Now that the price of Kimbers has dropped significantly and Custom II retails for only $795, I must say that I'm tempted to buy one. However, I'm somewhat reluctant to do so in light of all the negative reports regarding Kimber's reliability (or rather the lack of it) that I've read on other forums. I want a gun that would function 100% right out of the box. No jamming, no extractor issues resulting in brass being thrown in my face, not picky about ammo and magazines, and no "break in period" necessary for the gun to start functioning properly. So here's a question for Kimber owners: would you say that your gun has been 100% reliable according to the above criteria? Please be honest – I'm not interested in "Kimber is great buy one" type of responses. I'd like a fair and objective evaluation of the pistol.
Is your Kimber reliable?
- Thread starter capp325
- Start date
- Location
- Calgary, AB
I have a Stainless II, and it has been 100% reliable. And very accurate too.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Most reliable gun I've ever owned, Kimber Custom II stainless, and I've had a LOT of different guns and experiences. That gun digests even 400fps 200gr truncated cone, plated target loads and still functions fine. Literally not a load within reason I can feed it that it won't digest. Failures wise, it would be close in reliability to my S&W wheel guns which are only slowed by tons of accumulation from lead shooting. That is to say, DAMN reliable. Just ask TSE, they shoot rental Kimbers on their range that see tens of thousands of rounds, and the Kimbers have proved the most durable guns they rent last I spoke with them, even beating my also beloved Glock by a good margin.
I visit several gun forums and seldom heard any bad thing about them. Most of the time people only show up and report a failure of the gun and there may be one out of one thousand. Bottom line is if you don't like it, you can sell it or trade for someother gun.
Trigun
I had a feeding issue with mine during the first trip to the range. 3 out of the 100 rounds I shot that night didn't feed properly, I had to pull the slide back and let it go to chamber the round, and one of the grip screws loosened.
Last night I had no problems with it at all, and am going again tonight in about an hour.
Regarding brass hitting you in the face, that has happened a few times with the Kimber, but my Beretta has also done it a number of times as well.
Last night I had no problems with it at all, and am going again tonight in about an hour.
Regarding brass hitting you in the face, that has happened a few times with the Kimber, but my Beretta has also done it a number of times as well.
Okay I have to tell you guys, I just bought my third Kimber, a Raptor. My Desert Warrior and my old Grand Raptor are 100% reliable and almost perfect in fit and finish. However, I took my new Raptor into my gun smith to lighten the trigger and when he took it apart we were both astounded at a number of things. First off, the MSP was broken from someone trying to fit the internals together, the base of the grip safety was peened on the inside presumably from Kimber trying to engage it, it's completely beat up and unacceptable the mag catch fit is terrible (big gaps all they way around), the hammer's nocks showed rounded outer edges, the hammer flat wasn't even straight, (Kimber thought it was acceptable) and the sear was bent and poorly made showing 3 angles with the secondary angle uneven and primary sear face uneven. All parts are metal injection molded so they are as cheap as one could get. I called Kimber and they gasped and tried to lay blame on someone else, anybody but them. I called the dealer from where I bought it and he assured me that they came direct from Kimber and stopped nowhere in between. The gun has yet to be fired and I'm waiting for all new parts to be sent to me from Kimber. I sent them detailed pictures and descriptions of all the problems and they were a little hesitant at first not believing they had actually done this. As the conversation went on the guy got less defensive and is sending the parts in two separate shipments to avoid the $100 US export rule. This sucks and I'm disappointed but I know the quality Kimber can produce and I'm confident that it will be resolved without me having to return the gun to the dealer.
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Holly crap, dannyairThat's not right. Did you ask the dealer if you could simply exchange it for a new one? Who did you by it from?
it was the last Raptor available so I couldn't exchange it. You don't see the Raptors in stock hardly ever. They don't last long on the shelf. I don't want to mention who I bought it from as they have nothing to do with these issues and asked for the info to be forwarded to them as well. I'll post the outcome when it finally happens. I'm hoping this doesn't drag out. I would have never known had I not wanted to have the trigger lightened.
