Made it to the Range . . .

Dumped 50 rounds of 115 grain 9mm through the Kimber Solo Carry – the first 3 magazines or so really sucked – essentially a single shot pistol . . .

After the first 20 or so rounds it settled down and ran decent – don’t even look at the slide release while firing – you will lock the slide back . . .

At ten yards – the center of mass shots were the pistol – the brain bucket shots were from Cody’s Rough Rider Rancher – it wasn’t till I got home that I realized I didn’t get any pics of it – an absolute hoot to shoot!

Grabbed this from Heritage’s web site . . .

So now it’s bath time –

Got pretty grunged out on 50 rounds – and yes ( thank you Kimber! ) the lines you see are machining marks . . .

Bottom line with the Kimber? – just say no to it – I wouldn’t trust my life with it – nor would I advise you to trust your life with it – But Bruce – the Kimber fits so good in my pocket! – Really?? – get a S&W 642 and carry it with the confidence and peace of mind that it WILL go bang 5 times if needed . . .

With that out of the way – on to the really fun part . . .

10 rounds / 7 yards with the Taurus 605 – 5 rounds with Fiocchi 158 grain ( about 1400 FPS ) – the holes that appear a little bigger are with the PPU 158 grain jacketed hollow points – rated at 1607 FPS . . .

Cody was just about out of the fun zone after these 10 rounds . . .

These next 10 are all full power rounds @ 4 yards – Cody shot 5 – I shot 5 – hammer back and fire – 1 round per second – that one hit in the 9 ring was Cody’s 5th shot – the flinch thing was getting to both of us by this point . . .

I put the grips on the Taurus thinking it would settle into the web of the hand better – trying to mitigate some of the recoil – factory grips are underneath in this next pic . . .

Did the new grips make a difference? I went from no way I’m shooting that again to I would consider grabbing it instead of a knife – I am going to pick up a set of Ergo Grips for a S&W J frame and will have to slightly modify them to fit – hopefully that will make it shootable – I just don’t see it ever being a “fun” shooter with full power loads no matter what is done to it . . .

Let me add just one more thing here – my worst day at the range beats the Hell out of my best day at work – When was YOUR last trip to the range??

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Kimber “Quality”?

The Kimber SOLO CARRY STS is sold as a pocket pistol – chambered in 9mm – 6 plus one in the chamber – yes siree Bob – 7 rounds of 9mm on tap – super high tech – if it will run more than 3 rounds . . .

Came to me with the slide not able to be racked backward more than 5/8 of an inch – that was as far as it would go . . .

Several issues are engineered into the piece . . .

No sweet spot or machining on the barrel lug to set the recoil spring assembly in the right position . . .

Pretty much wherever it is when you put it ( or attempt to ) back together is where it is – really Kimber?

The recoil spring guide rod actually seats into a pocket on the frame – if it is positioned correctly on the barrel lug when you put the slide back on – if the guide rod doesn’t position correctly it will hang up on the “lip” of the pocket and will be crooked enough at the far end that it will bind on the slide and try to stop the slide from cycling to the rear more than about 5/8 of an inch . . .

Simple solution – bevel the sides of the pocket 45 degrees – no lip – just make it the right diameter at the bottom of the bevel – Oh Wait – that would require several more machining steps – or Heaven Forbid !! – someone with a skill set might have to fingerprint ( handle/manipulate ) the pistol to polish or otherwise “fit” it together . . .

For what these cost you would think they WOULD NOT have issues built into them <<CLICK HERE – THE PRICES ARE STUPID FOR WHAT YOU ARE GETTING >>

Same guy has a 20 plus year old Kimber 1911 – other than a recoil spring replacement I recommended – it will be running 20 years from now – New Kimbers??? Let me put it this way – take the number of Kimbers sitting on the shelf in 5 Cabelas stores – just 5 – that is more pistols than Kimber made in a year 20 years ago – Why do you think I don’t own a single recent Kimber – new or used?

Now comes the fun (?) part – go to the range and dump a 100 rounds through it . . . Finish the manufacturing process in other words – If it will run that long . . .

But wait – there is fun in store – I have a new set of grips for my Taurus 605 and some FULL power .357 Magnum loads for it – Fireballs are Us – OH BOY!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember = Fish Heads are Cheap!!