Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Anyone have any experience with Kimber 22 (NY) .22 LR rifles?

Been thinking I would like a good 22 bolt action and really like the looks of the Kimber 22(Yonkers, NY variety) .22LR rifles. I read that they were all supposed to leave the factory capable of shooting 0.4" groups at 50 yds as well. I mainly would be looking at a Classic or Hunter. Anyone have any experience with these guns? Do they shoot as well as claimed?
Thanks,
Jed

No experience ... but did always want one in Hunter trim ... 'bout the time I could afford one, they stopped making them

jedgreen I have one. Hunter model. Very nice rimfire. Fit and finish is excellent. The trigger at least on mine couldnot be better. Zero take up or overtravel. Just a "snap" and the trigger breaks. Feeds and extracts reliably but because of the tight "match" chamber and the smorgasboard of rimfire ammo the gun will sometimes not eject a spent casing. But this is ammo specific. One type of CCI no problem, one type of Winnie and ejection problems. Nature of the beast both the rifle and ammo. Now how does it shoot? Mind you I have not shot all the variety of rimfire ammo out there. (who could?) But with most high velocity hunting ammo the gun is a 3/4 inch at 50 yards gun for 5 shots. Although there might be that one brand out there that will shoot better right? Just 2 weeks ago I bought some Remington/Eley Club Xtra to try out and waited to find a day with the least amount of wind. Crazy what a strong breeze will do with a rimfire. Well at 50 yards of a bench with a 2x7x28 Leupold Rimfire scope the Kimber shot groups as small as .325 up to .465. Any wind and my groups went south. Love the gun and the balance and handling are top shelf. As as a matter of fact got to thinking after shooting it the other day next year I will probably squirrel hunt with the Eley stuff. Much more accurate and quiet too compared to the HV stuff. Good Luck.

I have one, great gun. Fit and finish are excellent and the gun is super accurate, even with cheap ammo. But, it will shot lights out with match ammo. Most groups under 0.5 inch at 50 yards with Wolf Match Target ammo. I also have the Leupold rimfire 2x7 scope on mine and bought a extra 5 round magazine, which makes it more fun when shooting targets.

I have Kimber 22 "Hunter" that I bought in early 2007 because of the beautiful wood (can you say impulse buy); it was an older rifle (2 position safety)that had been sitting at the LGS.
I handled it many times before it went home with me, the fit and finish is excellent;my rational was that I had several nice 22RF's and really couldn't justify another (I have a Savage/Anschutz 54 & Sako FinnFire).
I mounted a Nikon 2-7 on it for starters then switched to a Leupold 3-9x Compact a/o.
It shot OK but not as accurate as the Annie & Sako @ 50yds, tried lot's of different brands, had good luck with Wolf Match Target, SK Match, Eley TenX and Remington/Eley Rifle Match?.
I called Kimber on a whim and spoke with Steve in the Custom Shop. He told me to send it back, it was returned to me with a new barrel, looking it over (taking it apart) the barrel channel had been relieved just a touch and they converted the two position safety to a three position.
The new barrel produced more consistant groups, nothing like the new test target, but with right ammo and not too much coffee it's a .346 to .452 @ 50yds.
I had a great customer service experince with Kimber, it's still not the most accurate 22LR in the safe but she sure is a beauty.
In my eyes it was money well spent; YMMV.
Steve

I bought a Kimber .22 Hunter about 10 years ago. I still have it and it is my favorite .22 rifle. I use it to hunt squirrels and it is scoped with a Burris 3x9 rimfire scope in Kimber mounts. Five shot 50 yard groups well under .50" are the norm from the bench. It is easily "squirrel head " accurate. If you can find one, you won't likely be disappointed.

Jedgreen: I have a number of Kimber Rifles most are Kimber of Oregon but two were made in N.Y.
My Kimber M-22 Hunter/Silhouette Model with a Nikon 4.5x14 scope shoots VERY well!
The trigger is wonderful and the stock is very conducive to my small game and Varmint Hunting uses.
I tested many kinds of ammo before deciding on Winchester Power-Points for this Rifle.
I tested all the ammo at 50 yards.
But the last two times I had this Rifle to the range I shot it for group at 100 yards taking advantage of the dead calm conditions!
Using Wolf S.V. solids I obtained a 5 shot group at 100 yards measuring .884"!
Then I reverified sight-in with some of the Winchester Power-Points and obtained a five shot group there at 100 yards measuring .838"!
Jed I have never heard any "claims" advertised by the company as per accuracy guarantees but my Kimbers do, shoot well.
My other Kimber 22 L.R. that I shoot regularly is a Model 82-G and it fired a 5 shot group at 50 yards measuring .272" with C.C.I. Green Tag ammo!
I currently use the Winchester Power-Points in this Kimber for Varminting and to date it normally makes 5 shot groups at 50 yards in the 4's with this ammo.
Again an EXCELLENT trigger on this Kimber rimfire as well.
Best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

...I have two Kimber 22s. One is a Kimber of Oregon model 82. It shoots 1/4"-3/8" groups when using wolf or Remington Club Extra ,on a calm day. My other Kimber is a newer Yonker's NY "Hunter" model . It will shoot the same ammo into 1/2-5/8" groups on it's best days. I love both rifles, but have a Remington 541 that will match thier accuracy, and a CZ 452 that Will as well.I also have a Norinco model 522that will do as well as the Kimber model 82, but is a heavier barreled gun, and not much fun to carry hunting. I also have a CZ 452 "Varmit" in .17m2 caliber that will drive tacks at fifty yards with Eley match ammo (No Wind is tolerated!)..I have two auto loaders that will shoot one hole groups at fifty yards with the right load and conditions. TC R-55 "Classic" that has punched 5/8" groups with blazer bulk amo! (I haven't had it long enough to go through extensive ammo testing.), and a HK Model 270 that has the best trigger on an auto loader I've ever found .Rimfires are my favorite rifles! So much fun because you can shoot to your hearts content!

I've got a Hunter model that dotes on Power point 40 grain hollow points. I'm stocking up on bricks of them whenever I find them cheap!

Beautiful rifles. Mine only likes match ammo, shoots nice little bug holes at 50yards. Does not like plain old. 22 ammo at all, actually shoots golf ball size patterns at 50y. Magazines were hard to find a couple of years ago last time I looked.

Mags for the NY K22's are still available directly from Kimber. $18.00 for the matte finish, and $28.95 for polished.

Mine was total crap. I fixed it by buying a Cooper.

I have an original 82, (low 3 digit serial number) and I also have a New York Super America. Both rifles have Leupolds mounted and both rifles like Wolf. The Super America is a beautiful rifle. I think it would be difficult to get a bad Kimber .22 rifle.

I have the CZ HM2 Varmint as well with a Nikon 6-18x side focus Buckmasters, it likes the Remington Premium made by Eley (the Eley "match". The first time I was doing a field ranging test to check zero at 85 yards I shot the second shot and thought I had missed the foot wide paper I had up. I went down to the target and could see the tiniest feathered edge indicating the second shot went right in the first hole. I was pretty tickled to say the least.

I went backwards ordering ammo though, I got the ammo when I saw a special of $3.55 a box on either the Eley or the Remington premium before I even had the rifle, I got 1500 Remingtons and 3500 of the Eley. The Eley will hold in around 1/2 to 5/8ths or so and the Remingtons shoot a fair bit tighter.

Sorry about ripping into the Kimber thread, saw someone with the same rifle I have.

I like my Kimber Hunter for what it is - a nice single shot. I have four magazines and only one will feed somewhat reliably and even it saves lead off the bullets in the magazine.

I prefer simply single loading it with SK Std Plus or SK Rifle Match for use in Sporter Class USBR matches or a local silhouette match. Mine shoots groups just as small as my Anschutz 1710 sporter.

A young man has won the T Class of the CMP National Sporter Match at Camp Perry for three years in a row using a Kimber Hunter. He must have been very lucky when it comes to magazines or he tweaked them to work properly. The CMP Sporter Match has three demanding rapid fire stages.

I have New York Kimber Classic .22. It feeds as slick as snot. It shoots awesome with ammo that it likes, but it's fairly picky about what ammo it likes. It also changes poi quite a bit with different ammo. It sure looks good.

The trigger is amazing, too.

I have a 22 classic and mostly agree with what everyone has stated. It can be very accurate when using match ammo. With the wide range of QC that exists with 22 ammo today, I don't think that the Kimber differs much from any other higher end 22. Lets face it, there is a reason that match grade 22 ammo isn't cheap.

The magazines can be a little "touchy" but I wouldn't let that turn you away from the Kimber. The mini mauser style action is really cool. The 22 firing pin has sort of been enclosed within the center fire bolt. You can dry fire this 22 to your heart's content without harming the pin. I wish I had a supergrade, but for a hunting 22, the matte finish is probably better all around. I also wish it had fixed sights.

I have always thought that this mini-mauser action was interesting and would make a great action for a custom 22. If ever hit the lottery, I'd like to have Griffin & Howe build their custom 22 around this action, sort of like they've done with the Winchester 52.

I had an older model 82 many years ago and it was a great little rifle but the Yonkers Hunter model I have now is a better rifle. Came with two magazines and it feeds flawlesly. As for accuracy I was prepared for better than decent after the Mod 82 but with a 2-7 leupold I have a 5 shot 1/4 inch groups at 50yds with T22 ammo.I tried about 20 different brands of ammo untill I was geting under 1/2 in groups with Rem and Win sub sonics for hunting but most of the areas I go for rabbits the shots can be out to 200yds so it usually just gets to go plinking at the range and for than the Fed bulk ammo is just fine.

Von Gruff.