CalHunter

A couple of our guys carried Kimbers and kept having problems, even after sending them back to the Kimber factory. All of them switched to something else for a duty weapon. I'm not trying to talk you out of your Kimber or tell you to switch but I'd strongly recommend you contact the factory to see if they can fix the issue. If they can't, then you have a decision to make.

super_hunt54

My honest opinion of Kimber is, they should have stayed with making rifles. I've seen a few nice, well made, good shooting Kimber pistols but over all I hear some pretty horrible reports of their pistols. Many of them being just what the guy said. FTF and FTE.

RobertSubnet

My Kimber "Tactical Ultra" runs like a champ, no problems at all with it. I never had a chance to shoulder a Kimber rifle but they look great. Maybe I just need to practice my grip technique with the Solo. That little gun jumps like mad in my hand.

bugsNbows

I have never experienced a FTF or FTE. It's been problem free.

bronko22000

As said on the previous posts there are so many to choose from. Based on your physique and what you're comfortable with. Depending on what I am wearing or where I am going I carry a Taurus TCP in .380 either in a pocket holster or a 'cell phone' type holster when wearing shorts and a T-shirt. If I have on a vest or jacket I carry my S&W M&P40. And sometimes, because PA has an open carry law, I sometime carry my 1911 in a Fobus holster in full view just to get the liberals all freaked out.

bronko22000

A fellow camp member of mine is a certified NRA instructor and an armorer for S&W and has classes almost every weekend and has seen several Kimbers that were disasters. During one class he had two students with new Kimber 1911s. One would not fire after the first magazine was empty and another wouldn't fire right out of the box. His handgun of choice is a Les Baer custom 1911.

super_hunt54

I quit trying to shoot those little pocket pistols long ago. They tend to disappear in my gorilla hands. Just not enough grip length.

And yes they make very nice rifles. Little on the expensive side for what you get but still very nice.

d80hunter

My favorite conceal carry gun is a Ruger LCR in .357 magnum with 158 grain hollow points. Not a pleasure to shoot but easy to conceal and plenty of power. IWB holsters are my favorite.

Nomercy448

My experience with Kimbers has been much like my experience with Wilson Combat 1911's, or STI's - tight pistols require tight ammo specs. Tweak the load to fit the pistol or tweak the pistol to fit the loads, but either way, Kimbers will run like a top once you find what they like to eat.

Put regular unleaded in a Ferrari and you wouldn't be surprised if it misfires. Run WWB in a Kimber - why should you be surprised that it hangs up on the bulged cases?

CalHunter

I had to look that one up (WWB). I could see some FTF (Failure to Fire) incidents happening occasionally but overall, it's okay ammo. In the Kimber pistol incidents I referred to, our guys were using top of the line Federal Police ammo and were experiencing mainly FTE (Failure to Eject) problems. They tried switching out mags but that only had limited success. a local gunsmith said the feeding issues were due to a rough feed ramp and some other polishing type issues. He said ship them back to Kimber since they were still under warranty. That would still leave the FTE issues though.

IMHO, if you're going to bet your life on a pistol you carry (whether on duty or CCW), you definitely don't want something that finicky about ammunition. A tight tolerance pistol is great for competition shooting for the extra bit of accuracy you get but a looser combat type pistol with rock solid reliability is what you want for self defense situations. After all, when that other guy is shooting or going to shoot at you, the last thing you want to hear is "click" from your own pistol.