Friends can sure be expensive.

Damn what a steal.

My buddies call me their "enabler." That's just what good friends do.

With the scope? Tell your buddy (aka victim) he can lower his hands now.

Dang I need your luck lol. Both rifles are very high in my to get next list.

You want to make $100 on the deal? You said you didn't need the rifle so....

I’m not big on bolt actions but I have a soft spot for Kimber rifles, that Leupold 2.5-8x36 (second favorite scope), and the 260 Rem cartridge.

Great score.

A guy I went to high school with used to own a pawnshop. He never called me with anything, but I got some deals from him several times. In that business you never know. They have people pawn $600 guns for $50 and never come back for them. When it goes up for sale they have lots of room to come down. And then sometimes they loan too much on something expecting them to pay off the pawn. When they don't, they don't have much room to work with when they try to sell it.

And this is a good time of year to get those deals. One of those guns may well bring $900-$1000 in August or September. Or they can sell it now for $500 and have an extra $500 in the cash box that can be used to pawn other stuff at 20% interest/month. They'll turn that $500 into $1400 by August with the interest they can get on it. Better than letting the rifle sit till August and getting another $400-$500 for it.

Expensive?

You bought a scope and got a free Kimber rifle.

Arkansas Paul said:

Expensive?

You bought a scope and got a free Kimber rifle.

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That's about what Number 84m in .260 Remington is worth to me. The one I had couldn't shoot a pie plate group at 100 yards on a windless day with a NRA master class shooter pulling the trigger.

Pretty rifle. Great feel. Just wouldn't shoot for beans.

jmr40 said:

A guy I went to high school with used to own a pawnshop. He never called me with anything, but I got some deals from him several times. In that business you never know. They have people pawn $600 guns for $50 and never come back for them. When it goes up for sale they have lots of room to come down. And then sometimes they loan too much on something expecting them to pay off the pawn. When they don't, they don't have much room to work with when they try to sell it.

And this is a good time of year to get those deals. One of those guns may well bring $900-$1000 in August or September. Or they can sell it now for $500 and have an extra $500 in the cash box that can be used to pawn other stuff at 20% interest/month. They'll turn that $500 into $1400 by August with the interest they can get on it. Better than letting the rifle sit till August and getting another $400-$500 for it.

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This is pretty well spot on with my experience both as an employee of a pawn and a customer. Cash is the most important asset a pawnbroker has. It is what makes money at pawns. Not guns and guitars.

Don’t be afraid to lowball at a pawn.

BigBore44 said:

And I’ve read “some” of them had problems with heavier bullets. I’ve also read that your grip played a big role in accuracy. But the thing that gets me is why people who dropped $1k on a rifle, and it didn’t shoot, wouldn’t send it back to the factory at least once. But I’ve never owned a gun that wouldn’t shoot. Most shoot better than they should. I suppose this is the part where I should go knock on some wood........done.

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Some guns just dont shoot plain and simple, but i doubt its as common as it seems.

I think a big part of it, and some of the complaints ive read kinda reinforce this, is that shooting a light rifle consistently is much harder than a regular, or heavy gun.
Id bet a lot of guys DO send the guns back, and when shot at the factory produce very acceptable results, they then bitch when the gun comes back and they STILL cant shoot a decent/bragging group. Your not going to hear that first or second part, your only gonna hear that they dont shoot well.

Anything under about 7.5lbs, like my little Grendel, is much more difficult for me to shoot nice groups with. Even light .22s can be hard to shoot good groups with which is why i generally like heavier (or front heavy).22s
I KNOW that going in, and have shot a few of those Kimbers and some other 6-6.5lb rigs, I KNOW i can produce a good 3-5 shot group off a pod and bags on the ground as long as i settle in behind the gun properly. If my forms off there will be lateral stringing. Off bags and a bench i tend to get vertical stringing I assume from bounce.

The light guns are also usually best within their first few shots, or at least thats been my experience having only fired other peoples guns, and never owning one. My only UL is my Ridgeline, which is only an UL when compared to other 26" Heavy barrel guns.

Wish I had an expensive friend like that...

"But the thing that gets me is why people who dropped $1k on a rifle, and it didn’t shoot, wouldn’t send it back to the factory at least once."
It began life as a 84M Select Grade. It went back to Kimber and Kimber re-barreled it in .308 because they no longer chambered .260 Rem.
Kimber's customer service is legendary - sort of - (Just do a google search "Kimber customer service good or not?".)
I sold the thing on GB - lots of photos, penny auction, no reserve, longest allowed time, featured item, highlighted, etc. It sold for about 1/3 of what I had in it and I was happy to see it go.

"I think a big part of it, and some of the complaints ive read kinda reinforce this, is that shooting a light rifle consistently is much harder than a regular, or heavy gun.
Id bet a lot of guys DO send the guns back, and when shot at the factory produce very acceptable results, they then bitch when the gun comes back and they STILL cant shoot a decent/bragging group. Your not going to hear that first or second part, your only gonna hear that they dont shoot well."

Well, this may very well be true of some folks that are not competitive shooters or are not firearms enthusiasts. Though I am not a master class shooter, I compete in Metallic Silhouette, both High Power and Smallbore at the A-Class level. The 2 high power rifles I use in competition are both Tikkas. A .270 Winchester T3 Lite that will shoot 2-3/4" 5-round groups at 500 meters. The other is a 6.5x55 T3 Hunter that shoots sub 1" 5-round groups at 200 meters. (I have not had the opportunity to test it at 300, 385 and 500 meters at yet.) Kimber couldn't get that .260 to shoot either and said that they had indeed had issues with some .260 barrels back in the day. I will say this for Kimber: They re-barreled a 10 year old rifle at no charge. And it did still appear to be in like-new condition without scratches, dents, digs or wear.

Every rifle & revolver I see at my buddy's pawn shop looks like a lost puppy, I finally learned how
to walk away.
Only after my home looks like his shop is here, just not as crowded.

Poper said:

"I think a big part of it, and some of the complaints ive read kinda reinforce this, is that shooting a light rifle consistently is much harder than a regular, or heavy gun.
Id bet a lot of guys DO send the guns back, and when shot at the factory produce very acceptable results, they then bitch when the gun comes back and they STILL cant shoot a decent/bragging group. Your not going to hear that first or second part, your only gonna hear that they dont shoot well."

Well, this may very well be true of some folks that are not competitive shooters or are not firearms enthusiasts. Though I am not a master class shooter, I compete in Metallic Silhouette, bot High Power and Smallbore at the A-Class level. The 2 high power rifles I use in competition are both Tikkas. A .270 Winchester T3 Lite that will shoot 2-3/4" 5-round groups at 500 meters. The other is a 6.5x55 T3 Hunter that shoots sub 1" 5-round groups at 200 meters. (I have not had the opportunity to test it at 300, 385 and 500 meters at yet.) Kimber couldn't get that .260 to shoot either and said that they had indeed had issues with some .260 barrels back in the day. I will say this for Kimber: They re-barreled a 10 year old rifle at no charge. And it did still appear to be in like-new condition without scratches, dents, digs or wear.

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There definitely are real issues, and your gun sounds like one of them. My post certainly wasn't aimed at you, or anyone else who has put the time and effort in.

I also think a lot of folks don't shoot that well tho, and generally expect a 1200 dollar plus gun to make up for it.
Even tho the thing is built for weight reduction, not making a mediocre to ok shooter look good on the range.
Im an ok shooter and very much aware of that lol. My groups open noticeably when shooting my lightest rifles. Anything over about 8lbs and I seem to have much less trouble.

.

That's a great deal! I hear good things about Kimber, the .260 is a great cartridge, and a Leupold 2.5-8x36 is a favorite hunting scope. You did really good.

Expensive friends are the ones that go to your range with you and shoot all of your ammo. This sounds like the type of friend we all could use.

You can always say no to this friend. Well almost always.

@BigBore44, you really did score with that Kimber rifle. Yes, the .260 Rem had issues for Kimber but fortunately for you there are options. You can see if your .260 Rem shoots well, and if it doesn't you could have Kimber rebarrel to 6.5 CM, .308 Win etc. Kimber barrels are very good these days and you might get that service for free or at a reasonable cost. You could also order a Lilja barrel and have your favorite gunsmith install it. The stock is one of the older Montana stocks with the smooth finish.

LoonWulf said:

There definitely are real issues, and your gun sounds like one of them. My post certainly wasn't aimed at you, or anyone else who has put the time and effort in.

I also think a lot of folks don't shoot that well tho, and generally expect a 1200 dollar plus gun to make up for it.
Even tho the thing is built for weight reduction, not making a mediocre to ok shooter look good on the range.
Im an ok shooter and very much aware of that lol. My groups open noticeably when shooting my lightest rifles. Anything over about 8lbs and I seem to have much less trouble.

.

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In regards to groups opening up with lighter rifles: When the rifle is capable, as shooters, we need to be even more aware of our Natural Point of Aim and the rest of the basics of marksmanship. NPA being most critical.

JMHO, of course.

Poper said:

In regards to groups opening up with lighter rifles: When the rifle is capable, as shooters, we need to be even more aware of our Natural Point of Aim and the rest of the basics of marksmanship. NPA being most critical.

JMHO, of course.

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I agree.
NPA, and not muscling a rifle is something ive only recently started working at. Even with my limited practice, and no training beyond watching tube, I've seen a difference in consistency.

duplipost

LoonWulf said:

I agree.
NPA, and not muscling a rifle is something ive only recently started working at. Even with my limited practice, and no training beyond watching tube, I've seen a difference in consistency.

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Excellent!
I am 64 y.o., now. I began shooting NRA Indoor 50' Smallbore when I was 13. I placed 3rd Aggregate score in Kneeling at the State Championship Tournaments the following year. That was when I accidentally discovered my NPA. The coaches were not teaching it way back then and I did not know what I discovered was called the Natural Point of Aim.
I just noticed in the midst of the State Tournament that when shooting the kneeling position, my first bull was a 'X' that clipped the lower left edge of the x-ring of the bull. (We had spotting scopes.) Round # 2 was closer to the center of the x-ring and round #3 was dead center perfect. Then the #4 bull was identical to #1 and #5 bull was identical to #3. "Hmmmm!" Thought I. I'm gonna shoot #7 bull and #10 bull next while I am hitting dead center and come back to shoot #6, #8 & #9." #6 was identical to #1, #8 identical to #2 and #9 identical to #3. The judge watching my target (there were judges watching each shooter on the line) told me that we were supposed to shoot the bulls in order and not deviate. He gave me a warning and said next time the penalty would be disqualification.

It was always my method to never change my position once commencing fire following the sighting rounds. It took me a little practice to figure out how to adjust my position using the sighting rounds to find (what I referred to then as) my "sweet spot". Still to this day, I can most easily drop into my NPA in kneeling with Sitting a close second. I can usually work it out in Prone given enough practice rounds (often more than five and closer to 10). Offhand still has me baffled even after several years of shooting Metallic Silhouette! Occasionally I 'll find it, but never for the entire match and rarely for a whole bank. But I keep trying!