Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Montana's are accuracy issues caliber specific?

I have been reading the Kimber montana posts now for some time and we have rehashed the issue many times but I don't think from a caliber specific viewpoint. Could it be that on average your chances of getting a shooter are better with certain calibers and worse with others? My perception is that the 308 Win Montana's get the best press while others don't fair so well. Let's tabulate an honest record of good guns, those that shoot into about an inch to 1.5 inches or better at 100 yards with a reasonable working load and bad guns those that cannot do better than 2 inches with anything, and/or don't eject/feed. This might be a better way of looking at the data. Let's leave out factory response or lack there of and focus on the guns themselves! :)I can't play because all I have is a Classic WSM but it shoots most loads to my satisfaction.

While I was unhappy at first with my Kimber varmint rifle in .22-250, it is starting to settle in and shoot well with loads it likes. I guess it was either finding the loads it liked or simply breaking it in. Most groups are well under an inch and some are half that.

I doubt its caliber specific. In fact the only one I brought back to Kimber for accuracy problems was a 308 Win. They did something to it and sent back a target with 3/4" and better three shot groups on it but failed to mention that the target was shot at 50 yds.

I broke the corner on the crown on that one and it shoots better now.

The one here that always shot the best is my son's very early 7mm-08. I don't think its the caliber at all.

If I had to pick one feature that throws them off I would pick the bedding. But then that goes for most rifles.

To add here is the target that Kimber sent me with the returned 308 Montana. Note that the distance shot is nowhere to be seen!

I posted this picture on here when I got the rifle back as a 100 yd target and I am not happy about being fooled about it.

.308 about 3/4 moa out of the box with the first loads tried and never messed with. .260 was a nightmare but after bedding, recrowning and shortening the mag box its also 3/4 moa with several different loads.

I still am highly inclined to believe the quality is there but the fit and finish work is what tends to produce the lemons. I think if kimber offered a sub moa guarantee they could add $200 to the price and the consumers would not even blink.

.325 WSM Montana shoots great...

-jeff

My 300WSM will shoot MOA at 200 yards with factory ammo if I do my part.

.308 Winchester in an 84M, bought used, select handloads beat 1", and better bullets and better scope would probably beat that by a margin.

both 7 WSM's shot great out of the box. Did the whole barrel break in thing with the Classic, but didn't do anything special with the Montana and they're both better than MOA.
My long action 270 needed handloads as factory ammo was HORRIBLE in that rifle. Needed to stetch them out to a 3.395" OAL for them to shoot well, and now I am under MOA and have shot one group close to 1/2".
Would be interesting to see if there are any Kimber owners out there that have had problems with the long actions.
Marty

PS My 270 is a wood stocked Classic not a Montana.

300WSM Montana, Shot bad out of the box. Sent back to Kimber and recrouned, still shot bad. Now at gun smith to get worked on. We'll see what happens next.

7/08Montana that I tried multible loads, rebedded, polished the crown and tried more loads. Sold it and the new owner sent it back twice to Kimber. He sold it. Another friend has a classic 7/08 that is giving him major problems.Rick.

For my .270 WSM Montana out of 5 shots, it's 2 touching (or close to it). 2 more touching (or very close) but about 1 1/2" from the other 2. Then the another will be perhaps 1 1/2" from any of the others. It's not shots 1 & 2 together, 3 & 4 togethewr & #5 out of the other 4 however. Mine's at the gun doctor too awaiting a new barrel. In fact the doctor said he had 2 others in the shop with bad barrels too. No more for me on Kimbers - I'll find something else. Bear in Fairbanks

I have a 7/08 Classic that I bought used from a campfire member almost two years ago and it was a very fussy shooter - would shoot 140 grain BT's and Accubonds consistently into less than an inch but any other bullet, in any other weight would go 2-3 inches.

Despite my best efforts with different powders, seating length etc. it would only shoot the two Nosler bullets well. I kept the gun because the fit, feel and function is terrific and I have taken a nice 7-point buck with it, however it still bothered me.

Three weeks ago, I took it to a gunsmith buddy of mine and the first thing he did was look at the crown. He re-crowned it with a hand unit from Brownell's in 15 minutes and told me to try it before he did anything else.

I threw together some Partition loads that I had tried previously and had trouble keeping inside three inches. My first three-shot group measured .687" and stayed that way all day. Also shot some other different bullet weights and everything was right around an inch.

The re-crowning made a HUGE difference and was clearly not caliber specific.

My 308 shoots well of course I am a hunter first and bench shooter last but last weekend we got quarter size 3 shot groups at to about 140 yards off the bench. I forgot my range finder so the distance was paced out. Also it has a very smooth action.

My 270wsm shoots many different loads including factory into less than an inch. My 300wsm did not shoot any of the factory loads I tried into less than 2 inches. worked with factory loads and got 4 different loads at present that will shoot MOA. I had to change seating depths to achieve what I was looking for.

at 50 i can get 2 shots touching with factory Remington Corelok loads out of my 260..........the third tends to open it up to 1MOA......the rifle keeps trying to shoot but i am lacking on technique or something steadier than my truck hood and sand bags...im 6'1".....the truck hood is a tad low for standing and shooting..........even if it is only a 1MOA rifle.........so what? its a light weight packing rifle, not a long range shooting rifle.....my main problem with my Kimber after packing it for a hunting season is its spoiled me...........i used to love that lil Remington 7 action......now they just seem chunky i hauled a 9 pound 30-06 P17 the year before its going to be hard to give up that Kimber, christ with scope its lighter than my Marlin Guide Gun without glass and that WAS my easy packing brush gun.........

I've owned 18 Kimbers. One 7-08 Montana was bad and it was shipped. Another was a 30-06 Classic with an outstanding piece of walnut that warped 3/16's" in 5 months. Must have been extra humid in Central America that month. Other than that, all 16 others either shot moa or less right out of the box or soon thereafter.

Kimber 8400 in 30-06. Shoots about 1 MOA. Usually first two shots are really close, then the third one opens it up to 1 MOA.

Guess I'll just have to make sure I only need two shots max!

My 7/08 Montana shoots great.

I shot a couple of Kimber's at the range recently. One 308 and the other 7-08. Two different guys shooting two different Montanas on the same day. The guy with the 7-08 was having a ton of trouble getting his to shoot straight, +2 inches. The 308 shot around a inch with a couple of different factory loads. Good but not great groups.

For the record, my Ti 7saum and Tikka 308 outshot the 308 Kimber by a good margin. And that was for all of us. I would also say my Weatherby 30-06 ULW (Didn't bring it that day) would also beat the Kimbers.

The 7-08 had been back to the factory a couple of times and reported to shoot within Kimber's standard. The three position safety felt "mushy" to me and the bolt had more wobble to it. The 7-08 owner had me and the 308 owner shoot the 7-08 to make sure it wasn't him. Using the 308 as a control, we came to the conclusion the 7-08 owner got a lemon.

I also shot an early model 7-08 with two position safety. I don't even know why the owner bought this gun. The bolt felt rough. It was difficult to lift, even on an empty chamber. And of course it shot like crap. This first experience steered me away from purchasing a Kimber.

From this thread it looks like the 7-08 models had a little trouble for whatever reason.