Kimber's Stainless II 1911: One Classy Shooter

Estimated studying time: 7 minutes

Upfront, there are two necessary factors to make about Kimber America’s Stainless II – Excessive Polished.

First, this can be a high-quality 1911, chambered in .38 Tremendous, and may be very correct. This dependable semi-automatic motion sports activities a first-class set off, superb sights, and lots of extra constructive options.

Second, sure, one might very properly assume that the flashy stainless-steel body and slide, plus the ivory-style grips, make the pistol appear to be the sidearm of a drug boss within the Netflix present, Narcos. I view the Stainless II as elegant, however I perceive the cartel assumption!

Kimber’s Stainless II 1911—classy-looking or cartel prepared?

Full Dimension

Kimber America’s Stainless II is a full-sized 1911 and contains a 5.25-inch barrel and a chrome steel match-grade bushing. The body and slide are additionally stainless, with a extremely polished end. Lengthwise, the pistol is available in at slightly below 9 inches, and unloaded ideas the scales at 38 ounces.

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The ammunition capability is 9+1, and the journal properly gently bevels. Sights popped properly with white dots entrance and rear setting off the black rear blade. The artificial grips are, as famous, ivory coloured and really clean.

nine-round magazine with ammo — The nine-round journal masses simply by hand.

Kimber added an aluminum, 3-hole match-grade set off. The gunmaker’s specs have the set off pull at 4- to 5-pounds, however mine snapped off at a really clear 2-pounds, 5 ounces on common. Nice set off.

Safety System on Kimber handgun — Commonplace 1911 security system: one guide security, one grip.

Safeties embody a guide butterfly on the rear and left of the body and a regular 1911-style grip security.

Ammo For the Kimber Stainless II

I had issue discovering .38 Tremendous ammunition the place I dwell in north-central Wisconsin. I managed to find Federal Ammunition America Eagle loaded with a 115-grain jacketed hole level bullet, and Remington UMC, and a 130-grain full metallic jacket. As these are .38 Tremendous rounds, loaded as much as 36,500 kilos per sq. inch, they’re by definition +P.

.38 Super ammo from Remington and American Eagle — McCombie solely positioned two manufacturers of .38 Tremendous for his analysis.

Of observe, the .38 Tremendous is just not a juiced-up model of the .38 Particular. The .38 Spl. was particularly designed for revolvers and the .38 Tremendous for semi-automatic pistols. The .38 Tremendous was a extra highly effective tackle the .38 ACP.

Anyway, the bigger level right here is that the .38 Tremendous and .38 Spl. usually are not interchangeable in firearms.

Beveled magwell on Kimber handgun — The magwell’s beveling on the sides made for simple journal insertion.

I suppose one might contemplate the American Eagle a self-defense load, given the jacketed hollow-point bullet. However Federal itself categorizes this load as made for “Goal Capturing.”

Self-defense rounds in .38 Tremendous? An internet search finds it made by Buffalo Bore, Cor-Bon (although listed as “out of inventory” after I searched), Doubletap, Underwood Ammo, and Winchester. Minimal self-defense choices can be found in .38 Tremendous in comparison with the 9mm, .357 Magazine. and .45 AUTO. Simply as clearly, not lots of it’s made.

A degree to contemplate for anybody out there for the Stainless II or pistols of the identical caliber.

Ballistics

Ammunition availability apart, the .38 Tremendous is one stable spherical.

A fast scan of ballistics knowledge finds the .38 Tremendous has higher velocity and vitality than comparable 9mm masses. Probably not an element for plinking and vary capturing however actually a consideration for self-defense purposes.

Kimber Stainless II 1911 with American Eagle 38 Super — Ten pictures, ten yards, offhand.

I’d charge the recoil of the .38 Tremendous on this pistol as barely greater than 9mm recoil in a 1911 platform. Extra energy, related recoil. Win, win.

Good Capturing

At my outside vary, I ran the Stainless II from a relaxation at twelve yards and offhand at seven and ten yards.

Shiny silver handgun on target with Remington ammo — Remington UMC made a number of 1” teams in McCombie’s capturing, this one from seven yards offhand.

Accuracy was stable. Capturing at seven and eight yards offhand, each ammunition manufacturers scored teams of 1.0 inches and slightly below. I actually fired bigger teams, too. However as soon as I used to be used to the pistol and the sights, the gun was one-inch correct at any distance beneath 10 yards.

Kimber handgun on green and blue target with bullet holes — At eight yards offhand, the pistol and American Eagle .38 Tremendous nailed this 1” group.

The 2 white dots on the rear sight blade and the one dot on the entrance got here as much as my eyes simply and confirmed up clearly on my targets.

Rear sight dots on handgun — The 2 dots on the rear sight blade pulled in McCombie’s eyes.

The backstrap metallic was properly checkered and anchored to the palm of my capturing hand.

Checkered grip texture on Kimber Stainless II 1911 — Checkering on the backstrap metallic promoted a agency grip.

READ MORE: The Pocket Pistol and Classes Discovered Toting Them

The pistol arrived with a single, metallic journal. I had no drawback loading all 9 rounds into the journal with out assistance from a magazine loader.

Costs For the Stainless II

All this stainless-steel, plus options just like the barrel bushing and full-length information rod, usually are not cheap. Kimber lists the Stainless II with a prompt retail of $1,223.00. Internet value postings I discovered ranged from $50 to $200 beneath that MSRP. After all, add transport prices to those costs.