I'm not sure what finish your Kimber has, but my Kimber Custom Compact (all steel) has a black finish. It is not regular bluing, and it doesn't appear to be as durable as bluing, as far as holster wear is concerned. However, it has shown zero tendency to rust. This is my primary carry gun, and I'm not worried about holster wear.

Each time I clean the gun, I lube it with Militec-1. When I'm done, I just run the used Q-tip or patch on the outside of the pistol and then wipe it off. If I don't shoot the pistol for a while, I'll rub the outside down with a silicon cloth.

 

i have a custom. about a year old.
has the same matte black finish that yours does.
i have never carried this gun, never even put it in a holster.
it spends most of its time in a zippered gun rug, and the amount of wear it shows is shocking.
the front of the slide, near the muzzle, has some bright spots. some more near the moving parts (under the safety and slide release). surprisingly, it shows no sign of corrosion at all.
kind of reminds me of the matte blue finish on the sig-sauer "classic" series. it looks really nice, but offers little in the way of protection.
if i had it to do all over, i'd have ponied up the extra $50 and gotten the stainless model.
good luck.

 

The black finish is a black oxide applied to a bead blasted surface. It is similar to a parkerized finish as far as durability goes. My new fullsize model shows holster wear already.

Your new blaster will require a bit more preventative maintenance than a Glock or a stainless steel weapon. I normally wipe my Kimber down every evening because it gets carried next to my sweaty body all day. I use either FP-10 or Break-Free CLP.

Black-T is probably the most durable and maintenance free finish currently available, although the Boron Carbide finish from BodyKote and the finish that Kevin Mclung is currently using may be better. Black-T is the standard by which all other finishes are judged, and has a very good reputation and a user list that includes the U.S. military and the FBI HRT.

Keep your handgun stocks clean and dry and they'll be fine. Break-Free CLP and FP-10 will not harm them.

Hope this helps,
Clay

www.gunoil.com
www.break-free.com

 

I have the Classic model and the frame and Beaver tail were starting to show some wear. I took it and had a melt treatment and complete bead blasting ( lightly) done and then used Brownell's Moly-Teflon in Matte Black. It came out great and from what I understand very few if anything can harm this finish.
It wasn't that hard to do, you just have to make sure that everything is CLEAN.
Bobb