Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Current Montana 30 06 owner

"What should I ask for it? It does have a 2-8 Leopoldo on it with Talleys."

Keep the scope for your Montana 7-08 or 6.5 creed, You'll be money ahead... If the scope suits you.

Jerry

Dock Boy, your thought to go to the 7-08 is fine, so is the .308Win.. Either in the 84M Montana configuration is a good choice. I wouldn't consider the Adirondack or Ascent - as to me they are over-priced for what they deliver. But in the end, its your money.
The 84L in 30-06 is an attention grabbing rifle as Brad alluded to. I've had several and with that weight, the 180's are stout.
The 2-8 Leupie you mentioned, maybe a 2.5-8x36, is more than adequate for MN. and out west.
Good Luck.

Montana .308Win. in New Mexico 2014

AGAIN, if you want to sell then send PM.

FWIW, I make it a point to NEVER try to sell a rifle AND a scope. Just selling a rifle you only have to find someone who likes your rifle AND have the money for it. If you sell them both together (regardless if it's handy for you) now you have to find someone that likes BOTH of your items AND have even more money to buy them both. Lots of people on here have extra scopes laying around and may be able to scrape together enough money to buy a rifle, but it's tougher to justify scraping up enough for both when you have a scope at home and keep the little lady happy with this relatively BIG purchase, cause now you won't have the money to get her what ever. Plus it doesn't hurt you to hang on to a back up scope or you can sell it at some point down the road.
Good luck.

You may want to consider a Kimber MT in 270. Recoil with full power 150 is stout but tolerable. Drop down to 130s and its pretty tame.

As been said, the Kimber MT 30-06 with full power 180s is stout. One solution is to load 165s with a faster burning powder. Powder gas is part of the recoil equation. A faster powder will net slightly slower speeds and less gas volume - both help reduce recoil.

Kimber stocks do a damn good job of soaking it up, but it's still jumpy.

Yep, my Montana has less felt recoil in 7-08 than another 7-08 I have that is nearly 2 lbs heavier. The other gun's recoil pad is hard enough to drive a nail though. The 7-08 Montana is a real pussycat.

In the OP's shoes I would get the 6.5 Creedmoor though. I don't see anything other than possibly brown bear that the 30/06 will kill more efficiently, and in that case I would be shooting something even larger anyway. I'm fairly sure that the 6.5 CM has better factory ammo than the 7-08 and I know the good stuff in 6.5CM is cheaper right now.

My T3 Lite Stainless 7mm-08 kills deer elk and antelope deader than Hitlery's political career.




P

I have a MT 8400 in '06, during load development with 180's most sessions were kept short on purpose.

A 84L with 180's Hmmm... I would not look forward to a lot of that.

Or even 150s, plenty of good 30cal 150gr bullets available.

I absolutely hated my Montana 7mm WSM. That thing cracked like a 300 magnum. Long gone. I wouldn't consider a Montana in anything above a 270 Winchester.

To the OP I would much rather have a Montana in 7/08.

Damnit Bob. I was hoping you would have at least said 280.... Maybe not AI, but just plain jane 280.... I guess I'll just have to buy a Tikka T3, since I'm thinking 30-06...

Why not the Creedmoor since he doesn't reload? I'm not really up to speed on the Creedmoor but I thought folks were bragging about how good the factory ammo was.

The factory 6.5 Creed ammo is good IME, but the OP did not mention it.

I've never found the 84L 30-06 to be a "bitch", but then I never load 180 bullets, as they're just not necessary with today's bullets. 150 monos in an '06 or 308 Win have and will continue to do anything I need, including taking moose and grizzlys.

To the op: Your cheapest and easiest solution would be to buy some reduced recoil loads from Remington, Hornady, etc., for your '06. Plenty for the game and ranges you seem to be shooting.

Dang if you don't like your 30-06 let me know, I have a buddy that is looking to pick up a 84L to bore out to a 338-06.

I carry my rifles much more than I shoot them. After I get a load worked up I don't do much plinking with them. Granted I don't shoot from long distances, but just practice enough to stay proficient.

Not really familiar with Kimbers, but...

Why not get a custom barrel or a couple and be set for whatever your needs might be?

No real need to spend several thousand on a hunting rifle when can do better outsourcing the parts yourself. Not like you're going for a super-precision piece that needs all the custom "truing" touches. Never worth blowing a lot of money at a production action; but for a hunting rifle???

Get the barrel off, take a depth micrometer and measure from action shoulder to the bolt face and to the bolt nose (the rim that encircles the cartridge base. With those 2 measurements Pac-Nor or whoever you choose, can chamber and thread your barrel into a ready to install, ready to go custom barrel that will shoot the daylights out of any factory stuff.

A 6.5x284, your .30-06, and a .35 Whelen or 9.3x62 and you would be set. Have seen some custom die sets around for 338x284, .35x284, and 9.3x284... Go 6.5x284 and any of your larger choices and you got the world by the tail...

If you look at the last hardcover Hodgdon manual, they give identical load data for .30-06 and .30x284. Very versatile ctg. Better than standard .30-06 for bullet seating flexibility with long heavy bullets, already has the 35deg shoulder for less trim worries.

Kimber Montana and Talkeetna models are supposed to be pretty nice rifles... Why not put your money where it matters for shooting, and go custom barrel?