USMC:
These are just ball-park numbers, but a typical Cooper VE or MTV will range from @$950-@$1400, depending on caliber.
A typical Kimber will run in the $800 range and up over $1K, depending on the model, etc.
The primary difference between the two makes of rifles is that a Cooper is approaching a semi-custom rifle in that each action and stock are individually glass bedded together. Folks who see Coopers with poor bedding, etc. are most likely looking at a second hand rifle that someone has done their own gunsmithng on, and done it poorly.
With a Kimber, you have a stock meet a barreled action at some junction in the factory assembly process, just like with any other factory rifle. I have seen Kimbers NITB that the action will rock in the stock when you compress the forend and barrel with just hand pressure.
One advantage the Kimber has is that its a repeater. All Coopers in CF are single shot actions, but they are sold and marketed as such. However, many folks will actually order/purchase a Cooper in a light weight configuration along with options that will run the price of a Cooper well in to several thousand dollars. What you get however, is a VERY NICE rifle worth every penny you spend, and unlike any factory produced rifle anywhere. However, the same can be said for even a "bottom end" standard Cooper VE or MTV.
Also, one of the standard Cooper models or one with lots of extra options is a semi-custom rifle that doesn't show up in every gun shop. If you can find what you want in a Cooper in a store, you should buy it. If you can't, and order one, the wait may be approaching 6-9 months before you get your rifle since, again, they are a semi-custom proposition.
Other issues: Try buying a Kimber in 17 Mach IV, or 19-223, or 223 Rem AI, etc., etc. as examples of available calibers in a Cooper. The Cooper web site will add to what I've said and will probably better explain what a Cooper rifle is like if you haven't seen one.
http://www.cooperfirearms.com/ .
Bottom line: A Cooper is a very nice top end factory/semi-custom rifle with lots of caliber options, stock and metal options etc., which you can special order, and that you can't find in a factory rifle. A Kimber is a top end factory rifle that comes out of the box in only the factory variations that Kimber offers.
The slight difference in price does not reflect the difference in quality between the two. Several weeks ago I was in First Stop Guns in Rapid City, South Dakota - a gun shop that carries Coopers, Dakota Arms rifles, and just about any other rifle you can think of. A true candy store for gun nuts. The new Dakota Arms Predator rifle runs $2495 from the facory and when you compare it side by side with a Cooper at say $1100, the difference in quality between the two is not very great, IMHO. A Kimber looks nice in the factory displays, but is no match for the Coopers and Dakota Arms rifles which reflect a quality factory rifes just don't have.
In saying that, I really like the looks of the stainless and laminated Kimber varmint rifle, but would rather spend a little more money and get a rifle I can almost guarantee will shoot when I get it. I personally know of two unhappy former owners of the Kimber - one in 22-250 and one in 204 Ruger - that would not shoot any beter than any other of today's crap shoot factory rifles.
This is a long answer to your question, and I probably didn't really nail the prices exactly. I guess the main point I wanted to make is that a Cooper is not something you'll find in just any good gun shop around. A Kimber you likely will. And there's a reason for that difference.
- BCB
