Desert Warrior: Kimber honors the troops with the military-tough Warrior series!

American Handgunner, Nov-Dec, 2005 by Charles E. Petty

Don't let anyone tell you gut choices don't run in cycles Very often some new fad will replace an old standby only to gradually fall from favor. Sometimes its replacement is the good old gun that probably shouldn't have been replaced at all.

In a way we're seeing that with the 1911--at least on a small scale--in military service. Our Marines, God bless them, were not exactly thrilled with the pizza pistol and fought to hang onto their 1911s; but finally were forced to submit. There was, however, a small group of guys who do stuff we never see in the paper who were able to hang onto some .45s. They wanted more but the official line was there were no "serviceable" 1911s left in inventory. Most skeptics think that's because the Clinton administration destroyed everything that looked like a handgun.

So the good guys did what good soldiers (and cops) do and scrounged some. They really did want to be able to hang lights on the guns and that was something Mr. Browning had neglected to provide. What they wanted was a basic 1911 very much like the original, with a few modern upgrades. What they did not want was a newfangled external extractor, firing pin safety or full length guide rod.

One might say the Marines are a bit old fashioned but then again he might say they knew better than to fix something that wasn't broke. What they did want were good night sights, an ambidextrous safety, a beavertail grip safety, steel mainspring housing with lanyard loop, forward grasping grooves on the slide, some unslippery grips and a durable finish. So we end up with a retro-1911 with a touch of modern thrown in.

Kimber Responds

Kimber got the honor of making them. The finish is called KimPro. which is a thermally-cured phenolic resin, extremely resistant to rust and corrosion. The Warrior is a faithful rendering, but made for the civilian market. Not long after we got the first Warrior, Kimber brought out another one--the Desert Warrior--nattily attired in a desert sand finish. Everything we'd say about one applies to the other so we're combining them into one story.

The grips are made of G-10/FR-4 epoxy that is an industrial material consisting of a continuous filament glass cloth material with an epoxy resin binder. They are resistant to damn near everything, including radiation. The pattern is Kimber's design, which provides a good non-slip surface.

The Warriors include Kimber's new design for an ambidextrous safety. Typically ambi-safeties have relied upon an extension on the right side riding in a slot cut in the grip. This was the original Swenson design that has served well for decades, but is subject to damage and also provides a nice place for dirt and crud to gather. The other option came from Colt to avoid Swenson's patent, and used a longer sear pin with a slot cut in it to accept a corresponding area on the right-side safety lever. The drawback of this design is the risk of jamming the safety if the sear pin is damaged.

Kimber's new design eliminates both of those possibilities and uses a slightly longer hammer pin engaging with the right side safety lever internally. It leaves nothing exposed for possible damage and the operation is sure and positive.

Lighting the Way

The light rail is another matter. It's common knowledge Kimber frames are machined from raw forgings. One of the key elements in designing the dies used to make them is to make sure there's enough material to make whatever it is you need, but not too much. All that does is waste money and result in chips to haul off.

Even though the light rail is not very big, there was not enough metal on the original forging. Making a new forge die and keeping another raw forging in inventory is a big deal. I'd love to say Kimber did it just for the Marines, but a rail gun was already in the works. The light rail adds just a bit of weight so the pistol with empty magazine weighs 38 ounces.

We could begin a debate here about whether or not hanging lights on guns is a good thing and you'd probably hear me say that it is not--at least in general terms--but there surely are special cases where it is. One of those is for special operations guys like the Marines it was made for, and SWAT cops. You and I are hardly ever called upon to clear rooms full of unfriendly guys with rags on their heads. I know it looks cool and all that but somewhere practical needs to be considered. I was at a shoot just a couple of weeks ago. It was the prettiest, sunniest day you've ever seen and there was a guy blasting away with a light on his pistol. Oh well, at least it wasn't turned on.

Fit/Shooting

In terms of fit and lockup the Warrior is no different from other models. All Kimber pistols have slides and frames matched during assembly for good fit, and their standard barrels fit as well as many so-called "match" barrels. The trigger was a crisp 5 1/2 lbs. Which is fine for a service pistol. All the safeties functioned properly.

The actual shooting test was routine, with a 100 round break-in shoot, accuracy testing in the Ransom Rest and a follow-up function test until the round count approached 500, The function test, minus the Ransom Rest, was repeated with the Desert Warrior. Neither pistol was cleaned, although they did receive a couple of drops of oil now and then. Perhaps the highest praise I can give any gun is to say that function testing was a waste of perfectly good amino. Of course we have to do it--so we did--and the predictable result was the gun went bang every time. As always we used a variety of types of ammo with ball, hollowpoint and lead bullets. There were a total of zero stoppages.