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Custom Classic, Compact Custom and Stainless Gold Match

Kimber Classic
Kimber Classic

By Jonathan Fellows

My experience to date:

Custom Classic (1997) – around 15K rounds. This started out jamming a lot. Over time it did break in, but it always jammed more than I was comfortable with. This seemed independent of slide releases, magazines, or ammo. I finally decided I could not get enough in trade for it, so I made a project gun out of it. It is currently being fitted with a ramped bull barrel (which won’t load SWC yet – but I won’t blame that on Kimber). I suspect an overly tight barrel was the cause of many of my problems – but no proof.

Kimber Compact
Kimber Compact

Compact Custom (1998) – around 10K rounds. I LOVE this gun. It has fed and grouped wonderfully from the day I bought it new to replace a COLT Officers Model that gave me nothing but trouble. I reload range brass, so I have some feeding problems – but I can honestly say that with the Compact, all the problems can be traced to my reloads.

Stainless Gold Match (1999) – around 1K rounds. As you can see this one is brand new. It groups wonderfully, and feeds everything but by reloading mistakes (see above).

Stainless Steel Colt Gold Match 1911
Stainless Steel Colt Gold Match 1911

As you can see, I keep buying Kimbers. There must be something to them that makes it worth working through the early feeding problems. My experience has been very good on later product.


Comments, suggestions, contributions? Let me know