Cooper or Kimber?

coyoteking

coyoteking

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I'm looking at getting a higher end walking varmint rifle in 22-250. I want stainless steel and wood. I'm not real familiar with either of these rifles but I have previously handled a cooper, it was butter smooth and beautiful. Yesterday I picked up a Kimber for the first time and while the action isn't as slick as glass, the rifle fit me well and balanced nicely.

So, is the Cooper really worth that extra $1000.00? What are the biggest differences between the two? Has anyone had any bad experiences with accuracy, fit and finish?
 
kinda apples and oranges from my perspective. Both great rifles but the cooper will be substanitally heavier. If you are looking for a walking varminter, I'd go Kimber, although I admit to never having shot one. I do own 2 coopers and will tell you that while the wood is gorgeous, the finish is not all that durable and does not like water. I hear cooper recently changed their finish, perhaps another nut can give some feedback on the durability of the newer finish.

I vote Kimber, in my perfect world, I would have a 84M in .308, but it's still on the one day list.
 
You'd be very happy with a Kimber 84M Varmint as a walking varminter. I have one in .204 Ruger with walnut and stainless fluted, it is a rifle that I had to hunt down for a few years and I am glad I did. I also had owned an 84M ProVarmint in .22-250, the gun was so accurate that it was boring, I traded that rifle because it had a laminate stock and heavier barrel - it was too heavy to hike around with.

You should be able to find a used Kimber for under $1400, you could then take the money saved and buy yourself some real nice glass!

A lot of the used Coopers on the market are single shots, something to keep in mind.

Any specific questions, just fire away.
 
The Kimber I was looking at today was walnut and stainless fluted, in .223, asking price was $1475.00,brand new. He tells me he can get .204 and 22-250 for the same price.

It sure was a nice handling rifle, fit me perfectly. That cooper I played with a year ago may have been a bit heavier, but I seem to remember it fit pretty nice too.
 
In the last 8 years I have owned / own 23 Coopers and 6 Kimbers, the Coopers were from 17 Fireball to 375 H&H, and all the rimfires, all were super accurate right out of the box, and quality was never an issue. The Kimbers on the other hand were hit and miss, including poor bedding, not so great trigger, barreled action misaligned in the stock ( Longmaster .308) and overall fit and finish was not always up to scratch, I had doubts about the Adirondack that I had and sold it unfired, I no longer have any Kimbers. Do you like to gamble? I have found, and so have several of my US friends, that Kimbers are a gamble, Coopers are not, that's why you pay you the extra for a premium rifle.
 
I've got two Coopers and 5 Kimbers. I prefer the Kimbers, but that's more about design than execution. Coopers aren't perfect either, it took a while to figure out the glitch on my Western Classic. There is no way they test fired that rifle unless they think that a 4400 dollar rifle that locks up when you shoot it is normal.
 
Dogleg said:
I've got two Coopers and 5 Kimbers. I prefer the Kimbers, but that's more about design than execution. Coopers aren't perfect either, it took a while to figure out the glitch on my Western Classic. There is no way they test fired that rifle unless they think that a 4400 dollar rifle that locks up when you shoot it is normal.
Click to expand...

At least your Cooper would fire. I've had hands on one that with all the custom upgrade options, cost as much as a new quad have FFT issues right out of the gate. Nice wood though. Glad it's not mine.
 
That would have saved me the trouble of beating it open with a hammer and soft punch. That makes your heart race, then just stop once in a while just long enough to make you wonder if its going to start again.;)
 
There are more. Next up a cooper varmint 6.5 creed, that one needed a mallet to extract the fired case on factory ammo, it had a large burr in the chamber. Oh well maybe the next cooper will make the grade, # 3 another custom order 7STW with a bore that resembled that of a savage axis. That one was returned to cooper without being fired once.

I don't know what cooper uses to shoot the target group that comes with each rifle, but it's sure as hell not shot with the rifle that it ships with. Maybe if Dan Cooper had spent more time on building rifles and less time sucking Øbamas #### quality would improve a bit.
 
My extraction problems were from the extractor rubbing against the inside of the receiver ring. Once pressure got above powder puff level the case would bind it against the receiver ring. The bolt handle would lift but pulling it back was difficult. Easy fix once it was finally figured out.
 
Dogleg said:
Coopers aren't perfect either, it took a while to figure out the glitch on my Western Classic. There is no way they test fired that rifle unless they think that a 4400 dollar rifle that locks up when you shoot it is normal.
Click to expand...

Wow....Id be super bummed about that. Hopefully they took care of you real fast. Any explanation from Cooper on how they missed that.

Cheers!!
 
Since having them fix it would have involved a return trip to Montana I had it fixed myself. A guy has to be realistic, once I figured out the problem, it was cheaper to do that then even return it to the dealer never mind the States. I did have an interesting talk with a tech at Cooper, even if he wasn't any help in diagnosing the problem. Confirmed the rumor that Cooper would replace shot out barrels for nothing. 'Course, you've still got to get it there but it's something to think about. No explanation as to how it got past the "test firing guy".

Funny thing is, once I knew what to look for I found the same issue with my other one. It wasn't nearly as bad, just a weird feeling sticky spot between lifting the bolt handle and starting it rearward. It was smoothing out with use, but a few minutes on a grinder eliminated it. removing a bit of metal from the outside of the extractor was the cure.
 
Bought a cooper rifle in 30 06 just after the long gun registry was cancelled.
Nice stock wood but less accurate than a savage 116 stainless I had in the same caliber for 1/4 the money.
Expected the cooper rifle performance to stand out in the crowd at that price.
Sold it to a friend who now uses it for moose hunting and in fact shot a moose with it a couple of weeks ago in the cochrane ontario area.
Proves media hype and a big price tag has a psychological effect that sells guns.
I think they call it marketing.
Disappointed.
 
I'll have an ear full to tell a cooper owner who starts the conversation by telling me what junk guns savage rifles are.
I paid about $700 for that savage 116 and it will put 3 imr 4064 handloaded 165 grain nosler accubond bullets in a group the size of a dime at the 100 meter mark at my range consistently.
No fancy wood but it puts the bullets where they need to go.
 
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