My First Kimber

So last night I bought my first Kimber.

I got a Kimber Custom TLE (Tactical/Law Enforcement) in .45 ACP. All of the things I had heard about Kimbers appear to be true. The build quality is there. There is absolutely no wiggle between the frame and the slide (unlike all my Glocks that have that tiny little bit of wiggle). This model had been customized with an ambidextrous safety and a set of VZ grips to accommodate said safety. The only real problem I can find with the gun is that it takes a fair amount of force (more than I would normally apply) to seat a magazine with rounds in the mag. I am not able to get to the range until next week, but I do hope to find out if the gun runs as smooth as it is reputed to run.

I find it interesting that almost all 1911s tend to be Franken-guns at least when it comes to the magazines. I’ve heard very few people say that the magazine they got with the gun is the magazine they carry. Almost everyone suggests Wilson Combat and Chip McCormack magazines.

A 10-round Chip McCormack came with the gun, and I loaded it with Critical Defense ammo and put it into the mag well, and immediately recognized that it would be impossible to carry the gun concealed with that magazine. It adds an inch and a half to the grip, and is ungainly. It also feels unbalanced. I quickly dumped the rounds out of that and put them back in a Kimber magazine that came with the weapon.

So, next week I will go to the range and run a few hundred rounds of .45 ACP through the gun and see how it performs. I will update this post afterwards.