Rusty Kimber Model 82

[subsonic]

Yes I bought one of them rusty Kimbers from CMP. When I received it, the safety did not work, the rear sight eye piece had surface rust on it, of course the stock was scratched and ...........oh that was it. After a good cleaning I took in to the range today, tested a few rounds in it at 50 and 100 yards using standard velocity CCI and Aquila (yellow box). My best group was about one inch at 50 yards and two inches at 100 yards with the Aquila, using the sights that came with the gun and a bipod. Can anyone recommend some ammo that will shoot better through this rifle? I would like to use it for benchrest. Thanks for you help.

 

[solyanik]

did you just buy it, from the current crop of CMP rifles, or did you buy it a while ago when Rusty Kimber was a $400 alternative to a $600 new one? I thought they advertised no sights on the currect offering...

 

[solyanik]

Also, here are the results of my ammo testing. I noticed that the rifle is very sensitive to torque on the action screws. I first stepped through a range of these using cheaper CCI Blazer ammo, and when I got the minimum group size, I tried the selection of ammo below:

Here are the results, at 100 meters:

Lapua Midas +
.80
.78
1.08
1.12
.73
.83
.94
.66
.92
.72

Wolf MT
.94
.60
.84
1.22
2.27 (one flier)
.71
.62
.60
.67
.99

Federal Target
1.13
1.09
1.21
.59
.86
.80
1.12
1.17
1.04
.91

Federal Ultra Match
.83
.50
.71
.90
.78
.83
.98
.40
.46
.53

Tenex
.64
.62
.65
1.45
.99
1.00
1.42
.80
1.81 (1 flier)
1.24

CCI Standard Target
1.79
.65
1.18
.25 (amazing what the probabilities do sometimes!)
.50

CCI Blazer
.91
1.26
1.16
3.02 (1 flier)

 

[TRECustom]

8Ball, is the bore good, or did it have rust in it? Mine had the protective cardboard rod in it, but it also had some red crap in it that turned out to be old preservative grease. Once I got that stuff out of it, it had a beautiful bore.

I have only shot it at 50 yds, with the iron sights that came with it.

So far, I've shot some old Hansen std vel, Win Super X, SK Match, CCI Green Tag, Fed GM Ultra Match, and RWS-50. (The Fed UM and R-50 are about $18 for a 50 rd box, unfortunately). All groups were 1" (2 moa), or worse except the RWS-50, which consistently shoots 1/2" five shot groups (1 moa @ 50 yds). I am positive that I am the limiting factor, and will never know how good the rifle might be without mounting a scope on it, but I enjoy shooting the iron sights and may never scope it.

Another factor may be barrel seasoning. I only have 60 rds through it, and I believe it's getting better the more I shoot it. Also, I'm up to 5 rds between cleanings now. Maybe some of the experienced rimfire shooters like Solyanik can comment on this. I'm not positive yet.

On the stock scratch.....I was told that a lot of the 82 stocks were cut by a boxknife when the CMP nitwits were cutting the boxes open.

I'm not a fan of single-shots, but I really like this rifle.

Good luck with yours. Tom

 

[subsonic]

Hey guys thanks. Well it looks like the Federal Ultra Match is the ammo to shoot. My rifle was one of the last two purchased at Camp Perry this past summer. And yes it was $400 and it had the paper rod in the barrel and the original sights came with. By the time I purchased mine all the spare parts were sold out. Rumor has it that the box cutter nitwits were a bunch of air force fellers who didn't know what preservative wrapping meant, but I ain't $TWO.00 mad at them. When I showed my gun to a ex-Air Force buddy of mine he said "you have a scratch on your stock" and I replied "no it's an Air Force". My safety was gummed up with that same hard red grease. I am looking for a fixed power 6X scope or a variable power scope which is legal for rimfire benchrest. That is one of the sweetiest factory triggers I have ever pulled straight out the box, short, crisp and clean. I my have it lightened just a little for bench work

Solyanik, do sort you ammo by rim thickness as well as base to ogive?

 

[solyanik]

> Solyanik, do sort you ammo by rim thickness as well as base to ogive?

No. The results above as it came from the box...

 

[ava123]

I have to agreed with the RWS 50 ammo being the best by far from others tested like ten x, lapua, federal.

 

[dokey]

I like Wolf MT in my win 52's and rem 40x . At about $6.00 a box you can't beat it

 

[noelfr]

My fave is the SK Match. Seemed to beat out everything else in my rifle.

 

[cb1229]

first you want to make sure barrel is floating couple friends bought kimbers from cmp and the barrel was hitting the barrel channel and while you are at it bed it then eley black ,wolf or sk or a lapua ammo will work well at least one of them will.good luck cb

 

[Triggerman]

quote "On the stock scratch.....I was told that a lot of the 82 stocks were cut by a boxknife when the CMP nitwits were cutting the boxes open."

Having been there and observed the operation, I can assure you there are NO nitwit's at the CMP. those folks and the volunteers work their butt's off to supply poeple like you and deserve a little more respect

 

[TRECustom]

Triggerman, you have a point, but all I can do is conclude that volunteer or not, anyone who uses a box knife to cut the wrapping off a rifle may not be a nitwit, but as I observed 2 years ago, just plain didn't give a S--t. The rifle I bought was with the $400 ones, but it was in perfect condition (with no scratch), and all the accessories. I believe they put it with the $400 dollar rifles because they thought the bore was rusty. I took a chance that it was bore preservative, and was right. As I posted earlier, after cleaning, the bore is beautiful.

We must have dealt with different volunteers.

Tom

 

[velocette]

In my 82g, I have found that SK std + or SK match (and the Wolf equivalents are identical) worked very well.
1/2" groups at 50 yds are normal and frequently better. Eley Match, (Black box) shot the best of over 15 high grade / priced ammo tried.
My rifle is used in smallbore prone competition & has gotten me from novice to expert NRA rating in 14 months. My latest 1600 score was 1589 / 98x, using Eley match ammo. The score was in spite of several mistakes on my part.
If I can keep it up, I'll be rated master by next year with a rifle / scope etc totalling less than &1000.00.
Nothing wrong with an 82g. Glass bed the action, Use 30 inch pounds ( + / - ) of torque on the 2 action screws & have at it.

Roger

 

[SDWhirlwind]

quote "On the stock scratch.....I was told that a lot of the 82 stocks were cut by a boxknife when the CMP nitwits were cutting the boxes open."

Having been there and observed the operation, I can assure you there are NO nitwit's at the CMP. those folks and the volunteers work their butt's off to supply poeple like you and deserve a little more respect

I suspect that the out front counter people you met while visiting the CMP were not the guilty party the OP was calling a nitwit!!! Seeing as you are a newbie here than what term would you deem politically correct to place upon an individual or group of individuals that were guilty of cutting hundreds of these stocks??? Genius? Rocket Scientist? Please enlighten us!

 

[JohnMill]

8Ball,
You say you want to do BR with it but then talk of a 6 power scope. I'm confused.
But!! BR Central has a "sticky" for a trigger mod that puts you in the hunt. A Hoehn tuner is what we use on the 82g and a Suhl. Eley black box is best but the tuner will bring in SK pistol match if you go through the entire process. If you short cut the process you just deal yourself out of the ultimate results. Can't emphasize that enough. 36 power scope, best you can afford although I've got an old 24 power B&L that's hard to beat (hard to find too). There are things you can do to the stock too. There's prolly lots of stuff on this forum too. You just have to pursue it. Use the forum as a research resource 'stead of just entertainment (which it certainly is).
I've found that the results are proportional to the work you put into it

 

[Minesweeper3433]

I used mine first with the iron sights and then put a leupold FX 6x on it that I got a deal on. That scope was perfect for shooting shotgun hulls at 100 yards using remington target in the hard plastic boxes. It is by far my favorite rifle to shoot out of all the ones I own. I mostly shoot subsonic out of the rifle as the barrel is so long that it isn't so loud to the shooter. As far as accuracy I have managed a 1/2 inch group at 200 yards after putting a sightron scope on it for more magnification. However at 200 it usually manages about 1.5-2.5 inchs for federal ultra match and wolf extra. The half inch was shot during a lull in wind that happened before a storm hit. I got my target but it was a wet napkin before I got down there and back to fetch it. Also the rifle I used to test the 60grn aguila rounds mentioned on the forum here recently. It didn't like them.

 

[Shynloco]

8ball,
Don't know how long you've been shooting or buying "used" rifles, but the fact is, those Kimber 82's are truly some very nice rifles, especially for the $400 you paid. That rifle would have cost probably 4 times that amount (if not more) new. I've seen and shot several of them that were purchased by some of the guys I shoot with. I'm retired and could not afford to spend the money, considering I was having a couple of Benchrest rifles being built. And in case you are unaware, Rimfire rifle, in general, are very sensitive to the ammo being shot in them. They are so sensitive, that even two rifles of the same model, made by the same manufacturer, might like different ammo. Tests conducted by others, gives you a pattern to look at in terms of accuracy, but could be completely worthless in terms of what your particular rifle likes. Even changing lot using the same ammo, can have an effect on accuracy. That's why you may see some folks find what their rifle likes the best and will look through hell and high water to find a bunch of that same lot. SO be patient and give it time. You need to put at least 20 rounds down a tube before judging it's performance in you rifle. And you MUST clean the barrel when changing manufacturers of ammo. At least wet patch it followed by a few dry patches to get the residue of different powder out of the barrel. Test ammo isn't fun, but try some of the listed ammo by buying one box of each and then take you time for testing. It can be both fun and a pain in the ars at the same time. And most of all, it is completely unreasonable to expect an used Kimber 82g ($400) to shoot like a Benchrest Anschutz 2013 BR50 ($2500+) at any distance. Ain't gonna happen. Still the Kimber 82g can be cleaned up and shoot some very nice targets. The only question left then is are you a good enough shot to get the most out of her. My hesnet belief is that many of the rifles sold are capable of putting together come very nice groups and the true flaw is the person behind the trigger. So don't underrate what COULD be shot out of that rifle you bought from CMP, no matter who opened the box it was in using whatever, etc.