. It has been 100% reliable since then. In fact I just shot 200 rds this past week with
zero issues. And it's more accurate than I am.

Have the same exact one....Kimbers are excellent guns, if you can swing it, i would suggest buying any of there models that are made in the pro shop...like the CDP, Tactical, Covert, Eclipse...great value for the money. Zero issues here too.

I heard that ever since the production in the US started the quality is not what it used to be, doesnt mean they are bad but just maybe not as good as they used to be - im not a kimber guy so I wouldnt know, if I was already spending that money I can get a Sig 1911 or a good mil spec 1911 and build on it.

depends how you fell on MIM and grip-safety-activated firing-pin-safeties.

I've had four over the years, and the only problems I had were general 1911 ones, not kimber related.

Jsut remember to get your hand off the grip safety when disassembling!

I own two...  a gold match and a super match and have owned many colts in the past as well as shot many other brands including rock river and lesbaer and would put them up against the best of them for the money they cant be beat ..The majority of issues you will hear about are feeding issues due to the unbelievable tight tolerances they have and have to be extremely well broken in before everything mates well ... This is a good thing though .. they are very tight !!... Go Kimber and you will never look back !!! also there customer service is great ..

[quote=429]depends how you fell on MIM and grip-safety-activated firing-pin-safeties.

I've had four over the years, and the only problems I had were general 1911 ones, not kimber related.

Just remember to get your hand off the grip safety when disassembling![/quote]

Why?  I own 3 1911 Colts, 2 are Series 80 and 1 is a series 90 and have never had a problem disassembling them.  

To my knowledge I've never heard about what to do with regard to the grip safety when taking them apart.  

Have I just been lucky all these (30+) years?  

What is supposed to happen if you don't keep your hand off the grip safety?

Thanks

Quoted from rbonad

Im thinking of buying a Kimber Custom TLE and would like to know what others think of Kimbers? The stores that sell them say they're the best. Those that don't sell them say they're not all that great. I like the look of Kimbers and they seem to have a lot of custom features. But I want to hear some of the pro's and con's of Kimbers.

I have the Tactical Pro II, and love it.  I've got somewhere around 2000 rnds through it, mostly ball ammo, but each time out I run a couple of mags of hollow points through it.  I've had exactly one failure to feed with Federal JHP +P, and one failure to fire, but that I believe it was the ammo, not the gun.  Golden sabers have never given it a problem.

From what I've been told (who knows if it's true or not), the reason that some places don't carry them is that to become a dealer, the initial order requirement is substantial, and some places just don't want to shell out the coin.  

Quoted from sigsauerny

I heard that ever since the production in the US started the quality is not what it used to be, doesnt mean they are bad but just maybe not as good as they used to be - im not a kimber guy so I wouldnt know, if I was already spending that money I can get a Sig 1911 or a good mil spec 1911 and build on it.

Production in the US??  They've always been here.  Started in Oregon in the late 70's, moved to Yonkers sometime in the 90's by the guy who bought the company because he wanted to integrate production with an existing machine shop.  I think I heard somewhere that they make some of their long guns overseas now, but not the pistols.

Quoted from dv0042

Production in the US??  They've always been here.  Started in Oregon in the late 70's, moved to Yonkers sometime in the 90's by the guy who bought the company because he wanted to integrate production with an existing machine shop.  I think I heard somewhere that they make some of their long guns overseas now, but not the pistols.

And the guy that bought the company? None other than.....Leslie Edelman (You remember Edelman's)

I talked with a Kimber rep at Shot Show last month about quality issues mentioned on the internet and at the store I frequent. He mentioned that most issues arise from improper break-ins. He said you absolutely must use only FMJ rounds for the first 4-500. He said many people use hollow point self defense rounds right out of the gate and it starts causing issues.