Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber of Oregon - photo and link dump

I recently acquired a copy of the September 1990 American Rifleman magazine in which this oft-referenced article written by Mr Finn Aagaard appeared. By the time this article was written the Kimber of Oregon Model 89 BGR (Big Game Rifle) had been in production for about one year. The flaws mentioned are really unforgivable critical errors. The praise for the design stands by itself in testament of what was nearly a darn good thing and Mr Aagaard describes the features like only a knowledgeable and expert rifleman could. I have included the best for now scans of the 4-page article here for the record. Please let me know if more detailed crops are desired.

In my opinion it was too much growth too fast for old Kimber of Oregon and it shows on these pages. At the time these rifles were produced the company had, in a couple short years, morphed from producing a handful of sporters a day to seventy-five M84 Governments and thirty to thirty-five sporters a day, often relying on non-rifle types to do the majority of the production work.

As a workman in the woodshop in Colton Oregon from 1988-1991 including the time when these rifles were produced, I'd say he got a dandy stock - as pictured - finally. So at least there's that. I had the pleasure of working with the company owners, tool maker and woodshop foreman in making critical stock design 'modifications', on the Model 89 BGR, 82 and 84 sporters, by locating then installing the buttpads (plates too) and grip caps and machine shaping the stocks on various belt and pneumatic sanders just prior to the shapers with their hand files. This machine sanding had a huge affect on production cycle times and ultimate overall outcomes, the size, shapes and contours we feel when we hold a rifle in our hands. Walnut - once it's gone it gone... I also did occasional shaping, fitting and final sanding work but the Machine Sanding Department was my place and I am proud to have had the chance to be a part of it. FYI at this peak production time the woodshop consisted of about six or seven shapers, myself and an occasional machine sander trainee (disastrous outcomes), three or five? finish sanders, a crew of finishers and about ten checkerer ladies. Myself and one or two ( 1.5?) of the shapers were the only ones that could machine sand worth a hoot, seriously it was easy to fubar them. It's generally described as having been a wild time in our lives.


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Cheers.