I handled a new Kimber bolt rifle the other day in 7mm-08. It had nice wood, good fit and was fairly lightweight. Anyone have one? Any input as to accuracy, function,etc??

FN in MT

Frank:

I have one, but have not shot it. A couple of observations. The inletting is quite rough. I am told that Kimber has now decided to have the stocks inlet/finished somewhere in south/central America [or one of the islands]. Hopefully the inletting will improve with lower labor costs. I really like the bolt to reciever fit. It is nice and snug. Trigger seems good. Reciever is apparently machined from some very tough steel---a necessity given the very small reciever diameter. I think the gun would serve as a great foundation for a light custom rifle. In my opinion, the controlled round feed is what distinguishes it from about anything else out there in a light, petite action for mid-sized cartridges.

Jordan

Frank,
I've been hankering for one of these guns but of the three models I've handled all three had free floated forends that had either been badly inletted or the forearm had warped and was touching the barrel on one side of the barrel channel or the other. That was a deal killer for me on a semi-custom $800 rifle. But in all other respects I was impressed. Still you have to wonder if they miss obvious stuff like that what kind of not so obvious manufacturing problems have they missed? I'll probably wait til they work out some of the early production bugs and let some early problems surface and get fixed. It looks like a solid design though and I have two of their 1911s that are flawless in every respect...hopefully they can build on that reputation and that model 84 action is about perfect in terms of size...alot like the old Sako short actions which likewise were perfect for the small cartridges like the .222.
I want them to succeed with this gun...I really do because I want one! But not one off the rack with problems before you buy one!