Changing of the Guard

Guy Miner

Master Loader
Apr 6, 2006
17,453
4,514
My old friend Lefty got me to thinking about maybe retiring my faithful Kimber... And today I ran into a deal I couldn't resist. The twenty year old Kimber, with roughly 85,000 rounds through it, has been officially retired. Cleaned, lubed, and set in a place of honor in my gun safe. Ready as ever.

In my holster, as I type this, is a lightly used .45 Kimber Eclipse Custom.

Twenty year old Kimber atop, and the new pistol below:
VcEVexdl.jpg


I put 75 rounds through the new Kimber today. This target was shot with my 185 grain handloads, from 7 yards, Weaver stance:
PTZ1F53l.jpg


Equally impressive were the groups produced by Federal 230 grain FMJ "hardball" ammo:
rEbmNM2l.jpg


And not just one target:
2CHfFSql.jpg


At this point, I'm extremely pleased with the new Kimber! (y)

The torch has been passed.

Guy
 
It was so clean and tight... I'm not sure it had been fired by the previous owner.

Guy
 
Guy, I should've warned you, anyone who really knows me well would tell you I am a pot stirring aficionado.....

By the way, nice gun!!!!
 
Shhh... It was a great excuse!

And the new one does shoot tighter groups than the old one!

Guy
 
That's a handsome looking gun and it shoots as good as it looks. I imagine the old girl will make an appearance once and a while but the new one will be your work horse now :)
 
Nice new 1911! That old war horse looks like she has been dependable too. That new one does look like a shooter


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That's great guy, congratulations on a great find. It does look like a shooter, but of course your shooting skills would make an average gun look good.
 
Guy,

Congratulations on your new Kimber, she is a shooter for sure.
The operator isn't too bad either. :)

JD338
 
Thanks! (y)

Was teaching a self-defense shooting class this morning and used it again. Only shot 230 grain FMJ Federal American Eagle factory ammo. No bobbles, no problems. Great accuracy.

And I do like the looks of it!

Guy
 
wvbuckbuster":3u9filyf said:
Guy do you mind sharing your 185 grain load? Dan.

Just saw this, sorry for the delay. Sure, I'm using an old, time-proven load of 5.0 Bullseye and either the 185 gr Nosler JHP match bullet or Berry's 185 gr plated round-nose bullet. Both are accurate.

There are much more modern powders, but I've comfortable with Bullseye for the .45 ACP.

Standard CCI large pistol primers work fine. The load is good for about 800 fps. Recoil is mild. It works perfectly from my old well-worn Kimber, but doesn't have quite enough "pop" to reliably work the tight new pistol.

If you use this load, be very careful about a double-charge, easy to do! DANGER!

Guy
 
Guy Miner":dzbuz5te said:
wvbuckbuster":dzbuz5te said:
Guy do you mind sharing your 185 grain load? Dan.

Just saw this, sorry for the delay. Sure, I'm using an old, time-proven load of 5.0 Bullseye and either the 185 gr Nosler JHP match bullet or Berry's 185 gr plated round-nose bullet. Both are accurate.

There are much more modern powders, but I've comfortable with Bullseye for the .45 ACP.

Standard CCI large pistol primers work fine. The load is good for about 800 fps. Recoil is mild. It works perfectly from my old well-worn Kimber, but doesn't have quite enough "pop" to reliably work the tight new pistol.

If you use this load, be very careful about a double-charge, easy to do! DANGER!

Guy
Guy you could switch to a lighter recoil spring and get your 185gr load to function reliably. You also have to watch what load data you use with Bullseye since it was reformulated after a fire destroyed the plant several years ago. The new powder doesn't quite have the energy of the older powder.
 
Did I mention lately, how much I like this new Kimber? :grin:
 
Guy thanks for sharing your info load. Just remembered to look here my self :lol: I had picked up some of the Berry's 185 so I will give them a try. Was looking for a lighter load to shoot in a Kimber compact stainless 4 in. bbl. Thanks Dan.
 
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