Kimber is well known for making 1911 handguns. Well, they are putting their hat in the ring for high capacity, subcompact, striker-fired CCW handguns. The Kimber R7 Mako is their new champion and the competition should take notice.

Kimber @TFB:

• New Kimber Micro 9 Rapide (Black Ice) Pistol
• [SHOT 2020] New, Affordable Kimber Evo SP “Select” Models
• The NEW Kimber Evo SP Pistol: Truly an Evolution? Or just another Solo?

Striker-fired CCW pistols are not new to Kimber. Their Solo and Evo pistols come to mind. However, this is the first time they have high capacity in such a small package. From the announcement, we can see some interesting features. First off is the slide. It is only opened on the side. This shrouded slide design results in a stiffer setup and helps keep foreign matter from accumulating or entering the ejection port. Another added benefit is that you don’t have ejection port residue coating the optic. The Kimber R7 Mako is fully ambidextrous. The magazine release as well as the slide catch are on both sides of the pistol.

Like many current offerings of subcompact CCW pistols, the Kimber R7 Mako comes with an optics cut. They are offering two versions. The Kimber R7 Mako (OR) is their Optics Ready version while the R7 Mako (OI) is Optics Included. The OI comes bundled with a Crimson Trace CT-1500 red dot sight installed from factory. The OI version also comes with Truglo U-Notch tritium sights which have a bright orange circle for the front sight and white dots for the rear. The Optics Ready version only comes with regular tritium night sights.

If you have been paying attention to the CCW handgun market, you will have noticed a virtual arms race in terms of capacity. The Kimber R7 Mako comes with a flush-fit 11 round magazine and an extended 13 round magazine.

Here is the spec sheet.

The Kimber R7 Mako will retail at $599 MSRP for the Optics Ready version. If you want the Optics Included version, it will cost $799 MSRP. For more information go to Kimber’s website.