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.