Kimber 84 m 223 Accuracy expectations?

A

Any22

Guest
Just traded for a 84 M heavy bbl. 223 kimber , Hoped this would satisfy my lust for a cooper, ( WELL SEE ) Anyway have no experience with this rifle What can I actually expect from it accuracy wise Also Anyone shooting this that has a load worked out it would be appreciated. Checking dead lengths It is very close to a fairly new rem. I have so its not shot out.
 
To new Kimber owner

Had a Kimber 84M in 308win. Bought it new and had it for two years,it was the biggest heap of crap I have ever owned. Apart from having everything wrong with it I never had it shoot better than two minutes of angle on average. Traded it on a new CZ550 american in 308 and have never looked back. Wish You all the luck in the world with yours, please let me and all the other X Kimber owners no how how it preforms.
 
OUCH!!! - the first replies are not good news, maybe you should move it and go ahead and get the Cooper.
 
Is that the fairly recent model, I believe it is if it is an 84M.

I had a Kimber 84M 22-250 Varmint a few years back and with the factory barrel the best I could get from it was around an inch or a bit bigger. I replaced the barrel with mid range quality custom one in 22-250AI, rifle shot around the 3/8ths range.

I later got a new Kimber 84M Varmint in 204. That would shoot reliably around the half inch mark.

The new Kimbers do seem to be a bit of a mixed bag so far as quality control goes.

I have also has a couple of Coopers, still own one, and they are a far better rifle than a Kimber. Mine were both good shooters and the quality of fit and finish is streets ahead of a Kimber. Sorry !!

Bryce
 
Sell the Kimber to an unsuspecting shooter and then put that money on a Cooper. I won't go in to details with my dealings with Kimber and an 84m sporter in 7mm-08.
 
Sorry ,

But I too fell for the Kimber "Match" quality line of BS.
After the hassle and a new Kimber factory barrel that baby got groups down in the 1.75 MOA range.

Traded for a new Cooper 52 same cal. 25-06 The last two groups were under 1/4" at 100 yds.3 shots....Oh and I have a total of 39 rounds through the rifle so load developement wasn't painful either.

Good luck hope it works out. Never heard of a Cooper that didn't perform very close to the two I have.
 
Only reason I kept my 84m Montana, it's light and easy to carry! As for the
rest of the gun so-so. The factory rep. I talked to is an ego maniac!
Wayne,
 
My findings...

They advertise............... Piller bedded AND Fiberglass bedded on or over the pillers.... That's how it's supposed to be done....
BUT...

A M84 (Varmint model in 204 Ruger) owner I know was not real happy...
We spent quality load development time but groups at .800 or bigger were the norm.....
The barrel was not coppering to bad at all... I took the action out of the stock and saw no bedding compound over the pillers (prior to taking apart, I noticed the barrel/action moved noticably as it should be rock solid).
Rather than sending back to Kimber, we bedded it ourselves and made sure the stock was not in contact with the barrel...
This helped... .5-.8 groups were noticed.

Still better accuracy was wanted. Now the gun wears a new PacNor 12" SSSM in 20Practical.... Now it Shoots! .2 -.5 no prob.....

My only gripe really is the trigger... Even with all the work on the trigger, I was only able to achieve 2 1/4 lb pull... Got the creep out but only with a bit of modification could we get the overtravel to zero.

They (Kimber) can and should do a better job....

Ok........For the money $$$...

Call Jerry Stiller about his Predator action and build yourself a REAL shooter and LOOKER ..! You WON'T be dissatisfied!
www.viperactions.com

Also

Equally as WONDERFUL are the Alpine action from Jim Borden...!
http://www.bordenrifles.com/Alpine 10X 2/index.html
http://www.bordenrifles.com/

Both Jim and Jerry can assist in advising your build or build it for ya!
BEST money spent my friend and it WILL peform as it SHOULD..!

cale
 
Caroby, that sounds identical to the problem a friend had with his. Would not group, groups with factory ammo up to 8", not much better with reloads! The gun made two trips back to Kimber and they said they replaced the barrel both times. I wish I had thought to index or mark the barrel before the second trip back because I have doubts that was done. Anyway, I tore the rifle down after the second trip because the friend wanted me to try to make it shoot. My findings were:

Front action pillar set at such an angle that the action screw was in firm contact with it. I had to dremel out the pillar to relieve the pressure and create clearance between it and the screw.

Front action pillar was too high. Well above the fiberglass bedding. The bedding job was doing absolutely nothing to support the action.

The barrel fouled badly. During break-in it looked like I was pushing Dykem out of the barrel.

After skim bedding on top of the factory bedding the gun started to shoot fair. I was getting .75" to 1"groups from it but nothing better. But then I could get that or probably better from a $299 Stevens.

The guy traded the gun anyway.........................
 
kimber

GEEZ with friends like this !!!!!!! Well seriously thanks for the straight forward talk.Ive only shot it once w/ some prariedog loads from another gun it shot 1" 5 shot groups but none better. 50gr. rem. plhp in front of 26.5 gr of wc846 usually gets me under an inch in my other guns. The trigger actually is what sold me on the gun around a lb. w/no creep or overtravel. VERY NICE TRIGGER, cleaned @ the range seemed to be a fairly smooth bbl.Im goin to do some load dev. on it before I prop up the wifes tomato plant w/it. Ill let yAll know. SURE HOPE I GOT THE ONLY GOOD ONE :eek:
 
Any22

There are many off the shelf rifles that will shoot better than what the posts here of the Kimber.

I bought a Ruger Mod77 MII VT S/S Target Gray with the 2 stage target trigger in .220 Swift.

I bought it mainly because over 30 years I had never seen a Ruger VT in .220 Swift that would not shoot 1/4" or less 5 shot groups at 100 yards. There must be some, but I have never seen one.

The accuracy may be because of the Swift and not the rifle???

Right out of the box after breaking in the barrel and working up a load with 55 gr. Berger Match with 4064 powder it has joined all the other Ruger .220 Swifts that I saw shoot so well. (I bought it at Wal-mart). A couple of times it has shot in the high .1s for 5 shots. :):):)

I have seen some Coopers shoot pretty good, but NOT better than my Ruger.

"Aim small miss small", :D

gt40
 

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Ruger

YES I have a friend who shoots the same ruger but uses R15 powder it was hard to beat before I got my 220 s AI going AND started using the R15
 
To Any22 with reguard to Kimber.

Egg tomatos are good as they have thick skins that resist fruit fly. Dont get any Hoppies number nine on the roots though as it killed mine. Kind reguards Murphy.
 
I have a kimber of oregon that is dear to me.
Heres some groups...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/HawgDog/wm_766168.jpg
very skinny 22" barrel BTW. With scope just under 8 pounds. The wind cranked up and I chickened out for the last shot. I know I suck at wind LOL
If a new factory tube wont shoot, I'd spin a new crown on before rebarreling, just my .02
 
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kimber

Well I replaced the Scope w/a leupold 6.5-20 & built some loads w/aa 2200 powder The gun shot Much better But still no benchrest braggin rights, It seems to like to shoot 2 in one hole then throw the next out about 3/4 " coaxed it down to 5/8 a couple times but 3/4 is the norm. not goin to give up yet 5 shot groups show 2 distinct groups, anyone have any ideas about that? While I was messin w/it I took it out of the stock,pillars straight bedding looked good ? tried 50s,52s,53s,55s w/the 2200 powder HEy anyone got 8lb. of that stuff layin around, I love it.
 
just checking, you using flags, a good hard rear bag, etc?

edit: is the bolt handle touching anywhere on the stock? Look at the bedding, see any darker, shinier spots that would indicate its binding as its tightened down? Again, factory muzzle crowns leave much to be desired.
 
To Any22

The reason that your groups have a gap in them is because your seating depth is incorrect. Dont be too fussy,just move your seating depth around in 1 or 2 millimetre increments untill the gap goes away. Some 223s like up to 6mm off the lands for best results.To understand why this happens,have a look at Varmint Alls home page. Kindest reguards Murphy.
 
Of course thousands of an inch is meant not millimeters.

Jim
 
To Jensen Any22 and others on seating depth.

Millimeter increments is correct and with this style of rifle, please dont waste time and ammunition with anything smaller. We are not trying to fine tune a 6ppc against changes in atmospheric pressure here. For what ever it is worth, here are a couple of examples. 22hornet firing 4 1/2g of Unique and 40g bullet and cci small pistol primer at 50yds[Split group size 1 1/4inches with bullet a layer of candle soot off lands. Moved projectile in graduated streps 3mm into case[New group size was .24 for 5 shots. repeated test 1 week later and got another 5 shot .24 group. Rem700 sporter cal.223rem used to shoot .75 just off lands at an overall length of 2.4". Finished up a full 6mm off the lands with a .51"5shots at 100yds group. Sorry to hijack your thread Any22 but thought I better clarify this seating depth business.
 
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