rwg3 wrote:I tried a Kimber compact as the first .45 pistol I ever shot. It is a great pistol. A 5'' model is number two on my list right now.
I am sorry that your Sig experience was not satisfactory. Upon reflection would you consider the problems you encountered to be endemic to the design and production, or a bad individual weapon? I have read that some of the early production runs when Sig first brought out their line-up had issues.
Thanks
I don't really know. I bought the pistol as a CPO gun, and it had a brand new barrel and other parts in it. I was the first owner after it had been factory refurbished, and it really was like buying a brand new pistol. It was a very attractive gun, but it just jammed all the time, and nothing seemed to fix the problem. I spent some gunsmithing money on it, but to no avail, and I finally decided that it was an overrated piece of crap and traded it in. When I say "jammed al the time," I mean
ALL the time. I was never able to get more than 2 or 3 shots in a row off without a jam. Sometimes it was FTF, other times it was FTE. There never seemed to be any logic to it. I paid $699 for the gun. After about 6 months or so, I got $569 in trade for it, which I used as store credit toward the $929 I paid for my Stainless Ultra Carry II. So I wrote off the $130 and called it an expensive lesson in buying Sig 1911s.
I bought the pistol based on Sig's impressive reputation, assuming that they knew how to build a 1911, but I didn't do any research on Sig 1911 reliability or other issues. Shame on me.
After I tried shooting it and experience multiple failures, I started doing research on them, and that is when I learned that there was an ongoing reputation for problems with these pistols. Sig may have dealt with the problem, and perhaps their 1911s are now as reliable as anybody else's. They are undeniably attractive guns. And, when I could get mine to fire, it was VERY accurate—more accurate than my Kimber. But it was completely unreliable, and I was afraid to carry it. Given that I had such a bad experience, and given that they are very expensive guns, I probably will never again risk the purchase price of another Sig 1911. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
My 3" Kimber UC II has been a wonderful pistol. My son's Kimber Pro Raptor has been flawless. His fiancé's Pro Carry II has been flawess. My friend who bought a Pro Carry II on my recommendation has had nothing but perfection from it. Pretty much everybody I know who owns a Kimber is very satisfied with it. In fact, the
only bad experiences I've ever read of with Kimbers have been posted on this forum, and those are few and far between. Mine came with a flawed part, of which the factory was already aware that some of their pistols had shipped with this part. I phone them, and the replacement part—the slide stop lever—was in my mailbox a few days later and it dropped right in...no fuss, no muss. I have read of complaints about Kimber customer service, but my own experience with them was entirely positive.
I would never recommend a Sig 911 to anybody I cared about. I would not hesitate to recommend a Kimber 1911 to anyone I cared about. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. Your mileage may vary, and all that stuff.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
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