We had a Kimber Desert Warrior that had come in on trade some time ago. It’s been riding the shelf almost completely untouched for a couple months. I remember selling the gun to the fellow years ago. This was before Kimber took they QC Nose Dive. I examined the gun carefully. He carried the gun a lot, then let it ride his gun safe a lot. But he didn’t shoot it very much. There is only a little finish wear on the frame rails from cycling, which is nothing because we have new guns on the shelf with more. The breach face still looks new.
My cost on it was real good. So it went into the back on Layaway. I’ll take my time getting it payed off… I’m in no rush to take it home. It still has those weird yellow waffle-like grips. I hate those things. Those are going Bye-Bye as soon as I finish the 4473 on it.
WTA has a thread about this... guns that have been put out to pasture, but need to be brought back into production with modern refinements of manufacturing and materials.
The Art of War is a book that I’ve read many times through. The book is simple and straight forward, much like Sun Tzu’s tactics. One of the things he teaches, is to hit first, and to hit so hard that the enemy is unable to hit back.
I’ve had some emails where people think that I am disrespecting Kimber. Actually I feel that Kimber has disrespected the American Gun Culture. Taking us for granted.
Personally I have great respect for Kimber. They changed the 1911 Industry as a whole. Before Kimber, it was common to buy a new Colt or other 1911… and take it straight to a gunsmith so that they could make the gun simply run. Kimber comes out with the gun they called the “Custom”. And it worked right out of the box. They sold so well, that the other 1911 makers had to step up their games or they were out. It really kicked Colt in the Sweets hard.
I’m critical of Kimber because in my opinion they have let themselves down.. accepting lower standards and just expecting customers to just take it because they are Kimber and they know better. Well, that’s just not acceptable. Kimber needs to get back to building guns instead of making pretty. The need to take seriously the gun making responsibility. Guns are for Competition, for Law Enforcement, for Self Defense… These guns can Save Lives. They should take seriously a sacred responsibility to build guns right.
This is an older Smith & Wesson auto. I’m not sure of the value as the blue book on it only showed the 745 IPSC model, which looks just like this, but has a fixed rear sight. It’s Single Action Only. The safety lever is only a firing pin blocker, and does nothing to prevent the trigger from dropping the hammer.
The grip is slim, giving it a feel much like a SIG P220 with factory synthetic grips. The checkering on the front strap is a little rough, but it’s factory checkering. Over all, I like the gun.
I’m working on my review of the NAA Ranger and I have positive things to say about it. Unfortunately the NAA has discontinued it. They did a limited run of the things, then canned it. Continue reading I am at a loss for words→
SIG normally makes fantastic handguns.
And then they make the Mosquito. They used to have a fantastic .22 auto in the form of the Trailside. They traded out of their line, the Trailside, which was every bit as good as a Browning Buckmark… to the Mosquito, which is about as good as a case of the Flu.
So I picked up a Kel-Tec P-11 today. I honestly don’t know why, but had to. The size and weight make for an attractive Sub-Compact, as is the 9mm caliber… being a much better defense option that the ever popular (but I don’t know why) .380. I have yet to test fire it, but I did clean and examine it and it looks fine. If I have any problems, I can send it back to KT for them to go through it. Lifetime Warranty makes any Kel-Tec a safe bet, and they stand behind their guns.
I’ll detail strip it down, Slipstream it, and then test fire the crap out of it. If I like it at that point – it will remain in the Ogre Inventory. If I decide I don’t like it, I’ll sell it or trade it.
The Baby Browning is a classic pistol of sorts. And PSA’s reintroduction of the pistol the market has raised a lot of eyebrows. One would think that me, having published a number of articles in Concealed Carry Magazine would be interested in the new little auto. The truth is, I’m not. And let me tell you why.
