Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm – Superb Bright Blue Carry Pistol

Description

Most micro nines are bought on price and carried until they get scratched. The Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm goes the other way. It is a genuine everyday carry pistol built on the 1911 style single action Micro 9 frame, and then finished the way a safe queen would be, with a bright blue PVD slide, engraved scroll accents and blue and black G-10 grips. It weighs 15.6 ounces empty, measures a hair over six inches end to end and disappears under a shirt.

Micro 1911 Handling In A Pocket Sized Frame

The Micro 9 runs a single action trigger with a thumb safety, which is the part that separates it from the striker fired crowd. Press travel is short and the break is clean at around seven pounds, heavier than a full size 1911 but deliberately so in a gun this small. An ambidextrous thumb safety is standard, so the manual of arms works the same from either hand and left handed carriers are not left improvising.

The frame is aluminum with a satin silver finish, which keeps weight down to 15.6 ounces with an empty magazine. Slide and barrel are stainless steel. A full length guide rod smooths the cycle and the match grade solid aluminum trigger is the same part family Kimber uses higher up the line rather than a cost reduced substitute.

Dimensions are the whole point. Six point one inches long, 4.07 inches tall and 1.06 inches wide means the gun rides in an appendix holster, a pocket holster or an ankle rig without printing. Sight radius is 4.3 inches, short by full size standards but long for the class.

Finish, Sights And Grips

The bright blue PVD finish on the slide is the reason this model has a name instead of a part number. PVD is a hard, thin film coating, so unlike a traditional bluing job it resists holster wear and sweat rather than turning grey at the muzzle after a season of carry. Scroll engraving is cut into the slide flats and picked out against the blue, which reads as jewelry in photographs and as a surprisingly subtle gun in hand.

Sights are fixed low profile three dot tritium night sights. Tritium matters more on a carry gun than on a range gun, because the times you are most likely to need the pistol are the times the light is worst. Low profile means nothing snags on the draw. There is no optic cut on this model, so the irons are what you get and they are good ones.

Grips are ball milled G-10 grips in blue and black, matched to the slide. G-10 holds texture without shredding a cover garment, and the ball milling gives positive purchase without the sandpaper feel that makes some carry guns miserable against bare skin in summer.

Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm Specifications

• Caliber: 9mm Luger
• Capacity: 6 rounds, 6+1 with one chambered
• Barrel length: 3.15 inches, stainless steel
• Barrel twist: 1 in 16 inches, left hand
• Overall length: 6.1 inches
• Height: 4.07 inches
• Width: 1.06 inches
• Weight: 15.6 ounces with empty magazine
• Sight radius: 4.3 inches
• Sights: fixed low profile 3 dot tritium night sights
• Trigger: match grade solid aluminum, approximately 7 pound pull
• Frame: aluminum, satin silver finish
• Slide: stainless steel, bright blue PVD with scroll engraving
• Grips: ball milled G-10, blue and black
• Safety: ambidextrous thumb safety
• Recoil spring: 11.5 pounds
• Manufacturer SKU: 3300111

One correction worth making against older listings: this model ships with a flush fit six round magazine, not an eight round magazine. Seven round extended magazines are sold separately if you want the extra capacity and a full finger grip.

Why Buyers Choose The Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm

The obvious draw is the finish. There are plenty of competent micro nines and very few that anyone would call beautiful. The Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm is one of the few carry guns people buy partly because of how it looks, and PVD means that look survives actual carry rather than living in a case.

Underneath the finish it is a serious pistol. Tritium sights, an aluminum match trigger, a full length guide rod and an ambidextrous thumb safety are carry features, not showroom features. The single action trigger gives a lighter, shorter press than a striker fired subcompact, which is the difference between hitting and hoping at seven yards.

Size and weight close the argument. At 15.6 ounces empty this is a gun that actually gets carried rather than left in a drawer on hot days, and the 1911 style grip angle feels familiar to anyone who has shot the platform.

Who Should Buy The Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm

This suits the everyday carrier who already shoots a 1911 and wants the same trigger and safety in a pocketable size, and the buyer who wants a carry gun with some character rather than another black polymer rectangle. Six plus one is a modest round count, so anyone who prioritises capacity should look at a double stack micro instead. New shooters should also be aware that the thumb safety on the Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm requires practice to work under stress, and that a short barrel gun rewards range time.

Full manufacturer specifications for the Kimber Micro 9 Sapphire 9mm are published by Kimber on the official product page. Browse more Kimber pistols and 1911s in our handguns category.