I don't recall the year that Kimber came out with the Ultra. But I spoke with Kimber at their booth at the Shot Show that year. I told them how I would love to have a small 45 ACP, but was never able to get the Colts to work, even with 230 FMJ Ammo! They promised me the Ultra would work, feed and function. Naturally, I took name and number, and said ok, I will give it a go, but when it goes to crap, I am calling YOU. I had our dealer order the first one we could get our hands on, it was plain jane matte black, exactly like the one I am going to post below. I don't have photos of the exact gun currently, and I eventually gave it to my Son Mark David, which he has it now and actually carries it for one of his concealed carry guns. I carried this gun all over the country while hunting as well, and it was in Africa several times up to 2005. I finished several animals with it, and actually stopped a charging wart hog one time in South Africa with it. Back before 2005 I could take it to South Africa, get my permits at the airport in J'burg, get out to our truck, strap it on, and go concealed the entire trip anywhere I wanted, and did so right up until 2005, when South Africa adopted more Euro Trash Gun Laws. Making Self Defense a dirty ugly word, and a handgun illegal unless it had prior approval for hunting purposes only. My Kimber Ultra would not make the grade for a hunting handgun, in their eyes.
But I had, or thought I had, some connections in Pretoria, so I actually got a South African Permit for my Ultra for a 2005 trip. Also included the rifles I was taking. I had in hand, a permit for the Kimber, and the rifles from the Pretoria South African Police, IN HAND on arrival. When the J'burg South African Police started checking my firearms, one of them grabbed the Kimber, raising it above his head, shouting to the entire room that he had just confiscated an illegal SELF DEFENSE WEAPON..... Prancing around the room holding it up and shouting this to a room full of other hunters arriving! WTF????? I had my permit, showed them, and now there are about 5 of them surrounding me! They tell me my permit is no good, it was issued in Pretoria and had no valid purpose and only the J'burg SA Police could approve hunter permits..... OK..... So here we go. Now remember, we have been on a damn airplane for over 20 hours since leaving home, and now here we are stuck in the airport at SA Police station. I was not happy! I argued until blue in the face, to no avail. They were willing to let the rifles go, on the Pretoria Permit. But not the Kimber Ultra. They kept stating the Permit was not valid. I asked "Why is it valid for the Rifles, but not the Handgun?"....... Finally a very large, hateful POS SA Police officer, the head of the Airport Police told me to shut up, or he would also confiscate my rifles too! OK, not much I can do. I had a set of really fine Mammoth Ivory grips on the gun, which I snatched it out of another guys hands, and said, You are not going to confiscate the GDamn Grips too! I found my screwdriver and took the grips off, handed them back. Asked for what recourse I had in getting the Kimber back, they gave me the name of a chap Kodiak Exports, that could pick up my gun, and send it back to the USA, where I could have someone pick it up, but had to do that in 24 hours!
After 5 solid hours in the Airport Police station, we were finally released. I was FIT to tied, and pissed to no end! We drove to Pretoria, got settled in, and I called Kodiak Exports. He was over at our place in 30 minutes with the details, and then on his way to J'Burg to get my beloved Kimber. This was not cheap. In the end, it cost me over a $1000.00 to get my gun back. But it would not have mattered what it cost, there was no way in HELL I was going to leave my Pal behind to those Bastards! It was going home! As soon Kodiak had it in their hands they called. In a day or two it was on its way to Atlanta, where I had one of my guys go pick it up.
I did get some satisfaction in the end however, I was not going to let this go. First I called PHASA. Professional Hunters Association of South Africa. They were not happy about this, and saw this causing problems for incoming hunters. I had names of all the asshole SA Police too. I freely handed those out. My Wife's father, he is a character to say the least. But ONE of his X Wife's just happened to be a radio host on some show that aired throughout the entire country. When he heard about this mess, he called her. She then called me and wanted me to be on her Radio show and tell the story! Wooo Hoo! I am going to be famous now! So we set up the interview and I was on the radio Broadcasting to the Entire Country of South Africa about my resent experience with the South African Police in J'burg Airport! Oh yes, I named names and told the entire story. I told them about the asshole threatening to confiscate my rifles as well, how the permit was good for the rifles, but not the handgun, and I was on the Radio for about an hour!
Talk about the Crap hitting the fan the next two days................. First I got several calls back from PHASA, they were now investigating this and putting pressure on the SA Police in J'burg. They came back and said J'burg Police asked if I would meet with them....????? Hmmmmm, not so sure I want to do that????????? In the end, I agreed to meet with them, along with a PHASA Official only. Back to the damn Airport! We had a sit down with the SA Police, PHASA, myself and the wife. Which BTW, she was more pissed than I was about this entire episode. They ended up issuing an official BS apology and this that and the other thing, but nothing substantial other than that, and I agreed to put it aside and not go on the Radio again! HEH HEH...............
Yes, I was still pissed, and I wanted a way to screw them over anyway! I got on the phone to my dealer here, at that time he was a Dan Wesson dealer, and had some pull with Dan Wesson! On the phone I told him I wanted a Dan Wesson, interchangeable barrels, I wanted a 2.5 inch, 6 inch and an 8 inch barrel, all in 45 Colt! They said, at that time, they had never done a 45 Colt, but they would do one for me! Well, hell, you can guess my big plan right? If you guessed that I had decided to apply for the handgun hunting permit in South Africa with an 8 inch stopped big ass Revolver, then you guessed RIGHT. Soon as I would leave the Airport, then I would be changing out the barrel, and putting the 2.5 inch barrel on, and going about my business as normal, PERMIT in HAND... Kiss My Ass! Right? Yep, and that is just what we built too, damn fine gun!
But, by the time I received the big Dan Wesson, I had COOLED my heals a little. In the end, it was just way the hell too much to be aggravated with, and if I got the revolver in country, and then I had to use it, I was really going to be in some serious crap I did not want to be in! So I never took the Dan Wesson to Africa, nor did I ever take another handgun across the pond!
I did get my Kimber back, and there was just no way in hell I would have left a Friend like that behind!
From then on, I carried a short lever gun in place of the handgun. Most of the time that was a little 16 inch Winchester M94 in 45 Colt. Short, fast, handy, easy to shoot. I kept it handy, where I could lay hands on if needed. Fortunately I never needed it for self defense, and used it in the field a few times on various critters..........It was comforting to have it along on our trips.
After giving the beloved little Kimber to my Son, I was able to acquire the one pictured below, from a friend of mine and Billy's just before he passed on. It is the exact duplicate of my little Kimber that my son now has. While it is posted previously, I think the other day, it sports a set of real elephant ivory grips, that our pal Sid in Tupelo MS scrimshawed for me some years ago.............
Well, thats todays story. HEH......
You can see the little Kimber on my side in this photo from 2003.......
and then again IN HAND in this photo.....
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31838309@N03/,
