Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kimber CS... YGBFKM

Why anyone would spend over 1000 on a Kimber rifle these days and then spend countless hours trying to get it to shoot when they could just buy a $500 Tikka and have a shooter out of the box is beyond me. I owned 1 Kimber and it was the worst shooting rifle I have ever owned.

The planes I could borrow lack that kind of range....

Why anyone would spend over 1000 on a Kimber rifle these days and then spend countless hours trying to get it to shoot when they could just buy a $500 Tikka and have a shooter out of the box is beyond me. I owned 1 Kimber and it was the worst shooting rifle I have ever owned.

I sold my Montana and bought a Sako. The Montana shot right around 1 moa but the Sako will do even better. I sure like the feel and weight of the Kimbers but getting an accurate one is hit and miss. I sent an 8400 back for a customer because the last inch or so of the bore was rough. The customer asked Kimber to install a stainless barrel (instead of the stock blued one it came with) which they did and that improved performance. He was getting under 1" 3 shot groups at a 100 which ain't bad for a lightweight hunting rifle. My Savage 116 FSAK in .338WM will consistently print 1/2" at 100 if I do my part, it just doesn't like Partitions. Weird that it'll shoot everything else with precision but not Partitions. If going cup and core (which is rare for me anymore) it'll put A-frames or TBBC into one hole. It loved the old original X bullets and the fail safes and seems to love the new TSX and TTSX so I'm okay with it not liking Partitions. I don't hunt with it as much anymore but when I do I know it'll do its job flawlessly. An accurate Savage isn't quite as earth shattering as an accurate Kimber nor is the Savage as refined or handsome as the Kimber but the animals don't seem to mind. 😉

I've never been impressed with Kimber's QC or customer service but as previously mentioned their marketing department s top notch.

Sorry to hear another American company has sold out for profits over quality and service. It will be the death of American industry if we stop caring about the consumer.

thats bullschit it's not like you're asking them to give you your stock back or something.

Same here.. Ruger customer service is top notch and most of the time they'll send out small parts free of charge..

... I am currently less than a minute away from being on hold for an hour. This is the third attempt at speaking to anyone, well over two hours without an answer on their phone line.

Well, sounds like their caller ID is working just fine.

- - - - The reason I currently dont have any is the feeding and ejection. If the mag spring is slightly out of sorts, or the cartridges werent perfectly lined up in the column then they hiccup. If the scope is mounted to close to the ejection port, the brass can bounce back into the port upon ejection. - - - -

There must be good reasons why guys spend $1,100+ - or even $800 - for "modern" rifle designs and then need responsive customer service because the things don't shoot straight, malfunction, lose head space (how does that happen?), etc.. But, it's difficult to identify those reasons, One has to wonder why such a mfr. is still in business. Maybe it has to do with aesthetics or keeping up with the Jones, or??

Realizing that I'm very old school not cool, cost-conscious, prone to nice wooden stocks, curmudgeonly, etc. - it still is a pleasure to pick up any one of these old Winchester, Mauser, Springfield, Enfield, Savage, Browning, Remington, etc. designs - some more than 100 years old (cartridge designs too) - and know that they will shoot good groups and kill animals - without breakdowns. Some of them have hundreds of rounds (maybe a thousand) through them but they don't seem to fail or need any customer service. Well, I do have a couple of modern design (35+ year-old) Ruger rifles - but they work just fine too.

I automatically feel bad when any gun guy has early trouble with an expensive firearm - could be anyone - and it's simply not the way this is supposed to work.

Ive owned 2, both 308 classics, both shot well and were not picky. The reason I currently dont have any is the feeding and ejection. If the mag spring is slightly out of sorts, or the cartridges werent perfectly lined up in the column then they hiccup. If the scope is mounted to close to the ejection port, the brass can bounce back into the port upon ejection. If I want a modern lightweight, there are other PF rifles that do it as good, some for less $. If I want a classic CRF rifle, I am prolly going to seek out a Pre-64, Mauser or Husky.