It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:59 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




  Page 1 of 1   [ 9 posts ] New Topic Add Reply
Author Message
 Post subject: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 10:24 am • # 1 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 05/16/09
Posts: 2123
A friend showed up at the house yesterday with a new Kimber 10mm. It sure is a pretty gun, all black with nice trigger and sights. He was very anxious to shoot his first 10mm....but it didn't happen.

We went out behind the house (I live in the country) and found that the gun would not chamber any round. We could not get any round from 4 different loadings to even chamber, let alone fire it. WOW! I haven't got the words, nor is there any telling just how livid he was....1200 bucks and the damned thing wont even chamber a round.

I know Glocks are weird and even have issues at times....but I wouldn't trade my 550 dollar Glock straight across for his 1200 dollar Kimber. He was headed right back to the Store and I hope he drove safe as he was pissed. I would demand my money back. I would not go the route of buying a gun that cost that much, and have to send it to the factory for repairs before I could even shoot it.

Anyone else hear of Kimbers having problems?


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:10 am • # 2 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 4828
The early Kimber's were good, then the QC went to hell, and the price went up. The CEO that ruined Kimber is now with SIG Arms, and there have been some QC issues reported since he took over. Kimbers look pretty, but just like most 1911 makers these days, you run a pretty high risk of getting a clunker. I played the 1911 game for a very short period of time, ended up with a clunker that wouldn't run right, and promptly sold it off. The 1911 is a platform I won't be revisiting, ever.

It would seem though that many companies these days have cheapened their pistols to the point that it's like playing the lottery as to whether you will get one that runs right out of the box. A friend of mine bought a S&W Performance Center 1911 about 3 years ago, and it was not reliable out of the box, and had to go back to S&W for rework. It came back and still had issues. Performance Center guns aren't cheap, and for one to not work properly is a huge disappointment.

I've read other complaint's from Performance Center owners who had the same issues, with different model PC guns, they didn't work right out of the box, from a model 952 target pistol that wouldn't run to a PC revolver that had a barrel that wasn't screwed in properly.

Mid-priced combat/defensive tupperware can be just as bad. There are literally thousands of folks you can read about who got a crap S&W M&P, Gen 4 Glock, or any other number of models from other makers. Overall the quality isn't there like it used to be. MIM parts have become the standard now, Kimber is full of MIM, as are most others. I've been trashed by a number of people on pistol-forum.com for not liking MIM parts. I'm sorry, but I don't see sintered powdered metal as being a mark of high quality. I'll take machined parts please.

I have no problem buying any Beretta 92 Series pistol, Walther (not the PPK series though), CZ, or HK. Most of the rest? I'm skeptical. Tell your friend to order a Dan Wesson if he wants a 10mm 1911, he would probably have better luck with one of those.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 12:19 pm • # 3 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 05/16/09
Posts: 2123
I have two gen 4 Glocks. Time will tell. I have poor luck with all semi autos, from shotguns to rifles. All seem to fail, sooner or later with me. So far, other than a single incident where I weak wristed my 10mm, I have had no issues with my glocks which is remarkable for me. Someone can hand me their trusty semiauto and I can get it to fail. Just bad luck I guess. I bought a high end Beretta 12 Ga semi auto that I sold after I failed to get it to function even after a trip to beretta and to other gunsmiths. Others told me that this model was perfectly reliable. Not for me. We will see about the glocks. I think thier Gen 3 SF was probably the best option for me to buy but I could not find one, anywhere. Since, I have seen a couple in local shops. My Gen 4 357 Sig purrs like a kitten but I think the bottle necked 357 Sig round should feed smooth in any gun.

I went the Taurus PT 24/7 45 acp once and it was a total hunk of junk from the get go. My Browning Buckmark is the exception, I guess. It has never failed me so long as I don't shoot junk ammo in it.

The Kimber was a surprise to me. I am beginning to think todays drive for making money is trumping quality control regardless of make or name.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 2:08 pm • # 4 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 4828
Dave, it is all about profit for the major gun manufacturers these days, nothing else. Just look at how many of them are owned by large conglomerates, and the big three ammo companies are too. It's no longer about quality, but how many units they can move every month.

That Glock 26 I had last year had two fails to extract with two consecutive magazines of premium carry ammo, so it had to go. The major Glock problems over the last 5 years or so have mostly been with the 9mm's. They just couldn't leave well enough alone, changed to dual recoil spring assembly on the 17/19, and started using MIM extractors, and things went to hell fast. I've seen reports that some of those 9mm guns simply couldn't be made reliable at all, even after switching to the original RSA and getting original cast extractors, and also changing ejectors on some of the gen 4's. I have a feeling that some of the extractor cuts in the slide may have been out of spec as well.

I've had some miserable semi-auto experiences too. The Springfield 1911 I mentioned was crap, wouldn't run properly. I had a Ruger P97 that didn't have feed or extraction issues, but the double action wouldn't always work, it had a sear/trigger bar issue. I had a German made Walther PP that didn't run all that well, and my little Beretta Bobcat is so ammo picky it's pathetic. It wants CCI Mini Mags, nothing else need apply, but I haven't seen a box of those once so common .22's in over a year.

As to your Beretta shotgun, some models were known to have issues in the past. Supposedly the latest models run better, I don't really know. My Mossberg 500 works all the time, so I've never bothered to buy a new semi-auto shotgun since I sold off my old Remington 11-48 a number of years back. I thought sticking with the pump was a better idea.

My Beretta 92, and East German Makarov run like raped apes, so I'll never sell them off. Anymore, if you get something that runs properly, it's probably best to just keep it for life, unless it gets to the point that its just completely worn out from lots of shooting.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 2:30 pm • # 5 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 05/16/09
Posts: 2123
Like I said, time will tell with the Gen 4 glocks I own. I have heard of some issues with the dual spring. I hear that most of the issues happen after lots of use. I am not rich enough nor have enough time to put my guns through that much use so until they give me grief, they can stay. For me, it takes a lot of time before I completely trust a new gun, any gun. I carry the Glocks all the time and for now, they seem to go bang all the time. Lets hope I have a couple of good ones.

It is funny, how one can find a better product and not spend such a fortune. I would say that I support US made products all the time but as of late, they have some catch up to do with quality control....perhaps many US manufactures have gotten too big for their britches. There is some crap being imported but there is some good stuff too. Thank God for Google....some mis information out there but some good info too. "We the people" have more power than we think. When we get screwed, we talk and the whole world hears it.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:02 pm • # 6 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 4828
The reports on the recent Glock failures are from people that run the crap out of their guns, and it was usually the 9mm late model gen3, and gen 4's. Some would run right out of the box, then start having issues between 1000-2000 rounds. Any that had brass to face issues were doomed to fail more often than not before they would need a new recoil spring assembly at the first recommended replacement interval.

Mine had brass to face issues from the go, and failed earlier than I had expected. That's something I'm not willing to tolerate from a gun used for defensive purposes. Simply replacing the extractor, and ejector wasn't going to guarantee that it would run properly, and then having to run another 500 rounds to verify function wasn't going to happen. That costs some serious money these days, and 9mm is still hard enough to get locally.

If your gen-4's don't have erratic ejection patterns and your not getting pelted in the face or forehead, your probably good to go.

When I ponder semi-auto reliability and quality, the more I think I should carry a good revolver, like a pre-lock, pre-mim S&W, or pre-,mim Ruger.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:01 pm • # 7 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 05/16/09
Posts: 2123
Perhaps my Glocks will be good. Everything seems to run normally.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:02 pm • # 8 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 05/10/09
Posts: 2238
Location: 208
;)




Image


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Kimber 10mm
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 10:41 am • # 9 
User avatar
Sr. Member

Joined: 02/07/14
Posts: 382
Location: The southern tip o' Texas
For what it's worth, I have a friend who is a very accomplished handgunner. His skills are far above average, and he loves to shoot. He also shoots competetively in a league, but does so more as a training protocol than as a competition buff. He's an accomplished and respected firearms instructor. Anyway this guy is an avid Glock fan (oh well, we all have our faults :-)); that's all he shoots. He used to carry a 10mm as his duty pistol. He used it in the matches also; he was committed to maintaining the highest level of competence possible with his duty weapon. He had several issues with carrying the 10mm; at times ammunition was difficult to obtain. Shooting it in a dark environment resulted in a bigger fireball, which is detrimental to lowlight vision. In many training scenarios (he's on a tactical team) he is required to shoot one-handed, and such situations could certainly arise in a real situation. Finally, after a long run with the 10mm, he went back to a .40 S&W. For his applications, he feels the .40 is a better choice. Ammunition is much easier to obtain, the fireball isn't as big, and he can shoot it accurately a little bit faster at multiple targets one-handed. He still loves the 10; he just feels the .40 works better for him and for his purposes.

That's just one man's opinion, but it's a perspective worth weighing.

As far as Kimber, they used to offer a lot of gun for the money. I've never been a big fan of the Kimber, but my issue was aesthetic; the guns used to work and work well. They just weren't as pleasing to the eye as a Colt or a Springfield Armory 1911. Then they began having QC issues, and I have seen some pathetic examples shipped as new guns. I lost all confidence in the brand. I don't know if they ever got their issues resolved.


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

  Page 1 of 1   [ 9 posts ] New Topic Add Reply

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  


- OurBoard Support -