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New Double Stack 1911 Offering From Kimber

By coincidence I pickup up a new Kimber KDS9C just yesterday. I haven't had a chance to take it to the range but hope to tomorrow if the weather permits.
I was a bit disappointed at first. The pistol looks great with the two tone silver finish and beautiful G10 grenade style grips, but the overall action seemed a bit stiff. I took it home and found out why. It was the dirtiest new pistol I've ever purchased. The outside had oil on the gun, but the internal parts were mostly dry. It had two or three brown crusty spots that looked like dirt and oil had combined and dried into a hard surface.
I immediately thoroughly cleaned and lubed it and now it's like a new gun. When I rack the slide, it's much smoother, not the silky smoothness that many 1911 style pistols have after being broken in, but much improved. The trigger reminds me of the trigger on my Prodigy, not great but not bad either. It's a bit heavy for my tastes at a very consistent 4# with a typical 1911 style trigger feel with a short take up, a short reset, and a crisp but somewhat heavy trigger. I'm sure it will improve with use. The grip is very comfortable. It's not a large nor as square as the Prodigy, but has a slightly smaller, more rounded feel that is very comfortable. The G10 grips don't have the same grippy feel of the sandpaper style grips on the Prodigy, but between the beaver tail and the bump on the bottom front of the grip your hand is locked into position with no chance of slipping. It's a very comfortable grip IMO.
Overall the quality is great. The machining seems well done, everything is tight and operates as it should. The safety has a very solid, audible click when operated on or off. The fluted bull barrel is amazing to look at with it's deep crowned barrel and the finish on the pistol is flawless. My only real criticism, other than how dirty is was, is that it is similar to how the Prodigy was at first and just needs a lot of shooting to completely break it in, and that's not really a problem. Other than that I'm well satisfied so far.
IMO the KDS9C is similar to the Prodigy in several aspects. Price is very similar at a $1499 MSRP. I was able to find one less than $1300 with it just being introduced. It seems to be a quality pistol that like the Prodigy, doesn't come from the factory with the polished, silky smooth action that many high dollar pistols do, but will greatly improve with use. If someone wanted to do a little polishing here and there and a little trigger work, I have no doubt that it would improve greatly.
One more thing. The mag capacity is only 15 + 1, but Kimber has announced that an 18 round mag is in the works. I've already seen magazines for this new Kimber in the $35 range, so that's pretty reasonable considering that it is a DS. Just guessing, but if Kimber is already saying that a 18 round mag is coming out, I wonder how long it will be before a full size KDS9 is available.
 

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Regardless what anyone thinks of this Kimber, the 1911 DS world is exploding.
SA really blew everyone's socks off with the Prodigy and Staccato has been hot for years.
Now we have the DW DWX and the DWX compact, which this KDS9C is a direct competitor. Rumored to be coming out is a CZ Shadow 2 compact, which isn't a 1911 relative, but it's close enough.
And that doesn't even mention the Wilson Combat offerings, although that one is almost double the price of these factory models.
Yeh, the 1911 DS market is exploding. If this continues, it'll be like the polymer striker pistols, everyone will make one. The only real disadvantage is the price, but with Prodigys and now Kimber DSs selling for less than $1300 the price gap is closing.
 
One thing I forgot that I hate about the KDS9C....it has a loaded chamber indicator........I can't figure out why manufacturers put those stupid blow holes on their pistols. They are useless unless you shine a flashlight on them to see and they blow **** all over your red dot. 😡
 
Interesting for sure and it'll probably sell well, but sort of odd specs wise in my opinion.

It's like they made a hybrid between a carry pistol and a range plinker. Aluminum frame... but stainless steel slide, bull barrel but fluted and only 15rd mags that are proprietary. It's not exactly small either.

Very much dislike the mags being proprietary when there's already several different manufacturers that take the same mags or other manufacturers mags in the 2011 / 1911 DS market.

Really strange spec sheet honestly, but the price point is nice. I welcome more competition in the 1911 DS / 2011 Market.
The gun scribe with NRA took a model 92 mag , and made it work with a little material out of the catch hole.
 
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