Hi All a buddy of mine found a kimber big game rifle new unfired ( made in late 80s) Are these good guns? How good it seems to me it is twice the money of other good guns Win super grade, Ruger 77 or CZ 550. Thanks.

Do a search here for old threads, they have been covered well in the past.

Some are good, but quality control was always a problem. A big downside is that they had economy grade Wilson barrels, and didn't always shoot well.

The makers of that rifle were more concerned with a great looking rifle than a high quality rifle. Too bad, I thought the action had a great design, and liked the shape of the stock although some find the grip a bit too open.

It may be a great rifle, then again odds are equally good it is expensive junk.

Sorry this isn't more definitive but that's the word on the Kimber BGR's.

WOW! Thanks Rick I passed this info on to my buddy I think he will opt for a model 70 supergrade like mine ( I pointed out for the same money he could also buy one for his son!) Thanks again John.

Maine Woods,

What caliber is the rifle? I have a .375 H&H M89 BGR Kimber that will shoot half-inch three-shot groups.

The problem as stated above is they shipped on looks alone, not reliability. You might have a good one, or a bad one. I think I would prefer one that had been shot.

The design is an upgrade of the M70 action design, they were cast in Oregon. Is this rifle's action a conventional scope base and ring mount or does it have integral bases?

jim

quote:

Originally posted by HunterJim:
Maine Woods,

What caliber is the rifle? I have a .375 H&H M89 BGR Kimber that will shoot half-inch three-shot groups.

The problem as stated above is they shipped on looks alone, not reliability. You might have a good one, or a bad one. I think I would prefer one that had been shot.

The design is an upgrade of the M70 action design, they were cast in Oregon. Is this rifle's action a conventional scope base and ring mount or does it have integral bases?

jim

If I was going to spend more money than a Super Grade I'd rather have a Dakota.

Ditto Rick on Kimber. I have seen a few I would not pay 50% of the asking price for them because they were so roughly finished. Every manufacture can turn out crap from time to time, however, Kimber quality control suffered there for a while.

Look, any rifle can be tweaked to shoot well, however, for the kind of money you mush shell out for a Kimber, there are other rifles I would much rather have - Dakota is near top of the list for the money.

The best thing to do is go over the rifle with a fine toothed comb. If you like what you see, buy it. But I do not think that the Kimber name is a blanket insurance policy for exceptional quality.

To expand a bit on my orignal post, I have owned exactly one Kimber BGR. A 270 fwt, it shot decently but had a very long throat. It also had a great piece of walnut, but you would never know it under the factory 30-second spray-on finish Kimber used. Cloudy, murky, a real POS finish.

It did turn into very possibly the finest rifle I have ever owned. All it took was for Bill Leeper to true the action and rebarrel with a Pac-Nor, and strip, slim the stock through the action area, rechecker and refinish the stock with a real finish. Then it was great.

I was lucky however as mine had a great action with no casting voids or imperfections.

I have owned both Kimber of Oregon and Dakota rifles for about a dozen years, both makes were/are overpriced and have their problems, however, the Kimber is not even remotely close to the Dakota in design, finish or fitting. I would not buy another Kimber and would ONLY buy a used Dakota at a good price, not a new one.

If, I wanted a nice, dressy, wood stocked rifle I would shop around US dealers like Maurice Hallowell for a minty pre-owned custom rifle by Ottmar, Biesen's, Goens, or other top US gunmaker; if you know what to look for, there are some fine deals on excellent rifles to be had and such a rifle is better than a Dakota or especially a Kimber.

In my honest opinion, when you take price into account, many of the rifles built in the '50s and very early '60s are better than either Kimber or Dakota rifles. This includes the FN sporters, the Browning FN series, the Brno 21-22 series and ZG-47 and some others, again, I own and shoot all of these and base my opinion on that.