I was curious and called the Kimber Custom Shop the other day asking that I wanted to purchase a hand fit, custom Kimber but wanted all MIM parts replaced with Wilson Combate bulletproof parts, wanted a hand fit Schuemann barrel, 2lb. trigger, custom serrations on the slide and frame, and a DLC coating. To my amazement, the Kimber Custom Shop representative said that they do not build true custom Kimbers like I had in my mind. I asked why call themselves a custom shop if they don't do custom guns? I asked what did the custom shop rollmark mean? He couldn't give me an adequate answer. I think it's part of Kimber's deceptive advertising practice of trying to fool consumers who purchase a custom shop Kimber into thinking they are getting a true custom 1911 when they are in fact, not.
Is the Kimber Custom Shop really custom?
- Thread starter G19gen3
- Start date
SGB
New member
Springfield Custom Shop is a true Custom shop and works on more than just Springfield's, give them a call.
Springfield Armory
420 West Main Street
Geneseo, Illinois 61254
Phone:
1.800.680.6866
1.309.944.5631
Custom Shop:
1.800.617.6751
Office hours are 8:30AM - 4:30PM CST M-F
Fax: 309.944.3676
Email Contact:
Sales: [email protected]
Custom Shop: [email protected]
Megan Klavon
SA Repair Dept/Customer Service Rep
420 W Main St
Geneseo, IL 61254
800.680.6866 ext 8986
Springfield Armory
420 West Main Street
Geneseo, Illinois 61254
Phone:
1.800.680.6866
1.309.944.5631
Custom Shop:
1.800.617.6751
Office hours are 8:30AM - 4:30PM CST M-F
Fax: 309.944.3676
Email Contact:
Sales: [email protected]
Custom Shop: [email protected]
Megan Klavon
SA Repair Dept/Customer Service Rep
420 W Main St
Geneseo, IL 61254
800.680.6866 ext 8986
A true custom shop will build a gun to the customer's specs. It's apparent now that Kimber's "custom shop" is just an advertising roll mark to give the unknowing customers the impression of a custom gun, when in fact, it's just another production line Kimber.
PlankSpanker
New member
The Kimber corporation has a proven record as a reputable company that manufactures excellent firearms. As such, it is a pretty fair bet, that they would not use misleading monikers just to sell a few more guns. The term custom shop is used by kimber on many of their weapons that have refinements on them like improved ejection ports, carry melt treatments, aircraft grade aluminum alloy frames, front strap and under the trigger guard checkering, match grade bull barrels, tritium night sights, premium aluminum match grade triggers, and high quality rosewood double diamond hand grips. The list goes on. All of these things come stock on these models. That's pretty much custom shop as it gets for competitive prices in my book.
coldwater
New member
That's exactly what they mean. It's not just some parts and pieces stuck together and shipped out. Their a hands on pistol made with parts that would otherwise not be available without sending the pistol out to be modified. You buy a nicely customized pistol right out of the box at a bargain price for what you get. I have been carrying them for some time, and own several of them. Each one has been used well, and I love them all for the outstanding pistol they are. A pistol of this quality and level of work done would have been double the cost with another maker.
Kimber simply provides more custom features on a production 1911 and in my opinion they put out an excellent mass produced product. Their quality control is exceptional considering how many pistols they produce. There's not a lot of hand-fitting, filing etc. If you're wanting to spend less than $1500 it's tough to beat a Kimber. The Springfield custom shop is great too. For 2k it's tough to beat a Dan Wesson which I consider a semi-custom and they use some Ed Brown parts and no MIM. So far the tightest groups I've shot have been through an Ed Brown but some of the most finely detailed 1911's I've seen are Wilsons. If you want all Wilson parts, there's no one better to fit them all together than Bill Wilson. I love 1911's and I'm always looking for that next one. I like Kimbers. I like Baers, Browns, and Wilsons. But I'd wouldn't pay top dollar for someone's Kimber with a bunch of Wilson parts. But what do I know, I could have bought a few Colts a few yrs. ago for pretty cheap and now some of those damn snakes are bringing a fortune!!!
Why don't you check with one of the true custom builders out there and see what the 1911 you have described would cost. I would venture to say you are talking in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.
Almost all manufacturers have their version of the Kimber Custom Shop to make upgraded versions of their own guns. Smith & Sig have them for sure and I am sure others do also.
Actually I would guess that very few 1911 makers manufacture all the parts in house. There are many parts outsourced to folks that specialize in those parts.
