Transcription
About a year ago, I said something that still stands. I said the 2K11 Pro was the best gun Kimber ever made. And I meant that.
Now Kimber turns around and drops this. This is the 2K11 comp, a 9mm double stack 1911 style gun built on the same 2K11 platform, except this one shows up with a comp up front, slide cuts, and zero interest in subtlety. Same idea, same DNA, just turned up. And somehow this this is the best shooting gun Kimber has ever made.
Which is weird to say when you're holding two guns that are basically siblings because if you look at this thing, it's clearly telling you what it wants to do. Integrated compensator, light and slide. Everything about it says, "I'm here to go fast. I feel the need, the need for speed."
But here's what surprised me. It doesn't shoot like a temperamental race gun. It shoots like a gun that's been fully sorted. I've shot fast guns that feel nervous. Fast guns that punish mistakes. Fast guns that never let you relax. This This isn't that.
And I know exactly why. And it starts with the trigger. Not just the weight, but how predictable it is. I shoot slack out. That means I'm coming off the trigger just enough to catch the reset as the gun is settling. So instead of boom, click, boom, click, it's just boom, boom, boom, boom. And on this gun, my finger rarely leaves the trigger. That almost never happens on any other gun. Between the comp, keeping the muzzle down, the way the slide tracks, and how clean that reset is, the gun is always ready before I am.
Then there's the grip. carbon fiber infused, rigid where it needs to be, forgiving where it matters, and it changes how recoil gets communicated to your hand. The gun doesn't slap your hand, it doesn't chatter, it just settles. So now you've got a 9mm 2011 that's fast, flat, and calm while doing it.
And that is dangerous because when a gun feels this cooperative, this predictable, you stop thinking about the gun, and you start thinking about how fast you can run it. Which brings me to something that matters way more than people want to admit. Capacity. Because none of that speed matters if you're constantly reloading.
This right here is a flush fit 2011 magazine. Looks normal, but it's not because it holds 19 rounds of 9 mm. Flush. No extension, no base pad hanging off, nothing. Just flush. And if you run 2011s, double stack 1911 style guns, these these just work. Kimber stado, the whole e ecosystem. And you know me, I'm an unapologetic ammo horse. So being able to stuff 19 rounds into something that looks like it should hold only 17, that makes me happy in ways I'm not prepared to unpack.
I don't know what kind of witchcraft Checkmate is using. Spacetime folding black magic alien technology, but this this works. This works. It works. It's Americanmade OEM mags for some of the biggest names in the industry. Built to feed smooth and run smooth. So, support Checkmate because they support the channel and they make great magazines. Look at this. Look. Flush. Look at that. Sexy.
Now, let's get back to the gun. All the ammo used in this video was brought to you by Nosler, maker of the most innovative, most accurate, and most effective bullets and ammunition in the industry.
Here's where we slow this down a bit. Because if all I tell you is this gun shoots great, that doesn't actually explain why it shoots great. So, let's talk about what this thing actually is. The 2K11 Comp is a double stack 1911 style pistol chamber 9mm. And it comes in two configurations, a full size 5 in and a 4 and 1/4 in pro size, which not surprisingly is where I land. I love the four and a quarter. That 4 and a/4 length has always been a sweet spot for me. Long enough to track smoothly, short enough to feel quick.
Now, on this version, Kimber adds an integrated compensator forward of the front sight. And I want to be clear about this. This isn't a cosmetic comp. This thing actually works. It vents gas upwards in a way that keeps the muzzle down without making the gun feel weird or blowing a bunch of gas in your face or being obnoxiously loud or or sending that [ __ ] concussive course in your face. No over compensation, no sluggish return to zero. The gun fires, the slide cycles, the sights come right back where your eyes expect them to be.
The flat is good, but linear is better. And this gun is linear. That's where the barrel and the slide work come in. You got a crown and fluted barrel, which helps with consistency and weight distribution, paired with a slide that's been strategically cut in a very beautiful way, I might add. Black cut for just looks though. Cut to remove mass where it actually matters. And it just so happens to look very good, I might add. It also means less reciprocating mass, which also means faster tracking, less dips on return, a slide that feels like it's moving with you, not against you. And man, that is a smooth slide.
So now you've got a functional compensator, reduced slide mass, a barrel setup that supports consistency. Then we get to the trigger. Like I mentioned earlier, Kimber calls this their GT trigger. And I don't care what the name is. What matters is how it behaves. It breaks so damn clean. The reset is perfectly short. And the reset is always in the same place. That's why slack out shooting works so well on this gun. It just my finger just never leaves the trigger. It's crazy. I love it. It's just there every time.
Now, let's talk about one of the most underrated features on this gun, the toolless guide rod. If you live with 1911s or 2011s long enough, you already know why this matters. Some of these guns feel like you need a PhD in a paperclip just to take them apart. This one, this one, no tools, no gymnastics, no swearing. It comes apart clean, goes back together clean, which actually encourages you to maintain the gun. and maintenance is part of reliability.
Speaking of reliability, Kimber uses an external extractor here, which addresses one of the classic weak points of traditional 1911 designs. It's more forgiving, more consistent, and in real world shooting, that matters more than nostalgia. And I'm telling you, I ran this gun dry, dry. I I it's unfair what I put this gun through when I was running and shooting it. It just kept chugging and chugging and chugging and chugging and chugging and chugging. And Lord knows nothing nothing makes a gun like this want to start acting up than running it dry.
Now let's talk about the grip because this this is where the comp really starts separating itself. This is a carbon fiber infused grip module and no that's not just marketing fluff. It changes how recoil feels in your hand or at least how it's communicated back to your hand. It's rigid enough that the gun doesn't flex or twist, but it also diffuses recoil instead of dumping it straight into your palm. The texture looks aggressive, but it doesn't chew your hand up. And it's compatible with the Stanchin Magwells, at least the black ones are, which tells you exactly who this gun is meant for. People who actually shoot. Racist. That's racist.
Then there's the balance between the comp, the slide cuts, and where the mass is distributed. The center of gravity sits right over the trigger, like right here. So, when you present the gun, it doesn't feel like you're swinging a pendulum. It feels like an extension of your arm. Your eyes pick up the front sights immediately. The gun stops where you would expect it to stop. That's why this gunspires confidence so quickly. Not because it's flashy, but because it's cooperative.
Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room. The 2K11 Pro, the Minotaur version, one I did a video on, was the best gun Kimber had ever made as far as my subjective opinion is concerned, and I still stand by that kind of. You see, this isn't a replacement for that gun or for this gun. Essentially, this is an evolution. They took what already worked, the platform, the ergonomics, the trigger philosophy, and they simply asked the question, how do we make a shoe flatter, faster, and cleaner without ruining what people already loved? This This is the answer.
That's why I'll say it again slowly and deliberately. The 2K11 Pro was the best gun Kimber ever made. [music] The 2K11 Comp is absolutely the best shooting gun Kimber has ever made. And because it's based on this platform, that means that this is now the best gun Kimber has ever [ __ ] made.