Looking to buy a new 22-250. Narrowed it down to two choices:

Sako 75 varminter or a Kimber 84M

Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

If I had the choice between a Sako 75 and Kimber 84..... I'd take a Remington 700;-).

Seriously, I've heard the new Kimbers are having problems. Dunno how true the rumors are, however, where there's smoke.

If you buy the Sako and it does'nt shoot well you can always have it rebarreled. Or you could start with a used Remmie 700 S/A and send it to Pac-Nor to be rebarreled with a Super Match.

FWIW, Matt.

I went the Kimber 84 route last year. Nothing but trouble. The first one went back as the chamber was so oversize I was worried the heads were going to come of the cases. The bolt was also shaving bits of metal off the follower. Bolt was also worked pretty rough, and the finish was lifting off of the stock.

Kimber rebarreled and re-stocked my action. Chamber was better, at least I was not worried about the heads coming off the cases, bu it was still big enough to bulge the cases way worse then any other rifle I had ever owned. The new stock they sent was truly a thing of beauty, but once again, the finish was lifting, and it had a pretty good ding in it when I got it. This rifle would shoot pretty well however,(0.5 tp 0.75 MOA) and I killed a bunch of coyotes with it. Really liked the light weight, and the trigger was pretty nice.

One day I called in a coyote, and missed it at about 75 yards. I was a bit perplexed at the miss, but figured it was my fault. Called in another coyote about an hour later, and missed this one at 30 yards, and four more times as it was running off. I was very perplexed at this point, but figured it was my fault again.

When I got home later that night, I pulled the rifle out of the case, and my Leupold 4.5-14X50 LR popped off and fell on the floor of my shop, with the bases still attached. All four base screws had broken. I called Winslow @ Kimber (we were on a first name basis by now) and he informed me "I must have got some of the bad screws." As three of the screws had broken below the surface of the reciever, and the chamber sucked and the finish was lifing on the stock, I decided to send the rifle back again.

It took Kimber a few months to send me an entirely new rifle, and they included a fired case this time, which actually looked pretty good. However, the stock was very plain. At this point I was so disgusted, I never fired the gun, and sold it NIB. Used the proceeds to buy a Sauer 202 Varmint in 22-250, which by the way is a shooting machine and a thing of beauty, albeit a bit on the heavy side.

I own four other Kimbers, all of them of the older variety, and like them. Doubtful I will ever buy one of the newer ones agian.

I have two Sako 75s and like them very much. So as an excruciatingly long reply to your question, I would have to say go for the Sako, or as the other gentlemen suggested, buy a M700 and have it rebarreled. At least that way, you can be assured it will shoot like it should.

good luck,

Dave

I agree with the other gentlemen who recommended to go with the Sako 75. I have a varmint laminated stock stainless Sako 75 and it has proven to be very accurate with handloads. I have had Sako rifles in different calibers in pre-75 models and all of them have been reliable. The only one that l have not owned or tried is the TRG-?? model and l could not offer any comments on that one.

Good luck with whatever you decide to get.

The pre 75 Sako is a lovely second hand buy.

I don't know anything about the Kimber except their reputation of making fine rifles. Personally, I haven't heard anything bad either.

I have been looking hard at the Sako 75 stainless hunter. From handling litterally every type of manufacturer rifle in the battery at my local dealers gun shop, the Sako smoked them all! Why? The action was buttery smooth and made the Remington 700 feel like it was finished gravel. Absolutely no binding of any sort and I didn't have to force it to lock down like many new rifles that have not been broke in. I would buy the Sako in a minute if I had the money...$850 was the best price I could find. The only draw back was that Sako's do not have a 3 position safety or a Mauser type extractor. However, those are personal preference more than anything else.

Well, both of your choices are probably good rifles. If you are not familiar with Cooper firearms I would suggest a visit to their website. For around $1,000 you can buy a dandy varmint rig that is guaranteed to shoot .5 MOA or less. My .222 rarely shoots anything into over .45 MOA. They come bedded with excellent triggers and take standard Remington mounts... I have two friends with .223 AI Coopers and they both feel the same way about their guns.