I'm going to copy a PM I sent someone who asked, I said I wasn't going to get into this because Kimber Montana's tend to get people all riled up. I love the platform, and will probably buy another. I'll just go ahead and admit I'm a clueless Phuq who let a Montana kick her ass, so someone else doesn't have to say it.
Here's what I wrote to someone inquiring about it
Started with poor accuracy. 1 1/2- 2" with most any bullet I tried except for light bullets like 40gr. vmax.
I've tried factory fusion 62 gr., factory Remington PSP 55 gr., factory federal military, handloads with 64 gr. Winchester PP, 62 and 55 gr. Barnes tsx, 55 gr. vmax, sierra game king 65 gr., with IMR 4895, H335, Varget and IMR 4064, with 4 different primers and a multitude of seating depths.
The 40gr. vmax shot .84" groups, but I bought it to shoot heavy for caliber bullets like everybody else.....
I experienced some light primer strikes but mostly with mil spec federal 5.56 ammo, though some with handloads. After cleaning the bolt thoroughly and oiling plus checking the firing pin protrusion (which was in spec) and making sure the screw that holds the firing pin in place was tight, I've only experienced it a few times, all with the federal mil spec ammo.
Last issue was the failure to feed, basically the bolt sliding over the cartridge due to the shell being "nose up". I pinched the mag well ala big stick's start from the start thread and it seems to feed ok now as long as the shell is pushed down and tight to the rear of the mag box. basically make sure they are laying in the magwell flat and not nose up or down when you load it.
I sent the gun back to Kimber with the full explanation above and they polished the feed ramp and sent it back. The feed ramp had absolutely nothing to do with the feeding issue obviously so I have no clue what idiot thought that was a good idea.
They told me that accuracy of under 2 1/2" in a hunting gun this light in weight is perfectly acceptable and that they are the manufacturers of the finest firearms in the world. The customer service dept. there is clueless.
At this point I've bedded it, including the barrel lug and the first 1 1/2 inch of the barrel, shortened the magbox, which was definetly binding, and checked the front action screw and front sight base screw, neither appear to be bottoming out on the barrel. My next step was to recrown, but didn't want to void kimbers warranty (at this point, that's almost funny)
I think the feeding and light primer strike issues are basically taken care of but I won't guarantee anything....
The barrel was coppering up really bad when I first started shooting it so I shot, cleaned, repeated 20 times and it seems to be doing much better. It's possible that it needs shot more and it will settle down and probably a recrown would be smart. If I keep it, it's getting rebarreled with a Lilja simply because I'm tired of [bleep] with the this gun.
I actually called a local guy today to get on his schedule just in case I keep it.
To be honest, it's probably best for someone who is happy with 1 1/2" .223's or someone that's looking for a donor to rebarrel.
I apologize for the long windedness but I want to be clear to anyone looking so there are no misconceptions. I wish the guy that sold it to me on here would have done the same.....
