Kimber Custom II

Well, what can you say about a nice 1911 style gun? It is, of course, great. Accurate, feels good in the hand, and everyone says "Ooo, those are a nice". Now I know there are plenty of people that think a 1911 is only good if its a Colt or Springfield or whatever. Around here, Kimbers are very well liked.

Story time.

I had no desire to own a 1911 or a .45acp in any format. I thought the former was old, washed up, clunky, and heavy, and the latter was just huge. However, I was scheduled to go on a hiking trip in possible "bear country" and thought I would like to bring something a little stronger than 9mm. I decided to get a .45acp, and since I was stupid and wasn't thinking about the fact that they come in all sorts of polymer based pistols which are quite affordable and light- I set out to buy me a 1911. Price was everything so I settlted on no other but....

Taurus.

I had been to 3 different stores, everyone recommended a kimber, but I thought, nah, too much. I headed to a store and had them cracking open a Taurus for me. While they were, I saw a gun I hadn't noticed before. It was another Kimber, the Kimber Custom II. And it wasn't so darned expensive!

The Kimber was $699, the Taurus was $549. There were two things I wanted in my 1911- beaver tail and nightsites. It had a beavertail. No other decent brands that I stumbled across did. Sure, the Taurus had all the bells and whistles- including nightsites- and I'm sure its a fine gun- but I didn't need every option.

I'm thinking at this point...$150 to upgrade from Taurus to Kimber. If a good gun lasts a lifetime......$150 isn't a big deal. And I'd say the Kimber has a better chance at longevity. Though nightsites would be another chunk of money, I decided to go for it. Kimber it was. The salesmen were happy to upgrade me I'm sure.

And thus I discovered 1911s! Or should I say, I discovered what a trigger pull can be? The 1911 is an old design, but man does it make for a good platform. The Kimber shoots well, and I love the trigger on it (of course).

Suddenly falling in love with the look of an ol' 1911, I immediately ordered rosewood grips for it. Though they have the Kimber logo on, it seemed to give it more of a classic look than the black rubber. I also added Trijicon nightsites since I planned on using it as a defensive type gun.

The darn thing shoots amazing. My friend who is a police officer took me out shooting. He shot a Glock 22, and I shot my Kimber. Now, of course he is at a natural disadvantage against me with a totally different trigger. And I don't think the average policeman would want to carry a 1911. But the long story short is I shot quite a bit better than the policeman. My groups were really quite great.

The only drawback- hollowpoints. I've only tried one type of HP, but I get at least one failure to feed in every mag. That's right, every mag. I need to try some other types though, and intend to. For now, there are FMJs in it.

Ironically, I never took it hiking, as I determined bears were not the primary worry, mountain lions were. Since weight was a huge deal, I ended up taking my G17 with DPX rounds.

Since that was the case, I debated selling, and even had a proposed buyer. Everyone was saying, "don't sell that gun", and I knew it might be a mistake. I intended to sell, fully knowing that someday down the road, I'd get another 45. Well, decided making a buck now and spending 2 later didn't make much sense. Even my non-shooting girlfriend hi-fived me when I decided to keep it.

The only bummer- have you seen the cost of ammo lately? .45acp especially is just crazy. That was another driving factor to sell (really the main one). But, I'm young, and hopefully my income will increase. However, the cost of ammo has me seriously considering reloading, so I am keeping an eye out for used stuff for sale.

All in all though, really can't go wrong with this one!