I recently acquired a Kimber 84 Custom Classic in .221 Fireball. I had been looking for one of these little rifles for over 3 years, and I still kick myself for not buying one in the Super America configuration back in the early 80s. My Fireball has the Winchester Model 70 style 3 position wing safety. I also have a Model 84 Custom Classic in .223 that has the rocker style safety. Can anyone our there enlighten me as to which style of safety came first and why Kimber changed the configuration? Is either style considered more desirable than the other? I could not find much information on these rifles on line, so I hope there are a few experts or Kimber collectors out there who can fill me in.

The rocker safety came out first and the swing safety was "phased-in" about 2 years later. However there were enough problems with the timing of the cocking piece pickup necessitating hand touch-up work that they discontinued it on the 82's and 84's and went back to 100% rocker style. Interestingly, the 89 always had the wing safety. One might guess they had perfected the dimensions to eliminate rework issues on these but experience has shown me that a fair share of the 89's have problems engaging the safety. I am not sure if this is a wear issue from use however I've observed it on several 89's that were NIB so I've concluded it wasn't fully resolved. Congrat's on the Fireball...

Thanks for the info! I had the Fireball out to the range today, and it put 5 shots into a 0.38" group (hole) at 100 yards. The ammo was Nosler Varmigeddan 40 gr pointed loads. I am trying to get a hand load to shoot as well. Lil Gun looks like a promising powder for a 40gr Nosler bullet, so I will be back out at the range tomorrow. I tried a 15.0 gr load this morning, and while it shot well (0.40" group), it was too hot. I will try backing off a half grain and see how that does.

PM Stonecreek...he is the Fireball handload guru.

Hardly a "guru".

I own a couple of Fireballs and have found that AA2200 and AA1680 are excellent choices with a 40 grain bullet in this little cartridge. Try starting with 20 grains of AA2200 or 19 grains of AA1680 under a 40 grain Nosler B.T., Nosler Varmageddon, or Hornady V-Max. All of them shoot equally well in my guns.

I've found that the characteristics of LilGun vary a great deal from lot to lot, so I stay away from it.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Hardly a "guru".

I own a couple of Fireballs and have found that AA2200 and AA1680 are excellent choices with a 40 grain bullet in this little cartridge. Try starting with 20 grains of AA2200 or 19 grains of AA1680 under a 40 grain Nosler B.T., Nosler Varmageddon, or Hornady V-Max. All of them shoot equally well in my guns.

I've found that the characteristics of LilGun vary a great deal from lot to lot, so I stay away from it.

Many thanks! I will try the AA powders (if I can find them for sale!). I have a load using H322 that works well with a Speer 50 gr Spitzer. It put 3 shots into 0.83" at 200 yards last week at the range. I think my rifle shoots better than I can. I look forward to trying your recommended loads in both my Kimber and my Cooper.