Ring on Brass Below Shoulder

[noharleyyet]

The most expensive rifle I own, a custom, won't feed with 2 down for chit. Sent it back to the producer & it came back with dremel scars on the follower and still won't feed for chit. Prints bughole small clovers but the feeding issue drives me nuts and won't sell or gift knowing it does this. The most expensive pistol is a custom shop Kimber Carry Pro .45 that came needing further polishing to feed w/o jam. Took awhile to get the 45 and took awhile to correct it's issues. Kimber touts quality and certainly are not cheap...I believe both add to the frustration level and complaint spontaniety. Of two Kimber rifles, one of which one still resides, nary a hiccup.

 

[antelopedundee]

What issue does this cause with the rifle shooting? Are you having accuracy issues as a result? Is this a dangerous situation with the shell being forced forward when it shouldn't?

Since the ring on the fired case seems to be incuse it means that there is a ring [in relief] going around the chamber at the neck shoulder junction. The OP doesn't say whether or not the round was a little harder to chamber or not. If you don't reload then probably not a big deal. If you reload or would want to sell it then best Git R Fixed.

 

[antelopedundee]

Kimber Roulette is a bad game to play. If I hadn't gotten mine for a bargain when they made the Hunter Pro (cabelas/bass pro version) I don't think I would have risked it. Luckily nothing adversely affected my groups and their CS staff were very helpful and responsive. I didn't think I'd run into another person with the ring in the chamber so Kimber gets knocked down a peg because I suppose I could see 1 sneaking through but QC seems to be faltering.

A former Kimber president's [the founder I think] statement of quality was that "if it came from here it's good enough."

 

[matthausarchery]

The round chambers OK. It feels a little stiff to which I attributed it being a new gun. I was able to see a ring that extrudes into the chamber Near the shoulder. The cases all extracted fine and I didnt even notice until I began to collect my brass for reloads.
The gun shoots really well so I hope it all ends up working out well.
still waiting for an RMA number.

 

[WapitiBob]

A former Kimber president's [the founder I think] statement of quality was that "if it came from here it's good enough."

He's a liar. My Montana was @hit.

 

[antelopedundee]

The round chambers OK. It feels a little stiff to which I attributed it being a new gun. I was able to see a ring that extrudes into the chamber Near the shoulder. The cases all extracted fine and I didnt even notice until I began to collect my brass for reloads.
The gun shoots really well so I hope it all ends up working out well.
still waiting for an RMA number.

What happens if you chamber a round and then extract it without firing it? Do you see a bright ring?

 

[matthausarchery]

Received my RMA# and prepaid shipping label.

When chambering an unfired round it does in fact leave a slight marring below the shoulder.

Gun is in the mail. They gave me good instructions on how to ship it out and emailed me a prepaid UPS number that had to be dropped off at a distribution center.
Apparently it would have been an issue for me to drop it off at a UPS store because they told me 8 times.

 

[matthausarchery]

Pretty impressed with Kimber’s customer service. They were quick to respond to emails and answer my phone call through the process. Less than two week turn around time from when they got the rifle.

Received my rifle back today with a brand new barrel. They included two targets shot with the rifle with 168grn winchester match king ammo. The first group measured .73” and the second group measures around .43”

Stay tuned...

 

[matthausarchery]

Preliminary sight in and break in with 40 rnds of federal nontypical 150grn 308 and it went well. The brass is clean and free of defects, goes into battery smoothly and without excessive force.
I shot two 3 rnd groups with this ammo and they averaged 1.1”
Next I went to Hornady American Whitetail 165grn, I was actually impressed by it .83” average (I called mulligans on a flier or two).
I ran out of daylight before I broke into my box of Accubonds, hopefully it likes that bullet and I can start working up a decent handload with them.
All and All, now I really like the rifle. It takes some getting used to being so light. I wish the barrel was 18” personally but it should be a fine rifle.

 

[antelopedundee]

Why didn't you ask for an 18 inch barrel? At worst they could have said no. Or just have a gunsmith shorten and recrown it.Yet if the SN says that it came from the factory with a 22" barrel, then that's what they have to send back.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

Apparently it would have been an issue for me to drop it off at a UPS store because they told me 8 times.

Important safety tip... That's bad!

 

[BWALKER77]

I really want to like Kimber rifles...but there's just so many of these stories out there.

I'm in the same boat, Buzz.

 

[tzone]

I really want to like Kimber rifles...but there's just so many of these stories out there.

There are, that's true.

I tried one about 15 years ago and didn't care for it. Then a few years ago I was looking for a light'ish rifle to take hunting in the black hills and found the Kimber Hunter. I had to have it. For the money nothing compared to it. It was a 3/4" gun off the hood of my truck at 96 yards with Federal Fusion's.

Then I found a great deal on a NIB Kimber Montana in .223 Rem from Whittaker's in KY. Bought it sight unseen figuring I could always rebarrel it if the accuracy sucked. It shoots 50gr V-max into dime sized holes and 55gr TTSX into nickel sized holes at 100. And, they're lights out right f'n now on deer.

Was hunting with a buddy last year and he said he had a Kimber Montana in .243 Win that he was looking to sell. He had it threaded and it shoots 5/8" groups with 95gr Nosler Partitions and if you like factory stuff, it'll put cheap ass Winchester Power Point 100gr into 3/4" at 100 yards.

Of course this spring I was on my lunch break at local gun shop and saw a used Kimber Montana up in the rack. I asked to see it. It happened to be a 6.5 CM and it was used, slightly, but came with the customers load data and cards that he shot at 100 and 200 yards. That came home with me. It also appears to like 130gr Nosler Accubond with H4350 at 100. It's a bit more than 1" at 100 but I haven't dialed anything in yet. I had some cheap Hornady American Whitetail 129gr Interlock that I sighted it in with at 100. On the junk Leupold VX3 3.5-10, I rang the bell on the plate at 400 after sighting it in with the American Whitetail.

So....I have 4 of them that came out of nowhere. They've all been great. That old .308 in Kimber Classic from 2004 though...No thank you.