Question about Kimber rifles

Bruised

Member
I would like to get some opinions on Kimber rifles in general. I'm really interested in the new,soon to be released Open Country.http://www.kimberamerica.com/open-country
What has been your experience with Kimber quality and accuracy? It seems like there's plenty of bashing the lightweight rifles for accuracy issues. I have been looking at building off a Savage or Remington action and doing just about exactly how this is built. I would end up with a little more money in a build and alot more time to order all of the parts. Any opinions good or bad would be appreciated.
Bobby
 
My nephew has a Kimber Hunter in 280AI, I got to handle it while visiting him earlier this month and it is sweet, light weight (list is 5.5 lbs). I didn't get to shoot it but he says it is very accurate for such a light gun and it will be his goto elk rifle.

He paid $650 for his, I think you would be hard pressed to build a light weight rifle under 6 lbs. for that. Do you think that some of the accuracy problems you speak of might be from shooters with such a light gun and not actually accuracy.
 
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Yes I do think most issues concerning accuracy are due to the extreme light weight. It seems like a lot of the reviews comment on that but never really address the issue about solving the problem.
I guess some people are just happier complaining. My theory with this Open Country is the added weight of the fluted heavy barrel would compensate some for the "whippy" pencil barrels of their lighter models yet still have a sub 7 pound rifle.
 
I bought a Kimber a few years back in .22-250 and it was a miss on their hit-n-miss quality at the time.
There was no reason to get bit twice so I never went back. If they weren't so brash I may have hoped for them to recover quicker.
My newest Tikka is 5.9 lbs out of the box with fluted stainless barrel. The fluted vs non fluted has better balance. I think the lighter weight keeps me more conscious or focused on the shot. With about 40 shots down the tube including sight in and 17 kills out to 355 yds I intend to keep doing the same thing.
 
A buddy and I bought a pair of 300 wsm's. I could never get either one to shoot better than 1.5" at 100 yards. I used a couple different powders, different primers, 3 or 4 different bullets, but no matter what I did, it would never do better than 1.5", often times being more like 2" plus. I sold them and bought a cz model 3. I had 1 each of 7 different loads left from load development with the kimber. I put all 7 different loads into a smaller group than the kimber ever did with any one load. And the cz was not bedded, trigger was as it came out of the box. Without difficulty i was able to get well under an inch with the cz.

Now, that was 10 years ago and I do have a kimber in 243 that shoots quite well.
 
I have 5 Kimbers. 2 Montana's, 2 Classics, and 1 Classic Select. At 100yds. all will shoot .75" or better.
I've never shot any factory out of any of them as I prefer my handloads.
The 2 Montana's were 204's, but one of them is a 17Rem. now. One Classic is a 30-06, the other was a 7mm08, but I rebarreled it to 243 then restocked it. The Classic Select is a 7mm08.
The 204 is still all factory and the only thing I've done is shorten the front scope base screw. I haven't even skim bedded it and I doubt if I ever do. It shoots very small groups as did the one I rebarreled to 17 Rem.
All of the others I skim bedded because that is what I do to all of my rifles. The front action screw on one of them bottom out so I shortened it and I shorten the front scope mount screws an all of them. I adjust all of the triggers to 2 1/4lbs.

I really like my Kimbers............ a lot.
 
I have a classic select in 280ai. It is shooting better with 150 nbt. It was really bad with the 139sst. I havent gotten it back to the range aince adjusted the trigger to get rid of the creep. IMO. It isnstill a factory rifle no matter the wood or weight. A savage or remage with a good barrel, trigger job,and bedded to a b&c composite will shoot better for less.
 
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I own four Kimbers...a Solo, a 1911 TLE/RLII, a Mountain Ascent in 280AI and a Super America in 325WSM. I have had zero issues with the pistols. I have had zero issues with the Super America. I have had a few issues with the Mountain Ascent. The chamber was cut rough. It was galled inside and I had to set the barrel back and rechamber it. I could have sent it back to Kimber and they probably would have fixed it, but they would have rebarreled it and the barrel actually shot good. The very light weight "mountain" rifles are a challenge to shoot, especially if you are used to a heavy rifle. I struggled at first, but was eventually able to get some 1/2" groups out of it.
Kimber used Douglas barrels on many of their rifles, but now manufacture their own. They are cut rifled and the bore is first honed to size on a Sunnen hone. You can see the crosshatch hone pattern on the lands with a borescope. The grooves are rougher than I would like to see, but the barrel doesn't copper foul any worse than any other barrel. One other thing to remember about a Kimber when comparing it to a build...Kimbers have a decent trigger. They also come with rings if you like Talley's. I glass bedded the Mountain Ascent and adjusted the trigger.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why rifle companies refuse to produce a 223 sporter contour all stainless with bottom metal, a synthetic stock and a barrel longer than a carbine. The Montana is only 2 out of 4.....the Sako 85 is 3 out of 4 and cost twice as much.
 
I own a 708 Montana which I bought new. On the very first shot the front sling stud pulled out and the gun crashed to the bench getting scratched up on the way down. While still sitting at the bench I called Kimber customer service. All I can say is that they could not have handled that phone call better. I got an RA and in a month had my gun with a new stock and the metal refinished. It has shot an honest inch with good ammo, and probably averages 1.5 at 100. I sent my stock to be dipped so I full length bedded it before it went. This seems to have made it more consistent. It takes the right form to get it to shoot little groups. I have also shot a bunch with a super varmint and it is very accurate. The open country looks to be a syn stocked Super Varmint. AT the right price I would own another.
 
Originally Posted By: Westex91Cz527 has a Kimber 7mm08. I believe he said it's is a solid 3moa gun.

My Remington 7/08 is a solid 3 MOA gun.

My Kimber shoots about MOA most of the time. It was shooting better but I guess it got too dirty and I'm too lazy to clean it.
 
I have bought 2 kimbers. A solo pistol that didn't failure to feed or failure to eject I can't remember

And a Montana. Parts of it are nice. I don't like the way it feeds and destroys brass. The blind box spring was weak and sometimes the bolt would close over the round. Lastly there is a gouge down the barrel perfectly straight that goes up and down the lands and grooves. I asked the gunsmith and he said too perfect of scratch and for how deep it was i couldn't have done it if i tried. It's at kimber
 
I own seven, IIRC, Kimber rifles and two Kimber 1911's and all are solid shooters that I have had zero problems with.

All of the rifles shoot within 0.75" at 100 yards and they are all lightweight configurations - 3 Montanas, 1 Stainless Classic, 2 Classic Selects, and 1 Super America.

The two 1911's are a Stainless TLE II full size 1911 and an Ultra CDP II with a 3" barrel.

No complaints at my house.
 
Thank you all for the replies. Seems to be about what I've seen around the internet. I really like the concept of the Open Country but just don't know if I'm ready to take that gamble.
Bobby
 
My one and only Kimber, a 8400 Classic Select in .300 WSM, is a fine rifle that shoots about an inch with 150 grain TSXs. I love the light weight and well-designed stock that makes it a pretty mild-mannered rifle. It's a pleasure to hunt with.
 
I have experience with 2 300wsm classics, 1 montana in 243, one hunter in 243. I would go for the montana again over the other models. The hunter was a 3 MOA w/o reloads. It is 1/2-3/4 MOA w/reloads. Ammo does not cycle nearly as smooth as with the montana.
The 2 300wsm were MOA w/180 fed fusions.
I can't see the reason to spend the extra $$ for an open country when a Montana does the same job. Use the extra $$ for optics, ammo, components.
 
Much like any other internet inquiry like this, in reality there are far more happy customers than there are internet grouses who like to get air time.

The fact is Kimber rifles are factory rifles and they are not perfect even though they are pricier than others. For me, I'd rather spend more with the expectation to get more in return as opposed to going cheap and getting cheap overall quality. If problems do exist, I'm betting that a polite inquiry for help from the maker will get a good response in terms of warranty. At least that has been my experience.

So far my Kimber experience has been good and nothing I've read here would back me away from "gambling" (in some eyes) on another one. For me, a rifle isn't just a utilitarian tool but rather it's a tool I like to carry for the quality it exhibits.

As for reported accuracy issues, I would venture to guess that a bunch of the bad accuracy reports are a result of the "victim" not knowing how to shoot a very light rifle from a bench.

Fire away if you feel a need.
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243Kimber, my thinking with the Open Country is that the extra barrel mass and wider forend would make for a better target/bench gun and a little extra support for a suppressor. Hopefully will also allow for more than two or three shots before it gets too hot.

Triple Duece660, I totally agree. It would be great if there weren't even a question about this issue.

Winny, I do believe in buying the best you can afford, and I also believe in researching any big purchase. I may still purchase this rifle because it is the closest pre-built ,that I have found, to what I would put into a custom. By gamble I simply meant that this represents a substantial investment for me and if it had issue with accuracy I wouldn't be able to just immediately re-barrel and move on. I do agree with the #of complaints vs # of units in use.
Thank you
Bobby
 
Originally Posted By: TripleDeuce660Sad to hear all those complaints about kimber. I would hope an American company like this would be producing nothing but top notch rifles.

My thoughts exactly. I had a friend that was a Kimber dealer and being present when problems with quality were handled with the company, it wasn't always pretty.
It was up and down, hit-n-miss.
If the pistols weren't popular he would have dropped them sooner.
But it's hard to be a gun store if you don't look like one.
Wood was a big problem for them at one time. After a while they were rumored to have fired the wood guy. So on on to the next problem.
Some problems do start at the top.
 
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