What other brand of guns have you had to "work" on too? That is my point. Why is it that most Kimber haters just loathe Kimbers, usually because of "MIM" parts, yet the odds are they too are carrying around a weapon that has "MIM" parts in it too. What makes the MIM parts in their "favorite" weapon on their hip any better than any other MIM part, i.e. in a Kimber?Originally Posted by Truegiant
I still stand by the MIM comment above. 99% of the haters out there don't care to admit that even their own weapon they swear is sooo much better has the exact same MIM parts in them they so loathe on a Kimber. That's why I find it ironic. Even some well know "custom" weapons have MIM parts in them. Why not hate on those too? They didn't make MIM parts only to cut costs. They used and make MIM parts because often times it is the only efficient and affordable way to machine very high precision parts w/o turning a $1k into a $2k gun. How many people are out there that are willing to or even know why to spend $2k on a weapon? Precision parts don't normally fit in the same sentence as crappy anything.- MIM parts IMO are not a mute point. Not all MIM parts are made to the same tolerances and definately dont come from the same quality control. When I can see the MIM casting marks on the gun parts and they are extremely rough and when you apply a dab of dyken blue on them and can visually see they make contact with parts they shouldnt IMO that is SHIT. Dont claim your $1k gun is the best on the market when in fact most people who own 1911's (from my experience at the range and through working on several of them) Kimber owners are bandwagon owners. Most of them feel there 1911 is the most elite pistol out there. Kimber has and still does make some nice shooters, but IMO dont make the best they are made out to be.
As for the bandwagon comment....I could say the same thing about Diehard Springfield fans or Diehard Colt fans or Diehard S&W fans. Right or wrong? Most of the time people get on their elitist platforms just because of something they may have in their pocket at the time. Next week, they're on to something "bigger and better". It seems to me that if you have to gut a weapon to replace it with parts you hand pick and it ends up looking, working, and shooting just like another for the first 10,000 rounds then that begs the question of......why? That's like buying a Honda, gutting it down to a shell, and then putting in a Chevrolet drivetrain.....why not buy a Chevy to begin with? You buy a bare bones tank green entry level $400 1911 fully knowing that you will break it down to put in a commander hammer, skeleton trigger, extended beaver tail, polished ramp, checkering the grip, beveled mag well, and maybe change out a spring or two? At the end of the day, you don't have to fire 10,000 rounds out EVERY gun you have to consider it "good". Trust me, if anyone shoots more than 10,000 rounds on a semi-consistent basis out of ANY weapon.....they will likely be proficient enough to defend themselves with most any other weapon.
Ummm, isn't that contradicting a little bit?- I dont think round count has anything to do with my weapon purchasing decision. Most folks (once again my experience) hop onto the 1911 bandwagon because of there bulletproof reliability and because they look pretty. Even 1 FTF/FTE problem could be the one that takes your life. Out of the box unless you purchase one of the big name guys pistols I dont feel you get that kind of reliability with any gun. Any gun I buy should last 10,000rds with no problems.
Oh, I know it's not cheap. I've "raced" a few of my own too. But I'd like to know how your gun is going to shoot better than mine? When I pull my trigger it goes "BOOM", when you pull yours it goes "BOOM". How's yours better? You mean more accurate? Reliability so far on mine has been flawless, just like my experience with my Model 70 Colt Combat Commander and my Taurus 99F and my DPMS AR. I've never had a single issue out of any of them so far. Some I've owned for more than 10 yrs so far. So how is your weapon any more reliable than that? I can and do wear any of them on my hip w/o ever remotely worrying that when I pull that trigger fireworks won't commence.- Building a hand fit custom parted 1911 is not cheap. I can attest to that as I have built several myself. But I can promise you my custom $1k pistol will shoot better and be more reliable and have way better internals than your $1k kimber. Plus I will be able to flaunt it as a hand built gun with the goodies I want in it. I enjoy working on handguns and that is why i am biased to building project guns.
I agree that yours has "better" internal parts, and I understand the reasoning behind it. I actually like that. That's the reason we all mod our cars after all, right? Because we love 99% of the car, but want that 1% we tinker with to make it that much better for us. I get it. Hell, I do it to both my cars and weapons. I actually don't have many "stock" weapons myself. I just don't see why people have to hate on Kimbers so much. I mean, at it's core, don't all 1911 basically LOOK and FEEL the same to begin with? So unless the weapon is just a total paper weight worthless POS thats gonna get you killed because its a gigantic POS like some other notorious throw-a-way models, what's really the problem?
See, I can live with this. This is a good form of personal opinion, and very true. I did notice the same thing when I first tore down mine.- One item we havent touched on yet. Kimber frames and there casting/machine marks. IMO they have some of the sharpest most uncomfortable feeling pistols out there besides there more expensive ones. THey utilize plastic mainspring housings in alot of there guns which IMO is asking for trouble.
Again, this is something that is perfectly acceptable. I totally agree. Most people shoot a couple of boxes of shells every other year and think they're some John Wayne/Billy the Kid. But what can you do.- Another topic that I sort of already touched on. MOST kimber owners buy the gun, 2 boxes of ammo, and some custom grips and after they have shot the ammo they originally bought never shoot the gun again. It ends up in a drawer and just because it shot 100rds with no problems who is to say its reliable. I mean if you test drive a car for 100miles does that mean its perfect? Shit I am not trying to say that kimber makes shit guns. I am just saying that from my experience most kimbers I have played with didnt run right. There guns felt like you were shooting them with 100wt motor oil as they cycled slow and sluggish. Were not incredibly accurate out of the box and for the price IMO didnt offer all they were cracked up to be. Now on the other hand I think Kimber does make some of the nicest looking off the shelf 1911's out there. Some of there finishes and checkering patterns they use are sexy. I mean when the raptor first came out i almost nuted. When the SIS package came out i was uber extactic. But like I mentioned before. I can build a custom gun with the quality parts I want, have a great time doing it, and say I did it myself.
I actually think that out of the box, for me since I got the compact carry version, accuracy was very acceptable. Yes, I've got a couple others that are actually much more accurate, but they're also not a 3" barrel either.
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