Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Oregon rifles-221 Fireball

Have a chance to consider purchase of a Kimber of Oregon 84M in .221 Fireball in excellent condition. What are the opinions here of Oregon vs current N.Y. built guns? Build quality,market value, etc. How about the .221Fireball caliber?
Thanks

Had a Kimber of Ore .221 and 17FB. Beautiful guns but neither were very accurate. My experience.

DMc

The Fireball is just plain fun, no other word for it. You get 90% of the .223's ballistics for about 25% less powder, too.

I have a CZ 527 in .221 Fireball, and it's probably the most accurate rifle I own, across the board. It's also about the most fun to shoot, and it's economical to feed. What more could a person ask for? I can use the less-pricey SPSX bullets and skip the plastic tipped ones, and shoot just as small, if not smaller, group sizes, too.

The only drawback was the quality of Remington's chitty brass, it's excrement in a shiny coat. Nosler/Norma has fixed that with much better quality brass (though higher priced).

Long time KoO collector & owner. My experience is just the opposite. Have both calibers and both are more accurate than most other small caliber brands. Mine are Custom Clasics with fancy wood and ebony for ends. Love 'em.

My bad memories of K of O mirrors that of DMc. Two .22s, one was a Super America. My marlin shoots much better than they did. Jack

Cruiser1: My Kimber of Oregon Ultra-Varmint Rifle in 221 Remington Fireball has shot rather well since I bought it new back in 1994.
I have a Leupold 12 power scope on it and it really likes the Berger 40 grain h/p bullets.
The load development has long since been done with it but I recently took it to the range for sight in verification and that single group (5 shots at 100 yards) I fired that day measured .420".
That is typical of what this Rifle does on those occassions when it gets to the range anymore.
I have had very good to excellent accuracy from all of my Kimber Rifles - both those made in Oregon and in New York.
I am an avid Kimber fan but my interests with them are in Varminting mostly.
I own several of both (Kimber of Oregon Rifle models as well as Rifles made in New York) and they all please me in their quality, fit and finish.
My early Kimber of Oregon models have appreciated significantly since I purchased them - but again profit is not my main motive with them.
It seems to me that the Kimber of New York Rifles hold their value well enough to make them a sound investment.
The 221 Fireball is an excellent Varmint caliber and is capable of great accuracy - one of the most accurate Rifles I ever fired was a factory stock Remington 40XB-KS in 221 Fireball. It belonged to a dentist friend of mine and he let me shoot it on a couple of occassions in the dead calm air of the Seattle tide flats at the S.P.R.A.A. range. This single shot Rifle commonly fired groups (5 shots at 100 yards) measuring at and just under 1/4"!
I say get the best price you can on this Rifle and go have fun with it.
Best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Man if you do not want to buy it let me know where it is at cause I will I have wanted one of these since I read Dean Grennell's article in 1984. Wanted one so bad I built a custom .221 Fireball on a Sako L461....great little cartridge and as others have indicated very accurate, economical to shoot and just plain FUN!! GO FOR IT!!

PennDog

Thanks for the input, as usual mixed Kimber opinions.
Loop back after I lay my eyes on it.

Had a Kimber 221FB. Beautiful gun but didn't feed worth beans.

Hope you bought it...I have a SA and a CC in the Fireball...both are super accurate and beautiful little rifles....

I was one of Greg Warne's original investors in the Oregon operation, before it was so badly mismanaged that he went bankrupt. It was a great idea and the rifles were extremely pretty.

I bought a gorgeous LH .22 Hornet. It would not feed at all. I cannot recommend them.

Well no wonder - the bolt was on the wrong side!!!

Cannot comment on current Kimber America but have 2 Kimber of Oregon rifles and have had 2 others in the past, experiences with all four:

LH Model 84 .223 - incredibly accurate. The headspace sucks, according to Redneck it is .015" too long. It holds 5 down, if you put 5 in the first one pops out of the mag. Four down feeds fine. Bolt lift has always been hard, even after it went back to them to have the extractor replaced. It lifts okay but you have to pop it hard that last little bit to force initial extraction, then let off upward pressure to pull it back or it sticks.

But it has over 3,000 rounds down the tube and is still one of the most accurate rifles of any caliber I've ever owned. It will still put 5 into 1/2" or so.

LH Model 82 .22 - also incredibly accurate. Trigger pull is great, no functioning issues whatsoever, this rifle has driven out almost every other .22 I've bought in the over 30 years I've owned it. It's the most perfect .22 LR firearm I've ever owned.

RH .22 Hornet - accurate, but not exceptionally so. It would group 5 into an inch pretty consistently but not much better. Had it sent back to Kimber and rechambered to K-Hornet. Neat rifle but accuracy was not better. Functioning was just fine.

RH Heavy barrel .22 Hornet - same results as regular .22 Hornet.

They were and according to reports still are a crapshoot. You might get an exceptionally great rifle, or you might not.

I like them and would be tempted if the price were right. Even better if you can test fire and have a gunsmith go over it.

I got lucky on mine.

Then again you could just get a Cooper with no worries about wild swings in quality control.

Love the .221 Furball. Save yourself the aggravation, however, and get one in a Cooper, CZ, or used Remington.

My .221 Fireball is a Remington Classic. It shoots tinny little one hole groups in the target @ 100yds. This is by far one of the best shooting rifles I own. Kills the heck out of prairie dogs and has dropped a few coyotes in their tracks. My load is simple, always using a 35 or 40gr bullets, primarily Sierra and V-max. The barrel also doesn't overheat quickly because it doesn't require a lot of powder! Excellent Cartridge! With no recoil I might add.