Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Anybody know anything about the Kimber M98

Sporterized, built on the vz-24 actions?

Thanks

I seem to remember them offering sporterized Swedes some time back????

I have no idea, but I think this one is built on a Czech action. It's Kimber of Oregon, which is how it caught my eye.

...I believe I can supply the information you're looking for. Back when Kimber of Oregon's Greg Warne sold the financially ailing Kimber company name to it's present owners, the sale price having been met, left it's new owners short of the funds to move the company to Yonkers New York, and have sufficient funds to tool up for production there. The new company invested what funds they could in the purchase of WWI and WWII Mausers. They bought a larger number of Swedish model 96 Mausers which they sporterized as Kimber 96's . These guns were stocked in inexpensive synthetic stocks, and sold at reasonable prices in order to raise funds for the company's tooling up to build the 1911 Colt pistol design, under the Kimber name. Along with the Swedish model 96's a smaller number of WWII VZ24 Mauser 98's in surplus condition were purchased, and re-barreled as sporterized guns with synthetic stocks. The 98's were cobbled up as 7mm Rem &338 Winchester magnums and shipped, in large part, to Alaska for sale there as economical hunting pieces.

.....The profits realized from the sales of these guns made possible the tooling that allowed Kimber of America's production of what has become thier very successful 1911 pistol line.

.....I have one of the Kimber 98's in 338 Win Mag and have found it to be one of the better buys in my firearms collection. It shoots tight groups 1 to 1&1/2"with Federal factory fodder. The gun is well finished, albeit not the finely polished blue found on higher a grade gun. The stock is of decent design, but is a heavy injection molded early Ram Line plastic deal. The rifle's metalwork really deserves a better stock. I did send it back to Kimber's head gunsmith George Olson (now passed on) to rework the feed rails a bit to improve cartridge feed reliability. George got it right for me, no charge.

......Best of luck with your's. They make a good gun to build on..

I have one(7mm Magnum). Had it for quite awhile. When I first got it the trigger pull was terrible had a Smith here put a dayton traister trigger in it, floated and glassed it, put a Leupold VARI X III 4.5-14 on top and it shoots tha daylights out of factory 150grn OLD Fed. classics 1/2" 3 shot groups at 100yrds ALL day long!

After the original Kimber got into financial trouble, they sporterized and sold converted Swede M96 (and various) M-98 actioned rifles. I wish I had picked up one when they were avaiable.

A friend of mine had a Kimber VZ-24 in .280 REM.

A fair number of these rifles ended up here in Australia a few years ago , I was surprised to see the Kimber name on what I thought was an ugly rifle but I didn't know the circumstances either .A lot I saw were in .220 swift and .243 M98 actions with a tupperware black stock.

I have one of the VZ24's in .30-06, extremely accurate! My brother borrowed it and the Butler Creek stock came back trashed. I put a Hogue Overmolded Green stock on it last year. The gun is flat unpolished blued so it looks great in the Hogue plus being rubber outer coated it's easier to grip in snow and rain.

I've had it since the 1990's and the rubber seals etc dried out and cracked in the inexpensive Bushnell scope I had on it so it now wears a Leopold VX IV 3-9x.

I have outshot Winchester 70's and Remington 700's regularly with it.

They are probably the most overlooked or best kept secret in high powered rifles.

I'm impressed your brother was able to trash the Butler Creek stock! That sounds like real talent. I had one on an FN for awhile and found it to be a tough stock.

I have a ?1910/31 Mexican M98 Kimber Mauser "sporter" in the Ramline stock. Nice bolt handle alteration. Chambered in .280 Remington. Magazine won't accept cartridges with bullets seated out toward the lands....too long for the magazine. Had to file down the plastic tips on the 140 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.

I saw one, a .280 with a SS barrel, in the used rack about ten years ago for $400. Had a milled guard with the sling hole and a really bad trigger. Good utility rifle I suppose, but not a screaming deal either at the time when Sears M50s could be had at similar prices.

It was Kimber of Oregon that made them, not Kimber of Yonkers, and was so stamped on the barrel.

Somewhere around 1994 or 1995 I had a Kimber M98 (Brno) with fluted 24" stainless barrel in 257 Roberts which came in a Butler Creek (Gentry) Rough Rider Stock.

Didn't shoot worth a crap.

Brad,

Actually, Dave Gentry had nothing to do with Butler Creek Stocks, other than knowing Bill Heckerman, Butler Creek's owner, and buying a lot of Butler Creek stocks for use on Dave's Rough Rider rifles--which shot very well.

You're exactly right John - my memory was a bit hazy. Yes, Dave called his rifle the rough rider, which had the same stock as the Kimber.

cra1948;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the day's been treating you right so far and you're well.

A hunting and shooting buddy of mine has a rifle marked "Kimber of Oregon" if memory serves which is a Swede 96 action in a wood stock - beech I want to say though it might be birch - with a stepped .308 barrel installed in it. I epoxy bedded it for him and also installed a Bueler low swing safety on it, so I should recall what trigger it had, but sadly that detail escapes me this morning. Sorry.

It shoots quite well now though, that I do recall. I want to say he's shooting 150gr Nosler E-Tips in it.

Anyways maybe its the only one sold with a wood stock and perhaps it was changed by someone along the way as well, as he's had it for years and got it off of another chap who liked to tinker with rifles so who knows.

All the best.

Dwayne

It may be a silly question but does Butler Creek still make stocks? I used to see them advertised all the time but haven't seen them in quite a while.I have a couple of rifles in them and could use a couple or maybe three more.
PJ

I ran across these back in the 80s. A LGS only had the 6.5x55 caliber and was pretty impressed with the rifle.

I want to say he was listing them for only a couple of hundred or so.

I saw one at a gunshow once. It was shot so much that it didn't have any rifling left. Seriously, it looked like a smooth bore. I didn't know if Kimber used crap barrels or what? Other than that, it was a nice rifle. Probably would have been a great action to build off of. They wanted $350 for it.. It was marked Kimber of Oregon and chambered in 30-06, built off of a m98. I've also seen some of the m96 rifles. The last one I saw is probably still in the gunshop where I saw it last year. It's chambered in 6.5x55. The shop owner wants way too much money ($600) for it. He says, "It's a Kimber, so I price it accordingly".. I told him he'll have it for a long time at that price..

The original Butler Creek company was started in Belgrade, Montana in the 1980s, by a guy named Bill Heckerman. He was a very innovative manufacturer, who I got to know pretty well back then--mostly because of his injection-molded synthetic stocks, which were a definite notch above most cheapo IM after-market stocks then appearing. His 98 Mauser stocks were particularly good, and in fact I had one on my Mark X Mauser .375 H&H on my first African safari around 30 years ago. (Have already mentioned that the late Dave Gentry used them on his Rough Rider rifles, a more "affordable" rifle than his full customs, made on Mark X actions and, if I recall correctly, Douglas barrels.)

Bill told me at the time that the molds for the Butler Creel stocks cost around $200,000--which was a big chunk of money in the late 1980s. But they were VERY strong, and easy to bed. Used them a LOT back then....

But eventually he sold Butler Creek, and the products (of course) were increasingly made "overseas."