Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Montana Rebarrelled update

Bought a Montana in 223 about a year and a half ago off a member here. Tried 3-4 powders under 6-8 bullets at multiple depths and powder charges, different primers, different brass etc... went through SAS's list of things to check such as scope base screw, action screw, magbox binding, etc.... nothing worked. anywhere from 1 1/2" groups if I was lucky up to 2 1/2" groups. Sent it back to Kimber who told me accuracy was perfectly acceptable for a lightweight hunting rifle and to shove it. I was also experiencing misfires about 1 of every 10 rds.

I was ready to throw in the towel, but the damn thing fits me perfectly and I love the feel of it.

Took it to a local smith, ordered a Hawk Hill barrel, 8 twist, 4 groove, and 11 mos. later I got it back today.

First load I tried was my AR rounds, 25.2 of H335 with a 65 Sierra game king at 2.26 COAL (max to feed from my mags) first 10 rds. from the new barrel were 1" to 1 1/2". Cleaned the barrel. Found the lands, jammed at 2.285, same powder charge and shot 3, 4 shot groups at 1/2" to 5/8".

Can't wait to see what it will do with some other bullets/powders and some real load development. So far love the new barrel. It's a slightly heavier contour, 21", bead blasted the barrel and action.

To be clear, I wasn't trying to come across with another bash Kimber thread either. Do I wish they'd have done more? of course. In the past they have. I had a HS .22lr that wouldn't shoot worth a [bleep], sent it back and they rebarreled it into one of the best shooting rimfires I owned (besides my Anchutz 54's) Will I buy another Montana? yes. Id be more apt to put money on a used one that was a known shooter though.

I have a lot more in it than I wanted too, but to build a gun of the same quality action, barrel, stock, trigger etc... I would have had 50% more than where I'm at now.

Nice to have somebody making barrels like this, 15 min. from my house too! So thanks to the guys at Hawk Hill.

Forgot to add, total weight with scope and rings, 6lbs. 12 oz. I believe the mark AR's weigh right around 13 oz. and not sure about the talley's, but either way, rifle alone is just under 6 lbs.

There's that Kimber quality shining through.

Congrats, I had Pac-nor rebarrel my Montana 7mm-08. I am well pleased with it.

Running 120gr Ballistic tips today, the last two 3 shot groups went 1.5" and 1.2" at 200 yards.

It's always been that way, even more so in the Oregon days. I have a superamerica built in the mid 80's that is absolutely flawless, and an 82c I owned for a while with a fluted stainless barrel that the checkering was so crooked they had to be drunk when they did it and wouldn't shoot even eley match eps. I have an 82 classic from early on, low 4 digit serial number, that shoots bug holes with anything you put through it. It's still a damn desirable package.

People only scream about the bad ones, so there's 1000 good ones for every bad one.

The thing that bothers me the most about it, is that the seller claimed it was a shooter, and I paid more than retail for that reason.

Funny that someone just posted today that Kimber has a Sub-Moa guarantee....




" Kimber rifles are designed to be capable of shooting a 3-shot group of .99” or less at 100 yards by a highly skilled and qualified shooter using factory ammunition" .

It's been a long process... which 11 mos. waiting on he smith sure as hell didn't help any either. But, it' over and I'm happy as hell with the final product.

I always thought that Kimber 223 would make a skookum little rifle if it could be depended upon.


Looks like it can now!

A little over 4 months at Pac-Nor, for mine. I had them match the factory length & contour, plus true the action & install the barrel.

I'd considered that but really wanted to try a Hawk Hill barrel. Around the same time they started getting a lot of big orders through distributors so the wait was much longer than we were expecting. I won't wait that long again, just go with something in stock.

Just curious, but did you specify he was to use the entire shank?

It's supposed to be a factory dupe, but is very slightly larger. Shank is pretty close to factory. Receiver as it comes from Kimber has a recess that the barrel/lug fits back in to. He cut that off so that the front of the receiver is "flat" now, no recess. That exposes more of the shank, maybe 1/4" - 5/16" I'm guessing. If you look closely, you can see the line where the lug is exposed now between the barrel and face of the receiver.

$600 down the road and it's cured . . . such a deal . . .

Heard Tikkas are 1:8" twist in the .223

Some people like their cucumbers pickled.....

There is no guarantee in that statement.

Designed to be capable...does not equal...guarantee.

And there is a condition.

...highly skilled and qualified shooter. This equals, sorry, obvivously you are not a highly skilled and qualified shooter.

I swear worm, someone mentions Kimber and poof, you turn into a 7 yo girl that's upset when nobody likes her toy. Give it a rest....

No $hit.

David

Really.
I didn't just rebarreled a new thousand dollar gun, did I?
Nor did i get cornholed by the egomaniacal manufacture, did I?
Kimber deserves every [bleep] pileing i can toss.
Doesnt have anything to do with whats in my safe.
Kimber screwed over a very good buddy of mine back in the early 2000's.
Right-o. I'll blast them at each turn and hope I can stop one or two from spending thier money with Kimber.