When Kimber of Oregon was working to win the contract to make the Model 82 Government Small Bore Rifle we shot an incredible amount of .22 LR Match ammo.
The idea was to see what was out there and if we could build Kimber of Oregon rifle that would equal the accuracy of the various Winchester M-52s and the Anschutz.
A local gun collector, a really nice guy by the name of Lou Leonard, loaned Kimber several new-in-the-box M-52s. Our instructions? Shoot the crap out of them, but he wanted the data.
I have no idea where the Anschutzs came from, but we had four or five of them.
And, of course, we had literally unlimited ammo.
We shot for a couple of months on the outdoor range (the one on the left) at Douglas Ridge Rifle Club, near Eagle Creek, Oregon. Somebody cut a deal and we had the fifty yard range all to ourselves for as long as we wanted.
It was a matter of shoot, shoot, shoot, change targets, collate data and shoot some more. Our Lord alone knows how many .22 match rounds I personally shot during that time. I'm here to tell you that if you shoot constantly for eight or nine hours a day you get tired of it ... and you get incredibly good at the trigger.
I'll bet you want to know which of the rifles shot best ... consistently best!!!!
It was the danged old Winchester M-52s. They absolutely shot better than the Anschutz and, of course, way better than the abortion that ended up being the Kimber Model 82 Government.
I was personally amazed that the old Winchester Model 52s shot so incredibly well. Maybe later rifles have more gadgets and whiz-bang stocks, but for sheer danged accuracy, the M-52 is the absolute KING of small bore accuracy.
That's not just opinion talking ... that is the result of many, many, many thousands of rounds of match ammo being fired and every five-shot group from all of the rifles being carefully recorded.
Anyway, those are the facts.
God Bless,
Steve
