The Kimber R7 Mako
The Great Gun Fairy has struck again.
Joe comes home with a black plastic box under his arm. Wonderful.
He places it on the counter with a really smug smile.
I know it’s another handgun. Super. We have absolutely no need for another gun.
He reaches for the latches and grins.
“It’s a Kimber,” he breathes reverently.
A Kimber? Oh, we so don’t need a Kimber. I don’t care if it has a fine trigger. It’ll be a 1911 hammer gun like all the other Kimbers. And as Joe is fully aware, I vastly prefer a striker-fired gun. And, as Joe likes it, it will fit his hand and not mine. And those Kimbers don’t hold many rounds, as they are single-stacked. And Kimber? The very name that makes almost any gun guy practically genuflect. Because of the Kimber name, it’s an overpriced hunk of metal, in my opinion. Yawn.
“Wait and see,” he says as he opens the box.
He reaches in and pulls a gun out of the gray foam and gives it to me.
I pick it up. Huh. No hammer. Is the hammer shrouded? I flip over the gun, pull back the slide and inspect the underside of the slide.
What do you know? This Kimber is actually a striker-fired handgun! Will wonders never cease? This must be Kimber’s first foray into the striker-fired arena.
Huh. I hold it in my dominant hand. Wow. Great grip. Super-duper great grip with sturdy texture. Just a bit of a palm swell. Fits me beautifully.
“It fits my hand, too!” marvels Joe. He has large hands, as opposed to my small ones. Go figure. I’m starting to think this gun might be OK after all.
“How many does it hold?” I press the magazine release button and inspect it. “12 rounds? Not bad! And it’s a double-stacked, not a single-stacked gun too!”
Will wonders never cease?
“It looks larger than your Sig Sauer 365 Macro X-Comp,” I say, and lay the two handguns together.
What do you know, but the Kimber is actually only a quarter-inch higher, and that’s with a Crimson Trace reflex sight built on? I really like a reflex sight. And the Kimber isone-quarter inch less in length. It’s also thinner than the 365, by about one-eighth of an inch. So, it’s shorter and narrower than the Sig 365, and only a quarter-inch higher with its red dot sight.
Wow. It looks like a lot of gun, but is actually not larger than the 365. Interesting.
The Mako is quite sleek. Named after the Mako shark, which is: “the fastest shark, clocked at nearly 50 miles per hour, it wields the strongest bite at 13,000 Newtons, and they’re big and smart too. They can grow to about a ton, and they have the biggest brain-to-body ratio of all sharks,” says Jay Langston on The Truth About Guns.
So, what else are people saying about the Mako?
I get back on the computer.
Again, Langston continues: “The R7 Mako is Kimber’s first polymer-framed, striker-fired, subcompact handgun.
“The R7 is easy to hide under a shirt, with its one inch width at the grip.”
Furthermore, Jeremy S, on The Truth About Guns states that: “The aggressive inward curve at the heel helps prevent the Mako from printing when concealed.”
So, it sounds like a great carry gun holding 12 rounds and sleek enough to be carried unseen under a shirt.
What else is being said about this Mako?
“The other thing that’s really awesome about the R7 Mako, and frankly this is a feature that is missing in a lot of guns on the market, is that this is truly bilateral,” says Evan Brune, executive director of American Rifleman.
“What I mean by that is it’s got magazine-release buttons on both sides. You don’t have to reverse it if you’re left-handed, you can use them both on either side right out of the box. The other thing that’s really cool about this gun is that it’s also got a bilateral slide-stop lever.”
OK. These guys like it. But is it accurate?
Stephen Wolfenberger on Shooting Times says: “During all the shooting, including from the bench and during all the action drills, reliability was stellar. I didn’t experience a single malfunction of any kind. All factory loads fed, fired, and ejected perfectly. You really can’t ask for more than that.”
OK. I’m hearing good things about this Kimber.
But how will it act for Joe and me at the Wakulla County Sheriff Office range?
Once we arrive, and the range is hot, I point the Mako in a safe direction downrange and rack the empty slide.
Zip! That was amazingly easy. Maybe the ease was a mistake. I rack it again. Zip!
The slide is amazing.
I load the magazine and pop it into the gun.
Taking a breath and letting it out, I squeeze the trigger.
Blam!
Wow! And Joe usually says only 1911 handguns have crisp triggers. He’s wrong, wrong, wrong. The Mako has a light, crisp and short trigger, even though it is a striker-fired handgun. Even Joe has to admit the Mako’s trigger is surprisingly good.
I’m glad I held on tight when I shot, though. The recoil is pretty sharp. When Joe shoots it, he notices the same thing. Recoil on the Mako is firm. Firm.
But the grip, as I noted before, is really good. Both Joe and I, with large and small hands, appreciate the ergonomics and texture of this grip.
We have no malfunctions at all. We have no problems hitting the 8 inch target at 21 feet. Joe’s hits are tightly clumped in the lower right-hand quadrant. Two of Joe’s hits just touch the bullseye.
Mine are spread around the target, but dang, the red bullseye is still pristine.
“Can I see your Sig Sauer 365 Macro X-Comp?” I ask. Since these guns are so similar in size, I’m asking to shoot Joe’s favorite carry gun.
Blam!
Darn if it didn’t take out the bullseye! I try not to look too pleased.
“Do you want to shoot some more?” asks Joe.
“No.” I probably wouldn’t ever make that shot again. The Sig is a fine gun and similar in many ways, but I sure prefer the Mako’s grip.
Stephen Wolfenberger sums it up: “The micro-sized 9mm Kimber R7 Mako has smooth contouring and cool styling. It has minimal snag points. It’s easy to conceal. It shoots comfortably and is accurate. And it’s light enough to carry comfortably all day. Hands down, I think it’s a winner.”
I do, too.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.
