My Kimber so far...

[Iggy]

I had started a previous thread about my "trade-in"; going from an M&P45 to my new TLE II. In that thread and around the internet there was a lot of Kimber hate and I felt a little uneasy about the decision. I expressed my feelings to the owner of the shop who sold both Springfield and Kimber, so if I changed my mind I could switch.

He is a retired LEO and trains the local sheriffs department. He told me he supplied all the Kimbers to the local department and trained them in the transition. He stated that he did not have any problem at all with any of the guns.

So that being said, more hear say, but I felt a little better because it come from someone with experience. But he did mention that I should shoot 500 rounds trough it first to "break-it-in".

Get the gun out of jail. Check.
Get 500 rounds. Check.

As soon as I picked it up I drove to the range and fired 250 rounds. I only issue I had was the last round of the first two magazines through got stuck part way as it was going into the chamber. It seemed as though the lip of the brass caught something. All I did was pull the slide back a bit and let it go and the round went it and fired.

That was basically it. All the other rounds were flawless. No FTE or FTF's. The gun shoots so smooth and I am so glad I got it, and so far there is no looking back. The 22LR conversion is another story. No FTF's, but many FTE's and one brass stuck sideways. I am guessing it is the ammo (555 winchester bulk pack). I don't think I am using ammo with enough power, so I will have to look into this.

So maybe I just got luck or I will have major issues down the road, but so far everything has been good. I think my Kimber is awesome and that is my own opinion based on me shooting.

[xxdabroxx]

make sure your thumb does not rub the slide when using the 22 conversion. slight pressure can be enough to cause malfunctions. I hate that about my dads conversion. CCI mini mags work better, but they cost more per round so YMMV.

[sker13]

I have had zero malfunctions with mine. I absolutely trust it although it's not my primary HD gun. It is the best shooting, most accurate pistol of the six I currently own. I try to take the hatter bandwagon with a grain of salt. My P220 gets the nod for HD just for the rail, nightsights and light.

[DougJ]

Congrats on the Kimber. I love both of mine.

[Iggy]

I'll have to check on that. I think your right. My thumb sometimes rides the rail.

[Aldemar]

I've had a TLE/RL for about 2 years and it's now my primary HD gun. It was a little tight at first but after about 200 rounds, it has not had any malfunctions. Run it a little "wet" for the first 500 rounds to speed up the break in.

Remember to change out the recoil spring every 2,500 rounds or so.

I found the Kimber mag that came with it to be a piece of junk. For what they charge, I would have expected at least 2 of their higher quality mags. I am using some Wilson 47D's and a couple of the new ETMs with zero problems.

Enjoy!

[damndave]

Some Kimbers are very picky with certain ammo. Just shoot 500-700 rds to break it in before you change anything.

My old Eclipse Custom II didn't like Blazer Brass, Wolf, Magtech or Ammo Bro reloads. It loved WWB, Winchester Rangers & American Eagle.

[sammy]

Mine did the very same thing when it was new. After reading aobut these problems I found a very easy solution that helped make it 100% reliable. Detail strip the slide and with a popsickle stick dab it in chrome polish. Work the breachface for 20 miniutes untill it has a mirror finish. Then do the same with the feed ramp. After that I added a 18# recoil spring and bingo. Never a fail to feed after that.

[ElvenSoul]

Is it Kimber Hate or Kimber Envy????

[xxdabroxx]

I'll have to check on that. I think your right. My thumb sometimes rides the rail.

You can do it without noticing with the 45. With standard velocity 22's though it seems to make just enough of a difference to cause some problems. It seems to get a bit better the more you run it though. So buy a few boxes of mini mags and when those are gone just run it a little wet.

Also take note that those mags do not always work well with a magwell. Not sure if they work with kimber magwells or not, but we had to shave some plastic from the top of the floor plates to get my dads to lock in.

Is it Kimber Hate or Kimber Envy????

No, it's definitely hate. They put that stupid script on the slide, "Kimber". <<<closest available font to script

Ack

[butch952]

Kimbers are great guns I have thousands of rounds through mine,they come tight from the factory,require rounds to break in and may take some minor adjustments like any other 1911 to get them as reliable as they can be.That being said and like with any other auto pistol on the market you should expect that it will have some type of failure once in a while and you should practice being able to safely and quickly clear any malfunction that might occur.

[subin]

Alan Tanaka worked on my TLE II, including 3.5lbs trigger, polished the feed ramp+breach face and adjusted the sear spring.
I love my TLE II more than XD45. The TLE II is very smooth and I have not have any issue after about 800 rounds of mostly factory 230g ball ammo, including S&B, Megtech, Independant, PMC...
I use 47D, Tripp, ACT-MAG and CMC magazines.

[B Strong]

I had started a previous thread about my "trade-in"; going from an M&P45 to my new TLE II. In that thread and around the internet there was a lot of Kimber hate and I felt a little uneasy about the decision. I expressed my feelings to the owner of the shop who sold both Springfield and Kimber, so if I changed my mind I could switch.

He is a retired LEO and trains the local sheriffs department. He told me he supplied all the Kimbers to the local department and trained them in the transition. He stated that he did not have any problem at all with any of the guns.

So that being said, more hear say, but I felt a little better because it come from someone with experience. But he did mention that I should shoot 500 rounds trough it first to "break-it-in".

Get the gun out of jail. Check.
Get 500 rounds. Check.

As soon as I picked it up I drove to the range and fired 250 rounds. I only issue I had was the last round of the first two magazines through got stuck part way as it was going into the chamber. It seemed as though the lip of the brass caught something. All I did was pull the slide back a bit and let it go and the round went it and fired.

That was basically it. All the other rounds were flawless. No FTE or FTF's. The gun shoots so smooth and I am so glad I got it, and so far there is no looking back. The 22LR conversion is another story. No FTF's, but many FTE's and one brass stuck sideways. I am guessing it is the ammo (555 winchester bulk pack). I don't think I am using ammo with enough power, so I will have to look into this.

So maybe I just got luck or I will have major issues down the road, but so far everything has been good. I think my Kimber is awesome and that is my own opinion based on me shooting.

My experience with the .22 conversion is that it likes CCI mini-mag solids. Mine runs 100% as long as I keep the mags clean and replace the recoil spring every 1.5K rounds or so.

My personal experience with Kimber is two hits and a miss, but ymmv.

[tiko]

My Kimber Raptor got no failure for 1500 rds.