Hello all,
I'm looking for opinions on the above firearm. Anyone have any comments about them - yea or nay? Problems? Good points?

Thank you all in advance - I appreciate any discussion!

Good shooting!

Brittman

My only time out with one of these was for a test ride. The owner of our LGS had this & allowed me to have it for a few days. I took a few pictures & wrote a few notes.

Kimber Model 82 Rifle #83XX

Spent the day at the Plum Orchard Public Shooting Range with said rifle. The rifle appears to be stock with Leupold 4X scope mounted. All groups were fired using a Caldwell Rock BR Competition Rifle Front Shooting Rest. http://www.midwayusa.com/produ...-front-shooting-rest

Ammunition supplied with rifle was RWS Subsonic HP Field Line, lot 213 26 64. My personal ammunition used included Federal Gold Medal Match, Federal Gold Medal Target, Wolf Match Target, Fiocchi Super Match 320, Eley Sport, CCI Green Tag Competition, CCI Mini Mag Varmint, and CCI Blazer [CCI production, not Federal].

I arrived at the range 11:30AM. The grass had been mowed only minutes before, benches were clean as were the concrete pads. The front & rear rest were set on the far right bench and adjusted to fit the Kimber rifle and me.

First target containing 3 each 2 inch bulls was placed at 25 yards. A 5 shot group was fired at the center bull with the Kimber. I fired a 5 shot group at the left bull using my Marlin 780. The target was then moved to 50 yards were the right hand bull was fired with the Kimber. The 5 shot groups all used the RWS ammunition.

I noted a 2 inch bull wasn’t large enough for my eyes at 50 yards using the 4X scope so all other targets were made using a 3 inch bull. I also adjusted the scope focus for my eyes.

From here I fired 3 each 5 shot groups, walked the 50 yards & replaced the target. This was done each time till all ammunition was tested. A total of 30 each 5 shot groups were fired on paper. Testing was interrupted by rain and during this time I fired an unknown amount of CCI Blazer ammunition through the Kimber offhand at an NRA Small Bore Chicken Silhouette swinger placed at 44 yards.

The average group size for the 30 groups was .693 inches. As mentioned the rifle appeared stock. The trigger took a bit of getting used to. The weight of pull was acceptable but there was a bit of creep which after learned was taken up to the point of “the break” and point of aim adjusted before firing. Also noticed, the barrel isn’t free floated.

The front rest, while of fine quality, used a bag for a wide, flat forearm bench gun. This combined with my lack of bench shooting skills are most likely the reason for groups of the same ammunition varying widely at times. Note the rifle wasn’t tracking in the bags so it was repositioned each shot which does lead to fine accuracy. With a better from bag and a scope of 12X power or better the groups would have stood a better chance of being more consistent.

The ammunition supplied with the rifle [RWS Subsonic HP Field Line] I feel would have stayed inside a ½ inch with the above improvements and may have anyway had they been fired later in the shooting secession after I learned a little about addressing the rifle.

After the limited testing I feel CCI Mini Mag Varmint should be visited further and considered for field use. The ammunition supplied [RWS Subsonic HP Field Line], the Federal Gold Medal Match and Federal Gold Medal Target are those I had on hand that hold promise.

The CCI Blazer ammunition was tested as a bulk round for plinking. The velocity is claimed by the factory to 1235 FPS. Please note that others say this ammunition is produced by both CCI and Federal. The talk on the web is the CCI version is better. I fired this also in my Marlin 780. The results are shown on the paper plate target, 20 rounds, 50 yards, 1.515 inches. I could also hit the chicken without fail using the Marlin and Blazer ammunition from the bench.

Creeker
Dry Creek Bullet Works

















The two CCI Blazer targets

I've owned one since the late summer of 1981 (wow, is that a long time ago). Oddly enough, it's particularly partial to Federal Lightning ammo. Have no idea why.

One of the finest .22s I've ever owned.

quote:

Originally posted by Remington40x:
One of the finest .22s I've ever owned.

They are nice.

LAH44 & Remington40x,
Thank you for your comprehensive report on your testing, LAH44 - very interesting!
I have a Kimber M82 I'm looking at very close now - I appreciate your responses!
Brittman

I got my father one of these many years ago, and he loved it.

He had it in his truck practically all the time, shooting it almost on a daily basis.

He passed away a few years ago, and I have the rifle here now.

A while back we got a brand new Kimber 22, with a stainless fluted barrel, and a laminated stock.

Sadly, this rifle looks great, but we have had a lot of problems with it.

It misfeeds, it misfires so often, that I gave up shooting it in our 22 rimfire test.

I will look at what is causing all these problems when I have time.

Brittman: The responses you got alluded to the original Kimber of Oregon Model 82. Saeed also mentioned the later Kimber of New York Model 82. Although there are some similarities in the two rifles, they were/are made by completely different companies on two different coasts and years apart. Comments on one simply can't be applied to the other.

IF your interest is in the original Kimber of Oregon rifle, then there is little to be said negative about it. They were prone to crack stocks at the tang a bit more frequently than some similar rifles if the rear screw was too tight, and their curved, stylish, but unforgiving steel buttplates sometimes cause the wood of the toe to crack underneath them when subjected to impact. Otherwise their stocks, actions, triggers, and barrels were extremely well-made and they usually turned out excellent accuracy when fed the right ammunition diet. Mine likes cheap bulk Winchester hollow points better than many kinds of target ammunition.

Gentlemen,

Thank you all for your positive feedback to my initial question - I appreciate it!

Just to let you all know I took delivery on a Kimber M82, made in Oregon. It has a C in front of the serial number. It is now awaiting the Leopold scope and it will then be ready to go! If it shoots as well as it appears to be made, it should be FUN!

Thank you all again for your comments. This site is terrific in the knowledgeable people it has on it daily.

Brittman