***** Comments from The Armory. Michael, what you're experiencing with your Kimber is not unusual. That's the reason they say in the owner's manual that there's a 500 round break in period. To increase the accuracy of the Kimber they had to reduce the slop or "tighten the tolerance". The only drawback to this is that you have a break-in period. The tighter tolerance that Kimber went for increases the accuracy that you say you're enjoying. I would say that after the 500 round break in period the reliability will improve drastically. And of course any small frame pistol requires a firm grip which is normal. It becomes more noticeable on some of the newer polymer pistols which are lightweight. Overall I have found that all Kimber products are superior once you follow the standard recommended break in periods. Bill G.