Yearly test of the old iron complete

Jayne

Jayne

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Got the vintage 90s 1911 out to the range and put some rounds through it. Had a smattering of PMC 230gr, some golden saber reloads (must have been 2nds or blems from Midway, can't imagine I would buy full price golden saber slugs at any time in the last 20+ years) and some random truncated cone reloads which I assumed were 185gr. Everything fed and fired fine, pretty funny how with the lower power rounds you could feel the thing cycling, and the oddly shaped truncated cone rounds felt like they bounced around about 3 times before going into the chamber.

Super easy to shoot as always, those short light triggers mask any poor shooting habits. :)

~14,369 total rounds through the gun since new. Two refinishes and a few broken parts along the way and a steady diet of wolff recoil springs every 2500 rounds and it still goes bang. Cleaned up and back into storage until 2022:

IMG_9259.JPG
 
Pretty rude!!!!

When I got back into firearm purchasing that was the best my budget would allow. I love the rail weight to be honest. After shooting the worn out armory guns in the Corps I was impressed just to have a 1911 that would stop rattling between rounds when qualifying. It's my Glock if you say so!
 
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I have heard for many years, before I bought one, that Kimber was the absolute shit for reasonable priced 1911s. (Not Dan Wesson or Wilson for sure) Why do they seem to have fallen so badly out of favor with much of the community. I knew there was a period when quality went downhill but are they still considered to be less than stellar? I have never had so much as a hiccup from mine. Any ammunition, anytime.
 
Ben Jefferson said:
I have heard for many years, before I bought one, that Kimber was the absolute shit for reasonable priced 1911s. (Not Dan Wesson or Wilson for sure) Why do they seem to have fallen so badly out of favor with much of the community. I knew there was a period when quality went downhill but are they still considered to be less than stellar? I have never had so much as a hiccup from mine. Any ammunition, anytime.
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The gunsmith that used to work on mine (John Jardine) had a 5 gallon bucket of broken slides in his shop, many of them Kimbers. Apparently when they got popular they just started cranking them out and got a lot of inferior steel for parts (too hard, too soft, etc) to keep up with the demand. Quality suffered, and they turned into.... as you said "less than stellar".

Before mine was worked on it was a major POS. Lots of problems and I just assumed 1911s were all like that. Once it was tuned up it was fine. Something about the barrel linkage not swinging correctly so the barrel was banging into position instead of locking/unlocking in a nice arc.

I wouldn't ever buy another one, but since this one is functional there isn't any reason not to keep it and enjoy it.
 
the 90s are vintage?
i remember some of the 90s...
not because i wasn't old enough to remember the 90s, but because... well, reasons.
 
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I'm not getting into the middle of a "I hate/love Kimber" discussion. Like Bourbon, everybody has their own opinion and that's just fine with me.
If I were going to assign the moniker of "Vintage" to a Kimber...to me, it would at least have to have been made in Clackamas, OR and stamped accordingly.
 
TJ45 said:
I'm not getting into the middle of a "I hate/love Kimber" discussion. Like Bourbon, everybody has their own opinion and that's just fine with me.
If I were going to assign the moniker of "Vintage" to a Kimber...to me, it would at least have to have been made in Clackamas, OR and stamped accordingly.
Click to expand...


Okay.

December 1996 "vintage".

IMG_1574.JPG
 
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