My first everyday carry pistol was a Colt Government .380. By the time I was old enough to carry it, I’d forgotten where it came from. So I took it apart and discovered it was a modified U.S. Government-issued firearm. That made it a collector’s piece, which turned out to be a blessing. Because collector value is really about all the Colt had going for it . . .
The pistol required a strict diet of FMJs. Hitting anywhere on a silhouette at 25 yards was pure luck. So I traded it to a dealer for a brand new Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Magnum. South Texas hog and javelina mommas still tell their babies bedtime stories about that wheel gun, just to keep them in line.
Such was my experience with the original Colt Government .380ACP, Mustang and Pocket Lite lines. They carried well and were quick to deploy. Everything that happened after that was iffy, at best. I was soured on the guns.
Kimber took the original Colt .380 form factor and beefed it up a bit, creating their Micro 9 series. At the top end of the model line: the Kimber Micro 9 Raptor, a companion to their 1911 Raptor model.
Kimber’s Micro 9, like the Colt Mustangs and Pocket Lites that came before it, look a lot like a mini-1911. But they aren’t. There’s no grip safety.There’s no barrel bushing. And there are other changes visible inside the frame and trigger.
Kimber’s Raptor guns — both this one and the 1911 versions — are heavily adorned with textures somewhat resembling scales. Or maybe feathers, depending on your particular version of nerd.
When I say “heavily adorned”, I mean Kimber committed to the theme. There are scales all along the top of the slide, the back strap, the front strap, the rear of the slide on either side, and both Zebrawood grips are fully covered.
Beyond just tying the whole pistol together and providing some aesthetic value, the textures provide a great grip. Everywhere you put your hands on the gun, the gun grabs you right back.
I got to shoot both the Kimber Micro 9 Bel Air and this gun. They’re the same gun, but world’s apart; largely because of the texturing of the gun. (Ok, and this one isn’t Bel Air Blue). On a 9mm pistol this small, you need whatever help you can get keeping the gun still in your hand in fast fire. The scales/feathers do their job well.
To recap: scales on a snake: slick. Feathers on a bird: slick. Scales/feathers on the Kimber Micro-9 Raptor: grippy as heyel y’all.
The ambidextrous thumb safety should be fairly familiar to 1911 shooters. On the Raptor version, it’s fairly small, but serrated and easy to hit.
I never had any problem flipping the safety off during the draw. It was pretty stiff when I first started shooting it. After 100 ups and downs, it smoothed right out. Putting the safety back on, however, was a bit harder. I had to either dramatically shift my grip to use my firing hand thumb, or, more easily, use my support hand.
Given the Raptor’s lack of a grip safety, folks familiar with the 1911 are left in a bit of a conundrum. Hammer down, safety off? Or hammer back, safety on?
If you move the hammer back carefully, you’ll find the hammer has a slight “half cock” position where the hammer is removed from the back of the firing pin. In that position, and with the safety off, the pistol won’t fire until the hammer is then moved fully back and the trigger is pulled.
Lots of people chose to carry similar firearms in the half-cock position, ignoring the safety and just relying on cocking the hammer when they draw.
Of course, the other option is to keep the hammer all the way back, put the safety on, and rely on a good holster to keep the gun from going off until you want it to. I opt for the latter.
The trigger on the Micro 9 Raptor is one of the few things on this pistol that I’d rate as just OK. True to its published specs, this trigger measured just a tad over 7lbs in pull weight.
Although it looks much like a 1911’s go pedal, it’s not. There’s a wee bit of play up and down as the trigger pushes back, and I can feel a bit of squish at the break. It’s world’s better than most striker fired pistols, but it’s not up the same quality as the recently reviewed Kimber Camp Guard 10mm 1911.
Far too many companies skimp on the sights on a small pistol. On this model, Kimber doesn’t.
The Raptor’s drift adjustable three dot night sights are tritium tube filled, with a serrated ramp rear. They pop in any light. The only disappointment: the rear sight has no ledge that would allow the shooter to rack the slide one-handed. I consider that a must-have for a self-defense focused gun.
Unlike some of the other Kimber Micro 9s, the Raptor comes with a single extended 7 round magazine. At least this T&E sample did.
Kimber’s website says the Raptor ships with a single six round magazine. Having shot the six round magazine on the Micro 9 Bell Air, I can say that the longer extended magazine is a vast improvement. It allowed for consistent 7+1 loading and gave me enough purchase on the gun to keep the muzzle down in fast fire.
The extended magazine also fixed one of the problems both RF and I had with the Bell Air: it was easy to fail to fully seat the flush fitting six round mag. This magazine rams into the slightly beveled magazine well every single time. It would be a challenge to short-seat the ammunition supply, and it ejects equally well.
Given my previous experience with this general form factor from Colt, I wasn’t expecting spectacular reliability. I was mistaken.
There were no malfunctions of any kind with this pistol, using a wide variety of commercial ammunition. I shot bullets weighing from 90 to 147grains. I shot flat nosed frangible rounds, FMJs in several weights, and the whole gambit of hollow points. The Raptor never failed to load, fire or eject. I never had a magazine get stuck inserting or ejecting. I never had an issue with the safety or hammer. The Raptor ran flawlessly.
As usual, I lubed the gun prior to starting the review, and then never cleaned, lubed, or disassembled the gun during the entire firing processes. I shot 500 round through the gun in a week’s time.
When it came to how the gun was intended to be used, fast draw and mag-dump fire, the Micro Raptor performed surprisingly well. All those pretty textures did their job, helping to lock the pistol into my hand.
The aluminum framed pistol is not particularly light for its diminutive size, but soaks up recoil like one would expect from a larger gun. I had no issue pouring rounds out of the Micro Raptor. It didn’t matter what round I was using, the gun stayed still in my hand and the rounds stayed on target.
The little 9 really impressed me here. After shooting the Micro 9 Bel Air — which I would only recommend as a Christmas tree ornament — I expected the Micro Raptor to be more of the same. That is to look pretty, but shoot poorly in fast fire.
Nothing could have been farther from the truth. This little gun absolutely shines in the up-close and personal department, when speed to the trigger and speed to the trigger again matters most. By the time I was done shooting the Kimber Micro 9 Raptor, I was looking at my EDC Kahr PM9 with a sour scorn.
Accuracy on the almost pocket pistol sized 9mm was good, not exceptional.
The best performer was the Remington High Terminal Performance 147gr HP round, printing a consistent five round group of 3” for 4 groups at 25 yards off bags. The worst performer: the IMI 115gr Die Cut round at 5 ½”.
That’s still not bad. In general, the gun preferred the heavier grained bullets, which all printed smaller groups than the 115gr pills. No 147gr rounds scored worse than 4”, and no 115gr round scored better than 4”. Some guns are funny like that.
If my old Government .380ACP had run anything like this gun I would still be carrying it today. Kimber’s heavier caliber version is a vast improvement in every single way. If you are looking for an easy to conceal, low weight high performance EDC, with controls similar to the 1911 you are used to, the Kimber Micro 9 Raptor is a great choice.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Kimber Micro 9 Stainless Raptor
Caliber: 9mm
Height (inches) 90° to barrel: 4.07
Weight (ounces) with empty magazine: 15.6
Length (inches): 6.1
Magazine capacity: 7 (ships with 1 extended 7 round magazine)
Recoil spring(pounds): 11.5
Full-length guide rod
Frame Material: Aluminum
Finish: KimPro silver
Width (inches): 1.06
Slide Material: Stainless Steel
Finish: Satin
Barrel Length (inches): 3.15
Material: Stainless Steel
Twist rate (left hand): 16
Sights: Fixed low-profile 3-dot tritium night sights
Grips: Zebrawood grips with scale pattern and Kimber logo
Trigger: Solid Aluminum, 7lb pull weight
MSRP: $889.00 (Found online easily for under $800.)
RATINGS (our of five stars)
Style and Appearance * * * *
The soft satin finish is even throughout the gun, and there are no obvious tool marks. The themed textures are a nice touch, and tie the gun together.
Customization * *
This is already a themed gun. You could change the grips and the sights, but that’s about it.
Reliability * * * * *
Flawless with any round.
Accuracy * * * *
Get the right round and this gun performs very well. Much better than the “minute of bad guy” expectations I had for it. If this gun was an inch shorter it would have earned 5 stars.
Overall * * * *
The trigger is meh, and the groups are good, but not amazing. That’s all that’s keeping this excellent gun from the 5 star category. It’s relatively inexpensive for a pistol with so much aesthetic appeal, reliability and performance.
Who’s going to call his office and get the explanation that he was taken out of context?
GWV 1027 out!!!
want to get really pissed off
no seriously
im talking furious punch the wall type anger
read the description of the broward county school district PROMISE program
its the snowflake inspired program that took discipline and consequences out of public schools and summarily replaced suspension and expulsion with mentoring and coaching
the money quote of the program description:
“The intent of PROMISE is to safeguard the student from entering the judicial system.”
https://www.browardprevention.org/behavior/promise/
you cant make this shit up
what if this kid got his guns because of the school districts program to keep law enforcement from getting involved
theres a lot of blood on a lot of peoples hands on this one
but in aint the nra
its federal and local government
in addition to this the government also fucked up:
waco
ruby ridge
fast and furious
boston bombing
sutherland springs
and on and on and on…theres too many to list
Where can I find an organization that will advocate for 2A rights but is neutral on abortion and other social issues?
Florida was invaded by liberal New Yorkers over many years. Just as Washington State and Oregon were invaded by liberals from California.
That is the underlying problem with both regions. The only way to really address this problem is for conservatives in these states that have been invaded is to become politically active. I have met many Californians who have invaded Tennessee and Kentucky and this conservative will be getting politically active.
I have found that there is a certain cross section of the population, and many gun control advocates are in this group, that seem to hold the view that at some point in the future people can be crafted into some sort of sterile, compliant, uniform mass of similar thinking and similar behaving entities. They extend this thinking into concluding that laws, and by extension centralized government power, are the vehicle that will transport people to this future. I do not know how they come by this notion since all available evidence from human history indicates that it is a fiction. People, for better or worse, regardless of repression and control, will assert their individuality and self determination. Some people will do this with great success and others will struggle and fail but all will, at some level, seek to establish for themselves what they want to be and work toward it. Some of those people will try to achieve goals that the majority of us will rightly regard as evil – i.e. mass murderers. The gun controllers fail to see this because the are stuck on the inaccurate premise that something can be done to change the ‘other people’.
Gun control won’t work, because people won’t all conform and, even if you did magically succeed in eliminating all guns, people will still kill people – somehow. Some people just can’t accept this reality. Some of those people don’t accept it because they are stupid and some because they just haven’t thought about it much and some because they are invested in the control of others and want very badly to tell you what to do – whether it ‘works’ or not.
One of the central problems these control types have, regardless of their motivation, is they are stuck on an inaccurate premise. Something of the form: Lots of guns leads to lots of opportunity for guns to be misused so fewer guns would present less opportunity and therefore less crime. This, coupled with the notion that there is a very high rate of gun related crime, leads them to the notion that reducing the guns reduces the crime. This is an invalid train of logic. The number of guns available is so many orders of magnitude greater than the number used in crime that it is not possible to argue that there is a meaningful correlation between their availability and their misuse. Put another way: Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. This statement is true whether there are 3 guns or 3 million or 300 million or 3 billion or 0.
I have, in years past, engaged many gun controllers in conversations and ad hoc debates on these topics and their argument nearly always resolves to something along the lines of: If there were fewer guns then there would be fewer shootings. I have tried, with varied success, to point out that this is not a logically sound premise and, that even if it were, there is no path to reducing the number of guns that does not include constraints on individual liberty and violation of fundamental human rights. Presented with this argument, they just restate their premise, “Well, I just think we should have fewer guns.” I’ve gotten to where I just ask, “how?”. No one ever has a workable answer.
Some call outright for confiscation – I point out that this is a violation of rights and would lead to bloodshed, possibly civil war. They respond, “Well, I just think we should have fewer guns.”
Some want to limit access, background checks and the like – I point out that there are hundreds of millions of guns already and people will get one if they want one. They respond, “Well, I just think we should have fewer guns.”
Some want tighter controls on who can have a gun, some want to require more training, some want more paper trails, some want greater limits on manufacture, and so on and so on but all of them want more control over the lives of others and this is why their ideas are doomed to fail. Their ideas are doomed to fail because some people, many people, in truth, most people, don’t want to be controlled by someone else and they will, eventually, fight back – with a gun or not. Even the ones who want to control you and I will balk at the notion that they too could or should be controlled. Were it not so, there would be no USA, no 2nd Amendment and no debate to be had about gun control.
Much of our current mass political conversation is about this topic of control – Who controls, who is controlled and in what ways. I have observed that those who would control guns and people’s access to them are the same people who want to control education, immigration, financial matters, health care, property rights and many other issues of political interest. Further, these same types tend to, in my experience, be the ones who want to control even the minutiae of everyday life – where you can go, what you can eat or drink, what you can say, ultimately, what you are allowed to think. This is in direct conflict with human nature and is not founded in a sustainable political philosophy – eventually, people throw off control, always have, always will.
I was a leftist also, until I stopped to think for myself. These people _want_ to live in a utopian Matrix of their own creation, except they never seem to be able to actually create and sustain it. I find it amusing they can’t figure it out.
Throwing the red flag, here.
Planned Parenthood IS about life. About not having a woman’s life inconvenienced by the natural result of her actions. It is about not having to give up the freedom of the woman’s life in order to bear the pain, discomfort, disruption that bringing a baby to full term entails. PP is about preserving the lifestyle of the mother. PP is about not wrecking a woman’s life by making her give up friends and career. PP is about promoting life that isn’t too hard. About promoting life that doesn’t include wrongful birth. About letting a woman live her life without a constant reminder of the rape or incest episode. About promoting life without fear of too many children borne into circumstances that make life like really hard.
PP is about life, just visit a clinic and learn how women are living the lives they choose, not one burdened with responsibility. PP is about a real, walking, talking, feeling life, not a tribal myth about body tissue that might, maybe, one day, somehow become another walking, talking feeling life.
What a ridiculous claim. No chopper pilot, part 135(passenger charter regs) or not, is going to embark on a helo flight without sufficient fuel. Choppers cannot glide(autorotation is NOT a glide!) and without fuel everyone on board(including the pilot) is likely dead. Out of fuel incidents are usually either weather related or a fuel pump goes bad in flight. Ten will get you twenty this is one of those two and the hunter(and his ambulance chaser) are just looking for a free lunch.
Bump stocks are dumb. I’d trade them for suppressors getting removed from the NFA law.
Wouldn’t a “micro” be in the deadly .9mm caliber?
AHEM, did the guy in the video just commit a felony by creating an illegal SBR and post it to YouTube? ATF!? Anyone?
Running out of fuel or having some other engine failure at low altitude in a helicopter isn’t good. There is a transition time when entering an auto-rotation and going slow at low altitude pretty much means entering a successful auto-rotation isn’t likely to happen. There is a point where the air stops being pulled down through the rotors and starts going up through the rotors for an auto-rotation. If you’re not in a hover, you’ll need rotor RPM, airspeed and some altitude. Fifty feet isn’t going to work. Things are going to happen damn fast at low altitude. No wonder the craft was balled up.
the guy with the ak looks like ” wow look at my cool gun” the cop don’t look so happy about what he got
Hopefully someone can post the Youtube vid ( I’m on a phone ) exposing this humiliating episode with Redneck Revolt / Dwayne Dixon. It’s truly pathetic and entertaining at the same time.
I just bought a Micro 9 from KyGunCo and the price was $200 LESS than the P938. I have shot 330 rounds so far and have not had one issue. Shooting two handed at 10 yards , a defensive distance I get 2″ groups. MIne is brushed stainless with fiber optic front sight and G10 black grips. Carry it in a Kusiak Minimalist IWB holster. When clothes don’t permit, I carry either my 642 S&W or my Colt Mustang XSP.
Update on my Micro 9, now with 530 rounds down the tube and not a single problem.
Just so you all know, I am a woman (late 50’s). I have the micro 9 STG with the Black Hogue Soft Touch grip. The gun is very well balanced. I bought this model because of the grip. This grip gives me more control when shooting. I have taken it to the range one time and am very impressed with it’s reliability and accuracy. I bought this gun to replace my Smith & Wesson 40 that kicked like a mule. So when I bought this gun, that is smaller but heavier, I was expecting it to kick also. I was pleasantly surprised. The kick was not bad. I shot 50 rounds with no issue at all. If I had had more bullets with me I could’ve kept going for quite a while. This gun is easy to conceal even in non conceal/carry purses.
Just got a Micro 9 stainless with the soft rubber grips and great sights. Have not shot it yet but certainly will before I carry it. Impressive feel. I will be trying a variety of ammo but from all I’ve read, that does not seem to be much of an issue. I am concerned about best carry practice. Since it is not a true 1911, cocked & locked is really only cocked with safety on. I’m thinking safety on & half cock to keep the pin off the primer. I am willing to slow my draw and fire by 1-2 seconds to enhance safety. It’s still a smooth, fast, one hand operation. Thoughts?
I edc a sig P938 SAS for about two years. I have 1000 rounds and five field strips/cleanings behind me. Then one day, I ejected the magazine, racked the slide to eject the chambered round and the firing pin and stop block flew out and hit me in the arm. Had this been at eye level, the flying pieces would have hit me in the face. Long story short, I don’t trust a gun that falls apart when you are not even firing it. So disappointing. So I’m look at the Kimber 9mm Raptor – sounds like a great concealed carry to me…
If you want fantastic control with a lower price tag, get the micro 9 with the rubber grip! It’s fantastic!!!
Also, today Kimber came out with a 8 round magazine for the micro 9….