founded in 1979
- 1950s Jack Warne started Sporting Arms (Sportco) in Adelaide, South Australia
- 1968 Omark Industries purchased Sporting Arms
- 1968 Jack Warne moved to Oregon
- 1979 founded as “Kimber of Oregon” by Jack Warne in Clackamas, Oregon
– accurate .22 long rifle caliber rifles - second manufacturing plant in Colton, Oregon
- 1989, Kimber of Oregon sold to WTD Industries, Inc (Bruce Engel)
– later went bankrupt
– Kimber of Oregon’s tooling ended up in a Portland junkyard - 1990 Dan Cooper (fomer Kimber employee) founded Cooper Firearms of Montana
- February 1991 Jack Warne founded the Warne Manufacturing Company
– manufactured new rifle scope mounting system - Mid 1990s Greg Warne & Les Edelman purchased the original tooling and partnered to found Kimber of America
– Edelman forced Greg Warne out - 1996? – Kimber mves to Yonkers, New York
- 2002 LAPD SWAT chose a Custom TLE II as standard issue
- 2019 moved from Yonkers, NY to Troy, Alabama
About Kimber Manufacturing
Kimber is an American firearms maker best known today for its M1911-pattern pistols, though the brand began with precision rimfire rifles. Jack Warne, who had earlier built Sporting Arms in Australia, and his son Greg Warne founded Kimber of Oregon in Clackamas, Oregon, in 1979, earning a reputation for accurate .22 rifles. The company struggled in the late 1980s, was bought in 1989 by Oregon timber businessman Bruce Engel and later sought bankruptcy protection. Former employees went on to found Cooper Firearms of Montana in 1990, and Jack Warne founded Warne Manufacturing, the scope mount company, in February 1991.
In the mid-1990s Greg Warne and financial backer Les Edelman revived the brand as Kimber of America; Edelman later took majority control and moved production to New York, where the company built its modern 1911 line. In 2002 the LAPD SWAT unit chose a modified Kimber Custom II as its standard-issue pistol, and in 2007 an LAPD Special Investigation Section design joined the catalog. Kimber announced a manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama, in January 2018, and in October 2020 it announced that its corporate headquarters would also relocate to Troy, where the company is based as of 2026.
Key Facts
- 1979: Jack and Greg Warne found Kimber of Oregon in Clackamas, Oregon
- 1989: Kimber of Oregon sold to Bruce Engel; later enters bankruptcy
- Mid-1990s: Brand revived as Kimber of America by Greg Warne and Les Edelman
- 2002: LAPD SWAT adopts a modified Kimber Custom II
- January 2018: Plans announced for a manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama
- October 21, 2020: Corporate headquarters relocation to Troy announced
Sources
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