New Kimber SOLO Fail.

[PegLeg45]

Size.
It is a caliber/concealability compromise. Most of the plastic guns are relatively thick (higher round capacity)......but I am willing to give up a round for the added concealability. The EMP isn't much larger than my Colt .380 Gov't Model. My G27 is small for the caliber, but the EMP is way thinner for the same caliber. Of course, it is also cost-prohibitive (at least to me).

[ellis4538]

billt, one of the big name gunsmiths/pistolsmiths recommended the Colt Officers ACP LW way before the downsizing trend started.  He stated that the stainless and regular steel models were not as reliable.  I have had a LW for years and I can't remember it failing.  It is one of my main CCW pistols.

FWIW

Richard

[Big Frank]

My Para P10.45 works great and it only has a 3" barrel. I read somewhere that the 3" barreled 1911s aren't as reliable as the 3-1/2" guns but I don't see any difference. The 1911 scales down quite well.

[MAUSERMAN]

I really like the looks of the Solo but i hate the fact that it requires a certain ammo to function. A defense firearm should work with just about any ammo you feed it. My G26 and my Xd sub dont care what's on the menu.

[fightingquaker13]

I really like the looks of the Solo but i hate the fact that it requires a certain ammo to function. A defense firearm should work with just about any ammo you feed it. My G26 and my Xd sub dont care what's on the menu.

And that SHOULD have stopped Kimber from selling this thing. If it were a dedicated target gun, or even a hunting gun, fine. I can live with the quirks as long as it helps me win matches or bring home a nice buck. Hell, I pay stupid sums of money to shoot Bismuth rounds through my Parker when I hunt wood ducks because it won't take steel (about a buck fifty a round). That's all well and good, but that's because  ITS A TOY!  I'm not putting my life on line when I take the thing into the field. An SD pistol? Particularly a $750 one? Give me a break. Unless it has Moisin Nagant/AK/Glock relliability I don't want to own it. I want to pull the trigger, hear it go bang, and see a 4" group at about thirty feet with whatever ammo I have on hand. If you can't guarantee that that will happen, I won't take your pistol for free, much less spend the better part of a thousand bucks for one. This one mystifies me. Kimber is a good company and makes nice guns. You would think they would have clued into the fact that for an SD pistol "Every time and all the time with whatever you have" is rule number one. More importantly, you would think that they'd have realized that there is no rule number two. If it won't go bang, its an embarrasing epitaph on your grave stone "I thought it was the best".
FQ13 who is scratching his head

[Sponsor]

[kmitch200]

for an SD pistol "Every time and all the time with whatever you have" is rule number one.

Well put. 
I think it would be a real stretch to think that Kimber will catalog this gun in the very near future.

[SJPrice]

Picked up a new kimber Solo Carry a few days ago.  I was not aware of the 124 / 147 grain SD ammo limitation.  I picked up 6 boxes of Hornady 115 Critical Defense, so 150 rounds at the same time.  When I got home I discovered the news about the 124 / 147 grain warning.  So I decided to see how it ran with the 115 CD loads.  I took it out of the zipper case, wiped it down, loaded up the original magazine, the extra mag the dealer gave me and the two I purchased with the gun.  I then promptly ran 24 rounds through it from the four magazines.  No hiccups, and it worked fine.  What a great trigger, and the recoil was surprisingly mild.  I reloaded the four mags and the Solo did a repeat performance.  Two more times and I was 96 rounds without a hitch.  Also the target at 10 yards had a nice hole chewed out of the center mass area.  I for one am very happy with my decision to buy this Kimber and have ordered a set of CT Laser grips for my new Solo.  Now if I could just get XS to make a set of Big Dot night sights for it.     I guess this is a case of "your mileage may vary."

[twyacht]

Thanks for the favorable report SJ, good to know.  IMHO, Kimber makes top shelf stuff, a silly ammo type disclaimer is a marketing bump on an otherwise smooth road.

Keep us posted as far as other types of ammo. Oh, ......BTW,

we like gun porn.....so post a pic or three....

Good shooting,

tw

[billt]

IMHO, Kimber makes top shelf stuff, a silly ammo type disclaimer is a marketing bump on an otherwise smooth road.

If I remember right, Ruger had a version of the SP-101 in .357 Magnum that had a rollmark saying only 125 grain bullets should be fired in it. I think it was because of the short cylinder.

[Timothy]

If I remember right, Ruger had a version of the SP-101 in .357 Magnum that had a rollmark saying only 125 grain bullets should be fired in it. I think it was because of the short cylinder.

Mine did not and it was from about 2005 per the serial numbers.  I shot everything through that little brick!