By Pete Preiss

I purchased a Kimber Ultra Carry several months ago and it has become my favorite .45 ACP. My other .45’s include two government models, a Lightweight Commander, and an Officer’s Model (customized by an excellent local gunsmith).

The Kimber is equal to the custom Officer’s Model and better than the factory Colts. It has all the options from the factory that I paid the gunsmith $600 for (plus $500 for the gun).

I chose the Ultra Carry not for it’s short length but for the weight. I carry all day (actually all night) wearing a business suit. The 25 oz. of the Kimber is much easier to wear for 9 hours +. After a few hours, my Officer’s Model would become a heavy burden to carry . The best holster I have found for belt carry is the excellent IWB Blade-tech Kydex. It holds the gun firmly but is quick to draw from and doesn’t collapse when the gun is drawn. It can be worn all day with no discomfort .

The best deep cover holster IMHO is the Thunderwear. I know, I know, I was skeptical too until I tried one. Now I have two!

The Kimber Ultra Carry shoots very well, is very accurate, recoils less than an all steel Officers Model, and comes from the factory with all the worthwhile custom features needed on a concealed self-defense weapon. It is now my primary weapon on my CCW permit.

By Ed

I am now the very satisfied owner of a new Kimber Ultra Carry .45. I am most pleased. I ran about 140 rounds through her yesterday to get the feel for it. The first shot at 12 yards was 6 in. low and 10 in. left. The next seven were in the bullseye–offhand. This was consistent for the rest of the rounds. I did start to flinch after about 50 rounds as my hands felt the recoil, but that will go away with more practice. Although I am new to the 1911 style, I am fast becoming a strong believer. If anyone ever asks, give the Ultra Carry a high recommendation.

By Chris Daldegan

I’ve had a stainless Ultra Carry for a couple of months now with about 1000 rounds through it so far. I may not be the best source for a review as I believe I may have been expecting a bit too much of the gun but here goes. I had the gun give up on me a couple of days into a three day class. I can’t really blame the gun for everything however as the conditions were very dusty and the mags caused most of the problem.

However, the gun was chewing up some of the brass at the 6 o’clock position. I did a judicious amount of polishing on the breech face and the frame feed ramp. I also radiused the transition area between the barrel feed ramp and the beginning of the chamber. I believe this was where the problem was. After shooting 200 rounds Wednesday, all of the brass was undamaged and only about 10 of them had any marks at all at the 6 o’clock position. I had one jam that was due to the cartridge. The short version is that the problem seems to have been solved. I still want to put several hundred jam-free rounds through it before I start carrying it.

The factory magazine (a Mec-gar I believe) had a floor plate that was too long. When locked into the gun, the front of the floor plate would extend past the frame about a tenth of an inch and rub against my little finger. A couple of hundred rounds would leave a blister. I took care of that with a file and now it’s fine.

As I said before, I expected a bit more than I got in the gun. The interior of the slide is much rougher than the slide on my Colt series 70 and is more difficult to clean. The jamming problems had me upset with it for a while but it seems I managed to take care of that on my own.

Now for the good parts. It shoots very accurately despite the short barrel, although the sights were off by a good bit as received from the factory. I’m going to replace the sights with some with tritium inserts before I begin carrying it full time. The trigger, as it came from the factory, was absolutely wonderful. Very little take-up, no creep whatsoever and a crisp break. All I did to it was adjust the trigger over-travel screw to give it the best trigger on any gun I own. When I detail stripped the gun and lubed the trigger group with TW25B, the trigger got even better. In fact, it might be a little too light now.

Recoil with standard ammo is a no problem at all and is much better than I expected it to be. I did decide after 20 rounds of Corbon 200 grain +P to stay away from that however. The recoil was violent and more than I could comfortably handle in a carry gun.

Recommendations as to holsters?

I intend for the gun to be my primary carry as soon as I gain enough confidence in it. I know that most people recommend a 500 round break-in period for any gun but this one seems to have needed 750 to 1000 and a few minor manual modifications. The only holster I have for the gun so far is a Dillon Cactus League Belt Slide that I bought for the class. I worked wonderfully, will fit both the Ultra Carry and my Colt, and was inexpensive to boot.

By Dan Adair

I take back anything I ever said about my disbelieving that new Kimbers seem to “by and large” have a tendency to lock the slide back before you’re done having fun… Today, a buddy of mine was up from Billings, and he had with him a friend’s brand spanking new Kimber Stainless Target Custom. My initial feelings towards the gun was that the sights left a lot to be desired and the slide felt a bit gritty (even after cleaning/degreasing and adding a generous amount of Tetra Gun grease).

The very first Target Models I saw had Bo-Mars on them, but then I live in the same valley that the Kimber Sales guys live in, so we see a lot of the new Kimbers before the rest of you do. (For example, I saw a Pro-Carry in a local shop once that had absolutely no markings on it except the serial # and the “Kimber” that’s tattooed on the drivers side.) The guy who’s the owner of this piece has shot it very little, and trusts us enough to “break it in” for him. So we took it to the range today with 200 rounds of 230 gr. FMJ stuff that’s my SIG practice ammo. We also took along our old Kimber Classic Customs that our FLGs have done very little work to.

The new Kimber would lock the slide back usually every other mag, and usually between rounds 3 and 6. When it did it, the slide stop would be just barely engaged. The mags we were using were Wilson 8 rounders that have always been 100% reliable in our Kimbers. Another thing I noticed was that when you dropped the slide on the first round, it feels a little crunchy (not like my throated stock barrel that’s nice and smooooooth). Towards the end of the session, we decided to put some old 230 gr. Federal Hydrashoks through it. I like to cycle my carry ammo at least monthly. This was a bad idea… 4 rounds out of 16 fed. With half the FTFs being the nose (meplat) of the bullet hanging up between where the ramp in the frame ends and the ramp in the barrel starts, and the other half being the case mouth hanging right on the top of the throating in the barrel. It did it with every mag we had (Wilsons, Springfield, Mec-Gar and McCormick). This company’s QC has definitely gone DOWN HILL!!! All the guys I know that bought Kimbers back in the days when all that was available was the Classic Custom never had stuff like this happen. I’m definitely not going to recommend Kimbers “without reservation” to anyone that’s a friend of mine anymore. A brand new gun shouldn’t need a different slide stop and a throating job right out of the box.

My old Kimber Classic Custom has been one of the best 1911s I’ve ever owned (I’ve owned 7 others.). Its serial # 10XXX out of the New York factory, and in its life and at least 20,000 rounds its had less than 25 FTFs. That’s why this new Kimber was such a shock. I would have put one of the slide stops out of one of the old Classic Customs into the Stainless Kimber if I had thought to bring a bushing wrench. I had an extra McCormick slide stop in the “parts and mags drawer” in the gun safe that I sent back with the gun. I’m sure the owner will make use of it, if he can live with the mis-match in finish.

For more info on dealing with the premature lock-back, click here.

By Syd

Between 1905 and 1911, the combined efforts of John Browning, Colt, and the Army Ordnance Board were required to produce the M1911 pistol, and this effort stood on the groundwork of several decades of autoloader development from Hiram Maxim, Hugo Borchardt, Herr Luger, the Mausers, and Browning himself. The M1911 fought its way through WW I and experienced some minor modifications, but beyond that, the Ordnance Board seemed to lose interest in further refinement of the M1911, and after WWII, began to search for a smaller caliber, and a lighter weight pistol with a smaller frame. Past 1926, design innovation of the M1911 was left to Colt, the armorers of the Army Marksmanship Unit, and talented civilian gunsmiths who applied their creativity and skill to the old warhorse. Through the shared experience of soldiers, lawmen, gunsmiths, metallurgists, competition shooters and others, a profile for the M1911 developed in the last half of the century: make it lighter, more accurate, smoother, better sights; bring back the longer trigger and flat mainspring housing of the M1911; make it able to handle modern hollowpoint ammunition reliably; give it a match grade trigger, and make it visually appealing. In the Pro CDP II, Kimber has done an excellent job of capturing this profile.

While it is arguably the most successful autoloader pistol design in the world, the M1911A1 is not perfect (oooh, heresy… ). It’s big, heavy, has lousy sights, and in its military form, has marginal accuracy. (Kuhnhausen states that anything better than an 8” pattern at 50 yards was considered acceptable by government armorers.) These days, pistol shooters are demanding more out of their guns. It’s interesting to see how Kimber has addressed the criticisms of the M1911 in the Pro Carry and Pro CDP series of pistols.

The first major design innovation made by Colt to the venerable 1911 formula was in 1949-1950 when the aluminum alloy framed Commander was introduced. Colt did this in response to the Armed Forces’ quest for a smaller, lighter sidearm. Although the Commander was not adopted by the military, the format proved to be immensely popular. At 28 ounces, the Commander was considerably more comfortable to carry than the Government Model. The Kimber Pro CDP is a Commander-format gun. It has the aluminum alloy frame and Government-size grip of the Commander. Its slide and barrel are 1/4″ shorter than the Commander, and it uses a 4″ bull barrel rather than the 4.25″ barrel with bushing of the genuine Commander. The Commander format makes for a gun that is very easy to carry but still large enough to have excellent accuracy and adequate muzzle velocity.

Kimber made their mark in the M1911 pistol world by offering guns that had all of the “custom” features that people had been adding to their guns for years: extended beavertails, non-snag combat sights, extended ambidextrous thumb safeties, etc. The Pro CDP has every custom nicety that you can think of for a custom M1911.

“CDP” stands for “Custom Defense Package” in Kimberese. These guns are hand fitted in the Kimber custom shop and have a distinctive look. The frames have a black anodized finish. The slides are bead-blasted stainless steel with a “melt treatment” meaning that the sharp edges are rounded off. The CDP pistols also feature Meprolight tritium night sights and ambidextrous thumb safeties. The grips are rosewood. The small parts – the slide stop, grip safety, grip screws, hammer, mag catch, and thumb safety – are stainless steel to contrast with the flat black of the frame. The mainspring housing is silver colored plastic and the trigger is aluminum. For some, including me, this visual treatment is a bit flashy, but it does create an eye-catching effect.

Kimber has begun to install what they call the “Series II” firing pin block. (It is essentially a resurrection of the Swartz safety developed for Colt before the Second World War). When you depress the grip safety, a small pin pushes a plunger up in the slide which unblocks the firing pin. I do like it better in one respect than the Series 80 firing pin block of Colt: it is activated by the grip safety, not by the trigger (see diagram), so you get the clean trigger pull sans the click and crunch of the Series 80 guns. You have to be careful when you field strip it and reassemble it because if you hold it by the grip and activate the grip safety, a little pin comes up next to the disconnector and it will stop the slide from coming off or going on, and if you get muscle-bound with it, you could shear the pin and render the gun unable to fire. Also, the FPB mechanism can only be accessed by removing the rear sight should you need to do cleaning or maintenance on it. I’m not terribly wild about this characteristic. (I still believe this is a lawyer-friendly answer in search of a question. I continue to search for documented instances of 1911 pistols going off from being dropped on their muzzles, and I have yet to find one documented instance of an unmodified 1911 in good repair discharging due to a drop on the muzzle from any kind of normal height – if you find one, please send it to me).

One of the persistent complaints about the M1911 pistol is that the venerable Government Model would only feed 230 grain full metal jacket “hardball” ammunition. The Government Model and the hardball cartridge were literally built for each other. The development of the cartridge was part of the development process of Browning and the Army Ordnance board. The original M1911 and M1911A1 pistols are tremendously reliable with the hardball cartridge. The problem emerges when shooters want to run other types of ammo, particularly wadcutters and hollowpoints that don’t follow the hardball profile. The traditional solution for this problem is to throat the barrel and hope for the best. Kimber seems to have conquered this problem for the most part on their defensive models. The barrel is given a wide throat at the factory, and, if you compare the feed ramp of the Pro CDP with the feed ramp of a Series 70 Colt, you will notice that the Kimber feed ramp is cut at a deeper angle than that of the Colt. The Pro CDP has shown superb feed reliability. This gun just hasn’t jammed or failed to feed at all.

A common complaint levied against the 1911 is that it’s designed for right-handers and is not south-paw friendly. This is mostly true: the thumb safety and magazine release are on the left side of the gun and are intended to be operated with the thumb of the right hand. Those of us who are devoted to the 1911 pattern learn to operate the controls of the 1911 with either hand, but many find the left hand operation of the manual safety to be awkward and difficult. The user must bring the thumb around the beavertail while holding the grip only between the palm of the hand and four fingers. This is not a secure hold and may be difficult for users with small hands. Kimber’s response to this issue is to install an ambidextrous thumb safety in the CDP line of pistols. The magazine release remains on the left side of the frame only, but south-paws can work the mag release with less awkwardness than the left handed operation of the thumb safety. The index finger on the mag release works well.

Another common and well justified critique of the Government Model M1911 is that the sights are too small and hard to see. Thin front sight blades and narrow rear sight notches make for more precision in high accuracy target work, but a thicker front sight post and wider rear notch make for quicker target acquisition. The wider leaf and notch are also easier to see for those with weak eyesight. Remembering that “CDP” stands for “Custom Defense Package,” The Pro CDP employs the wider notch and leaf McCormick-style “combat sights” with Meprolight tritium insets for quick low-light target acquisition. It’s interesting to point the gun down a darkened hallway to see how far off our basic intuitive pointing of the gun can be. It’s instructive. I like these sights.

Somewhat more controversial is the full length guide rod employed by Kimber and many other 1911-clone builders. M1911 purists are fond of quoting the old saw, “the berm at Gunsite is littered with full-length guide rods.” The M1911 and Colt Commanders have partial-length guide rods. The partial length guide rod reduces the weight of the gun and enables the trigger-guard-and-spring-plug press check. Proponents of the full length guide rod say the FLG gives more consistent lock-up and better reliability. This is one of those debates that is interminable, like .308 vs. 30-06, but the fact is that most pistol builders, including those building 1911s have adopted the FLG. The Pro CDP uses a FLG. The slide is disassembled by trapping the recoil spring with a small wire tool that comes with the gun. When you lose the tool, and you will, you can easily replace it with a paper clip straightened and bent into an “L” shape.

The Pro CDP sports another evolution away from the classic Browning design: it eliminates the barrel bushing in favor of a bull barrel. This innovation isn’t new with the Pro CDP. Kimber started using it with their Compact model. Bull barrels aren’t new either. Karl Schuemann has been building them for many years and they have been used in pistols from Clark Custom, Para-Ordnance and many others. For maximum accuracy and reliability, the barrel bushing of the M1911 should be hand fitted by an expert. Eliminating the bushing simplifies the design and removes one thing that can be a source of problems. Is the bushing-less design superior? For guns with barrels of 4″ or less, I think it is. Commanders and Government Models seem to function pretty well with bushings, but smaller guns do seem to benefit from the bushing-less design. The compact Kimbers with bull barrels that I have tested have been wonderfully accurate and reliable.

Hitting what you aim at:
Accuracy of the gun is quite rewarding (see test target). I find it easy to put the bullets where I want them to go with excellent consistency. No complaints here.

Trigger:
The trigger is OK, but not great. It is 4.5 lbs. with a little bit of creep. It will smooth out with some use, but I think a “Custom Shop” gun could be a bit cleaner.

Value:
With an MSRP of $1140, the Pro CDP is not cheap. Kimber claims that by installing all of the “custom” features at the factory at production time, the user is saved $500. When Kimber first began to provide factory guns with custom features, this was certainly true and the Kimber Custom was far and away the best value in factory produced 1911’s at that time, especially if you wanted the standard package of custom features on a Government Model pistol. These days, with Springfield Armory, Colt, Para-Ordnance, and most other manufactures building the standard custom features into their guns at production time, the added value pitch is not as persuasive as it once was. The Pro CDP is a beautifully built pistol, but I would like it better at a price point between $800 and $900.

Cosmetics:
This is the place where I have the most ambiguous feelings about this gun. If your aesthetic for guns and gear is tactical flat black, you won’t like this pistol. If, on the other hand, you like a little flash, this pistol will speak to you. One of the delightful characteristics of the 1911 is that it does lend itself to interesting custom finishes and visual effects. The high-end custom shops, like Clark, Wilson and Brown, have been producing two-toned 1911s for a number of years, and it’s an eye-catching effect. The contrasting and alternating tones of black and stainless components create a visually interesting effect. The vibrant orange-red color of the grips completes the visual impact, placing a warm and moderating tone between the stark black and silver colors. This styling has been grabbing my attention in display cases since Kimber first introduced the CDP line of pistols. It’s an attractive pistol, but I haven’t bought one for myself. It’s just a bit too flashy for me. Really, my favorite “look” is the “I’ve fought my way through a dozen wars and I’m better than ever” look.

Notable negatives:
While it is true that I have definitely acquired “champagne tastes” in 1911 pistols and my complaints are tiny things that a thousand others wouldn’t even notice, a couple of things really bothered me. I could see a slight sliver of daylight under the ejector and under the front sight base (we’re talking jeweler’s loupe stuff here, not big gaps). Both parts are firmly attached to the gun, and will probably never cause a problem, but for a $1140 “Custom Shop” gun, I should not see any space under these parts. It would really annoy me to see the front sight flying away at some point in the future. The checkering on the grips is coarse and sharp, not really comfortable. I think a finer checkering should be used. The mainspring housing is gray plastic. I don’t have the problem with the plastic MSH that some people do – they reduce weight, don’t rust, and are actually kinder to your hand than a steel one – but this one looks cheesy.

Notable positives:
I like the Meprolight tritium night sights. They’re bright and they really would assist in getting the gun oriented in a night time defensive situation. I like the 30 lpi checkering on the front strap and bottom of the trigger guard. The weight is great. It feels much like a Lightweight Commander, but even lighter. I put a full mag in and holstered it. The comfort brought about by the reduced weight is immediately noticeable, especially in the holster. Slide to frame fit is excellent. I haven’t made up my mind about the melt-down treatment, but a lot of people seem to like it. Trigger and accuracy were excellent right out of the box. Reliability is typical of Kimber: it runs right straight out of the box with any kind of ammo you feed it.

Summary:
The Kimber Pro CDP II is a pistol I would feel perfectly comfortable in carrying in the defensive role or for use in a tactical match. It is a visually appealing pistol with superb accuracy and rock-solid reliability. Its heritage proceeds from the Colt Lightweight Commander, and its design reflects 90 years of learning and experience with the M1911 single action autoloader design.

Specifications
Caliber	.45
Capacity	7 + 1 (or 8 +1 with extra-capacity magazine)
Operation	Single Action M1911-pattern autoloader
Barrel	4″ match grade bull barrel, twist rate 16
Length O/A	7.7″
Height	5.25″
Width	1.28″
Weight	28 ounces
Grip	Checkered Rosewood
Sights	Low profile tritium Meprolight night sights
Finish	Matte stainless steel slide with melt treatment; black anodized aluminum frame
Magazines	3-standard, 7-round
Warranty	Limited Lifetime

 

By Phil White of Gunner’s Journal

I was at Cott Firearms last week just taking a look to see what was new and as always checking for any good used gun buys. Well I didn’t see anything that got my attention but out of curiosity I took a look at the Kimber Pro Carry II in 9MM. I’ve been reading more and more about the 1911 platform in 9MM and frankly I was getting pretty curious about this combination of the best handgun ever made chambered in this old caliber.

As many of you probably know when Colt designed the Commander model for the Army for use by the officer corp as well as those in support positions this is the gun they designed and it was designed for the 9MM from the start. The Colt Commander is 1/4 inch longer than the current trend of CCW 1911’s with 4 inch barrels such as this Kimber Pro Carry II and the Springfield Champion LW and soon (around April 08) the Rock Island Armory Tactical which Armscor calls a midsize gun. I’m sure if anybody else comes out with another 4 inch 1911 in 9MM it will be Rock Island Armory. They are a very innovative company that pays attention to their customers like no other! This is the only 4 inch bull barrel full frame 1911 I know of in 9MM. The Springfield is available only in 45 with the exception of the smaller 1911 designed around the 9MM.

I know who wants a 1911 in 9MM. Well sir, I do. After succumbing to this little beauty I’m a convert. It does fill a useful niche. If you’ve read my blog at all you know I’m a 1911 45 ACP devotee in the extreme but lets keep an open mind on this one. No, I’m not getting into the endless 45 ACP vs 9MM debate. I’ll say this–over the last several years ammo makers have come a very long way in making the 9MM a much more effective load than it was even ten years ago. I use the Winchester Ranger “T” series 127 grain +p+ for my Hi Power and now this Kimber. It feeds very well and the ballistics on this round are impressive. I trust this load to do the job simple as that.

The Kimber holds 9 rounds of 9MM in the magazine with one up the pipe. Weight on this gun with the alloy frame is 28 ounces. So, ten rounds at your disposal in a lightweight highly concealable 1911. What more could you ask for in a daily carry gun that will ride with you eight or ten hours a day. Riding in a Milt Sparks 55BN in winter and a Sparks “Heritage” IWB in warm weather and you’re set.

These days there is certainly one reason for using a 9MM that has nothing to do with the caliber debate and that is the cost of shooting. At MidwayUsa 500 rounds of 45 ACP cost $126 whereas 9MM is $76 for 500 rounds. That is a substantial savings and allows those of us without unlimited funds to shoot a lot more for the same money or shoot the same amount for a considerable savings. From what I’ve been told ammo prices are going up two more times by February next year. Not good but then there isn’t much we can do about that except adapt by reloading more.

On to shooting this fine gun. After bringing the Kimber home and giving it a complete cleaning and lube with Militec I put it all back together. There is one thing to let you know about when taking this pistol down for cleaning. The gun comes with a very slim hex wrench that slips into a hole in the guide rod in order to capture the compressed spring so you can remove the guide rod and then the barrel. There is nothing at all hard about it and just adds a small step to disassembly. Incidentally the Kimber uses a single 22 pound spring which changes out like any other 1911so you don’t have to fool with buying two specialized springs. The instructions for taking down the pistol is in the manual. You really need to read this before attempting to disassemble the gun for cleaning. I removed the rubber grips which came with the gun and put on a set of Mil-Tac G10’s with the 1* logo on them. For those not familiar with this it means One Ass To Risk. This is something Gary Paul Johnston came up with many years ago as a uniform patch for the SWAT team he worked with. Mil-Tac is the only company licensed to use this logo. I also picked up two additional magazines made by Metalform with a removable base and pre drilled for a slam pad. These are very good magazines no matter the caliber but I was especially impressed with the way these were made. Quality throughout at $13 from Brownell’s if you care to order extra mags for your guns. I was lucky enough to get my mags right away. Yes, the 9MM mags are less expensive as well:-)

I gathered up a few hundred rounds of 9MM in various brands and types of bullets and headed for the local police range. I used a reduced size B27R target. All shooting was done from 10 yards and 25 yards. I started at the 10 yard line as I usually do and tried for the smallest group I could manage without slow firing. I noticed right away that recoil was actually pleasant. Just enough to let you know you were shooting a major caliber. Getting back on target was very fast with this gun in no small measure to the excellent sights that Kimber uses as well as the reduced amount of recoil compared to the larger calibers. This is the first target after 50 rounds at ten yards. Firing and reloading stopping only to reload the mags.

I don’t shoot slow at all from ten yards. I practice like I would if engaging a real target. As you can see this little gun is an excellent natural pointer as most 19111’s are. These first 50 rounds were all ball ammo from Winchester in the white box Wal-Mart variety. Next I loaded up the mags mixing Federal 9BP’s with Cor-Bon 125 Grain +P’s, Speer Gold Dots and some older plain hollowpoints. Everything feed to perfection with all mags no matter how I mixed up the ammo. I fired a total of 200 rounds with no malfunctions. Next I backed up to 25 yards and did some slow fire. I fired 20 rounds from this distance at the head. All rounds were fired standing without a rest. This is the target.

Practically speaking you wouldn’t be making head shots at 25 yards but for the sake of testing accuracy it works. I was really impressed with the results. I had two flyers with one a little high and the other a little low left as you can see from the picture. Eleven rounds of the twenty went into the center hole. This is a better result than normal for most 1911’s I shoot at that range regardless of caliber. It just proves if you do your job this little gun will shoot up to a high standard. It is fitted with a match barrel and trigger. I loaned out my trigger pull gauge so I can’t tell you the exact trigger pull but it is crisp with little take-up. Since the first time through with the excellent results at the ten yard line I loaded up one mag to capacity and moved back to the ten yard line intending to fire the entire mag as fast as possible. All ten rounds went into the same large hole from the first time through. This really got my attention. To say I was surprised would be an understatement!

I’ve shot my Springfield Champion a lot but I have never equaled this accuracy at 25 yards with it. Whether it’s the quality construction of the gun or the 9MM round from a 1911 platform is something to be answered by additional evaluation. One thing I’m sure of is this is a very good carry combination that deserves your consideration.

Update: 11/03/07

I’m up to 550 rounds on the Kimber this week with only one problem which has nothing to do with the gun. I felt like I should pass this along so you won’t have the same problem. I was cleaning the Pro Carry and ran out of Wilson gun grease. I made a Wal-Mart run and picked up some “Shooters Choice” all weather high tech gun grease and applied it like I would the Wilson grease. When I went to the range I immediately had malfunction after malfunction of every type you can imagine. I was using the same ammo as before and the same mags. Nothing had changed except I used that shooters choice grease.

I tore the gun down and wiped it down removing the grease. I got it pretty dry then just lubed the gun as usual with Militec only. After that there were no more problems of any kind. The problem was obviously the grease. The question now is why? There are two reasons I can think of. The recoil impulse for a 9mm in this gun is not sufficient to overcome the extra drag from the grease. The second would be the grease formulation is just too thick to work well with any gun. No matter—I would stay away from this brand of gun grease period!

UPDATE 11/17/07

At somewhere just over 550 rounds the gun started failing to eject empties. The empty brass would stay in the barrel as well as jamming of various types. I was not a happy camper! I realize this can happen to the best of guns but it is very aggravating especially when you buy a gun that’s pretty expensive. I knew it was not a magazine issue since the Kimber mags and the Metalform mags are some of the best mags available and showed no signs of defects. I contacted Kimber and got an employee who was less than helpful. It’s probably the same person I have heard of on the forums as being a real—well you fill in the blanks:-) After a day or two I called back and talked with another person who was very helpful and an all around nice guy. I asked for a new extractor since I had determined that was the problem. I explained the extractor hook appeared to be partially broken off. They didn’t have any extractors in stock but he offered to pull one from the assembly area after I explained this was my carry gun. This is exactly what he did and I received the new extractor in four days which I thought was very good. The service from this employee was excellent. All he asked was that I send the old extractor back so they could examine it.

When I received the new extractor I got right to work and replaced it. It did need some minor tuning but very very little. I hand cycled the gun until it was tossing out every round. This is only an indicator so you have to go to the range and fire a 100 rounds or so to make sure you have it right. I did take the Kimber to the range this morning and fired 100 rounds and the gun functioned flawlessly. The rounds ejected better than when it was new and put the empties directly to my right about 5 feet in a circle about 4 feet around. I also tried several other brands of ammo other than ball ammo. I used some Cor-Bon as well as Remington and Federal JHP’s. They all functioned without any problem. Problem solved! I really love this gun for several reasons I’ve mentioned before. The more I shoot it the more I enjoy it. The cost of 9MM is almost half that of 45acp and as I’ve said with Winchester Ranger “T” 127 grn +P+ it’s very effective. Of course Speer Gold Dots are also fine rounds to use. To sum things up it was an unexpected malfunction but it happens and was taken care of in a timely manner by Kimber and I’m happy with this gun!

One other item you might be interested in is the Tactical Pro. This is the same gun as the Pro Carry II but has extra features. Most apparent is the gray frame. It also has an ambidextrous safety, night sights, 30 LPI checkering on the front strap, a magwell and a different trigger. The increase in cost is on average $250 more than the Pro Carry II.

Specifications: Height (inches) 90° to barrel: 5.5
Weight (ounces) with empty magazine: 28
Length (inches): 7.7
Magazine capacity: 7
Magazine well
Ambidextrous thumb safety
Recoil spring (pounds): 22
Frame: Material: Aluminum
Finish: Gray anodized
Width (inches): 1.28
Frontstrap checkering (30 LPI)
Checkering under trigger guard (30 LPI)
Slide: Material: Steel
Finish: Matte black oxide
Barrel: Steel match grade
Length (inches): 4
Twist rate (left hand): 16
Sights: Meprolight Tritium 3-dot night, fixed
Radius (inches): 5.7
Grips: Black and silver laminated, logo Trigger: Premium aluminum match grade
Factory setting (approx. pounds): 4-5

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By Scott Smith

Over the last five years, Kimber America has become a leader in the production of 1911s. They have led the field with formerly custom shop touches, i.e., melting the sharp edges, extended safeties, etc. To meet the demand of politicians, Kimber now has a firing pin block safety to allow “importation” into the People’s Republic of California and states that are following the “we need more safety” train of thought.

One of the shining examples of this is the Kimber ProCarry HDII. This is a “commander” sized 1911 with a bushing-less bull barrel lock-up system. The benefit of this design is more weight to the front of the handgun to help dampen recoil. This system is said to aid in more consistent function of the pistol. Without the bushing, there is little chance of the barrel getting galled, a common problem with stainless barrels and bushings.

With the development of the Series II safety system, Kimber has broken new ground. The ProCarry HDII, has been authorized as the duty weapon for the Tacoma, Washington PD. The choice was based on an evaluation of 37 models of handguns, from several major firearms makers of duty type handguns. Makers like Glock, Sig, and Beretta — leaders of the duty sidearm — went up against the Kimber ProCarry HDII, an up start in the police firearms community, and the HDII prevailed.

Several things were considered when the ProCarry HDII was chosen, and amazing as it may sound, the way it fit the officers was considered (which is rare). This was taken into account because many Tacoma officers found the current Berettas to be too large to shoot accurately and comfortably.

Slide and frame showing firing pin block plunger

When testing the Kimbers, 16 different ProCarry IIs were shot, firing 23,000 + rounds. So impressed was the test staff, that they went out and purchased an off-the-shelf Pro Carry II and ran 5K through it. No problems were encountered.

Now the Kimber ProCarry HDII (stainless frame) and the Kimber ProCarry II (alloy frame) are authorized for the Tacoma PD. They may also choose one of three Glocks. This is done to accommodate the individual officer’s preference.

Overall, the ProCarry HDII is an excellent pistol. Fit and finish are excellent. The barrel lock-up is smooth and solid. No surprises encountered. The Tacoma PD model comes with Meprolight night sights in Kimber sights, and provides a good low-light sight picture.

The external finish is matte stainless and is uniform. The Kimber/CMC sights are matte black save for the tritium vials. The grip safety fits well and the ambi-thumb safeties function smoothly and solidly. Since this is a duty piece black rubber grips — they appear to be Pearce — provide a secure grip surface. The mainspring housing is the flat polymer style Kimber uses. The pistol points like any other 1911, quite well.

After a review of the pistol and checking function, it was off to the range. I replaced the flat mainspring housing with an arched mainspring housing — personal preference — and put some skate board tape on the front strap for added grip. These parts dropped right in and we were ready to roll.

The test of how well this pistol ran out of the bow was to see if it would feed 155gr LSWC from LaserCast. Surprisingly, the Kimber ProCarry HDII not only fed them but it put them on target. The 155gr LSWC is a challenge for most non-race pistols to swallow and the ProCarry HDII did it flawlessly.

Our session included running 230gr FMJs from CCI/Blazer, 185gr JHPs from Blackhills, 165gr JHP from CorBon, and several handloads with profiles ranging from 185gr LSWC to 230gr FMJ. All cartridges performed well and were digested without a burp, not bad for a fresh from the box 1911. Our most accurate was Blackhill’s 185grJHP, placing 9 rounds off hand from a Weaver at under 2″ at 15 meters. All other rounds managed to yield 9 round groups that were 3.5″ or less.

So, is the ProCarry HDII a good pistol? Yes. I would feel well armed on duty or off to a local IDPA/IPSC match. The pistol performs to all expected standards. From the tests of the Tacoma PD, it had a less 0.10% failure rate. I would trust my life to it.

I have a special interest in 1911 pistols that make the news. Springfield did it with their FBI Model. Kimber did it with their LA SWAT gun (the Classic II), and, with the approval of the Pro Carry II for issue by the Tacoma police department, the Kimber Pro Carry joined this elite club. The Pro Carry is a gun meant for serious business. Everything about it says, “no nonsense, real world working gun.”

The Pro Carry is grounded in the legacy of the Colt Lightweight Commander. It has an aluminum alloy frame and a steel or stainless steel slide, depending on the model. The pistol under consideration for this review is the stainless steel model. It weighs 28 oz. empty and has a 4” barrel. Unlike the Commander, the Pro Carry is built on a bushing-less bull barrel design. It has the full-size grip of the Government Model M1911A1 and uses the same magazines. It is, however, considerably lighter. The Government Model weighs 39 oz. empty. The difference in weight between an all steel Government Model and the Pro Carry is 11 ounces, but it seems like a lot more. The Pro Carry is much more comfortable to carry than a Government Model or even an all steel compact model. It deserves the name, “Pro Carry.”

The Pro Carry is also richly appointed with the “custom” features that Kimber established as standard configuration: extended MIM beavertail, McCormick style combat sights dovetailed into the slide, flat plastic mainspring housing, long lightweight trigger, expanded ejection port, beveled magazine well, extended thumb safety, over-sized magazine release, match grade and throated bull barrel, McCormick Commander-style hammer, and a full length guide rod. When I started shooting 1911’s, the only way you could get this package of custom features was to buy a Colt and then send it to a custom gunsmith, wait a few months, spending nearly as much as the original price of the gun, and then if you were lucky, you’d get back a pistol furnished with the features it should have had in the first place. Although the Kimber revolution slips rapidly into the realm of history, I retain an appreciation for Kimber for their masterful re-work and evolution of the 1911 pattern. I don’t mean this as a rap on Colt and Springfield, because they have built some great guns, but at that time they seemed to have become somewhat hide-bound in their thinking and it took Kimber to come along and shake things up in terms of what constituted standard design features for M1911 pistols.

Kimber aluminum frames are machined from solid blocks of 7075-T7, the hardest and strongest aluminum alloy available. Moreover, these frames are run on the same machines and hold the same tight tolerances as steel frames. Kimber has tested the alloy frames to 20,000 rounds and claims no “meaningful” wear. In discussions of these lightweight, aluminum-framed guns, the issue of frame cracks always arises. As a matter of historical record, there are still quite a few original Commanders built in 1950 that survive to this day without any cracking. It is also a fact that frame cracks have occurred in aluminum alloy pistols. The problem can be exacerbated using weak recoil springs and shooting large quantities of hot loads.

The critique has been made that alloy-framed guns are “carry a lot and shoot a little” guns. Is this fair? Well, to a certain extent it is. Remember that the Commander was originally designed in 9mm as a replacement for the M1911A1 for the armed forces. The pistol is never considered the primary battle implement by the military. It is a personal security tool for officers, a sidearm for MP’s, and a weapon of last resort for soldiers when everything else is empty or disabled. The Commander quickly became a favorite with civilian law enforcement (at least among those who could get authorized to carry it) because of its combination of light weight and power. Most police officers do not run a thousand rounds a month through their guns. For many soldiers and peace officers, their pistols are “carry a lot and shoot a little.” When you’re humping an 80 lb. pack, a rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammo, and God know what else, every ounce matters.

If your primary mission is to shoot a lot of matches and hundreds of rounds at training and practice sessions, the Pro Carry may not be your ideal gun. Get an all-steel gun for this kind of shooting. (I will add that I haven’t heard a single report so far of a Pro Carry frame cracking.) If you’re looking for a 1911 that is light, powerful, reliable and accurate for carry, the Pro Carry is about as good as it gets. The ideal setup would be a brace of pistols: a Pro Carry for self-defense and a Pro Carry HD (all steel) for practice and training.

Heavier guns are really better for matches and practice. The muzzle settles down quicker for follow up shots, and they absorb more recoil than lightweight guns. On our first session with the Pro Carry, we ran a couple hundred rounds of hardball and several varieties of hollow points in three hours. While I didn’t notice a great difference in the way the gun felt when I fired it, I did find a light bruise around the web of my hand later that night. There is a difference in recoil between the lightweight and the all steel guns.

“I just wish Kimber would’ve come out with this thing when I was still Rangerin’,” Joaquin said, his cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth. “This is what I’d’ve been carrying. It’s the best of both worlds – accurate as my old Model 19, light in weight and with a higher capacity than a wheel gun.” – Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson quoted by Bart Skelton

The Tacoma Tests
The Pro Carry HDII and the Pro Carry II have been authorized as duty weapons for the Tacoma, Washington PD. (Officers also have the choice of one of three Glock models.) The choice was based on an evaluation of 37 models of handguns, from several major firearms makers of duty type handguns. Makers like Glock, Sig, and Beretta – leaders of the duty sidearm – went up against the Kimber Pro Carry HDII, an up-start in the police firearms community, and the HDII prevailed.

Several things were considered when the Pro Carry HDII was chosen, and amazing as it may sound, the way it fit the officers was considered (which is rare). This was taken into account because many Tacoma officers found the Beretta 92 to be too large to shoot accurately and comfortably.

When testing the Kimbers, 16 different Pro Carry II’s were shot, firing 23,000 + rounds. So impressed was the test staff that they went out and purchased an off-the-shelf Pro Carry II and ran 5K through it. No problems were encountered. Other than the Kimbers, pistols had a failure rate as high as 22%. Kimber had the lowest failure rate Tacoma PD has recorded in over 20 years of testing for any type of firearm – less than one half of one percent! They also determined that the Kimber was safer than other test pistols when the safety was in the “on” position. “The Kimbers we tested had the lowest failure rate of any guns I have ever tested or shot, less than 1/10 of 1 percent. We tested 37 different guns and none of the others were even close,” said Sgt. Mark Jenkins, Tacoma Police Range Master.

There is a certain reverence afforded the Army Ordnance Department blueprints of the M1911 pistol, as if these drawings are somehow the Holy Grail of pistol design. I hate to tell you, but it isn’t so. The fact of the matter is that the drawings are really interpretations of what Browning and the master gun makers at Colt did in the Colt shop, back oh so long ago. The process was shop then drawings, not drawings then shop. The first complete set of drawings was done to secure the patent. The subsequent drawings were done to set up manufacturing tools and to send to the subcontractors – Remington UMC, Springfield Armory, North American – so they could set up their tools to build the gun. In 1911, gun design was still more art than what we would recognize as science today.

Where am I going with this? The Kimber pistols are John Browning meets the computer age. The Kimber manufacturing process relies heavily on Computer Numeric Control (CNC). When Kimber set up their manufacturing process for the 1911 pistol, their engineers had to analyze over a hundred part interfaces for reliability and fit. The result of this analysis was a subtle but important re-tooling of the classic design. The payoff is a pistol with excellent reliability and accuracy, distinctly more reliable and accurate than the pattern from which it was derived. The CNC process also insures greater consistency from pistol to pistol, and a tool monitoring technology employed by Kimber enhances the consistency of the process, and further reduces the need for human corrections by hand to the manufactured output.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the beautiful hand-fitted pistols of Colt’s golden age, but we’re a long way from that time today. When we look for an explanation for why the Pro Carry out-performed so many pistols in the Tacoma tests, I believe that the answer may lie with the subtle re-tooling and the CNC process employed by Kimber.

Reliability Testing
On our first range session with the Pro Carry, we had several incidents of the slide failing to lock back on an empty magazine. We isolated this problem to one particular magazine with an out-of-spec follower. The mag would lock back a Colt but the Kimber didn’t like it. (The moral of that story is to always test your mags with the gun you intend to use them with.) Aside from this issue with this particular magazine, the Pro Carry has been flawless. We have run a variety of hollow points and hardball through the gun without a single instance of feed failure, extraction problems or any other kind of malfunction. Kimber seems to have solved the reliability issues that plagued Colt’s commercial production in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. (Colt’s reliability and quality control have improved a lot in recent years.) This is the third Kimber upon which I have done extensive reliability testing, and all three guns have been tremendously reliable without the need for tweaking or gunsmithing. I feel a certain compulsion to get the obligatory 500 rounds through them for reliability testing, but I also have the feeling that it isn’t really necessary with these guns.

Nits to Pick
Kimber uses the metal injection molding process for a number of the internal parts of the gun. These include the slide stop, beavertail, hammer, sear and sights. Metal Injection Molding (MIM) is not greatly different from injection molding of plastic. A solution of metal and a polymer medium is injected into a mold to take a form. The part is then heated to the extent that the plastic medium burns away, leaving just the metal part. MIM parts are reported to be 98% the hardness of milled bar stock steel. However, critics have claimed that the MIM parts are softer than the 98% rating that is claimed. My experience with the Kimbers is that guns that receive heavy use may very well require the replacement of the MIM slide stop at some point. I have received one report of the rear sight cracking, only one. I haven’t received reports of other MIM parts in the Kimbers failing. With normal use, probably none of these parts will fail. I do feel, however, that these guns would be better with bar stock milled slide stops.

Another controversial component of the Kimbers is the plastic mainspring housing. Some users will replace these on the feeling that they are not as durable as steel. I have never had any trouble with the plastic mainspring housings. They are lighter, and actually gentler on the palm of the hand than steel housings. As far as I’m concerned, anything that will reduce the weight on a carry gun without compromising performance is a plus. Also, they don’t rust.

The following is not a nit to pick but rather a praise: the gun that I reviewed was a “Series I,” meaning that it lacks the firing pin block mechanism of the “Series II” guns. Personally, I don’t like the Series II firing pin block. It makes the gun more difficult to strip, adds more parts to break and fail, and addresses a fear that is largely mythological and driven by the psychos in the state of California who demand these sorts of gismos to approve guns for sale in California. The incidents of 1911 pistols being dropped on their muzzles from any realistic height so perfectly that they fire are virtually non-existent. The firing pin of the 1911 just isn’t a safety problem except in the minds of anti-gun lawyers. If you’re really worried about this hypothetical possibility, you can buy an extra-power firing pin spring from Wolff Gun Springs that will insure that no drop will cause the gun to go off.

Accuracy
When I ran into the slide lock problem, I grabbed a handful of magazines and ammo, stepped off seven yards and began testing the mags by loading one round and firing it to see if the magazine would lock the slide. Since I had nearly a dozen mags to test, I worked through them casually, loading, firing at the ocular cavity zone on an IDPA target, then loading the next mag, firing, etc., until I was able to establish for myself that it was an issue of one particular magazine rather than a behavior of the gun. The point of this digression is to say that I wasn’t really paying much attention to where the bullets were going. After I had finished the test and some discussion with my buds about what was causing the magazine to malfunction, I returned to my target and only then noticed that I had shot a ragged hole with just a tiny bit of vertical stringing. I’ll never make the finals at Camp Perry shooting ragged holes at seven yards, but for me, it was pretty decent, and it was done with a gun newly “out-of-the-box” without any trigger work, accuracy work, or even a decent break-in period using bargain basement ammo. This said to me that gun has more than adequate accuracy for its intended purpose.

What I Really Think
The Kimber Pro Carry (Series 1) is truly my favorite pistol. If you told me, “You have to get rid of all of your guns, and only keep one,” after all of my ammunition was expended in trying to drive you off, the choice I would make would be for the Pro Carry. It carries well, shoots well, and looks good. It’s a .45 so you know it will do the job. It has never even hiccoughed in terms of reliability, regardless of the circumstances of the shot or the ammo being used. It’s a dream to maintain because the alloy and stainless isn’t seriously affected by summer sweat or humidity. You can drop it in the water and it’s un-phased (although I don’t recommend that). It is more accurate than I am, and I trust it completely. After many thousands of rounds, it has given me no reason not to trust it.

The Series 1 Pro Carry is the best, most perfect realization of the 1911 concept that I have personally had the opportunity to work with. I will say also, that I do the most of my .45 shooting with an all-steel Combat Commander, Series 70. When my back is flared up, the lighter Pro Carry can get me inflamed. The all steel Combat Commanders and Government Models never do, but they are a bit heavy to pack around all day. When the mission is sending thousands of rounds downrange, all-steel is the way to go. When the mission is 14 hours of concealed carry, the Pro Carry is hard to beat.

A Modern Classic
Modern because of its computer numeric control manufacturing and space age metallurgy, and classic because it’s a true M1911 and the beneficiary of a hundred years of design attention and real-world proving, the Kimber Pro Carry is a modern classic. If I had to go to the store and buy a service sidearm on which I knew I would not have time to do reliability testing – a gun that had to go to work right now – it would be this one.

Specifications
Caliber	.45
Capacity	7 + 1 (or 8 +1 with extra-capacity magazine)
Operation	Single Action M1911-pattern autoloader
Barrel	4″ match grade bull barrel, twist rate 16
Length O/A	7.7″
Height	5.25″
Width	1.28″
Weight	28 ounces
Grip	Black Plastic
Sights	Low profile McCormick combat sights
Finish	Stainless steel slide with aluminum alloy frame
Magazines	1 standard, 7-round
Warranty	Limited Lifetime

 

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After testing several weapons, officers ready to receive updated tools to serve and protect

By Stacey Burns and Russ Carmack

Ninety years ago, the Colt M-1911 handgun debuted in the U.S. military and quickly gained international appeal because of its quickness, accuracy and reliability.

Now, those same qualities have attracted the Tacoma Police Department to an updated 1911-style weapon as one of two handguns that are replacing the Beretta 96Ds issued to the department’s nearly 400 officers.

“We’re the first major police department to transition to the 1911 in 50 years,” said Sgt. Mark Jenkins, the department’s range master and an instrumental player in the selection of the new guns.

The department saw the 1911-style handgun as a lost treasure, ignored by other law enforcement agencies because of its “old-fashioned” image, Jenkins said.

“We found that what had been around for a long time was better,” he said. “We are taking a huge step forward into the past.”

In addition to the Kimber 1911, officers can choose a Glock, which more than half of the state’s law enforcement agencies already use as their firearm.

“These guns allow our officers to go home at the end of the day,” Jenkins said. “I can better protect you because I have the best piece of equipment I can find.

“People need to feel secure. That’s partly our job, that’s partly their job. It creates the fascination in the tools we use.”

Plus, Jenkins said, many gun owners like to buy the same weapons as the police have because they know the department has bought the best guns available.

Tacoma police officials soon will be finalizing the department’s gun orders. The money – a total of $326,000 – will pay for the new weapons, new holsters, ammunition and training. The old Berettas will be traded to Glock or Kimber, or sold to a surplus buyer.

Officers test-fired two Kimber models and three Glocks, then selected one of the five guns as their new weapon. The guns will cost the department between $500 and $650 each, depending on the weapon. The Kimber models are more expensive, Jenkins said.

The new guns are expected in July. During late summer, each officer will receive three 10-hour training sessions. Once officers pass the training, they will trade in their old pistols for the new handguns.

Tacoma is replacing the Berettas because they are starting to wear out. When the department bought the guns in 1992, the manufacturer said they would be good for seven to 10 years, said Sgt. Don Irvin, the department’s former range master.

The department expects the new guns to last as long, Jenkins said.

Across the gun industry, a gun’s life expectancy depends on the model and the number of rounds fired.

“There is no protocol about when you need to replace a gun,” said Seattle police spokesman Clem Benton. “New technology, better weaponry and updating old equipment – a lot of things would go into updating equipment.”

Pierce County sheriff’s deputies have carried the Sig Sauer 226 for 10 years. More than two years ago, the department started issuing new deputies the Glock 17 because the weapon is smaller and fits the hands of more officers, spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Seattle police last replaced their standard-issue handguns in 1994, and officers now carry a Glock 40, Benton said.

Spokane police also carry the Glock 40, which they bought in 1999. The department used revolvers until 1988 and then switched to the 9 mm Glocks for the next 10 years, spokesman Dick Cottam said.

Tacoma began the process of replacing the Berettas last spring, when Jenkins and a committee of department officials started looking for a handgun to replace the Berettas.

“We’ve been eating this, sleeping this and breathing this for 10 months,” Jenkins said.

The group began by collecting every handgun available to law enforcement – 37 different gun models from manufacturers all over the world. One of the group’s guidelines was that “one gun doesn’t fit all,” Jenkins said.

With the addition of more female and minority officers, officials recognized that officers have different-sized hands and strength in their fingers, factors that affect how well they shoot.

The department heard complaints from officers who were having a hard time properly gripping and firing the Beretta, a large gun with a heavy trigger pull. When officers can’t hold a gun properly because of its size, their confidence, control and ability to shoot accurately is reduced, officials said.

Some officers’ bodies couldn’t properly absorb their gun’s recoil when fired.

“I hate this gun,” said patrol officer Helen Coubra, tapping the Beretta in her holster. “I’ve never felt confident with this gun.”

The committee kept such comments in mind when evaluating the 37 gun models. Committee members also worked without limits about the type of gun they were interested in selecting, Jenkins said.

With each model, officials measured the length between the trigger and the back of the grip to determine how easy the weapon was to hold and fire. They also looked at the width of the grip and also at how much strength it took to the pull the trigger.

As part of the tests, more than a dozen officers of varying sizes test fired the guns, each of which went through scores of tests to gauge accuracy, safety and reliability.

“These were all good guns,” Jenkins said. “We wanted the one that fit the most people the best.”

The committee pored over its measurements and test results and came up with the Springfield Armory Champion 1911-A1 as its No. 1 choice. The 1911 is a significantly smaller and lighter gun than the Beretta.

However, because of haggling over the price, the Springfield dropped off the list and the Kimbers surfaced.

The 1911 is named for the year the Armed Forces adopted the gun. Designed by John Moses Browning more than 100 years ago, the 1911 was fast, accurate and reliable. It saw duty in four wars but, as technology advanced, the weapon lost its luster and the military retired the weapon in 1985.

The Tacoma police committee’s other choice was the Glock, a black, polymer handgun whose size is between that of the 1911 and the Beretta.

“It’s simple, easy to shoot, has a good trigger and is inexpensive,” Jenkins said of the Glock.

The Glock and Kimber models went through additional testing involving 2,000 man-hours and 10,000 rounds of ammunition per model. Officers fired the guns without cleaning them, after heating them and in different weather.

“The guns worked dirty, worked hot, worked in inclement weather,” Jenkins said. “It’ll just keep working.”

In March and April, each of the department’s commissioned officers spent more than an hour at the firing range. Range staff members briefed the officers on the five guns and their mechanics.

The officers then went to a work bench, handled each firearm and then “dry fired” the unloaded guns. Afterward, the officers went to the range, shot the five guns and decided which one they wanted.

About 70 percent of the officers chose one of the Glocks; the others selected one of the 1911s.

“I couldn’t miss,” Lt. Stan Fisk said of the .45-caliber Glock 21. “This gun is great.”

Single-action pistol returns to police duty
In replacing their officers’ weapons, Tacoma police have picked a type of pistol some people – law enforcement officers included – once considered unsafe.

But experience and training have proved that a single-action pistol like Kimber’s Pro Carry – one of two brands officers will be carrying later this year – can be just as safe as double-action guns, officials said.

“It was more a matter of poor training than a function of a gun,” Sgt. Don Irvin said of the single-action guns.

One problem was that single-action guns required more steps for law enforcement officers to load, handle and fire the pistols, compared with the classic revolvers they had used for years.

To load a single-action gun like Kimber’s 1911-style pistol, the officer pulls back the slide along the top of the gun. That moves the first round into the chamber and cocks the hammer.

To prevent the gun from firing, the officer manually sets a “thumb safety” that locks the slide and hammer in place and must be flipped down for the gun to fire.

In addition, a “grip safety” locks the trigger and is released only when the officer squeezes the gun’s grip.

A third, internal safety locks the firing pin in place so the gun won’t fire if dropped. Gripping the gun releases the safety.

“The single-action shoots more quickly,” said officer Jim Barrett, a firearms instructor.

The Glock, the other choice available to Tacoma police, incorporates three internal safeties, which are released when the trigger is pulled.

The recoil discharges the empty casing, reloads the pistol and cocks the firing mechanism in a quick move. The officer can fire the pistol by just pulling the trigger.

With a double-action pistol like Tacoma police’s current weapon, pulling the slide and releasing it loads the chamber and a single pull on the trigger first cocks and then releases the hammer every time.

The double-action trigger is heavier and takes more strength and concentration to pull and shoot. Some shooters are not as accurate because they have to squeeze the stiff trigger so hard it pulls their aim off target, experts say.

Nevertheless, law enforcement officials switched to the double-action guns in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A major reason was because of a problem with unintentional discharges with single-action guns nationwide.

When single-action guns emerged on the market, officers didn’t properly engage the manual safeties and didn’t unload the guns completely, which frequently caused the pistols to discharge unintentionally.

“They didn’t take the last bullet out of the chamber,” Irvin said.

In 1992, when Tacoma started looking at getting new guns, Chief Ray Fjetland wanted the department to switch to double-action only firearms because he believed they were safer than single-action pistols.

A committee tested three double-action guns, including the Beretta 96D that was purchased.

“It was the most reliable gun we tested. It shot any brand of ammunition,” said Irvin, who was the range master at the time. “And we got a really, really cheap deal from Beretta.”

Now, with more extensive training programs in place, law enforcement officials say they feel more comfortable switching back to the single-action pistols.

A History Of Tacoma Police Weapons
Over the years, the Tacoma Police Department has issued several different handguns to its officers:

• Before the 1960s: .38-caliber revolver.
• 1960 to mid-1970s: Smith & Wesson, model 10, .38-Special revolver.
• Mid-1970s to 1985: Smith & Wesson, model 15, .38-Special revolver.
• 1985 to 1988: Officers used their owns guns, as long as they met department standards.
• 1988 to 1991: Glock 17, 9 mm pistol.
• 1991 to late 1992: Officers used their owns guns, as long as they met department standards.
• Late 1992 to 2001: Beretta 96D, .40-caliber pistol.
• Coming: Kimber Pro Carry or Pro Carry HD II; or Glock 21, 22 or 23.

* Staff writer Stacey Burns covers Pierce County crime and safety issues. Reach her at 253-597-8268 or [email protected].

Source: The News Tribune

By Darryl L. Rowe

I visited my local dealer with the intention of replenishing my ammo supply and window shopping. Looked to see if there were any Gunsite Service Pistols on the shelf but instead saw a sexy looking number with “Kimber Custom Shop” on the slide. Having seen it, I had to run my hands over it and check the trigger…I vaguely remember staggering out of the store with the feel of overheated plastic in my hip pocket and a box labeled “Kimber.”

A “Series I” version…very smooth. Used? Yes, but apparently very lightly used – I had whipped out the Surefire in the store and scoped out the barrel and inside the mag-well and breech, etc. Some wear (rather, a slight discoloration of the frame where a hand gripped it) and for the rest it was nice and shiny and new-looking. I’d say 98%…no less than 95%. A little powder sludge at the top of the firing pin stop and on the breech face which wiped right off. N-i-ice trigger. Much better than I’m used to on the 1991A1. The Custom Shop brochure in the box was dated 1999.

From a rest, slow-fire, it was probably insulted at my marksmanship ability. Nevertheless, the rounds were in the 8-ring at 25 yards (remember, I haven’t fired in a year). Using an unbraced Weaver hold and standing there I got reasonable “social work” accuracy out to about 15 yards in slow-fire mode but predictably worse if practicing “hammers” or “controlled pairs.” No insurmountable problems and significantly better than my 1991A1 which I used to create a baseline for comparison. The lighter, smoother trigger was most of the advantage in my opinion.

Took it to an impromptu match and it markedly improved my scores (having not fired a shot in almost a year), I was pretty much in the A zone at the 3 and 5 yard marks drawing from concealment on the timer. The sights helped, but a minor gripe is the front sight:

1. The tritium is either going or it wasn’t much to begin with since you can’t see it at night unless you hold the pistol almost up to your nose. The rear dots are easily visible. Perhaps too visible.
2. The front sight dot is harder to pick up than the dots on the rear sight in daylight and forget at night.

I’m very happy, so far. At the 10-yard line I moved outside the A zone a bit, but that is the shooter, not the gun and let’s not mention the 25-yard line (I tried braced kneeling but my hold was wobbly) and let us just say that I was on the paper much more than I would have been with the Colt 1991 I’ve been carrying and using for years. Nothing that can’t be fixed with some serious practice.

Now, being a dedicated Cooper-ite I wanted to make the following changes: 1) replace the ambi thumb safety with a strong-side only thumb safety; 2) replace the long trigger with a short trigger but keep the 3.5-4# break; 3) put on some slimline grips; 4) remove the extended magwell and either replace the mainspring housing or put a set-screw in it to protect the magwell threads (just in case); and 5) do something about that front sight.

Sobbing… when I got home from the match, I unholstered the pistol so I could clear it and clean it. The nice, pretty 30-lpi frontstrap checkering was “red” where it had touched my shirt. (Note: my 1991A1 has never done this in almost eight years of similar use.) So…liberal application of BreakFree and toothbrush cleaned it right up. Used up some Surefire battery time inspecting the pistol for any other places where it might need attention and found none. Okay, we’ll get sweaty and see what happens – one day and no problems, second day and a hint of color shows up – so I’d have to wipe it down daily with BreakFree where I had been dry-wiping the Colt and using BreakFree as little as once a week under similar circumstances, at least wiping condensation and sweat off at the end of the day with cloth where the Kimber tempted me to leave it oozing with BreakFree (well, maybe not “oozing” but …).

Did some research and it appears Kimber uses a higher carbon content in their stainless to make it easier to machine while making it less corrosion resistant. Supposedly Springfield and Colt use better mixes. So, okay I start thinking about having the gun hard chromed to make it better stand up to my “super” sweat. (Yes, being a Naval veteran I’m still somewhat…salty. )

Hmmmm. Replace safety, trigger, grips, front sight; remove magwell, hard chrome … Hey, this isn’t such a deal anymore! I could probably upgrade the 1991A1 to what I want for less than the Kimber cost already. And hard chroming would probably require some tweaks and break-in to account for the accretion layer of chrome (I guess). Hmmm….

Okay, that was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back… the Kimber is out of here. I don’t buy “stainless” merely to keep on performing “blued carbon steel” preventive maintenance. I’m spoiled by the 1991A1’s forgiving nature and just don’t want to deal with a need to do a close inspection and scrubdown if I miss a day or just get outside of my normal A/C environment and sweat it up. After 30 minutes on the treadmill I can touch it and see it discolor – and for that matter my Defender and AMT DAO Backup have even been on the treadmill with me – something I’d never consider now with the Kimber.

Love the Kimber Gold Combat Stainless – always will – hate the steel they used. If you aren’t overweight and a sweat-a-holic, and/or carry in other than an IWB rig you’ll probably love it too. Tom Givens is giving a class next month and that should help me get my marksmanship headed back in the right direction. As for the equipment, adapt and overcome with the 1991A1….

[Editor’s Note] I got a lot of e-mail about this article and the issue of corrosion on stainless steel. A number of readers pointed out that they had suffered corrosion on stainless Colts and Springfield Armory pistols. I have carried a stainless and alloy Kimber Pro Carry for quite some time and I have never suffered any problems with staining or corrosion and I have carried it in very sweaty, humid situations. My son, on the other hand, can just look at metal and cause it to corrode. He actually stains chrome plated Craftsman wrenches when he works with them. He raised rust spots on my Remington 870 with that flat black whatever-it-is finish they’re using these days, and it’s tough. On a recent camping trip, I opened a package of MRE fruit with my Benchmade Ares and its 154CM stainless blade, and it left a nasty blue stain across the blade. We all have different body chemistry and there is really no such thing as truly “stainless steel.” All “stainless” has a certain amount of carbon in it and there will always be some combination of chemistry and conditions that can stain or corrode it. I guess the moral of the story is to treat “stainless steel” as if it weren’t and coat it with a corrosion resisting oil like Mil-Comm.