Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Kimber of Oregon .416 Rigby

William Larkin Moore and Sons have this .416R listed for $5K.

What do you guys think? I'm not familiar with K of Oregon DG rifles. I know Kimber of NY makes some nice ones, wasn't sure about earlier Kimber big boomers.

http://www.williamlarkinmoore.com/product_details.asp?id=3434

DF

IMHO they were pretty good rifles DF, some had bedding, safety, and barrel issues.

5K is way to high to me for a rifle of questionable nature, same green will get ya a lot more rifle else where.

Gunner

The Oregon Kimbers, as far as I know, did not have the issues mentioned above. This looks like a VERY fine rifle and worth the money. The quality of the wood, the milling done on the receiver and elsewhere, I think it would be hard to replicate this for that kind of money. And I LOVE the chambering, been toting one for a couple decades now. The old Rigby has new life with todays new powders and bullets. A 350GR TTSX at 2750fps is a FORMIDABLE package.

I would say that if you have the coin grab that rifle. The only other rifle that would tempt be away from it would be one of the Sabbatti SxS rifles in 9.3x74. I SO want to play with one of those someday.

An older friend of mine bought one of these when they were first issued and there WERE bedding problems; I have had two other Kimber of Oregon rifles and had major issues with each. I would only buy another IF it were offered at a very low price and there are FAR better alternatives in that price range, IMHO.

For about 6K, you could buy a new DGR by AHR on the CZ-550M action and that would be my choice over anything else except one of the Martini-designed Heym Magnums and they are much more costly.

NO offence intended to "safariman" here, I am just posting what I experienced from rifles I owned for years and those I shot and discussed with the owners, gunsmiths and retailers who sold them.

Yeah no offense intended here either Mark, but the three position safeties on a lot of those would bind, bedding was horrible, to the point of split stocks and horrendous accuracy.

I have also seen inside bore diameters over by as much as three thousandths. a .338 Win Mag [same series] miked .341 at the Smiths once.

Gunner

Just for the cash, I'd probably go with AHR, as you suggest. This could potentially become part of a trade, a Garbi 28 ga. I got from them that I want to move down the road. The value, $5K, is about right to set up the trade.

I don't really need a .416R, as I have a M-70 Stainless Classic in .375 H&H, and a .404J project underway, using a SS M-70 .300 RUM donor action to be fitted with a Walther #1450 contour bbl. And I recently built a really nice 9.3x62 on an FN Mauser action that I put in a B&C Medalist stock.

I just saw this .416R and it looked really nice. I'll probably trade for something else. Wanted to run it by you guys.

DF

I agree with kutenay & gunner500 on the issues as pointed out. For that kind of scratch, I'm also in agreement that you would be better served by building off a M70 or have Wayne Jacobson at AHR build you a DGR.

I can personally recommend AHR as they've built me a few rifles over the years.

No offense guys, at all. If we cannot freely share our own experiences and insights this place loses much of its value and appeal. The OP needs all of the insight he can gain and is considering spending a considerable sum of money here.

Please never be in any way afraid to offer a differing opinion of my views, I am not like that thin skinned guy who used to play with sticks in Alaska who would berate, belittle and even do some name calling of anyone who dared to disagree with him.

Plus 1 on the AHR rifles, my CZ in 416 Rigby is set up similarly to what they do to and with them such as 3 position safety, slimmed down graceful higher grade stock, recoil lugs and more. For a large cartridge like the 416 Rigby the CZ's are, IMO, a great place to start and ain't TOO bad right from momma.

Mark,

The first Kimber of Oregon rifle I owned was a .22 Long Rifle that I restocked for a friend, because the factory stock had split throughout the forend due to the wood not being properly cured. Eventually he traded it to me for another stock job--and I found out exactly how little the Kimber of Oregon company knew about making a rifle. By far the best part of the rifle was my stock.

Have also been hunting with a CZ .416 Rigby for a decade now. I did a little work on it--modified the Bavarian stock, smoothed the feeding with a little emery cloth and a new magazine spring, and adjusted the trigger to a 3-pound pull, which eliminated the set feature--but other than that it's factory. Have never once had any problem with the trigger, safety or bolt handle, and have had to work it pretty quickly on more than one occasion. Have also hunted with PH's who also had minimally modified CZ's who've never had a problem, and always wonder why people feel compelled to spend hundreds of dollars fixing a rifle that really doesn't need fixing.

Welllll, it COULD be due to reading "gunwriters" over several decades......

In my case, I have found that certain "controls" work best for me over almost 50 years of packing and shooting rifles of about every make and type. I am not suggesting that, this is what everyone should do, merely what works best for me.

Cost, in serious outdoor pursuits is a highly subjective issue and I found, long ago, that it was not very important to me, but, a certain level of function is and that has led me to what I now find "best" in my rifles, etc.

So, I would change the trigger-safety and modify or replace the stock on most non-Mod. 70 rifles to match what I shoot and handle best and find this an acceptable cost, while others do not.....but, I am kinda weird, anyway!

The machine work and the finishing on my little KoO M84 is some of the finest I've ever seen.
Same thing with my KoO M82.

So, in my sample of two (both early lefties BTW) their work is sublime.

IIRC, it was Dogzapper who used to work for KoO and I recall him mentioning that the early models were indeed very finely made but towards the end, when they were in financial difficulty, the quality slipped precipitously.

Yep to all the above.

The .416 Rigby was a gorgeous rifle, most of which was built by Darwin Hensly. I've forgotten the price paid (of course, Greg probably "stiffed" Darwin, as was his habit), but it was like a half-million bucks.

The sad part is that the .416 basically fell apart during the 100 shots I fired through it. The single 6X48 screw, that held on the quarter rib, sheared clean off. The floorplate basically fell off. All four of the silly 6X48 scope base screws sheared. The safety lever fell out. The front sight ramp was secured to a barrel by a single 6X48 screw, although the ramp was on a (unsoldered) barrel band.

I took the broken rifle back to the shop and said "Next, this rifle will be sent to the NRA and the American Rifleman test will be done by Finn Aavgaard. Finn is not a bullshitter and PLEASE solder that friggin front ramp and put TWO 8X40 screws where you are praying that a single 6X48 might hold."

They didn't and the silly Kimber .416 Rigby rifle, the half-million dollar rifle that was probably never paid for ... well, it fell apart while Finn put a few rounds through it.

XXXXX

About one-month later, Finn called me and asked "What's with this bullshit?"

We both laughed ourselves silly.

Finn asked me "So, I gotta tell the truth in the test article. Somebody could get himself killed by this horrible rifle."

I told that wonderful man, "I would expect no less from you ... that liar, Greg Warne, might expect more"

Finn told the truth.

Greg was pissed.

Both predictable.

God Bless,

Steve

I dunno, my Kimber 84 Super America, WAS an early one and would NOT feed correctly as the mag. was inletted crookedly into the receiver bottom. It WAS a "pretty" little rifle and went on my last AFS firetower with me and my first P-64 .375, but, it was not even close to a Brno 21 in machining or my Mannlicher-Schoenauers.

Steve's comments here over the years have verified what several pretty serious BC rifle nuts I have known found out about KoO and another guy I know had a ,375 African and wanted to trade me for my Dakota....not [bleep]' likely in this life!

BTW, Steve, how are you and Karen, I hope all is as well as we can expect at our age, God Bless both of you.

I purchased a KoO model 89 super america in 338 win mag in 89/90. What a POS. Looked OK but not what one wuld expect in SA grade. Not accurate. So like a moron I had it rebarreled and restocked...no good. I think the problem was in the action. One more stock job and off to Griffin and Howe on consignment. I replaced it with a Dakota 76 338 winmag and never looked back. By the way, the price new was roughly 1400.00 or so IIRC. I also have Model 82 in 22hornet. It's as accurate as the model 89 was not. I have heard that some have model 89 kimbers and are satisfied...they are the lucky ones.