Description
The Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm is a compact single stack 1911 that pairs a serious carry platform with a finish almost nobody else offers. The three inch barrel and aluminum frame keep the weight at twenty five ounces, the stainless slide wears a rose gold PVD coating, and the whole gun runs eight rounds of 9mm behind Tactical Wedge night sights. It is a small 1911 that happens to look like nothing else on the shelf, and that combination is exactly why it sells.
The Rose Gold PVD Finish
Physical vapor deposition is not paint and it is not anodizing. The rose gold layer on the stainless slide is bonded at the molecular level in a vacuum chamber, which makes it far harder and far more corrosion resistant than a sprayed coating. It will not flake off the way a cheap finish does, and holster wear shows up slowly rather than immediately. That matters on a carry gun, because a carry gun spends its life rubbing against leather or kydex.
The frame underneath is aluminum with KimPro matte black, so the Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm reads as a two tone pistol rather than a novelty. The dark frame grounds the warm slide color instead of competing with it. G10 grips finish the package and add a texture that holds up to sweat and oil in a way that wood does not.
It is fair to say the finish is polarizing. Some buyers want a gun that disappears, and this one does not. But plenty of shooters are tired of every pistol on the rack being black, and the Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm gives them something that is still a real fighting 1911 underneath the color.
Shooting A Three Inch 1911 In 9mm
The Ultra frame is the shortest 1911 Kimber builds, and running it in 9mm rather than 45 ACP changes the character of the gun considerably. Recoil drops, the sixteen pound recoil spring is easier to rack than the eighteen pound spring in the 45, and ammunition costs roughly half as much. For a shooter who wants to actually practice with a small 1911 instead of just carrying it, that is a meaningful difference.
Sights on the Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm are Tactical Wedge tritium units on a 4.8 inch radius. A short sight radius is less forgiving of small alignment errors than a full size gun, so expect groups to open up compared to a five inch pistol. The tritium is the real advantage here, because a carry gun gets used in low light far more often than a range gun does.
The trigger is solid aluminum set at four to five pounds from the factory, and it breaks cleanly the way a good 1911 should. Combined with a full length guide rod and an ambidextrous thumb safety, the controls are what an experienced 1911 shooter expects. Anyone new to the platform should put in range time with the grip safety and thumb safety before carrying it.
Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm Specifications
- Caliber: 9mm Luger
- Barrel Length: 3 inches
- Overall Length: 6.8 inches
- Height: 4.75 inches
- Width: 1.15 inches
- Weight: 25 ounces with empty magazine
- Magazine Capacity: 8 rounds
- Slide: Stainless steel with rose gold PVD
- Frame: Aluminum with KimPro matte black
- Grips: G10
- Sights: Tactical Wedge tritium, 4.8 inch radius
- Trigger: Solid aluminum, 4 to 5 pounds
- Recoil Spring: 16 pounds with full length guide rod
- Safety: Ambidextrous thumb safety plus grip safety
- UPC: 669278323725
One eight round magazine ships with the Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm. Short 1911 magazines work harder than full size ones because the spring has less room to work, so buy spare factory magazines and replace the springs on a schedule if this becomes a daily carry gun.
Why Buyers Choose The Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm
Buyers pick the Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm because it solves two problems at once. It is small enough to carry inside the waistband without a fight, and it is chambered in a cartridge cheap enough to practice with regularly. Small 1911 pistols in 45 ACP tend to sit in the safe because nobody enjoys shooting them for a hundred rounds. This one gets shot.
The build quality is the other draw. This is a machined steel and aluminum pistol with a hand fitted feel, tritium sights and a genuine match style trigger, not a budget compact. The Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm costs more than a polymer carry gun and it should, because the materials and the finish work are on a different level.
The honest caveat is capacity and maintenance. Eight rounds is well behind a modern double stack that holds fifteen in the same footprint, and every 1911 wants to be kept lubricated and fed good magazines. If those tradeoffs bother you, a striker fired compact is the better tool. If you want a 1911 and you want it to look like nothing else, the Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm is the answer.
Who Should Buy The Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm
The Kimber Rose Gold Ultra II 9mm fits the concealed carry permit holder who already understands the 1911 manual of arms and wants a compact version they will actually shoot. It works well for anyone with smaller hands, since the single stack grip is narrow at 1.15 inches across. It is also a strong gift or milestone purchase, because the rose gold PVD gives it a presence that a plain black pistol simply does not have. Shooters brand new to handguns should get formal instruction on the thumb and grip safeties first, and anyone wanting maximum round count should look at a double stack instead.
Learn more about this pistol from the manufacturer, or see more firearms available at MAG5 Firearms.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.