Kimber Warrior

[Brad VanHorn]

Well, I finally broke down last night and went to buy a Kimber Warrior. After much abuse of my credit card, a nice shiny Kimber Warrior now sits patiently waiting for me to take it to D.R.s to shoot the crap out of it :D . When I've wrung it out a little - today perhaps, if I'm fortunate - I'll post a review here for any who might be interested in this model. If you have any questions up front, post 'em here and I'll try to answer...

[A. L. Shear]

Congrats Brad.

Make sure you give it enough range time. Remember, Help is just an hour away my friend>:D

[Brad VanHorn]

So, over the last two weeks I've picked up a new Kimber Warrior and a new Kimber Aegis (5"). Yesterday I finally got to go to the range and give them a try. These are my first impressions after 225 rds, and 4 hours in the emergency room later...

Kimber Warrior - I am less impressed than before I started. I guess I must say my chief complaint is a self inflicted wound, because I knew the gun was configured this way when I bought it. I'm a Marine, and I had good friends in Det 1, so I understand the design specs on the gun. However, why a $1,100 gun doesn't have front strap checkering, serrations, or something, is beyond me. The front strap became quite slick once my hands got sweaty, which was almost immediately in the 95+ deg heat, and thus making it challenging to keep the gun from squirming around. Further, the grip panels came loose after about 25 rds, which was annoying, although it didn't interfere with shooting. Unfortunately I didn't have an allen set on me, so I couldn't do anything at the time to tighten the grip screws. I fired 100 rds, including 80 rds Georgia Arms 230gr FMJ, and 20 rds Winchester 230gr SXT (the so-called LE load) JHP. The gun choked four times: one failure to feed (from a Wilson mag no less) and three failures to chamber. The gun is still very tight, and should loosen up after some additional shooting. However, I am rather disappointed, because I think a gun at this price point shouldn't have malfunctions right out of the box.

Future changes I'm already planning include replacing the flat mainspring housing with an arched version, replacing the grip panels (just because I don't really like the look of the factory panels), as well as getting some checkering, stippling, or serrations on the front strap. I'll have to refinish the frame after the front strap mod, and I'm thinking about Robar NP3. I've got some time to think it over...

Now my final point - 4 hours in the emergency room. Despite wearing eye protection, which I always do, something was flung into my right eye, and it quite stubbornly stuck there. I had to have a doctor remove the piece of debris, which then left a minor abrasion on the surface. I had to follow-up with opthomology today, and thankfully there is no long term damage. Although the debris managed to get past my glasses, it might've been worse had I not worn them at all, and so I consider this just another example of why we should always wear eye pro :)

[Brad VanHorn]

I got to the range this afternoon and put another 100 rds through the Kimber Warrior. Here are some added impressions:

On this trip I fired 100 rds of PMC Bronze 230gr FMJ. Like before, the gun choked four times: all failures to chamber. The round gets about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way into the chamber, then hangs up. A firm push on the back of the slide would force the round to fully chamber. Further, the gun choked numerous times when releasing the slide on a fresh magazine, regardless of whether I used the slide release or if I did a slingshot of the slide.

As mentioned in my previous post, the front strap gets quite slick when the heat rises and the hands get sweaty. However, yesterday I replaced the factory grip panels, which feel slick and "plasticky" (technical term :) ), and installed some nice checkered panels which provided much better grip. So, the slick front strap wasn't much of a problem this time, but I still think this gun will benefit from some nice 25 or 30 LPI checkering.

Everyone has a preference for mainspring housings, and mine is the arched checkered version. Unfortunately, this gun came with a flat checkered version, so I need to replace the mainspring housing.

The trigger feels quite nice on the gun. I don't have the necessary gauge to measure the trigger pull, but it's not heavy. The pull also breaks pretty cleanly for a stock trigger, without any vague feelings or excess travel. It's not a match trigger, but it's acceptable as is... for now anyway :)

The ambi safety lever is just a tiny bit loose on the right side. This falls outside my rudimentary knowledge, so this is an issue for inspection - and repair if needed - by a professional gunsmith.

After shooting, detailed cleaning and inspection, and shooting again, it appears to my amateur eyes the malfunctions are probably due to the feed ramp angle & some sharp edges. Breaking the edges and doing some light polish and adjustment of the ramp by a professional (definitely not me :) ) should probably stop the rounds from getting hung up when feeding into the chamber.

Future changes I'm planning include replacing the mainspring housing with an arched version, getting some 30 LPI checkering (maybe 25 LPI), and I'm still thinking about Robar NP3 for a refinish job. A trigger job and throat & polish are almost certain to be on the work order as well.

[Brad VanHorn]

I called Kimber today and discussed the malfunctions - now I'm sending the Warrior back to them for warranty service. I'm sure the fix will be simple, but as someone once said to me, make them provide you with a product that works! While they have the gun for the warranty service, I'm going to have them do a trigger job, checker the front strap, install a new arched mainspring housing with integral magwell, blend the magwell, and refinish the frame and small parts in dark grey KimPro finish. The gun will probably be gone for a month or two, but I'll post again when the gun returns and I see the revamped package.

[Brad VanHorn]

I decided I'd shoot the Warrior one more time before I sent it back for service, so I went to the range during lunch today and put another 100 rds of Georgia Arms 230gr FMJ through the Gun. I now admit I'm a bit perplexed... I had purposefully left the gun dirty from the previous range trip because I was thinking I'd shoot it one more time (as I did) and I wanted to see how it would function dirty. Today I had not one single malfunction in 100 rds. Maybe the gun needs to be dirty to function correctly :confused: . Anyway, after I clean it I'm going to send it back to Kimber to have them check it out, and also do the custom work I want.