Kimber

[MemphisStockBroker]

any of you gentlemen shoot a Kimber rifle? just curious as to how you like it... never hear it mentioned in the "my favorite" talks...

[matador1]

One of the best rifles made in my opinion if not the best. My father in law has one in every caliber they make and they are so smooth shooting. I have the .22 Hunter and it is so balanced that you don;t even feel like you are holding anything.

[dukhntn]

Back about 7 or 8 years ago I was considering buying one. At the time I read about several quality control and accuracy issues. A lot of people loved them and swore by them. Others, not so much. I had a friend that owned two and ended up selling both. Im sure this was not typical of all the kimbers out there, but it was the closest thing to first hand experience that I had. In the end I couldn't see spending that amount of money on a rifle that may or may not be a good shooting gun. Too bad too, I really wanted one.

[Matt S]

Back about 7 or 8 years ago I was considering buying one. At the time I read about several quality control and accuracy issues. A lot of people loved them and swore by them. Others, not so much. I had a friend that owned two and ended up selling both. Im sure this was not typical of all the kimbers out there, but it was the closest thing to first hand experience that I had. In the end I couldn't see spending that amount of money on a rifle that may or may not be a good shooting gun. Too bad too, I really wanted one.

I read the same things but almost bought one anyway just never did. A friend just bought one of there custom pistols and it is fine. Very accurate too.

[Duck$$$]

I shoot an ultra lite in .308. Love it

[country_20boy]

If you want to learn about Kimber rifles, you need to go to 24hr campfire forum. There are thousands of posts on that subject and hundreds of "experts" more than willing to share there "knowledge" on the internet. Here is what I have learned through that forum in a nutshell:
1. You either love Kimber or hate them.
2. They are beautiful, lightweight rifles and if you get a good one, it is great.
3. They seem to have a high percentage of lemons (maybe 5-10%?)
4. Some people accept them for what they are (super light and easy to carry) and are happy with 1.5 MOA.
5. Some people think Kimber's are perfect if yours doesn't shoot sub MOA, it is your fault, even though you can shoot all of your other rifles better.
6. They seem to be picky about what loads they shoot well.

My own personal knowledge consist of a Model 84M .260 that I bought used a few years ago. I worked with it for about 6 months and everything I shot was 2 - 2.5" groups with a couple of groups down to 1.5". I could have taken it to the woods and killed a lot of deer, but 2" groups aren't good enough for me when I have other rifles that easily shoot under 1". I took it to a friend who has more rifle knowledge and experience in his big toe than me and he spent about 6 months loading and shooting it. The best he got was just over 1" but to get that, he loaded the bullets so long they wouldn't fit in the magazine. Most of his groups were actually worse than mine, being 3-4". So, almost exactly a year later, I sold it for $20 more than I paid.

I think if I had the time and money to keep trying different loads, and/or wanted to pay for a bedding job and have the action worked on (it had some slack), I could have eventually made it into a usable rifle, but for nearly $1000, I shouldn't have to do that?

Would I buy another Kimber? Maybe, if I saw first hand how it shot, or if like my previous experience, I got a good deal and knew that I could sell at no loss.

[mshunter77]

Buy a Sako.

[Glockem]

I have three Kimbers, all Montana's; .243, 270 WSM and 338 Fed. They all shoot great, I like the fact that they are very light weight. The only issue I had was with the 270 WSM and that was a feed issue. I polished the feed ramp and resolved that issue. I would recommend them for sure.