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For a client with a very interesting and enviable occupation, gun wrangler for the movies, these will be posted only here on LTW.

I’m kinda lukewarm on Kimbers in general but this particular model I think is one of their best products, especially since they don’t have the Series II, Swartz passive firing pin blocks. More safety is a good thing but that system has been problematic.

These Kimbers are not what I would call full-on customs and yet there was quite a bit of work into them. He did not want any frontstrap or backstrap gripping pattern; at one point we did decide to go with some very mild texturing of the MSH, left off at the corner as you can see, where the mode of carry and dress might cause some hangups. I did not try to influence his preferences after the first couple conversations, when it became clear that this is a guy that knows guns, shooting, and carrying.

The idea with the “matched pair” was to have one to shoot the crap out of and one to shoot a little bit and carry. These two guns are apart by only a couple thousand, by serial number.

I sent the whole package to Robar for refinishing and they did their usual great job. I was very keen to have one house do it all just for logistical reasons as well as reducing communication time, shipping costs, and miscue risks. They don’t do anodizing but I was able to persuade them to make it happen—strip and reanodize while preserving the polish on things like rails and feedramps. Barrels, hammers, guide rod and spring plungers got NP3, everything else got Rogard. This was my first time using Rogard although I have a high-volume shooter in my circle who uses it and I have seen it hold up very well for him.

EGW flat recoil spring system, VZ grips (that were already on the guns) and VZ’s aluminum MSH’s. This guy was very particular about the sights and I have to agree that the fronts from Trijicon show up well day or night. Rear Heinies are modified for more positive one-handed racking and are blued with a subsequent coat of Baking Laquer so as to match the Rogard.

There is less work in each than a full custom as I mentioned, but doing two together as a pair sorta made up for that . It took me way too long to get them done… fortunately for me the people I work with tend to be very, very patient, which is greatly appreciated.

For those times when both guns are apart on the table getting cleaned and inspected, all parts are numbered with the last two s/n digits, 77 or 79, or where there is very limited space, 7 or 9. I was able to get these numbers situated so that take down is not necessary for 90% of them and only partial takedown for the rest-- like-- to confirm that the barrels got put back in the right guns, you have to lock the slide back to see the barrel's number. Extractors (two per gun) can be read from the outside. MSH's can be read from inside the mag chute, same with mag releases and triggers. Sear and disco can be read with the grip safety removed.

Of course with some of these parts it really woldn't matter but with some... it might.

Quite nice.

Quite nice.

(Yes, both!)

Very nice pair of working mans guns.

Wow. Great guns.

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No good deed goes unpunished.

"D" picked them up the other day and stayed the night, so we all got some education as to what goes on behind the scenes in the making of a movie-- fascinating stuff. There seem to be few limits or none at all as to what they can do with blank-adapted guns. It was interesting and reassuring to learn the emphasis put on safety for actors and crew.