I have seen advertisements on Gunsamerica for left handed M84 in varmint cartridges / short actions.

I have also seen right handed M89 "K.O.O." advertised in .30-06, .280 Rem, .338Win Mag, .375H&H along with .416 Rigby.

Does anyone know whether M89s were built left handed in .30-06 or .375 H&H?

I don't know about left-handed versions but having been an owner of 3 Kimber Orgegon 89's
I can tell you the company was in trouble financially at that time and the quality of 89's is suspect. I have a 3006 and 416 Rigby and owned a 375 H&H and all three had barrel problems. The 3006 and the Rigby now have Krieger barrels. Also, the wood, even though it looks nice is inferior and will tend to crack inside.

The earlier 84's were nice rifles, but I will not buy another 89.

rcasto,

Thank you for the information.

I did not realise Kimber of Oregon had quality control issues towards the end. Was it this problem which killed off the original company?

I heard a rumour, I live in the UK, that Kimber had cash flow problems after getting into difficulties with a big order which over stretched the company's resources.

I think it is a pity. The rifle pictures I have seen show them to be better than the Winchester M70 Supergrade and a fair pRice, good quality (superficialLY as it now seems) when compared to the Dakota M70.

I could be wrong, but I don't think it was quality issues that killed the old company. I believe they got into too many special and custom projects which caused them to become cash poor. The quality issues then followed as the company was forced to take shortcuts affecting the quality of their product.

My 3006 would never shoot right and the stock had begun to crack inside. I had Krieger put a barrel on it and sent it to Serengeti for a stock. I am now waiting for my gunsmith to blue it. Serengeti does a fine job by the way.

The 416 Rigby African fouled terribly and would only shoot 6" groups on a good day. I sent it to Steve Nelson and he informed me that the barrel and never been screwed in all the way.
I had him put a Krieger on it and steel bed it.
It shoots fine however I'm noticing small cracks inside of this one too.

The 375H&H, while headspaced correctly to the belt, was chambered too deep so that the brass would strech so much that reloads were not safe.
I sold this to my brother who wanted it even though I informed him of this (He doesnt reload). This rifle actually shoots well and I would have kept it had I been able to get more than one reload out of the brass.

rcasto,

Stock splitting - what do you think was the problem?

Do you think the action could move or flex abnormally in the stock or had the wood dried out too much, become brittle?

Or had the blanks wood grain orientation been incorrect from the start?

I agree with you about the Serengeti / Acra-bond stocks. I am having a rifle built with one of these stocks.

Re-barrelling and re-stocking a rifle, you have a lot of money invested in that action! You must like it very much.

It could have been the grain and drying - or it could just have been cheap wood and an incorrect fit of action to stock.

As far as liking the action, had I known what I would be getting into, I would not have gone this route. I never could have sold these with good conscience and so I made the best of it and chalked it up to experience.