Kimber

Kimber Manufacturing is an American company that designs, manufactures, and distributes small arms such as M1911 pistols, Solo pistols and rifles. The USA Shooting Team, Marines assigned to Special Operations Command, and the LAPD SWAT team use Kimber pistols.

The company was founded as “Kimber of Oregon” in 1979 by Jack Warne and his son Greg Warne in the small town of Clackamas, Oregon. An Australian. Following its founding, Kimber of Oregon, which quickly built a reputation for accurate .22 long rifle caliber rifles, began to expand its product line and eventually acquired a second manufacturing plant in nearby Colton.

In 1989, the Company was sold to Oregon timber baron Bruce Engel, who founded WTD Industries, Inc. In the mid-1990s, Greg Warne tried to revive it, but much of the company original tooling had ended up in a junkyard north of Portland. Warne soon found a financial backer in Les Edelman, who owned Nationwide Sports Distributors. The company now has locations in New York and New Jersey.