I just picked up a Kimber 84M in 308. It has absolutely gorgeous wood with a reddish orange Kimber pad. I have heard mostly horror stories about Kimber accuracy, but it seems most of the Kimber success stories I have heard of have been in 308 and 243. Does anyone have any tricks to help with Kimber accuracy besides trading it for a better rifle? Bullets I will be loading will be 130 and 150 grain TSX, 150 grain Partition, 125 and 150 grain Accubond, and 165 grain Scirocco. Powders on the shelf are Varget, BLC2, Tac, H322, and Benchmark. I have new W-W cases and WLR primers. It is really a slick, quick to point rifle with great balance for a 5.6 Lb. gun. I will be working up loads with a Leupold 4.5-14LR and hunting I will switch to a VX2 in 2-7x33. Any input would be appreciated.

Check the following:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/...inkering#Post8486078

I have been happy with the Kimbers I have had/have.

Cheers, Chris

Quintus,
Do the fixes suggested by Rockdoc from 24hr campfire. My wife's 308 Super America shoots very well after a bit of tweaking following that thread. It wasn't bad before at about 1 1/2-2" but after the tweaking it settled down to close to 1 inch. Remember that a light rifle is much more sensitive to changes in your bench rest technique than a standard weight rifle so make sure you don't discount the rifle because of something you are doing at the bench.
Good luck, they are fine rifles.

I recently sold my Kimber 308, wood stocked rifle, and was a half incher with most loads. The Kimbers are really popular around here and no complaints on accuracy that I know of..Mine doted on a max load of varget..

My only complaint is Im primarily a big game hunter and I have several 30-06s and larger. That and Im cutting back on the number of rifles I have, selling most of them as a matter of fact since they all do about the same thing.

That is reassuring Atkinson. Hopefully it is not the 1.5 - 2 inch gun. I have / have had several light rifles in this new price range and they have been easy to get to shoot very well. They are all synthetics, but I would expect any rifle that comes with a new retail price of over 1K to print small groups. Tomorrow I will get my first look. Thanks for the replies.

Red pad and 2 position safety?

I don't have a .308 but do have two Kimbers with wood stocks, one in .300 WSM, the other 7mm-08. Both shoot well under an inch with hand loads and around an inch with factory ammo.

That's right Mr. Thorn, red pad - two position safety. And it shot pretty well. I did load some 155 grain Berger VLDs I found and they and the 130 grain Barnes TSX were very close to MOA. The Sciroccos also shot pretty well. All the others were not horrible and may come around with a little work. No where near the horror I was led to believe by friends that I was in for.

The 308s that I have shot (M14s, M60s and a Rem 700) all worked well with 150 & heavier bullets. The Berger is long for its weight, so it would shoot more like a heavy bullet. the only experience that I have with 308 Barnes was when they introduced the X bullet, and I hear they have come a long way since then. sounds like you have a good rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Quintus:
That's right Mr. Thorn, red pad - two position safety. And it shot pretty well. I did load some 155 grain Berger VLDs I found and they and the 130 grain Barnes TSX were very close to MOA. The Sciroccos also shot pretty well. All the others were not horrible and may come around with a little work. No where near the horror I was led to believe by friends that I was in for.

Then you have a pre-2004 and it's sought after so don't get rid of it.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by Quintus:
That's right Mr. Thorn, red pad - two position safety. And it shot pretty well. I did load some 155 grain Berger VLDs I found and they and the 130 grain Barnes TSX were very close to MOA. The Sciroccos also shot pretty well. All the others were not horrible and may come around with a little work. No where near the horror I was led to believe by friends that I was in for.

Then you have a pre-2004 and it's sought after so don't get rid of it.

Why are the pre-2004 rifles so sought after?

You can get the safety converted to 3 position.

Why is it sought after?

Because of the red pad and two position safety and they typically have outstanding way above average wood

Do not get the safety changed. It goes along with your serial # and dates your rifle.

The two position safety is perfectly safe and I see no need to alter it

It's true, the wood is ridiculous.

It's true the wood on the early rifles are really good compared to the current, but the feed ramp is 10* too steep, which was changed on later rifles. If it feeds well, I wouldn't sweat it, but many don't.

This rifle seems to feed nicely and it is very carry friendly. It also points very well. My first Kimber experience is a positive one.