# kimber rifle accuracy



## tree cutter 08 (Oct 8, 2012)

last week bought a new kimber 84m stainless synthetic stock rifle in 243. put talley lightweight rings and a leupold vx3 2.5x8x36 scope. the rig weighs right around 6lb. points great and is super light but it seems like it dosent shoot that good. got around 20rds through it and am getting at best 2in groups at 50yds. havent shot it at 100 yet but it definatly aint gona shoot better than 2in though. what kind of accuracy are you guys getting with yours? i have shot 4 diffrent ammo types so far and 1 3shot group of reloads.


----------



## chuckdog (Oct 8, 2012)

I had a Montana that was a less than stellar performer.

I found their customer service was worse to me than their products. I was told that "Not just anyone can shoot a Kimber."

That was my last contact with them, ever!


----------



## Yotedawg (Oct 8, 2012)

I have only played with one so this is no way indicative of all Kimbers, but you asked.

Had a guy bring one to me cause it wouldn't shoot for him. He had shot many factory loads with it and I shot many reloads through it trying to get it to shoot. After I failed to find anything it liked, I advised him to send it back since it cost 2 arms and one leg. Kimber rebarreled it and sent it back to him.

Round 2. Guy still couldn't get it to shoot anything. I again tried to come up with a recipe it liked and failed. He sent gun back to kimber and they rebarreled it again. They sent it back and nothing had changed. Still wouldn't shoot under 2-3 inches with reloads and up to 8" with factory stuff at 100 yards.

Guy got urinated off and traded gun in at store he bought it from. Owner of store grabbed it up and gave it to me and told me to do whatever I could to make it shoot. I found that the front pillar was way too high, the front pillar was put in at an angle, and the front action screw was rubbing that pillar. After a lot of work with a dremel tool and completely rebedding the gun, I finally managed to coax about .750" groups out of it at 100 yards with 140gr Sierra gamekings. 

Bottom line, I will never own a Kimber if their workmanship is no better than that. Those things should have been caught at the factory when it was new and when it was sent back twice. Their answer to fixing it was to rebarrel it.

I know this is just one rifle and I'm sure there are 84m's out there that will shoot, but I'm not surprised at all to hear of the groups you are getting. 

I would send it back...........


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Oct 8, 2012)

no good chuckdog, been reading alot on kimbers attitude towards customers, not good for bussiness. did yours not shoot good either? fit and finish on my rifle is fair, trigger is good as i adjusted it already. just dont seem to shoot good.


----------



## Doe Master (Oct 8, 2012)

Looked at a Montana and didn't like the feel of the gun. I went with a sako instead. Which I wasn't to thrilled with in the end. I had 2 finnlites 7mag and a 270 I sold both.


----------



## deadend (Oct 8, 2012)

Try bedding the lug before anything else.


----------



## chuckdog (Oct 8, 2012)

Mine was about the same as yours. An average 3" plus shooter @ 100 yds. Very poor for a semi custom $1K rifle.


----------



## winchester pre64 (Oct 8, 2012)

i love my kimber but its an 8400 in 330wsm.  shoots great sub 1 at 100 with my reloads.  sorry to hear of you problems.  also got mine 7-8 years ago and took 5 month to get it in after they did not hesitate to take my money assuring me that it would be in in two weeks.  customer service not the best.  also ordered AAA walnut and got french walnut with ebony tip.  not what i really wanted but what do you do.  i'll never order one again.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Oct 8, 2012)

i evened out the gaps on the "free floating barrel". barely could slip a peice of thin paper between stock and barrel. while giving the barrel a good cleaning i found that there was a slight lip on one of the lands at the crown. i cleaned it up and polished the crown. looks like a mirror now. going to shoot tommrow and see if there is any improvement. deadend, have you had any luck bedding the recoil lug on these rifles? i always do on others but these are susposedly bedded from the factory. not a great bedding job though.


----------



## deadend (Oct 8, 2012)

They are bedded to a slave action and won't fit yours exactly.  Put a dollop of Devcon or JB Weld into the recess.  The three I've messed with were cured with just that.


----------



## pcrouch (Oct 9, 2012)

As a former Kimber owner, I found that they tend to make their barrels thinner than other manufacturers.  I could usually get a good 3-5 shot group, but after that the barrel would heat up and the group would widen.  See how it does with only a few shots.


----------



## deast1988 (Oct 9, 2012)

I currently own a Kimber 8400 Montana it's in 300wsm It's wearing a vx1 4-12/40mm. Very light rifle points like a dream. As far as I've read and experienced Kimbers are hit or miss some shoot some don't. As for mine it's shooting the Winchester Supreme cpx2 150grs and I'm getting sub in groups at 100. I would clean your gun really good. Then buy a slew of factory loads and run um all through your gun. See which it likes best.


----------



## Meriwether Mike (Oct 9, 2012)

I can put a quarter over a 100 yard three shot group with my Kimber 84M 308. You have to shoot it three times and then let the barrel cool or you are wasting your ammo. I also run a bore snake through it while cooling.


----------



## Wild Turkey (Oct 9, 2012)

Mine has a Mcmillan stock and will shoot for first time today. Well see how it does.
Wouldnt McMillan be responsible for the pillar issues?


----------



## chuckdog (Oct 9, 2012)

These rifles shouldn't require "fixing" or "tweaking" to get them to shoot.

I know it hurts a lot of kimber owners feelings everytime I type this, but I have no doubt that if kimber management spent more on quality control and production than on advertising, they wouldn't have the need to spend so much on advertising to sell their expensive bling.


----------



## Jimmyp (Oct 9, 2012)

tree cutter 08 said:


> last week bought a new kimber 84m stainless synthetic stock rifle in 243. put talley lightweight rings and a leupold vx3 2.5x8x36 scope. the rig weighs right around 6lb. points great and is super light but it seems like it dosent shoot that good. got around 20rds through it and am getting at best 2in groups at 50yds. havent shot it at 100 yet but it definatly aint gona shoot better than 2in though. what kind of accuracy are you guys getting with yours? i have shot 4 diffrent ammo types so far and 1 3shot group of reloads.


let me know if you want to sell it, I would like to have it and work on it. In the meantime try the 85 grain TSX if you can find some, they usually shoot in anything.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Oct 9, 2012)

shot it today and got 1inch groups at 60 yds. a improvement from polishing the crown and cleaning the barrel with jb. just bedded it so well see how it does in a day or to.


----------



## Yotedawg (Oct 9, 2012)

Good luck. 

Hope this will fix it for you..........


----------



## Dub (Oct 9, 2012)

chuckdog said:


> These rifles shouldn't require "fixing" or "tweaking" to get them to shoot.
> 
> I know it hurts a lot of kimber owners feelings everytime I type this, but I have no doubt that if kimber management spent more on quality control and production than on advertising, they wouldn't have the need to spend so much on advertising to sell their expensive bling.





SO





VERY





WELL





SAID.






I'll never buy another Kimber product, either.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Oct 10, 2012)

shot it again today after bedding. still 1in at 50yds. may try to work up some diffrent loads. i belive the burr on the crown was the problem. not good for a new rifle. but for deer hunting with shots under 100yds i think it will be fine. i dont know if i could have built another gun at this price for this weight. kimber could improve on the quality control though.


----------



## deadend (Oct 10, 2012)

Shoot it at longer range.  Sometimes 50yd groups will settle down.


----------



## BamaBart (Oct 10, 2012)

I just traded a Kimber Montana 270 WSM to a guy in Utah that will shoot factory Winchester 130 gr. ammo into a 1/2" group at 100 yards. He sent me a picture of a antelope he killed with it last week. He's very happy with it.
 I just want something different. Thinking about a Winchester 70 Super Grade. 
The Kimber that I had was a good one but wouldn't buy another one because the odds of getting a bad one is to great. Just my opinion.


----------



## Gobbler Down (Oct 10, 2012)

I must be one of the lucky ones...I'm also shooting sub MOA at 100 and roughly 7 inch groups at 500.  All my loads are hand loads with Sierra 165 game kings and measuring my loads two and three times.  I also crimp all my loads.  I'm not a loading guru by any standard but over the years I've managed to shoe every bolt gun with good thunder sticks that get the job done-  on time on target as we used to say.

 The trick I believe is using an OAL cartridge measurement and backing that off  the lands and grooves a selected and tried couple of thousands.  Get with a competent reloader and let them assist...that's how I was turned around.
My OAL for my rifle is a bit different than what is in the reloading manual....my cartridges fit inside the magazine with no room to spare...but I'm happy with it because my wife purchased it for me and I'm gonna keep it even if I lose both arms in a pie eating contest!  Here's one picture of the first day at the range after purchase and a good cleaning and one with my dope card on the objective on a hunt in Wyoming.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Oct 15, 2012)

Finally got the rifle shooting good! Shot 2 3 shot groups .75 at 100yds. Not a tack driver but plenty good for a deer rifle.


----------



## returntoarchery (Oct 15, 2012)

BamaBart said:


> ....Thinking about a Winchester 70 Super Grade.
> ....



You won't be disappointed. Got one in 270 Win. Tack driver out of the box. Only thing I did was get a 2.5# trigger spring.


----------



## Jetjockey (Oct 23, 2012)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Finally got the rifle shooting good! Shot 2 3 shot groups .75 at 100yds. Not a tack driver but plenty good for a deer rifle.



Two .75 in groups would definitely be considered a tack driver by a lot of people.  Especially when I'd be willing to bet the third shot is what opened the group up from a hot barrel......  My 300wsm will put two touching and the third shot opens the group up.  Completely expected from a gun with such a thin barrel.....   I had a guy at my deer lease with a Kimber he was trying to get shooting straight.  He was pretty knowledgeable on guns and was trying to fix it for a friend of his.  Supposedly the gun was shooting 2+ inch groups at 100 yards.  He hadn't shot it to verify and he asked me to come to the range with him.  I put  Federal Fusions in it and proceded to shot two 3-shot groups.  They measured .75 and about .65.  I should have just stopped their and told the guy Id give his friend money for the gun to take the piece of junk off his shoulders.  But I guess I'm too honest.  He then proceeded to shoot a 2+ inch three shot group, and then he looked at me kinda funny.   I then told him how I shoot my Kimber off a bench.  From what I've seen, you can't shoot a kimber off a bench and get any kind of group without some barrel pressure.  Don't ask me why, but that's what I've seen, and I've shot 3 of them.  If you don't control the muzzle jump, you won't get good groups.  Don't get me wrong, Kimber has put out some pigs, but is be willing to bet many of those pigs were shooter error, and not issues with the gun.


----------



## atlashunter (May 17, 2014)

winchester pre64 said:


> i love my kimber but its an 8400 in 330wsm.  shoots great sub 1 at 100 with my reloads.  sorry to hear of you problems.  also got mine 7-8 years ago and took 5 month to get it in after they did not hesitate to take my money assuring me that it would be in in two weeks.  customer service not the best.  also ordered AAA walnut and got french walnut with ebony tip.  not what i really wanted but what do you do.  i'll never order one again.



AAA walnut and french walnut aren't mutually exclusive. AAA is the grade of the french walnut they put on some of their higher end firearms.

http://www.kimberamerica.com/uploads/product-spec/model84m/classicselectgradespecialedition.pdf


----------



## lonewolf247 (May 18, 2014)

I know a few guys with older model Kimbers. From what I've seen and heard about them, they seem to be hit and miss.  Sounds like customer service is no help either. 

I believe on premium rifles, there should be an accuracy guarantee of some sort, and if it doesn't perform, they make it right.  

Mid Range rifles like Tikka and Weatherby are offering an MOA Guarantee, so why can't rifles that cost much more, do the same?


----------



## TJay (May 18, 2014)

I had an 84M in 260 that had feeding issues and was a 2 1/2 inch shooter.  I had visions of working on it to get it to shoot but I ended up swapping it for a Model Seven MS in 6mm which required no work to get it to shoot.  If I were in the market for a Kimber I would have to shoot it before I shelled out the coins to make sure that it functioned and shot as advertised.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (May 18, 2014)

I've hunted with this gun for 2 seasons now. Carried it on my shoulder and in my pack for many miles. Killed 4 bucks, a bear and 6 hogs, and few yotes and Fox with it. Wouldn't trade it for anything. Finally settled on a 85 grain nosler partition and last time I shot it I was getting half inch groups at 100 yards. One thing I did learn from shooting this rifle is when shooting off a bench on sandbags is to hold the forearm. I have no explanation as to why this helps but it really does. I read a article on this when shooting lightweight guns and decided to try it. Should have from the beginning I guess. I can shoot a group holding the forearm and not holding and groups go from less than 1 inch to 3 inches.


----------



## northgeorgiasportsman (May 18, 2014)

You year guys claiming "hole in a hole" accuracy out of their rifles, but the only one I've actually seen do it was a Kimber.  Maybe it was just a gem.


----------



## SlowRain (May 18, 2014)

Kimber Mountain Ascent, 270 Winchester, Leupold 3-9 using Barnes Vor Tex 130gr at 100 yards.  No issues here.  Sorry for the sideways photo.  I keep hearing about Kimber accuracy issues...but every one I have ever shot has easily put them in under an inch.


----------



## cephus91 (May 19, 2014)

My 8400 in .270 WSM shoots about 1.5" with handloads.  But that is about what I would expect from such a light gun.  It is Minute of Deer.  I have not tried to get closer to the lands on the OAL because I want the bullets to fit in the clip.  If I tweaked that it would probably bring my group in some.  I love the feel of the Kimber.


----------

