Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP – Superb 13 Round Double Stack 1911

Description

The Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP holds thirteen rounds. For anyone who has carried a traditional 1911 in this chambering, that number alone justifies the pistol. A five inch bull barrel, an optic mounting plate in the box, a night sight front and a carbon fiber grip module bring the rest of the design into the present. MAG5 Firearms stocks the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP for shooters who love the cartridge and the trigger but never loved the capacity.

Thirteen Rounds Of Forty Five

A traditional 1911 in 45 ACP holds seven or eight rounds. That was competitive when the design was adopted and has not been for a very long time. A double stack frame nearly doubles it to thirteen, which puts the pistol in line with what shooters expect from a modern service handgun.

The Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP trade is grip circumference, which necessarily grows. The carbon fiber grip module keeps that increase as small as the geometry allows while shaving weight, so the pistol still indexes and points like a 1911 rather than feeling like an unrelated design.

A five inch bull barrel is fitted to the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP rather than a bushing setup. A bull barrel locks up directly against the slide without a bushing, which typically tightens groups slightly and simplifies the front end, though it does change the takedown procedure from what a traditional 1911 owner may expect.

Optic Plate, Sights And Controls

A TAG cover plate covers the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP optic cut and a C and H RMR mounting plate ships with the pistol, so adding a red dot is a plate swap rather than a machining job. On 1911 pattern guns that has traditionally meant several hundred dollars, weeks without the pistol and a warranty question afterward.

Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP iron sights use a tritium night sight front against a fixed rear. A glowing front sight is dramatically faster to locate in poor light than a plain post, and it keeps the pistol usable if an optic fails or a battery dies at the wrong moment.

The Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP sub frame carries a Picatinny rail for a light and an ambidextrous thumb safety so left handed shooters are not adapting to a right handed gun. Front and rear slide serrations allow press checks from either end of the slide.

Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP Specifications

• Caliber: 45 ACP
• Barrel Length: 5 inch stainless bull barrel
• Capacity: 13 rounds
• Action: Single action, hammer fired, double stack 1911 pattern
• Frame: Stainless steel sub frame with KimPro Black finish and Picatinny rail
• Slide: Stainless steel with KimPro Black finish, front and rear serrations
• Optic: TAG cover plate, ships with C and H RMR mounting plate
• Sights: Night sight front, fixed rear
• Trigger: GT Performance Trigger, approximately 4 to 5 pounds
• Grips: Carbon fiber grip module
• Recoil Spring: 16 pounds with full size guide rod
• Weight: Approximately 33 ounces with empty magazine

The comparison worth making is against a traditional single stack. A double stack 1911 pistol keeps the trigger, the grip angle and the manual of arms that made the design famous while nearly doubling capacity. As a 45 ACP optic ready pistol it also removes the milling step that used to stand between a 1911 owner and a red dot. Anyone weighing a double stack 1911 pistol against their existing single stack should handle a 45 ACP optic ready pistol before deciding the extra grip width is a problem.

Why Buyers Choose The Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP

The Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP produces a slow heavy push rather than a sharp snap, and in a thirty three ounce pistol that impulse is genuinely mild. Combined with the single action trigger, it is one of the more pleasant full power cartridges to shoot accurately.

Magazines are Kimber units specific to this platform. They do not interchange with single stack 1911 magazines or with other double stack designs, so plan on ordering spares directly rather than expecting to find them on a shelf.

An honest caveat on size: this is a wide pistol. At 1.4 inches across the frame it conceals less readily than a single stack 1911, and shooters whose priority is a slim profile under a shirt may prefer the traditional design despite the capacity difference.

Who Should Buy The Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP

This pistol suits 45 ACP shooters who want modern capacity, competitors who value the 1911 trigger, home defense buyers, and anyone moving to a red dot on a metal framed gun. It is large for deep concealment but reasonable in an outside the waistband holster, and for a shooter committed to the cartridge the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP is the most capable version of the platform Kimber offers.

Learn more about this pistol from the manufacturer, or see more firearms available at MAG5 Firearms.

Feeding and shooting the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP

A double stack 1911 in 45 ACP is a different animal to feed than a single stack. The wider magazine changes the feed angle, the follower geometry and the spring rate, so a gun that ran flawlessly on your old seven round tubes is not automatically fine here. Give the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP a few hundred rounds of ball before you trust it with anything else, and keep the magazines clean, because grit shows up faster in a double column than a single one.

• For break-in and practice, Federal American Eagle 45 ACP 230 grain FMJ is the standard-pressure round-nose load the platform was designed around, and it is the right thing to run while the gun settles in.
• For carry or home defense, Hornady American Gunner 185 grain XTP is lighter and faster, which some shooters prefer because it flattens the recoil impulse in a heavy steel gun.
• Run at least one full magazine of your chosen defensive load through the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior 45 ACP before you carry it. A hollow point profile feeds differently than ball, and that is exactly the kind of thing a double stack will tell you about.
• The bull barrel means there is no barrel bushing, so field stripping follows the bull barrel procedure rather than the classic Government pattern. Read the manual once before you take it apart the first time.
• A heavier gun soaks up recoil, and this one is not light. That is a feature at the range and a consideration on the belt, so budget for a good gun belt if this is going to be a carry pistol.