Are Kimbers junk now?

[Mango]

I know it is a buyers market now for firearms but I am seeing a lot of Kimbers for about 600-700 bucks used...

I remember Kimbers being on the higher end of production 1911 about 5 years ago....what happened? Did quality drop or just the current market

[jakebrake]

a combination of recurring issues, internet fables being taken as gospel, and a crappy market...that'd be my summation.

[normanvin]

6 to 700 is still good amount. How much is a used ruger or remington going for?

[jakebrake]

normanvin, 6 to 700 for a pistol that sold new for twice that is a bangin deal.

problem is, as a trade in, you got your balls kicked in, if that's what it's selling for.

[Detox]

I paid $719 for my Custom II about 2 years ago. Cheapest of the Kimber offerings. Aside from it getting dirty at the range and one instance where the firing pin channel was dirty its been a fine gun. I hear stories from time to time about their reliability but after about 1,000 rounds I would buy it again. Shooting some comparably priced Springers and R1 I know I like the Kimber trigger a bit better.

[JAKIII]

normanvin, 6 to 700 for a pistol that sold new for twice that is a bangin deal.

problem is, as a trade in, you got your balls kicked in, if that's what it's selling for.

Could they have been overpriced at "twice that" and the current pricing is actually more reasonable?

Nothing like a cooling of the marketplace to knock pricing back down to size.

[jakebrake]

overpriced? a little. it kind of depends on what model Kimber. the high ends are a rip off. mid-range and "lower end" are usually a pretty solid shooter for a little too much money.

kimber is rapidly becoming an edsel. they are too overpriced for the lower end, and not high enough quality for the really higher end.

not a good place to be.

[harold63]

This one: http://www.kimberamerica.com/1911/cu...super-match-ii is hardly junk, but it isn't cheap. It's as close as you're going to get to a custom shop gun, but without the custom shop price. Lightening the trigger pull weight is really all that needs to be done to it if you desire something in the 3 lb range. This is a semi custom gun that's all forged stainless with no plastic MSH. Parts fit is superb, inside and out.

FWIW, you can take a fully forged PT 1911 and tune it and have a pistol as good for less than half the price. The only problem with that is it will not say 'Kimber' on it. That is still a big deal to some people.

A Kimber SM under the seat of my Benz...sweet. JMHO

[G17-5291]

overpriced? a little. it kind of depends on what model Kimber. the high ends are a rip off. mid-range and "lower end" are usually a pretty solid shooter for a little too much money.

kimber is rapidly becoming an edsel. they are too overpriced for the lower end, and not high enough quality for the really higher end.

not a good place to be.

That's what I have heard, that the quality just isn't there for the price; that a lot of them need work right out of the box to run right, etc., but then again I have never shot one or handled one that I can recall.

[jakebrake]

I currently own my second kimber. it's a yonkers gun. raptor II (that's the fullsize). solid shooter.

first kimber was a Clackamas gun. paperweight.

finish has been an issue for kimbers. customer service is world class 90% of the time. other ten percent hovers on insultive.

the high end kimbers are not the value that a comparably priced dw, springer, etc are...let's call it for what it is. if they were less expensive, it'd be another story.