[This post is part of our series, What I’m Carrying Now. If you’d like to submit a photo and description of the gun, holster and gear you’re carrying in the new world in which we live, send it to us at [email protected] with WICN in the subject field.]
Dave L. writes . . .
I’m a retired deputy sheriff and I’m still carrying the same plain clothes/off duty pistol and gear that served me pretty well over the last dozen years or so. The pistol is an officer’s frame Kimber Ultra Carry II in an El Paso Sky Six holster. I started in law enforcement when we carried revolvers in leather thumb break holsters and I’ve never gotten away from that habit.
The magazine holder is also from El Paso and the my basketweave Ranger style belt is a no-name farm store special. I carry Hornady 230 grain XTP hollow points with a seven round magazine in the pistol and two eight round Chip Mccormick magazines on my belt.
I’ve carried the SOG Flash II assisted opening knife for a lot of years and the little rechargeable flash light on my key ring is a Royvon Aurora A3. The light isn’t super bright, but it rides pretty well in my pocket and does the job.
As you can see I’m pretty old school. The Kimber is heavy and bulky, but I can hit with it. In my old age I don’t intend to go looking for trouble, but should trouble find me I think that I can hold my own.
Dave, a man after my own heart. A 1911. Carried one of version or another my entire career. El Paso Saddlery leather. Got lots of it. Very fine carry. Just a suggestion. Upgrade your light.
That light is very similar to the micro Olight I carry. Two lumens settings, and has always done the job when I need illumination for a dark recess or peering into a piece of machinery. I carry a full size light on the belt when working security, but my micro Olight is my favored EDC.
Like Kimbers. Love the leather this gentleman has.
Thanks, guys. Now I have leather envy.
Simple, functional, and classy. I like it.
I like the look of leather. And there’s nothing wrong with simple and uncluttered.
jwm, don’t forget. In the eternal words of Saint Michael Taylor. “God carries an M-1 rifle and a 1911. Thus endeth the lesson. Now, go forth and smite an enemy or two.” Of course Jesus carried a Colt Single Action in .45 Colt and a S&W Regestered Magnum. Both with ivory. He loaned them to a young officer in the U.S. Army for a short while. Every serious shooter should own a few vintage firearms (most of which a viable today.) Do do you think John Moses Browning would have soiled his palms with plastic.
Browning was a master indeed, but he worked with the materials available to him, as do we all. Imagine the glorious possibilities of his genius married with today’s full spectrum of composites and manufacturing techniques. Gives one the shivers.
A .50 BMG Glock brand Glock.
Haz, I speak with Mr. Browning almost daily. He recently told me plastic was the worst maternal he ever found to wipe his ass with.
Plastic is the worst “maternal” I’ve ever seen, too.
“Imagine the glorious possibilities of his genius married with today’s full spectrum of composites and manufacturing techniques”
If you Youtube, there’s a series that Gun Jesus does on InRange TV called (I think) “What Would Stoner Do?” that explores what the original AR might look like if it were designed today. Not sure if they ever did a similar one on Browning’s designs but that would be amazing too.
Gotta say, that’s one of the best looking, best picked setups we’ve seen here. Pure business, excellent quality without going all rich man fancy schmancy.
That’s the Good Stuff, ‘case anyone didn’t know it.
Carry the same gun in a N82 Tactical holster with a spare Wilson Combat magazine.
I love 1911’s but they always print more than my Glock…
Nice believable set up.
I carry the same SOG knife, but I hated the serrations and took it all the down to a tonto style blade (I think that’s the name, whatever). I used some superglue to keep the safety off and carry it IWB. Love that knife.
Nice. Really like EP Saddlery.
My only criticism, get rid of that idiotic looking magazine bump pad, or at the very least, go with a low profile one…
I run Kimber mags, and I use the low profile bump pads, but I also have an extended, beveled mag well…
The old Flash II is one of the few older SOG knives I didn’t like.
Not a huge fan of a 1911 as a carry gun but this works and I actually really like that mag carrier he’s got.
The gun you have is always better than the one you don’t.
my flash ll has a lot of blade wobble. pivot binds if you adjust until gone.
feels yintzy.
I like this word, yintzy. Excellent mouth feel.
Yeah, my Flash II had a similar issue. And the safety would move from where ever you had it to where you didn’t want it while it was in your pocket. And the spring for the assist is overpowered IMHO, and the checkering wasn’t great. The knife’s not balanced to my feel either. Oh, and the shape didn’t fit my hand personally… just generally not a great offering IMO.
The Flash I 2.5″ was dope. Particularly the model with an aluminum handle. The balance on that was excellent and everything was rock solid. One of the few knives I’ve been stupid enough to let get stolen.
I am not an expert in anything, so for what’s it worth my only criticism would also point toward that magazine extension as WI Patriot said. I love the leather, I think I “need” a new belt now…
Based on looks or function? As to looks, presumably he likes it.
If you look at the 2 spare mags, they have lo-pro bump pads, so…
I have a Pro Carry II (basically the same gun with a 4″ barrel) , and the biggest thing I dislike about it is the lack of front strap checkering. A .45 this small is pretty lively in the hands, and the slick front strap doesn’t help. I find that I have to reset my grip after firing, and that is not a good thing. I also discovered (when filing the heel to keep it from slicing into my side) that the rear checkering is actually a plastic insert. Kind of cheapened the gun for me.
Your hardware store probably has 3M grip tape, AKA ‘Skateboard Tape’. It’s inexpensive.
Try cutting a strip to fit on that front strap, I think you will *really* like the improvement, especially since it shouldn’t hinder the draw…
I put on the aluminum strip that Brownell’s sells, which did not work out too well because thes guns have rubber grips that are not stiff enough at the edges to hold it in place. Transferred it to my EMP (another jumpy little gun, but in 9 mm)with rosewood grips where it works quite well.
Colt Lightweight Officer, AIWB, one spare mag at 10 o’clock, and an Olight = my EDC.
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Finally a functional, utilitarian and affordable everyday carry rig. Congratulations on your choice of hardware. 👍👍
Nice rig, i like the shape of the kimber grip safety as it eliminates the single pressure point of a bump safety. If thats a 1.75In belt, does it fit all your belt loops on pants? I’ve stuck with 1.5In belts for that reason.
Most of my pants have the bigger belt loops. For many years our class C uniform was 5.11 “style” khaki pants with a black polo shirt (purchased at our own expense – SO’s don’t have a lot of money for optional more casual uniforms). I bought a good number of pants from LA Police Gear since I thought that the 5.11s were grossly overpriced. As I wear out the old khakis I replace them with the same style because of the wider belts I’ve got.
A question for Dave L.: Do you ever have mis-feeds or failures to eject; or have you had them with certain brands or weights of FMJ, or HP ammo? I’ve heard many stories about Ultra model Kimber’s and in general, short barrel 45’s experiencing feed issues. Typically the reason given, is the feed ramp angle or bullet nose. Some have blamed Kimber magazines as well. I have a 3.5″ barrel RIA 1911 at it has always been fine. My Kimber Super Carry PRO HD is fine as well. I really would like an Ultra Series Kimber, but am hesitant to buy one (again) as the one I used to own, did have sporadic feed or eject issues. I never did determine what the issue was. Any ideas?
My Kimber is 12 years old (I found the receipt) and I have maybe a thousand rounds through it. I’ve been told that there are some issues with the newer ones, but I really can’t speak to that. My old pistol handles everything well. Some folks say that the officer’s frame .45s in general prefer a rounded bullet profile such as the Golden Sabres or Speer Gold Dots, but mine has done fine with the truncated cone shape bullets like you find on the Hornady XTPs (among others). I only own one Kimber magazine – the one with the funny looking Ed Brown bumper. That bumper seemed to be a good idea at the time to give me a little more grip space and to allow me to identify my only short length magazine by feel. No problems at all with the Kimber mag.
The other two magazines are full size Chip Mccormick 8 rounders. Again no problem with feeding all weight and profile bullets. I have a couple of “no name” $8.00 gun show special magazines that I bought for my full size Rock Island and they do fine too. The only magazines that I’ve had trouble with were some old Mec-Gars that worked fine with my full size guns but would fail to feed about every third or fourth round in the Kimber.
I prefer to shoot heavier bullets, usually 200 or 230 grain. I’ve loaded a lot of jacketed practice rounds and I split the difference between the light and hot loads listed in the reloading manuals. That gives me very good reliability and minute of bad guy accuracy. I keep the pistol clean and lubricate it pretty generously and it just seems to run fine.
I’m sorry that I can’t give you more ideas or advice. A 1911 – even a short barrel model – should operate well with military style ball ammunition and the newer guns should cycle most hollow points.
I carried a Kimber Ultra CDP 2 for years. Initially it had feed issues with most HPs I tried to run through it. Eventually I called Kimber and was told that they have the most success with Remington Golden Saber. I bought some and that solved the feed problem for the most part although my past experience with feed problems left me a bit uneasy about betting my life on the gun. I have since acquired several commander size 1911s – including a Kimber and they all cycle with whatever I feed them.
Now this is a good one great gun and fine looking belt and holsters.
a subi driver with a 1911, like a phish sticker and a nra sticker on a car
There’s a bit of a story behind the Subie. A lot of years back we responded to a very bad one car accident. A young lady had hit a large tree at about 60 miles an hour in her old Outback and as we rolled up on the wreck I figured that it was time for the coroner. Her only injury was a broken wrist that she got when she braced against the steering wheel.
I know that there aren’t any statistics involved in one wreck, but I became convinced that the Subies are tough vehicles. Add that to their impressive bad weather performance, comfort for a couple of old people, and reasonable gas mileage and we feel that we made a good choice. My hot rod days are over.
I once saw a Prius with an NRA, “If guns are outlawed…”, and USMC stickers in an Academy Sports parking lot. Go figure.
Well, I would have to agree; Subaru’s have always been built well. I had a 1978 DL 2dr FWD (no 4 wheel) and was in a head on collision in an ice/snow storm in Chicagoland.; with a Chevy Citation. No seat belt on, broke the steering wheel with my chest, cracked the windshield with my head (luckily the visor was down). No visible wounds or broken bones !!! Chest/heart contusion was the major injury; heart was going as much as 180+ for a while . . .No AIRBAGS, No Seatbelt. Had the seatbelt been on, probably would’ve had little no injuries at all. Now I have a 2016 Outback, and I do wear my seatbelt!
That’s a nice What I Carry.
Most carry guns eventually rust when carried close to your body. Kimber’s come pre-rusted from the factory right out of the box!
So you have that going for you.
I’ve had 5 Kimber’s, never any that came with or eventually began to show rust, anywhere. Must be a body chemistry thing . . .