Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Customizing a Kimber rifle

Has anyone customized a Kimber rifle? I bought an 8400 Talkeetna (.375 H&H Mag) about four years ago. It was an excellent rifle from the factory but now I think it's even better shooting close to 1/2 moa out to 400 yards (furthest I've tested). Not only is it accurate, it's also incredibly smooth and will cycle empty cases as fast as I can run the bolt. That said, I didn't have to do anything to smooth up the action. This rifle has been 100% reliable and is my "go to" deer/elk hunting rifle. I shot a mule deer at 203 yards in 2014 when the rifle was bone stock, and in 2016 when all of the customization was complete and the handload tweaked a little for the shorter barrel I shot another mule deer at 460 yards. I couldn't be happier with this 9lb rifle/scope/sling/load combination. Here's a list of the changes to the factory rifle.

DIY
Removed barrel and lapped bolt lugs
Removed rear sight and fitted plug to fill hole
Removed front sight and hole (cut 2" off the barrel)
Removed barrel band
Installed sling stud in forend (installed 3/4" weld nut inside stock)
Free-floated barrel from chamber forward

OUTSOURCED
Barrel recrowned with a recessed target crown
Cone cut into rear scope ring to match ocular bell housing of Zeiss
Barreled action, stock, scope, rings and bases dipped in KUIU Verde pattern

Here's the factory rifle back in November of 2012.





Here's the rifle as it now sits.





Here's a 5-shot group at 100 yards using a Barnes 250gr TTSX bullet and N540 powder with a MV of 2,800 fps.



Here are two shots at 400 yards the day before mule deer hunting.

That camo is something else.I can't even seem to look at the whole rifle at one time.

Very nice rifle. I like the upgrades!

Wish I had the need for a 375.

I've looked at Talkeetnas a lot!

Had/have one and I wholly agree with most of your efforts.

The long barrels make me very muzzle heavy....shorten!

I also hated the barrel band.....good job!

I like the original finish better. But to each his own.

The shorter barrel is definitely the way to go.

I like the factory look of Montana rifles too so it was no easy decision to have the Talkeetna dipped. Overall I'm pleased with the outcome and have other Montana rifles to look at that are bone stock. The dipped coating is incredibly tough and durable. It's a bit slick but I hunt with gloves so it's not an issue.

I've thought about bedding the action but given the consistent accuracy I don't really see the point. I like things being "right" and will admit that I sometimes do things not because I know that they need doing but because I feel better knowing that it's done.

I forgot to mention this earlier but one of the things about the Talkeetna I really like is that it shoots to the same POA whether the bore is clean/cold or hot/dirty. This is a big deal for me since I don't like the idea that I have to hunt with a fouled bore to be confident of where my first shot will go. Here are two 3-shot groups from a cold clean bore. The first with a bone stock Talkeetna and the second after the modifications were completed. The rifle always shot well so my changes were made with a focus on function and aesthetics along with the hope that accuracy and precision would either remain the same or improve some incremental amount.

Thats a nice looking rifle there.

More of a complete overhaul than a customizing job, the camo looks great.

Would you mind sharing your process in removing the barrel band and setting up the forend for a sling swivel stud?

The barrel band is a "press fit" so I used a mallet to tap it towards the muzzle until it was loose.

The front sling swivel stud was more involved. I marked the location on the underside of the forend where I wanted the stud to be and then using a drill press added a small hole through the forend exiting in the barrel channel. The next step was to create a 3/4" hole in the barrel channel using a hole saw centered on the smaller hole.

Once I'd cut through the outer shell of the stock I turned the hole saw by hand to cut through the foam core all the way to the inside surface of the lower forend shell. I cleaned out any remaining foam and the poured a "puddle" of JB Weld inside the stock. I wanted a flat surface to sit the T-Nut on since the inside of the stock has a radius. Once the epoxy set I redrilled the small hole through the epoxy for a 10-32 thread.

I installed the sling swivel stud using a stainless steel 3/4" T-Nut (hooks facing up) and some Loctite. The next step was to backfill the hole with JB Weld. I did this in three stages. First I filled up most of the hole to the bottom of the barrel channel and let the epoxy set. Then I rotated the stock to each side filling up the voids on either side of the first pour making sure that I had excess material for reshaping the barrel channel. The last step was to shape the barrel channel so that you'd never know it was altered. The end result is a sling swivel stud that will never pull out and a barrel channel that looks (and feels) factory.

Great info, thank you! I've been thinking about a forend stud for my Talkeetna - good to know the process is doable.

No problem. If you get up to the Flathead Valley you're welcome to check out my stock to see how it turned out.

Thanks to everyone for the interest and feedback.