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

Just read right through and to say this is a great thread is an understatement!

The photos and rifles are fabulous.

Always wanted a 89 BGR in something like the Gibbs. So few came to Oz and I don’t recall ever seeing one, but owned a couple of 22’s in the ‘80’s-90’s.

Must rectify this one day!

Keep it rolling, I am enthralled. Thanks MtnBoomer.

An 84 Super Varminter. And a fine example of one.


Always liked these. Just something different. Not much to add, however, I'll mention the process a bit more, in the Machine Sander and Hardware Department, a solo department, lol. Understand there's a batch of 12-15 or so to do that shift, maybe a mix of models.

Lay a wooden pattern on to draw approximate line of the curved butt cut, about 1/8" strong. Cut butt on bandsaw. Mount in a shaper jig and plane (vertical shaper cutter) curved butt and grip end... Sand pad surface flat on belt sander. They arrived as cast at Pachmayr, not like a retail pad. Drill a bunch of small shallow holes in butt end and pad where they'd not show when shaped, for epoxy bond. (The bond was stronger than the walnut, bigly. We tried several methods during prototyping with spare walnut, slamming the butt onto the concrete floor to test the bond. The 3M stuff was awesome.) Heat pad under heat lamp to soften for bending. Goop up with dyed black 3M 2-part 15-minute epoxy without getting it on the end of pad, hopefully. Clamp in a bar clamp for a while. Each grip cap base was machine sanded flat too and screw hole countersunk in-department. Two flat surfaces key for final gapless appearance. Meanwhile take a mill file and flatten a stock's grip, usually had to cut back, at the rear, about 1/4" where the machines couldn't get.... Hard to explain here without being wordy lol... Center punch (shop-made prick punch), drill hole, plumber's wax the screw, engrave production number from the stock barrel channel onto inside of cap, screw on grip cap. Each was eyeballed for lateral and fore/aft location and straightness. Every single KofO with a metal grip cap was eyeballed like this. I'd mount grip cap after the pad. (or plate) was installed to line everything up so we'd be straight, or slight cast-off, hopefully not cast-on, lol.... We didn't have a perfect mechanism for this. The inletting and rough shape always varied due to the way the stocks located in the machines, and needed enough extra material to allow eyeballing everything straight. This hardware stuff needed to be done damned well for everything to match up throughout production and get out the door polished and blued gap-free to an acceptable level... Also, cut the bolt slot on a router fixture. The 82 and 84s were a straight cut, EZ. The 89 BGR bolt slot was contoured, 50:50 machine and filed and sanded, more labor.

Slam bam wham on the belt sanders, 80grit. Bam on the 80 grit pneumatic drums, bam bam on the 120s... A bit of attention to the pad on a larger 320 drum. The pad would be done minus orbital sanding later on by finish sanders. The forearm near complete. Forearm tip rounded. Butt shape close minus the detail areas behind the grip, tang, flutes and cheakpiece of course... This level of production machine sanding required some technique. To sand the stock rail to 3/16" rolling and sweeping to maintain the flat planes on the countour. Couldn't just lay a piece of wood flat on the belt table and get a flat, it had to be a sweeping motion across the belt. Roll and sweep.

Well-done on the machine sanders would be an hour's difference for the shapers with the files vs half-assed. Times 8, 12, 15, 25 per day, thats extra work DAYS in the Shaping Department. That mattered bigly and was a major influence on the production cycle times, overall final stock contours AND size. The stock duplicater at KoO (process on the bandsawed blank prior to the CNC inletting step) was not as refined as some of the day, and nothing like the modern stuff, I imagine. The clunky chunky factory chit these days are generally abhorrent. LOL Any that isn't I give kudos... The big 5hp belt sanders could eat a stock in zero time. A couple of the best shaper guys could use them good, besides the hardware guy, nobody else allowed. LOL. My training for sporters, after having worked on the Government model for several weeks, I toasted no fewer than the first 8 sporters I tried. 82s or 84s with flat or pointed metal plates, that's all there was then ('88) at KofO, besides the 82G that had the LOP spacers. Tangs and pointed buttplates, rails, the grip. All very easy to wipe out on such powerful machines. We'd machine sand right into the metal cap and butt plate, production not custom... We ran out of extra practice wood and had to get it, and did. LOL A few thousand later I gotta say I became damned handy. I was young, balzy, ambidextrous and a showoff at the sanders. That's why Greg Warne liked me.

Obviously it was an interesting time for myself and all the other guys in the woodshop, totally gnarly dude...

A recent thread. Some people.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...s/17754538/re-kimber-89-bgr#Post17754538

Man, those are sweet rifles. I’ve seen some I was dying to get but always wondered how well they shot after hearing extreme goods and also, extreme bads about them. They are great looking rifles though.

Mtnboomer thanks for the awsome information and pictures, I picked up last year a clackamas built 22 lr it has a roller safety and serial number in 80xx I have read the serial number are all over the place any idea when it was built?

Photos would possibly help narrow things down but I know nothing about the serial numbers. If it says KoO, Clackamas it's pre-mid-1990.

Boomer, can you comment on these rifles?

Rifle 1

Rifle 2


Rifle 3

Rifle 4

PMs sent.


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Amazing buy! Congratulations.

The only pictures I have rite now hard to find information out about these rifles.

Hi there. Nice 82! Do you have your rifle handy? If so there's someone looking for pictures of the "underside" of the bolt shroud. Some detailed pics would be appreciated.


Likely earlier than '89-'90. I suspect prior to the '88 expansion with the 82G production. So, it'd been fully made in Clackamas. Or possibly very early Colton woodshop as there were some changes to the checkering details... Should be a fine squirrel gun.

Gulp! Thanks. I hope so... I'll be sure to add details at a later date. Looks to have excellent shaping, finsh, and checkering. With my hometown barrel stamp, I will be pleased to own it.

Thanks It was a birthday gift from my wife last year, I haven't had much time to shoot it yet though. And I can put some pictures up tommorw when I get home just let me know what you need. Any thing else I can take pictures of to kinda get idea of the manufacturer date.

Here's something unique. Will take a few to layout.


A unique 84 marked Clackamas. Unique shaping ahead of the shadow line, unique checkering, unique inital stamping in the barrel channel, unique inletting and epoxy, and stunning very unique receiver with recoil pins!


Owned by a CF member, and he's the third CF guy we know of.

Guess is a pre '87 expansion, prototype for someone.

Anyone know? How about you lurkers? Come'on man.



Big chipout at the toe... Bummer. Note the single studs not two screw. Machine sander nailed the buttplate point, lol.










What's up with this? Damn. Anyone?

Anyone who's handled a file will note the concave work here.

I'm glad someone else is as befuddled as I was with this rifle