Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Montana - New barrel and contour

Hi!

I have a Kimber Montana 84m in 260 remington. Due to lack of ammunition in stores in Norway, and 1/9 twist I consider to get a new barrel in 308w. I love my Kimber, but its kinda whippy, and heats up really fast. Yeah I know, pencil barrels is not ment for a lot of shooting at range. But still, I believe in training with the rifle.

Question; Would ex Liljas mod84m contour with .617 at muzzle do the trick, compared to original contour (.565")? I dont mind the little extra weight.

You should give Lilja a call and ask them. I would say they could answer that question the best.

It would be worth the extra weight to not have such a skinny barrel. I agree, train, train and train some more if you can do it. Although I believe I would keep the .260. Get the dies to resize 308 brass down to the .260. Welcome to the fire. I hope you have thick skin.

kwg

Less “whippy” but still going to heat up fast. 0.05” isn’t all that much ...

Having weight more forward will help tame the “whip”. Keep in mind, going with too heavy a barrel will put the rifle off balance which makes carrying far less comfortable and balance IMO is more important. Another option is to use the brake, though loud it will also tame the rifle quite a bit and most times there is opportunity to put in ear protection before shooting. As well, rebarreling to a larger cal. shooting heavier bullets negates the point of going to the slightly heavier barrel. Going to a .308 from .264 means that while adding to the OD you’re also taking from the ID.

Training is always great to do and many (including myself) don’t get out near enough but I think many people forget that the first cold-bore shot is the one that matters. It’s rare you get more than a second follow up shot and to me it’s cold-bore shots that matter the most to practise. For constant practise for getting on target and making quick, accurate shots, I think free-standing shots with rim fires are best for that. Being from AB in the land of gophers, that is an easy option for me and where I do most of my shooting myself.


Just my thoughts...

Going from .264 to .308 won’t gain you much.
The slightly thicker bore is mostly negated by the slightly larger hole in it..... and, recoil will go up with the heavier bullets. I’d venture into reloading, if your not already. If you really do want to retube your Kimber, you should consider the 6.5 Creedmoor as an option....... plenty of great ammo to be had and gentle on the shoulder.
JMHO....... $0.02

Well, some good advice there. Going from 260 to 308 would increase recoil, and that has been a concern.

Anyhow, I went to range yesterday with new loads done by a buddy I trust. I am not reloading my self. 140 grains Woodleigh for hunting and 120 gr Sierras for training. The ammo was a good match to the 1/9 twist. Shot a couple of shot with the Kimber and then used my Tikka until the barrel of Kimber had cooled down. Guess I buy more 260 brass from Lapua and hand over to my buddy, and my ammunition problems seems to be solved.

BTW reading in American forums made me able to troubleshoot the Kimber. Mag well was binding, the rifle is also re-bedded and trigger set to aprox 1000 gram. And with Neopod bipod at 2.9 oz it should be a great set up for long walks for reindeer and steep hills for red deer.

thanx for advice!

I like the Lilja contour. Rather than making the rifle "off balance" (whatever that is), it gives it a bit of a "weight forward' feel which I prefer. The contour adds only around 4 oz's to the rifle's weight (exactly where I want it, out front). Helps the little rifle settle-down better for the shot.

I worked with one this past winter, an 84M Montana that had been rebarreled with the Lilja 84M Mod barrel finished at 23" (in 22-250). It absolutely made the 84M Montana far better. I plan on rebarreling at least one of my Montana's with the contour.

In Norway I don't think you could go wrong with a 6.5 Creedmoor, 7-08 Rem or 308 Win. I'd go 6.5 Creedmoor.

I had a Kimber MT in 260 Rem... it was picky, and would only shoot 120-125 gr bullets well (very well). It loathed 130-140 gr bullets.

I'd get a Rock Creek "Lilja Mod84m" barrel. Its the bit heavier one and should work great! They have the contour on file. Ask for Russel when you call.

keep the 260 and find a good load for it. Most 9 twist 260s will shoot everything up to 130s and most 140s except for some of the really high bc vld stuff. All of the 140 flat base hunting bullets should be fine.

Only spend the money to go 8 twist creedmoor if want to go for longer ranges past 600 meters or more and want to use heavy vld bullets. But experiment with the 260 first.

I still carry an old 260 I build years ago with a 9 twist smiled that was carbon wrapped by Christensen arms. My friend there gave me the barrel for free from their junk pile. He said try it it might shoot something. It wasn't great with many bullets but loves 130g nosler accubonds at 2900 fps over h4350. It shoots them 1/2 moa and they work very well on big game.

The rifle is very light and always shoots well so I take it along on almost every hunt as a back up. A creedmoor is a better designed case and twisted better but a 260 is pretty much the same ballistically.

Bb