Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber 84L Select Stainless .280AI or custom rifle??

I have an 84L Classic Select in 280 AI. I have owned it for over a year and a half. It is not stainless, but it is a shooter. I have a half dozen loads that shoot well under an inch at 100. It would be the last rifle I would sell. I own two Tikkas that are fantastic shooters but they don't feel the same in hand and in the field.
Get it.

I'm not angry brother. That is a wasted emotion. I was unimpressed by the musings of someone who is too arrogant to read and understand what it is I want in MY rifle and has to interject his irrelevant BS while ascribing certain characteristics to me that I do not possess. Splat nailed it; I have little patience with folks who can't read what you write and proceed off on a tangent and yes, my English upbringing means I often come off harsh. My American wife says I need a filter on my words as I am apparently too straight speaking for Americans at times...... Fortunately, its never got me in trouble at work, yet....

I'm about as chilled as it gets; I have a lovely wife and almost 3 year old daughter, a great job, wonderful friends and looks like I found a new rifle to buy I can really enjoy!

Now if you were a sled driver, it's my turn to be jealous. I loved the look of the SR-71 from the first day I ever saw a photograph of that bugger. Looked cool, smooth, yet deadly, even though it carried no weapons. It was and is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made IMHO.

Yep, the UK is a hunter's paradise. Almost got hired a few years ago to run a high end pheasant lodge in ND. Saw the prices they were charging for a 5 day hunt and worked out you could fly to UK, rent a vehicle, stay at a nice hotel, go with a decent guide and shoot 10 or 20x the birds (as well as other species) and still have change left over. I do miss that aspect of the UK; politics, gun control, expensive prices not so much!

The belt feds don't get shot much; too pricey on ammo. I used to work for a major manufacturer of AR's and got to shoot full auto all the time on demo's and overseas trips. That, coupled with 12 years in the Brit Army has kind of jaded me to full auto unless someone else is paying for the ammo....

Practical schmatical; I have a bunch of 'practical' rifles already. This a dream rifle, one you pull out and look at and go "ah, my beauty." This bad boy is gonna do a bunch of hunting with me over the next few decades. Already busy planning the next year's applications in NM and WY, maybe CO and UT too. All will be for does or cows as I'm a meat hunter rather than a trophy kind of guy. That's just how I grew up; we hunted to put food on the table rather than for bragging rights. No insult intended to the folks who like trophies, that's just not where I'm at.

Thanks for your kind words, Splat's .280AI did indeed make an impression and I am sold on the round. Why put up with a boomandclackingthumping magnum when you can get by with so much less? He and I both have a bunch of magnum rifles that we have shot animals with but the .280AI seems, well, so much more refined. Happy New Year and goodwill to all here.

What are you doing up already? !
Its 3 outside, and windchill of -7.
Rethinking duck huntin this morning. Ice chunks will be big and i really am not up to it. Alarm went off and i did get up!

Thinkin fort bliss for oryx for us and wsmr for wifey.
Oh, and i have enough brass for 2 ai's.

Happy New Year brother.
I'll call ya later.

I've had exactly one .280AI and a more perfect hunting cartridge is very hard to imagine.
A coupla suggestions if you reload.
Magpro powder 64-65gr behind a 162gr Amax makes a very impressive package.
RL22 also rocks but the Magpro meters so well it has the advantage.
The Nosler .280AI brass is very good stuff as well.

Heck, you could buy the Kimber, and if it doesn't shoot have it re-barreled to a shooter, have everything you want and still be ahead on money spent, vs. going custom.

Damn graveyard shift has me all screwed up with sleep my friend! Went to bed at 2300, woke up at 5am, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Looked out the window, opened the door, shuddered at the thought of you and Trap out duck hunting and turned the heater up.....

Lord, I am so glad I am moving to swing shift in a couple weeks.....

Gman:

I purchased an 84L Select Grade last year and it was one great purchase. No muss, no fuss. Tweaked the bedding a bit (as I always do on any rifle). Shoots Accubonds, TTSX's and I'm sure other untried bullets.

if you want to spend some money on a fine rifle, but want to spend less than what a full custom would cost, consider a Dakota 76 Alpine in .280 AI. Dakotas are semi-customs, shoot well and have excellent factory support.

I have had the privilege to own several full custom rifles from reputable makers. Most had a (correctable) problem when they arrived and had to be sent back. My Dakota 76 African in .416 Rigby arrived beautiful and flawless in every respect. It shoots <1" @ 100 yards consistently and in the 400+ rounds I've put through it so far, has never missed a beat. We have taken a lot of game together, that .416 and I. It will be with me for the rest of my days.

So consider a Dakota. You won't regret it.

That is one beautiful rifle. Caliber?

.280AI

Thanks. I like Kimbers a lot and have a .375 Caprivi. Kimbers are not easy to find and fly off the shelves quickly.

Lordy, that is a lovely looking rifle. Thanks for the pic and the info. Now all I need is my buddy to ship me some more lowers and I am set to order that bad boy.

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Now if you were a sled driver, it's my turn to be jealous. I loved the look of the SR-71 from the first day I ever saw a photograph of that bugger. Looked cool, smooth, yet deadly, even though it carried no weapons. It was and is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made IMHO.

Yep, the UK is a hunter's paradise. Almost got hired a few years ago to run a high end pheasant lodge in ND. Saw the prices they were charging for a 5 day hunt and worked out you could fly to UK, rent a vehicle, stay at a nice hotel, go with a decent guide and shoot 10 or 20x the birds (as well as other species) and still have change left over. I do miss that aspect of the UK; politics, gun control, expensive rices not so much!

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Nope, not a pilot or RSO, just a boy sergeant working on ECM and ELINT systems, and pounding room temperature beer at The Bird In Hand Pub and Motel several times...we always spied on the Russians when they were doing naval ops in the North Sea.

Hey send me a pm if you got any hookups for inexpensive hunting in Scotland or Ireland. My brother's been talking about a family pheasant hunt in ND, but if we could go to one of those other places, shoot more and pay less... Plus, I could get wife off my back about a trip to her ancestral homelands.



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+1 For the Kimber. I recently sold my semi- custom 280 AI that was stocked in a McWoody KS. Rifle shot great, looked great but a nice wood stocked Kimber keeps screaming out to me! Never even bloodied it, but know the 280AI is a keeper. I'm in the hunt for one now.

Carlos' 280AI is a knockout......I'm gonna put him on ignore if he keeps posting pictures of that beauty

We are sitting at the river g. Its COLD. 4 so far.trap is an icecicle.

Karnis, that the factory finnish on that beauty or did you redo it? I have an 84l select in 30-06 and a 257 Bob in the same, both purdy but not quite what you have there. 280 AI is calling, was thinking Montana but now rethinking after seeing that beauty.

Shoot straight Mark! Couple mo hawgs down with the lil 7....

Are you behind G's hunt for a 280AI??

Sorta. He was with me when it drew it's first blood on a cow elk.
It impressed him.

Yep, that 7mm Barnes blew right thru the cow and kept on trucking. She didn't...... ;-)

Been pondering and considering what to build/buy for the last couple years and chewed over ballistics tables. Was thinking .264 Win Mag (I really like the 6.5 caliber too) but then got to looking at .280AI as well. Have a Savage in 7mm Rem Mag, Mod 70 in .300WM and .270, numerous rifles in .308 and 6.5x55 as well as .303, 7.5, .30/06 and 7x57 etc. Have a new favorite in 6x57 (marked on the barrel but really a 6mm Remington) for pronghorn built on a G33/40 that I got from the same dear departed friend I got the other G33/40. Have a .338 Lapua that really needs wheels to move it around but is deadly accurate.

Finally figured that the .280AI would do just about everything I wanted to do with a hunting gun but I wanted it light and trim and to meet all the criteria I listed in the first post. Seems the Kimber does. Just hope I can get more lowers in the door in time to take advantage of the panic. I haven't raised my prices but the demand is through the ROOF! Craziness for sure....

The scope is the next thing; going to be a Leupold for sure. Never had a bad one, can get custom dials and reticules at reasonable prices and the guarantee is awesome. Decisions, decisions, decisions.....

You are crazy man! Just about to light the fire at my place, snuggled on the couch in a blankie with my little girl.....