I remember reading about some of the 89 BGR's having a lot of problems. I found this on the ole web to make sure I was remembering correctly ...
"Comments from someone who worked for Kimber of Oregon, when the 89 BGR's were being made.
The entire production of the BGR was over a rather compressed time period, so it would be impossible to predict a problem rifle simply from the build date
Added to that is another great confusion. Greg was not so good about paying the corporate bills grin and at the time, he owed Cali'co Hardwoods a large amount of money. Kimber of Oregon was rapidly going under and was being shut down periodically by the Feds, both for non-payment of employee withholding taxes and messing with serial numbers.
So, the owner of Cali'co Hardwoods literally arrived at the front door at Kimber and took a significant percentage of the total production of BGRs, plus any M-82, M-84 and Predator pistols that he could get his hands on. Rather than recieve another wad of lies, empty promises and ******** from Greg Warne, the Cali'co owner simply took firearms and took them home to California.
I was in-plant when the Cali'co truck arrived. It was a total surprise and the owner of Cali'co WAS NOT TAKING "NO" FOR AN ANSWER. He and his guys simply arrived and started loading up their empty freight truck with product.
Distribution of that truckload of Kimbers was a sometimes thing. Cali'co Hardwoods (
http://www.calicohardwoods.com/ ) was literally selling them for whatever they could get for them, simply to turn the product back into money.
A lot of the M-89s that were actually fired (which is a small precentage because most Kimber owners simply bought them "for show") came back for warranty repairs. Of course, Greg tried to wiggle out of warranty repairs on the rifles that Cali'co Hardwoods confiscated. Obviously, these rifles weren't sold through normal channels; the Official Kimber Dealers, so confusion reigned. There were some really unhappy customers. In truth, the M-89s were not a perfected product ... some worked and some didn't ... and that's the truth.
Also, Greg and others were selling M-89BGRs out the back door for from $350 to $400 a rifle. Lots of local gun stores, here in Portland, were selling BGRs for $450 to $500.
Some shot well, a few shot and functioned WAY BETTER than they had any right to and others were "not so much." Quite honestly, my friend, I hope and pray that you got one of the wonderful ones ... I truly do.
In general, however, the horribly cheap barrels sucked, chambers quite often had probs, the hacked-together safety was often mis-timed, the ejectors sometimes had probs and most had floorplate issues. The sights often just plain fell off (the original .416 Rigby did that on me). Literally ALL Kimber of Oregon rifles had their recoil lugs bedded in 5-Minute Epoxy and that added not a little to consumer compliants.
I cannot tell you how many returned Kimbers I've personally rebedded, simply to do the owners a favour. I always thought it to be cruel to sell the unwitting public a gorgeous semi-custom rifle like that and bed it with 5-Minute Epoxy.
The entire issue borders on the comical ... and I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad for everyone involved ... the customer, most of all.
I walked away from Lyin' Little Greg and test-shooting all of the KofO rifles about that time.
What a frackin' balls-up situation. Kimber of Oregon could have been such a success story, but Greg single-handedly drove it into the ground, all to die in the jungle of Costa Rica . It's a sad, sad story."
www.muzzleloaders.com
www.gunsinternational.com
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