Kimber is expanding its impressive line of snubby revolvers. They’ve added three new versions of the K6s including the K6s CDP, above. Here’s their press release:

YONKERS, N.Y. — Kimber Mfg., Inc., a leading American firearms manufacturer, today announced the expansion of its popular Kimber® K6s™ revolver product line to include three (3) new variants – K6s DC (Deep Cover), K6s CDP (Custom Defense Package), and K6s Stainless 3″. The K6s is a premium small-frame snub-nose revolver chambered in .357 Magnum.

Introduced in January 2016, the Kimber K6s is the world’s lightest small-frame six-round .357 Magnum revolver, and brings an unmatched level of performance and shootability to concealed carry applications. The K6s revolver’s weight starts at 23 ounces and offers a compact ergonomic frame and 1.39-inch diameter cylinder, all machined from the finest stainless steel for superior integrity, strength and resistance to the elements. Additional features include an internal hammer, smooth match grade trigger and edges that are rounded and blended to prevent snags on clothing or holsters.

The three new 2017 mid-year K6s models offer details and features combined in a variety of purpose-driven configurations. The K6s Stainless 3″ features a 3-inch barrel, low-glare brushed stainless frame finish, large smooth walnut grips and white 3-dot sights. The K6s DC wears a stunning smooth black DLC finish, ergonomic black G10 grips and low-profile tritium 3-dot night sights. The K6s CDP is complete with Kimber’s signature Carry Melt™ treatment that further rounds edges for snag-free carry, a smooth black DLC finish on the frame and brushed stainless barrel and cylinder and small parts, checkered ergonomic rosewood grips, while boasting a set of low-profile tritium 3-dot night sights.

“K6s set the bar for quality in production revolvers when we launched the platform last year,” said Winslow Potter, Kimber’s director of product management. “We work hard to ensure that we continue to raise that bar to better meet the specific applications and individual personalities of the American gun owner, and these mid-year K6s models do just that.”

The new 2017 mid-year K6s revolver models will be available at Kimber Master Dealer locations across America in the coming weeks. The suggested retail price is $899 for K6s Stainless 3″, $1,155 for K6s DC, and $1,155 for K6s CDP.

Kimber Mfg., Inc. is an American company that designs and manufactures premium firearms for individual, sporting, law enforcement and military markets. Complete information on Kimber firearms, accessories and Less-Lethal products is available at www.kimberamerica.com or by phone from Kimber in-house staff at 1-888-243-4522. A detailed product catalog is available upon request. Kimber can also be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

44 COMMENTS

  1. Because revolvers work.
    Now they need to pull out all the stops and make something akin to the Colt Python, If anyone could pull off that level of quality, Kimber could… I hope.

    • If the finish on my Custom II is any indicator, they’ll never pull off decent blueing

      • Is it bluing or KimPro finish? My Pro Carry is KimPro, which I assume is some proprietary melonite type finish.

    • Personally I’m not a big fan of Kimber’s because I don’t trust their quality. Known to many people who have had issues with them.

    • Kimber semi-autos aren’t all that great. Shoot one a lot, get it dirty and you will learn this truth.

  2. I held and dry fired a Kimber stainless K6S at Cabela’s yesterday. The fit and finish are amazing. The trigger blows away the S&W Model 638 my wife has (granted it’s quite a bit more expensive). It’s exciting they’ve released a 3″ version; even better accuracy and power.

    • “Lightest small framed 6 shot .357 revolver”. Hmmm how many small framed 6 shot .357’s are there?
      I love PR sentences.

      Rossi makes a 24 oz steel framed 6 shot snub. Are there any others besides this kimber?

      • Well sure there is a PR angle but in this case there is an actual niche for 6 vs 5 shots

        I’m amazed S&W hasn’t tried more to fill it with a j frame sized 6

  3. I had a kimber raptor I bought brand new. I carried it for a month and the slide started to rust. It also was far from 100% reliable even shooting 230 ball ammo. When I called their customer service it was kind of like calling kahr arms, not a pleasant conversation and no resolution. If I want anything beyond my j frames in the revolver world I’ll look elsewhere.

    • I had all kinds of problems with my Kimber, not resolved with a trip to their shop. For one, the ramp was covered with their KimPro coating–not a good thing, but easily polished off. Secondly, it would fail to go into battery after about 70 rounds. I finally bought some Wolff springs (direct from Wollf and not thru Kimber) and that resolved the reliability issue completely. I suspect that the factory springs, as tight as they were, were a bit under powered. Also, Kimbers are very tight when new, and that also leads to problems. As to rusting, a Kleenbore silicone rod and reel cloth will solve that excellently.

  4. God that thing is ugly. I don’t like ruger either. Too bulky, bull barrelish, ugly finishes, bad lines, blocky, the two tone is a vulgar monstrosity… I could go on.

    I miss the deep blue/black almost verging on chrome and pencil barrels with round grips. So svelte and classy. They looked like the form of “revolver”. They were tools that exuded pride in craftsmanship.

    I’m not brand biased, these just hurt my eyes.

      • I own and love a mini 14, bearcat and No1 rifle. I think their GP revolvers and closely resembled ilk are as I described above.

    • ‘They were tools that exuded pride in craftsmanship.’

      Unfortunately pride in craftsmanship adds another zero to the price. Some of us just want a relatively nice mass produced revo lver for $600, so I’ll stick with my Rugers.

      • For svelte and classy, my short wish list has a 4″ stainless Security Six near the top. I say “near” as the top slot changes depending on what I can afford to check off the list…

      • Did an honest comparison of one of the over $1K K6’s to my Ruger SP101’s and came to a shocking conclusion; the Kimber was not better. Yea, it looked real pretty, but operation wise and trigger was no better than my stock Ruger triggers. I also have never shot a Smith (several) that operated better or even as good as my Rugers. And this is just the revolvers; the Smith auto triggers were simply horrible. Maybe the new 2.0 is better, haven’t tried it yet.

        • If you want a new wheelgun I really don’t think you can get any better for the price of a Ruger. Sure you can spend $4k on a Korth, but is it really 6 times better than a GP100?

    • Modern S&W’s don’t look much better than an equivalent Ruger, and certainly aren’t made any better. From everything I’ve heard and read about these things I doubt either are as well made as these new Kimbers…

  5. It’s cool that somebody new is making revolvers, but I think the k6s is simply too expensive. I’m sure it’s high quality, but for what it retails I’d rather move up into a larger framed revolver that can better use the .357’s potential. If I need a compact .357 I’d go for a model 60. And with the few hundred dollars saved I could buy enough components to hand load a few thousand rounds.

  6. I would also like to say I have dan wesson and an ed brown 1911. I like 1911s but i recognize their pros and cons compared to polymer guns. I don’t get the idea of dropping that kind of money on a carry gun that holds 6 rounds when there are endless semi auto options out there now. Nothing wrong with revolvers, but acknowledging the reality that a semi is a more effective carry platform if you have to deploy your weapon is just being honest. I carry my 1911 sometimes, but I don’t pretend 7 or 8 rounds is as good as a gun that is reliable and accurate and carries a lot more. That would be absurd. This revolver shouldn’t be as popular as it is.

  7. I like the 3″ barrel. Doubt I would ever get one. More of a Taurus budget…

  8. I gotta say, the K6s Stainless 3″ is sounding kinda interesting if it has the same low profile sights as the snubbies.

  9. How about a 3″ revolver with a black finish at a lower price point? Or even better, a 4″ barrel? Personally, I join with others in thinking that a .357 snubbie in a fairly light weight package is an exercise in pain management that I will gladly avoid.

    • I wouldn’t want one of these to load magnums in most of the time. I think the 3-inch version would give a quality .38 special +P load enough velocity to reliably expand, and the design should make a good EDC gun for IWB carry. Compared to a J-frame snubby, this gives me an extra round, better velocity due to barrel length, and a better trigger. It is built for carry, with low-profile sights and enclosed hammer. The 3-inch LCRx I sold failed on the last two counts.

      If only this K6s were $200 less expensive and said Ruger on it, it would be perfect.

    • The running joke when Kimber introduced the K6s was that they tying to build a gun that wouldn’t constantly malfunction. I also see them as expensive trouble.

  10. There is room in the market for a 6-rd snubbie. Until the recent release of the new Colt, the selection of small revolvers was limited to Rugers, J-frames and imports.
    Kimber deserves some credit here for an innovative design; if it proves reliable, and if street prices stabilize they may have a winner.

    Regarding Kimber quality: I suspect owners with problems are more likely to post on the internet than satisfied customers, which may exaggerate the perception of poor quality.
    FWIW, during the first couple hundred rounds my pre-SII Kimber Compact Stainless had some failures to go into battery, and to lock slide at empty. After cleaning, lube and inspection, and trial of various magazines, failures diminished as the pistol was used. It has been flawless for thousands of rounds now, feeding hardball, JHP, LRN, RNFP, HydraShok, Golden Saber, Starfire, Herter’s steel case, and even Fiocchi conical HP. I have not tried semi wadcutters.
    I’m quite happy with my Kimber.

  11. I don’t really “get” wheel guns to begin with. To me these things seem massively overpriced for what they are.

    The niche for these things, IMHO, is the jackass who just wants to brag that has so much money that buying something as mundane as a snubbie for $1000+ doesn’t bother him. Just like the people who never spend a day in the woods but deck themselves out with Rab gear just to show off their tax bracket. It’s just “cash flow signalling” in my book.

    • [Disclaimer!!! This is just my opinion]

      I can understand your thoughts. Revolvers certainly are different than the semi autos offered today. They offer a few things semis cannot:

      1. Power. Revolvers chamber everything from mild to wild. Semi autos are limited to shorter cartridges.

      2. Reliability.

      3. Simplicity. I taught my wife how to handle a revolver in less than a minute. Teaching someone who doesn’t enjoy shooting how to function a semi can be annoying.

      4. Timeless. Revolvers never go out of style. Some semis dont either (1911). I doubt anyone in 50 years will be proud of some old glock 17 and it’s plastic frame. That design may go the way of the old brick cell phone (I hope!).

      5. Value. A well made revolver will hold its value over a considerable amount of time. Some semis do as well. The glock 17 or xds probably won’t.

      Again, this is all just my opinion, but I think revolvers have quite a bit still going for them to completely dismiss a rather large part of our hobby.

      • Much is made of the power of revolver cartridges but you have to look at barrel length to compare it to semiautomatic cartridges. When you consider size and weight a .357 offers you nothing except more flash and recoil when the barrel length falls below 4″.

        Back before the introduction of 10mm, 40 Cal and enhanced 45 ACP rounds a .357 snubbie was the most powerful gun out there. Not anymore. A S&W 527 is the same size and weight as a 1911/4.25. Chambered in 10mm you can get rounds that have nearly 300 ft/lbs more muzzle energy. An XD Tactical 45 is the same size and slightly lighter. When loaded with Hornady Critical Duty +P it is more powerful. Any full sized 40 Cal will be smaller and still put out more muzzle energy.

        The reliability thing is overblown. It’s Honda vs Toyota.

        Here is a reference site for ballistics v barrel length.

        http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com

        • When someone lacks the grip strength and wrist stability to make a recoil-operated semi-auto pistol cycle reliably, no, it’s not an academic issue – at all. When that same someone then lacks the grip strength to grab the slide and authoritatively cycle it to the rear to clear a malfunction, it becomes even less of an academic issue.

          Those of you who never deal with older, never-held-an-operator-credential folks don’t get this. You probably never will. You’re not around senior citizens and women who aren’t covered in tats, bulging muscles and dressed in 5.11 togs.

          You think that anyone and everyone can operate a semi-auto.

          Well, there’s no subtle way to put this: You are wrong.

    • “I don’t really “get” wheel guns to begin with.”

      It’s the original ‘point-n-click’ user interface.

      Dead-nuts reliability. Once loaded, you never have to worry about forgetting to flick off the safety, or pretty much anything else.

      Grip and draw revolver, point, *Boom*.

      For a first-time gun buyer, I recommend a revolver, unless they have hand strength issues. If they want a semi-auto later, fine, and the revolver makes an excellent backup or spare at home. And I tell them there may come a time someone they care about needs self-defense *now*, and the revolver fills that role well…

  12. Wow. Another product for which there is little need for a price at which there will be few buyers. Probably won’t be around long, so buy two and treat them as collectibles.

  13. more overpriced kimber crap. looks lice though, waaaayyy to small for a 357 mag if thats what the picture is of.

  14. Everything Kimber makes is overpriced, their quality control is too spotty to justify dropping a grand on a snub nose revolver.

  15. As someone that has actually purchased an earlier 2” version of the K6S, the recoil isn’t bad at all. I compete it to shooting a SP101. Even with 158gr factory loads.

    I did get rid of it because I’m not someone that wants to carry a $800 weapon around. Sold it off and regretted it.

    Held a 3” version yesterday. Trigger felt even better than the earlier ones. Still trying to convince myself to buy it and carry it. Almost too pretty to do so.

  16. The K6s has the best trigger of any stock revolver period. On my 3inch DASA I can stage the trigger right at the wall and then…… crack it breaks like a little girl’s heart. Don’t get me wrong I’m a Glock guy but this Kimber is in my rotation. No FTF or FTE yet and I’m waiting for my first stovepipe

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