a drawback; your choice of holsters will be limited. With that said, don’t worry about it too much. There are some great production holsters out there, as well as numerous custom holster-making companies, which can help you. If the rail is a deal breaker for you, Kimber makes the same exact gun without the rail!
The Fun Part I test and shoot a lot of guns each
year, including numerous 1911s. I look forward to shooting just about all of them. When I took the Kimber Custom TLE/RL II out of the box for the first time, I immediately liked the feel of it. Whether training for real life or just shooting for fun, I like to shoot fast and accurate. A handgun with some weight to it really helps you do this. As I hefted the Kimber’s 39-oz, all-steel frame and slide, I be- gan to get excited about going to the range. Before shooting any new gun, I always read the owner’s manual. Most of the time there won’t be any earth shattering info you learn, but now and then it helps. Kimber simply recommends you clean the gun and shoot it a little to break it in. This is common and expected with any pre- cision semi-auto. I have a dedicated range bag just
for the purpose of shooting 1911s. It includes a couple dozen magazines by various manufacturers,
several
holsters and a few hundred rounds of ammunition from over half a dozen ammo makers. I expect a 1911 to shoot well with any type of qual- ity ammo and most magazines. The Kimber didn’t disappoint. It gobbled up everything I fed it regardless of the ammo or magazine combina- tion. The gun came shipped with one standard blued 7-round magazine and two stainless 8-rounders. These functioned perfectly, locking the slide open on the last round and ejecting rapidly out of the mag well during changes. More importantly, the gun ran great with all of my other maga- zines as well. These included Chip McCormick, Wilson, Mec-gar and genuine WWII GI issue. I shot the gun off-hand, slow fire
for a few magazines, watching for any peculiarities in functioning and re- coil. One thing I immediately noticed was how well this gun managed recoil. The grips are black synthetic rub- ber with a double diamond pattern, which is a fancy way of saying they stick in your hand! The frontstrap is checkered at 30 lines-per-inch, which looks great and really helps you hang on during rapid fire. The front rail adds a little mass and weight which further aids in recoil management.
WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM
Next, I sped things up and spent
some time shooting steel-plate racks, silhouettes, pepper poppers, etc. This is when the Kimber really shined. As said earlier, this gun is meant to shoot fast and shoot a lot. So going through mag after mag, knocking down plates and ringing steel was a pure joy. The Kimber pointed naturally and came back onto target quickly after each shot. The extended beavertail fits the hand perfectly, regardless of size or grip technique. The trigger had a nice, crisp break with a short reset. This is a gun I’d like to try out in competitions. After getting used to the pistol, I
benched it at 25 yards and shot it for accuracy. Though the Kimber is not meant to be a target pistol and comes with tactical sights, the gun was sight- ed-in perfectly from the factory and consistently shot 2" groups with most quality ammunition. It favored the Winchester SXT round, turning in the smallest groups of the bunch at 1.6". When I handle a gun that is new to
me, I try to give it an honest run based on what I’m holding in my hands. It is easy to get swayed one way or the
other by a company’s reputation or by your own personal experience. Having owned many 1911s and shot many more, this is no different for me. But I stayed objective and gave the Kimber Custom TLE/RL II a fair test and can honestly say it impressed me. First and foremost, this pistol was completely reliable and very accurate; two of the most important character- istics of any gun, especially a tactical pistol. Second, it feels good in your hand. You know it the minute you pick it up. The fit and finish is excel- lent and the gun simply looks good, an attribute I’m not ashamed to admit I want in something I’m shelling out good money for. If you are looking for a custom tactical 1911 at a fraction of the cost, you can do no wrong going with this Kimber. *
FOR MORE INFO: KIMBER
www.kimberamerica.com (800) 880-2418
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