Let me start off by my not-so-success story.........
Earlier this year I was able to acquire a NIB, never fired Series I Classic Custom (built in mid '97 I believe). I was happier than the veritable pig in **** - until I shot it. Multiple FTF's (even after the "break-in period") and there was something serisously wrong with the sights (shot very far down and to the left. Wasn't me as I had 2 other USPSA shooters shoot it with the same results). My heart was absolutely broken. After some extractor tweaking, polishing of the breachface, taking 20 thousandths off the front sight and installing an MMC rear (and replacing the front with another stock Kimber front), it finally ran like it was supposed to and shot where it was supposed to. I wasn't real pleased that I had to do this much to the "Holy Grail" of Kimbers. I've yet to become fully confident in it for some reason even though I've got about 1,000 trouble-free rounds through it since the work's been done. Perhaps in time....
Now to the Series II. It was with great hesitation that I acquired a Stainless TLE II after reading about all the problems with the Series II. The deal was smokin' and I simply would have been a fool to pass it up. I decided to take 500 rounds (Remington, Federal, Independance and my IDPA/USPSA reloads) and break it in in one go. I cleaned it real good, oiled it up so that it was slingin' the stuff. Shot 200, cleaned, shot another 200, cleaned and another 100.
To put it simply -
* Not one FTF or FTE.
* Absolutely accurate, giving me 2-3" groups at 25 yards offhand.
* Performed app. 300 various draw drills to see if the Series II safety system would give me any hiccups with poor grabs - not one failure to fire, even with some rather "off" grabs.
* Performed app. 10 Bill Drills at 10 yards - rewarded with good times and good hits.
* Used factory Kimber mags, KimPro Tac Mags, Springer mags, and some cheapo $5.00 gun-show-specials. Not one hiccup.
So in a nutshell, it seems as though I've experience the oppposite of what so many others have seemed to. I find it a bit odd, but nevertheless, my faith in Kimber has gone up a couple notches.
Earlier this year I was able to acquire a NIB, never fired Series I Classic Custom (built in mid '97 I believe). I was happier than the veritable pig in **** - until I shot it. Multiple FTF's (even after the "break-in period") and there was something serisously wrong with the sights (shot very far down and to the left. Wasn't me as I had 2 other USPSA shooters shoot it with the same results). My heart was absolutely broken. After some extractor tweaking, polishing of the breachface, taking 20 thousandths off the front sight and installing an MMC rear (and replacing the front with another stock Kimber front), it finally ran like it was supposed to and shot where it was supposed to. I wasn't real pleased that I had to do this much to the "Holy Grail" of Kimbers. I've yet to become fully confident in it for some reason even though I've got about 1,000 trouble-free rounds through it since the work's been done. Perhaps in time....
Now to the Series II. It was with great hesitation that I acquired a Stainless TLE II after reading about all the problems with the Series II. The deal was smokin' and I simply would have been a fool to pass it up. I decided to take 500 rounds (Remington, Federal, Independance and my IDPA/USPSA reloads) and break it in in one go. I cleaned it real good, oiled it up so that it was slingin' the stuff. Shot 200, cleaned, shot another 200, cleaned and another 100.
To put it simply -
* Not one FTF or FTE.
* Absolutely accurate, giving me 2-3" groups at 25 yards offhand.
* Performed app. 300 various draw drills to see if the Series II safety system would give me any hiccups with poor grabs - not one failure to fire, even with some rather "off" grabs.
* Performed app. 10 Bill Drills at 10 yards - rewarded with good times and good hits.
* Used factory Kimber mags, KimPro Tac Mags, Springer mags, and some cheapo $5.00 gun-show-specials. Not one hiccup.
So in a nutshell, it seems as though I've experience the oppposite of what so many others have seemed to. I find it a bit odd, but nevertheless, my faith in Kimber has gone up a couple notches.
