Kimber SIS 1911 pistols discontinued
The controversial Kimber SIS Custom .45 1911 line of pistols will be discontinued in the New Year. From Kimber1911pistols.com ...
Note: the SIS family is discontinued as of January 1, 2010. Kimber will ship outstanding orders but they will not take orders on the SIS line after 1/1. If you want one, don’t wait too long or they will be unavailable!
The pistol was designed by the LAPD's elite Special Investigation Section who adopted it as their duty weapon. Kimber donated a portion of each sale to the LAPD Memorial Fund.
Massad Ayoob wrote about the SIS pistols in Guns Magazine ...
... News that a weapon is being marketed with an 'SIS' serration--a clear reference to the LAPD--was met with criticism from city and civil rights leaders. 'It is very disturbing,' said Councilman Jack Weiss. 'If any member of the public is shot with one of these guns or, heaven forbid, a cop is shot with one of these arts, what would be the explanation?'
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You see, the guns weren't just named after SIS, LAPD's Special Investigation Section, they were designed by SIS members. Staffed by creme de la creme street-proven detectives with extra-intense training in armed police combat ...
Why would it be worse for a cop to be shot vs. anyone else? Is it more of a tragedy when the victim of a crime works for the government? Why does it matter what the name of the gun which was used to shoot someone is? How is that anymore of a tragedy? “Civil Rights Leaders”? Don’t they realize that the right to bear arms is a civil right? This was nothing but manufactured conroversy, and if it did anything, it helped sell what I fell is a rather unattractive version of a standard Kimber pistol.
It’s time for me to put on my dunce hat once again and ask for someone to explain the reasoning behind this decision.
So are they saying that if a criminal shoots a cop with a SIS pistol, the cop will die extra quick because it fires magic LAPD bullets? Or are they worried about headlines like ‘Cop killed by criminal using cop gun designed to kill criminals’?
Just to throw in some rather tasteless circular logic, if I were an LAPD cop, surely I’d want all the bad guys to be carrying SIS pistols, that way if I did get shot, I’d know that the criminals had payed some money into the Memorial Fund.
…and they were butt ugly. Seriously, does anyone else think that the lettering serrations are super tacky?
‘If any member of the public is shot with one of these guns or, heaven forbid, a cop is shot with one of these arts, what would be the explanation?’
How about “A dirt bag who illegally obtained a gun committed a felony. We need to work on enforcing current laws to keep career criminals off the street.”
Why would the sis design a gun, if they are an investigative unit, surely their combat training can’t be all that advanced? Waste of taxpayers dollars if it is.
In anycase its the same old ‘magic bullets, magic gun’ talk we often hear from the ignorant hysterical anti-gun crowd.
I thought they were kinda cool. But the “SIS” serrations were hard to grasp. I would imagine that in wet, muddy, or bloody conditions they would be hard to deal with. I really like the grips, and actually have a set I traded for. I just took them off for some VZ grips tho.
So… LAPD detectives designed a 1911 then? I guess they really did solve their little crime problem in CA since their cops seem to have so much time on their hands. And apparently being a law enforcement professional in CA also means that you’re an expert engineer/armorer. Good to know.
Maybe they’d be kind enough to share the revolutionary changes that make this firearm so incredibly effective, that a “civil rights leader” feels the need to get involved, with the rest of us. You know, only in case we in the lesser 49 states can be trusted with those details.
And, even after re-reading that excerpt, I still don’t get what the controversy is all about. Why again is getting shot with a “custom” gun worse than getting shot with a “regular” firearm? I guess it’s a good thing that these people are in charge because, clearly, they know what they’re doing.
People higher up had probably just watched ‘Street Kings’, ‘Training Day’ and ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and as such realised investigative officers needed even a better gun, similiar to the gun Keanu Reeves had in ‘Street Kings’.
Personally I’m glad because when the ‘hostage shot’ is taken we can be confident they won’t miss.
So why are they being discontinued?
I’d like to think that Kimber finally woke up and realized that marketing a pistol ‘designed’ by folks who want the population disarmed was a little over the top.
I bet the discontinuation of this model has less to do with criticism from professional bullshitters and more to do with the fact that people generally won’t buy expensive items with the names of organizations they don’t belong to machined into said items.
Also, curvy serrations on slides look kind of lame to me. Manufacturers keep trying to invent new slide serrations and argue that one or another is “better”. This to me is like the advanced engineering of toothbrushes, the same plain jane thing already works fine but cosmetics are endlessly tweaked to get a marketing edge.
I always thought it was a little creepy, myself. “We’re so super-special elite that not just ANY customized high-end 1911 is good enough for US…”
Government acronyms as slide serrations….a perfect storm of failure.
This is a beautiful pistol !!!!
Wow, nobody here bothered to do any research about SIS. Why am I not surprised?
Again it just goes to show that it is a matter of preference to the shooter. This gun may have been designed by experts in their field to what they felt would be the best application, but it is not for everyone.
Guns are not a one size fits all. This is a nice gun. It is small and compact for detectives, but again not for everyone.
I do not know the reason for Kimber to discontinue this model, but price and lack of demand may have something to do with it.
You have to give it to a company that will work with law enforcement personnel to come up with a gun for their needs and feel. They are the ones who depend on this guns for everyones lives, including their own.
It’s amazing. The computer and the internet have become the CB radio of the 70’s. It used to be that you put a CB microphone in someone’s had and they became an expert on everything. Now we have the computer keyboard and anyone with internet access can post a half-wit response to anything….. Where in their imagination do some of the posters get some of the ideas that they suddenly expound upon? I saw nothing anywhere that said anything about it being worse for a police officer to be shot than anyone else or that being shot with the SIS weapon would kill you faster than being shot with a different weapon….. However, that fact that police officers are tasked with keeping us safe and enforcing the laws that our duly elected representatives have given us (no – I don’t want to get into a political debate) would make it a larger crime against society as a whole. And, after all that…….. the saying is: “There’s nothing wrong with a little shooting, as long as the right people get shot.” Now who said that?
I have a SIS Pro Carry. I Love the gun. Shoots great. No probkems.
I own a SIS Pro Carry. I love the gun,absolutely perfect. No problems.Shoots great.
I own a SIS 1911, purchased in 2009, this is the best hand gun, I have every fired! As mentioned before, this pistol is not for everyone. Do your home work prior to speaking. Simply put, “Profection”….
I bought all 4 in the series. I only shoot the Ultra as thats my choice for CCW. After the intial break in it runs like a champ. My duty weapon is a M & P 40. I trust my life with either. I’ll be storing the others for a rainy day.
There are a few of these at a local gun shop. Wondering if I grab one… will they be worth anything in the future or am I buying a discontinued product that won’t get any support.