Kimber JPX Protector Review
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Recently while searching the Web for a new multitool I came across a site that was selling the Kimber JPX Protector as a less-lethal alternative. Some of the marketing material included notes that the JPX Protector (also known as the Kimber LifeAct) delivered an OC charge directly toward a target with an alcohol or gel based solution depending on the type of magazine used. The item piqued my interest as a possibly alternative to bear spray canisters, which have a nasty habit of creating blow back if there is any wind when used... And that sucks when you end up getting hit by your own bear spray, especially if it does not deter the animal it is being used on. Most of the prices I found online for the JPX Protector were pretty high, but I filed away the information for review at a later time.
Now three of the most common animals you might run into around Fairbanks, either in town or out of it are: brown bears, black bears, and moose. None of these are particularly friendly and can, in some instances, be down right cranky. At times bear spray can be ineffective as a deterrent, which means a strategic advance in another direction is advisable. If you've just inhaled a couple lungfuls of OC spray you won't be moving too fast, assuming you can still move and aren't on the ground hacking up a lung. The JPX looked like it might correct that issue, plus with the integrated laser sight option could be as simple as point and pull the trigger.
So, after a couple of days I found time to go seeing if anyone had any sales running for the JPX that were in a reasonable cost range. Ironically enough, the Kimber America web site was running a sale on the JPX at about 25% the cost of what third party companies were charging. I decided to purchase a JPX with a laser sight for a functional test, along with a variety of magazines available and a holster to see if it could be integrated into my hiking pack.
I received the items on a Tuesday, but wasn't able to try them out for a couple of days since in February in Fairbanks there is about 7 hours of daylight and I wanted to see how effective the gel and alcohol based shots were. On Thursday I had to take the cat to the vet in the morning and took off the remainder of the day rather than head into work. Once the cat was settled after the trip to the vet I went outside to the back of our lot and gave two magazines a try. There was a nice snow cover on a dead fall of logs back there that gave a nice back drop to determine how well the JPX would do, both in distance and how tightly the "shot" stayed together.
Each magazine I tested with holds two shots and are disposable after use. The design of the JPX is simple enough that swapping magazines after two shots is pretty straight forward and quick. The first trial was with a green tipped blue dye magazine that included the "self cleaning" feature. This self cleaning feature reduces the distance the shot can go by about 3 feet, but also looked like it would keep the groupings tighter since it had a heavier base than the non-self cleaning rounds.
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I placed myself ~18' back from the dead fall. Kimber puts the farthest
distance at ~24 feet for non-self cleaning and ~21 feet for self
cleaning, so I was within the reasonable and ideal distance for the
JPX. There was no wind down in the dip I was in and air temperature
was approximately -22°F. (Kimber recommends use only down to -4°F in
the JPX documentation, which during the winter time in Alaska is a
warm, balmy day. While this was outside the spec of their recommended
use I had just come from inside and was sure the magazines were not
frozen. If used while snowmobiling, snowshoeing, or hiking in the
winter I would definitely recommend keeping the magazines close to your
body to keep them from freezing. Bad things might happen if the
gel/alcohol freezes and you attempt to fire the JPX.)
My first
shot was a bit of a disappointment. The JPX uses a primer charged shot
to deliver the OC payload to the target. This gives a low pop noise,
similar to a .22 shell with no kick back when fired. Weird thing about
the first shot is that it was a red dye, whereas all online material
shows that the practice magazines should have blue dye payloads. The
shot ended up splattering all over from the tip of the JPX to the dead
fall with a load of spread over the last 10 feet. Now this being my
first shot I ended up checking the consistency of the payload, which
had a chemically smell to it and felt kind of like slime, but didn't
leave any dye on my fingers. In retrospect this may have actually been
a live OC load. I did not wash my fingers off after the
test and ended up scratching my eyelid about an hour after I finished
my tests, which promptly started to burn and turn very, very red. I
have not yet tested a live OC magazine to test my hypothesis, but have
queried Kimber about this oddity, especially since both shots in the second magazine tested had blue dye.
After
lining up on some clean snow I gave my second shot a try in the green,
self cleaning magazine. This shot was the expected blue dye and had a
nice tight pattern in the spread. At the time I was using the
integrated visual sights built into the top of the magazine and the
shot was dead on where I wanted to place it. (Point of aim was the cut
log sticking up right behind the shot.)
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The next magazine I
tried was a blue tipped non-self cleaning magazine. This one was
supposed to have a little bit extra power behind it, giving it more
distance, but also a different chemical compound (alcohol based if I
recall correctly) for the payload delivery. The first shot gave the
expected blue dye with no discernable additional "kick" than a self
cleaning magazine. The magazine did dribble die out the barrel after I
lowered the JPX. One would need to be careful when firing the non-self
cleaning OC loads to be sure there was not passive transfer, possibly
from shoes or pants to sensitive areas. The spread was not too bad,
although definitely not as tight as the second self cleaning shot was.
Once
again side stepping I did a second shot from the blue magazine and got
a similar spread pattern as the first. Again, once the JPX was lowered
I had blue fluid and dye dribbling out of each cylinder of the
magazine. In a situation where you may be moving fast or expecting
someone to possibly rush you this dribble, if it occurs with a live
magazine also, could end up affecting you.
Overall, I was
impressed with the Kimber JPX Protector for the price I paid for it.
($115 for the JPX frame with the integrated laser, plus $195 for a mix
of 12 live and practice magazines.) Any more than that I would
probably stick with the bear spray canisters, which currently are
running for about $30/canister at the local outfitter. The holster is
nice in that it holds a spare magazine, plus a loaded JPX. There is a
belt loop that can fit wide belts and the back has a velcro coating, so
it could be easily modified to be slapped into an easy to reach place
on my hiking pack if I don't want it on my belt. Given the dribble
with the non-self cleaning magazine tests I'm leaning toward taking the
distance hit on the self cleaning magazines and using those as my
preferred ready loads while out in the wilderness.
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