Револьвер Kimber K6s

Reviews

Reviews for Kimber K6s DASA 3in .357 Mag. Revolver 3400016

Average Rating

by on June 29, 2019

Just picked up the K6S 3 inch DASA. Love this revolver!!! Had the original K6 2inch. The 3 inch DASA actually feels lighter than the 2inch I had (think the longer barrel evens the weight better). This handles 357 mag much better – doesn’t dig into the web of my shooting hand like the 2 inch did. Put 50 rounds of 357 and wanted to keep going. My new carry EDC revolver!

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by on August 21, 2019

I wanted a high quality 3″ .357 for concealed carry and to keep on the nightstand, this piece does not disappoint! I pondered spending a couple hundred more than a S&W or Ruger, but am glad I did as the features & design are truly worth it. The rounded edges, superb sights, how snag-free it is, the looks, action, all so nice. The one thing I’d change, and I can’t fault Kimber on this because many manufactures do it, is there could be another 1/2″ of grip length. I have medium sized hands and my grip fingers feel squished. It’s the concealed carry concept where shorter grips are common. We’re neglecting the pinky finger! Make the grip long enough to have no squished fingers and this piece would be just about perfect.

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by on January 21, 2020

Very well made Revolver. Only complaint I have along with others is when is someone going to make a nice set of rubber grips for this DASA revolver.

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by on August 21, 2019

I wanted a high quality 3″ .357 for concealed carry and to keep on the nightstand, this piece does not disappoint! I pondered spending a couple hundred more than a S&W or Ruger, but am glad I did as the features & design are truly worth it. The rounded edges, superb sights, how snag-free it is, the looks, action, all so nice. The one thing I’d change, and I can’t fault Kimber on this because many manufactures do it, is there could be another 1/2″ of grip length. I have medium sized hands and my grip fingers feel squished. It’s the concealed carry concept where shorter grips are common. We’re neglecting the pinky finger! Make the grip long enough to have no squished fingers and this piece would be just about perfect.

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by on May 4, 2019

The DASA has one nice trigger. Bought a 3″ earlier today at a local gun shop and put 200 rounds through it. Have several j frames but this Kimber is my favorite. Everyone gun nut should own one of these beauties.

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Range Time

Yes, this is a revolver so it probably comes as no surprise to you guys that it’s eaten all the ammo I’ve thrown at it.

So far I’ve run half a dozen loads through it including Hornady Critical Defense .38 Special 110 grain FTX, Hornady .357 Magnum 158 grain XTP, and Inceptor Preferred Defense .38 Special 77 grain ARX.

As expected there’s more felt recoil and muzzle rise with the .357 Magnum and the frangible Inceptor rounds have the least felt recoil of any load.

So here’s my problem with a lot of smaller revolvers: grip.

You have to be able to get a good grip on any gun to shoot it well and many snubbies–I would dare to say most snubbies–just don’t let you get one.

Kimber describes the grips of the K6s as “three-finger” grips and it’s accurate, at least for my hands. Try though you may the pinkie of your support hand is going do dangle and, in fact, even your strong-side hand might not quite fit. It all depends on your hand size.

That said, the checkering and width does give you a firm grip on the gun (and it’s comfortable, too). Personally, I like the fact that it doesn’t have finger grooves since those very rarely work with my hands.

This has been a relatively accurate little gun.

It isn’t meant for longer shots so I’ve stuck to under ten yards. Shooting from the bench at seven yards, five-shot groups are consistently under two inches whether .357 Magnum or .38 Special.

Move back to ten yards and you’re looking at closer to three and three-and-a-half inch groups. Of course, no one sits at a bench and sandbags their gun while trying to defend their lives.

Offhand you can still get groups close to two and two-and-half inches without trouble. The sticking point is going to be whether or not you can run that double-action trigger smoothly. If you’re thinking hey, I’m not going to bother running double-action, pump the brakes.

You need to learn to run a double-action trigger.

As factory triggers go the trigger on the K6s is excellent. It’s smooth, consistent, and has a clean, crisp break. Single-action it’s ridiculously easy; double-action it is one of the better out-of-the-box pulls I’ve experienced. No complaints.

Kimber really did nicely designing this gun for concealed carry. It doesn’t have sharp edges; the frame and barrel are beveled and smooth to drastically reduce snagging and cut down on printing, too.

The smoothness of the gun’s frame also improves draw stroke and makes re-holstering slicker as well. Checkering on the cylinder release and hammer makes manipulating them easier, especially if your hands are wet or sweaty (and they’re going to be if you’re using this for self-defense).

A word on recoil: yes, .357 Magnum produces enough muzzle rise and felt recoil to be… let’s go with unpleasant.

An apt comparison.

It does deliver far more energy than .38 Special so it’s worth finding out if you’re cool with it. Nothing wrong with using .38 Special, though. There’s +P .38 Special to consider, too.

Don’t dismiss the use of .357 Magnum outright, though. Spend time shooting it, get used to it, and try more than one brand of ammo. You might find one that’s accurate and workable for you offhand at close range.

Historical (Not a) Deep Dive

No, this isn’t a deep dive into revolver history.

It’s more like a quick topical look to make sure we’re all on the same page. Bear with me because we’re going to talk about not-a-Kimber guns for a minute.

Revolvers were less an overnight invention and more the result of decades–centuries, even–of advancements. But if you had to point to a single moment in gun history that did a lot for revolvers it would be the 1830s when Samuel Colt got involved.

There was already a flintlock revolver at the time, one created by Artemis Wheeler and Elisha Collier, but it wasn’t a revolver like you’re thinking. That flintlock revolver was self-priming but not self-rotating.

Flintlock revolver

Samuel Colt had time to get a good look at it during his time traveling by ship to India and England and somehow he figured out how to make it a lot better. It was February 25, 1836, when Colt’s US patent US138/9430X was finally granted, giving us the Colt Paterson, the early version of today’s revolvers.

Colt Paterson revolver

The Colt Paterson was a big leap forward mostly because the cylinder was indeed self-rotating. Sure, capacity was limited, but the ability to keep firing after the first shot without reloading was a big deal.

For one thing, it meant settlers and soldiers could defend their lives a lot more effectively than before, and for another it meant the gun world at large was moving into the semi-auto realm.

Of course, it wasn’t all guns and roses for Colt. Thanks to the Militia Act of 1806 he was unable to sell his revolvers directly to militias–try to remember militias back then were different and way more common than what we have today–and then-President Van Buren’s 1837 economic crash he just wasn’t selling enough guns to get ahead.

It ended up being wars that helped Colt; the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War happened and required revolvers. Plus, Texas Ranger Samuel Walker placed an order for 1,000 guns to be used fighting Santa Anna when he refused to admit Texas wasn’t part of Mexico (and hadn’t been in a good decade). That’s how we got the Colt Walker, an enforced-chamber, 44-caliber revolver.

Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers

Moving on. Decades of changes and improvements may have taken place but revolvers remain a solid, basic platform.

Cock the hammer and press the trigger and the spring propels the hammer forward to strike the firing pin (the exception being guns with integral firing pins in the hammer, meaning the hammer moves forward and its integral firing pin strikes the primer).

So easy, you can do it one-handed.

Can revolvers fail? Absolutely, it’s just less common than in other platforms. Having an uber-reliable handgun should be enough on its own to convince you to wade into the revolver pool. Just saying.

Conclusion

Kimber did an awesome job with this revolver. Aesthetically it’s appealing and eye-catching. The controls are easy to manipulate, the trigger is beautifully smooth, and the gun feels good in my hands. The biggest downside is the need for speedloaders because they are not easy to find.

Speed strips are okay but not ideal.

Here we come back around to the reason many gun owners dislike revolvers: capacity. I’d use the K6s DASA as my BUG but not as my main carry, not as a general rule, anyway. I fully admit I prefer having more rounds at my disposal from the jump.

Still, this is a great revolver. I totally recommend it, especially if you want just one good revolver in your possession. There are a lot of revolvers out there not worth the expense but this isn’t one of them. It outperforms its price point and delivers for concealed carry. DeSantis has some nice holsters for it.

48
at Amazon

Prices accurate at time of writing

View Details

48
at Amazon

Prices accurate at time of writing

Want a sleek revolver that’s made surprisingly well? Then you’ll probably love the Kimber K6s DASA.

900
at Brownells

Prices accurate at time of writing

View Details

900
at Brownells

Prices accurate at time of writing

Have you tried out the Kimber K6? Do you want to? Let us know what you think about this little revolver in the comments below! While you’re here, check out the Best CCW Revolvers or move to the semi side with Best Concealed Carry Handguns.

By the Numbers

Reliability: 5/5

It’s a revolver. Sure they can fail but this one hasn’t yet. It’s reliable.

Ergonomics: 3/5

This has both good and bad ergonomics. The grip is large enough to facilitate a good grip but small enough for dangling pinkies which I see as a bit of a bummer. Dangling pinkies never bode well for accuracy. On the other hand it’s a snubby so it is meant to have shorter grips and to be smaller in general, so can you really complain? It is comfortable, so there’s that. Trigger reach is a tiny bit short for me but again, this is a small gun. It is what it is.

Accuracy: 4/5

I’ll go with 4 out of 5 for accuracy because it is accurate at closer distances and that’s what it is designed to do. It gets the job done with no problem whatsoever. If you rapid-fire your groups broaden quite a bit; if you rapid-fire .357 Magnum you’re looking at dinner-plate-sized groups or worse. Take the time to aim. Always.

Customization: 3/5

Options to customize this gun are really limited to swapping out the grips and sights. I would prefer night sights, personally. Yeah you could start messing with the trigger and hammer but I wouldn’t. No reason to do it.

Value: 4/5

For the most part the K6s DASA does outperform its $970 MSRP. Even so it is a steep price for a gun that’s likely going to be used as a BUG (or only at the range). I’m torn on this one because it is a pretty good value but it’s also on the higher end of the spectrum for this specific type of gun.

Overall: 5/5

Kimber K6s Specs

The Kimber K6s DASA is what the company calls the “next evolution” of their revolver line.

If you’re familiar with the original K6s you know it’s a double-action; the K6s keeps the nicely-delivered double-action option while adding in the ability to run the gun single-action.

It’s a win-win situation.

Its three-inch stainless steel barrel with a brushed finish does make this gun a snubby, making it extremely well-suited for use as a carry gun (or backup gun). The K6s DASA is chambered in .357 Magnum so you can run it with those rounds or with the softer-shooting .38 Special.

The gun’s frame is also stainless steel with a brushed finish; the use of steel throughout makes this a more solid gun, a good thing for .357 Magnum. It weighs 25.1 ounces empty.

Other numbers you’re probably at least a little curious about…

The gun has a height of 5.0 inches, length of 7.62 inches, and width of 1.39 inches.

It has a six-round capacity. Features include white three-dot sights, walnut grips with diamond checkering, and the aforementioned DA/SA trigger.

Kimber lists the gun’s trigger as being set within an approximate range so I measured the trigger pull with my Lyman Digital Trigger Gauge. Double-action my K6s DASA has a measured trigger pull weight of 10 pounds, 2 ounces; single-action the gun has a measured trigger pull weight of 3 pounds, 4 ounces.

Description

Kimber has always been a company known for their 1911 style handguns, but that changed in 2017 with the release of the first Kimber K6s revolver. The goal was to make a Colt Detective Special for the 21st century and they without a doubt succeeded in that endeavor. All Kimber K6s revolvers are chambered for .357 Magnum and there for will accepted .38 Special and .38 Special +P cartridges as well—but what really set’s the Kimber K6s apart from its contemporaries like the Ruger SP101 or the many .357 S&W J Frames available is the 6 round cylinder. The K6s’ cylinder is actually smaller than its competitors but holds one more cartridge giving you more capacity in a smaller package.

The newest Kimber K6s features a double action/single action configuration that takes the Kimber’s famously short and smooth trigger pull to the next level. The double action trigger pull is still between 9.5-10 lbs. but the K6s now features and exposed hammer for single action shooting. The single action trigger pull is a crisp 3.25-4.25 lbs. for precise shooting. The Kimber K6s revolver with 3” barrel is an excellent duty and home defense firearm – but can prove itself invaluable for campers, hikers, and hunters in while trekking through bear country. The additional weight (2 oz.), enhanced sight radius (5.1”), and six cartridge cylinder of the K6s 3” will easily handle the hottest and heaviest bear defense loads.