Kimber rifle feedback, comments?

[tionico]

Anyone with any personal experience with the Kimber line of bolt action rifles... I'd appreciate some input. I know they're considered very highly in regards 1911 style handguns, and that ling guns are a different animal.. SO I'm not quite ready to figure they do the long as well as they do the short. ....

specifically, I've found a M-98 Sport (SS/synthetic) that interests me.

Overall quality, I would guess, is very good. How about dead on accuracy? That's more important to me than looking good.

thanks

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[RockKrawler]

Anyone with any personal experience with the Kimber line of bolt action rifles... I'd appreciate some input. I know they're considered very highly in regards 1911 style handguns, and that ling guns are a different animal.. SO I'm not quite ready to figure they do the long as well as they do the short. ....

specifically, I've found a M-98 Sport (SS/synthetic) that interests me.

Overall quality, I would guess, is very good. How about dead on accuracy? That's more important to me than looking good.

thanks

When you say Kimber,you need to understand that there were 4 different time periods of which Kimber exsisted in various forms.
Anyway,to answer your question about that Mauser your looking at.
There were a last ditch effort by a sinking company to help salvage their name and keep the company in Clackamas.
The rifles were cheaply modified Mausers that had the barrel replaced,a Synthetic Stock installed,some had bolt handles bent,and i believe drilled and tapped for a scope base.
They went for 150.00 or thereabouts when Al Peck up at Mololla GunWorks had them,they were one of the largest dealers for them.
The rifles are very hit and miss when it comes to accuracy,and dependability.
Now i have seen some that have shot acceptably,and some that wouldn't be worth the time to return.If you want an accurate rifle look elsewhere,if you want a rifle to hunt and plink with,have a qualified Gunsmith check it out before you pay for it.
Headspace can be an issue on these.
IIRC they use the VZ24 action on some,the M96 Swede,and the M98 on others.
HTH
RK


Found this for you.


IIRC, Kimber did offer the reworked 96 rifles in the high pressured 22-250, But not in 7MAG. Kimber also offered the original 6.5 along with 243 ,7-08, and 308 in a 96 action.
Any time a case ruptures, bad things happen, you don't want to be holding the gun that shoot it, whether it be a 98 or any allegedly lesser action. Some later 96 commercial and reworked military models have extra/and/or much enlargened venting holes.
Can anyone tell me which country or arms manufacturer designed which gun that will blow gas straight back into it's shooters face? I can't think of any bolt action that doesn't have a gas venting system. Some are better than others.
A number of other actions have claims to be stronger that the 98.
I though that the Swedes determined the pressures to be generated in their guns, ammo, and actions long before the CIP or the SAAMI(only relatively recently) started to verify/certif the Swedes cevelopment.
!!!Some people say that there is a correlation and a conversion with cup and piezo pressures. Both can be expressed in psi units, although they are over very different time intervals,one quite short and the other much longer. I wouldn't want to bet my health on a high end load (guessimation)conversion..

 

[tionico]

hooboy, thanks for the info. I had been guessing that, since the Kimber listings do not have a "M-98" listed, it was the venerable old Mauser 98 action. This one is in '06, which is something I am wanting. But, based on what you've pointed out, I think I'll take a pass. I've found an old pre-Garcia Sako Finnbear I've actually handled that seems solid... and for about the same money. Think I know which one would be the wisest choice. I've also just turned up a Browning A-Bolt White Gold Medallion for what seems a reasonable price. Worst case, I'll just go buy a new Tikka T-3 stainless for less than six hundred bucks and be done with it...... I guess the new 8400 series Kimbers are pretty good..... I'll let this one go to someone else....

 

[bwells]

Yeah, I'd probably stay away from the older military-actioned Kimbers. With the older models, the price may still be inflated because of the Kimber name. If you're looking for an '06 sporterized military action, they show up on gunbroker fairly often, and they're not too expensive. But IMO, if you're going to spend the money for one of those, you'd be better off getting a good new or used rifle from any of the big manufacturers like Ruger, Remington, Browning, Savage, or Tikka. '06 has been around forever, so there is tons of them out there.

My brother shoots one of the newer 8400's in 300 wsm, and he really likes it. I've shot it a few times, and it is very well built, fairly light, and has a crisp trigger. If I shot rightie I would have bought one. Personally, I think the 84's and 8400's are some of the nicest affordable factory guns out right now. But at nearly 1k, you could probably find a good used rifle for about 1/3 the money. Just my .02.