Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What did you guys do with your Kimbers when they didn't shoot?

Mine was sort of a worst case. It was blowing primers and sticking cases on factory ammo. There was no semblance of groups with a variety of ammo. QC at kimber sent it back with a very poor 3s group at 50yds and said it met specs. I had a smith rebarrel it. It shoots great now. Sometimes a dog comes along and bites you. I love the rifle, I am not real fond of Kimber however.

Kimber would do NOTHING to fix the 4 problems mine had, so I sold it a month later for a $400.00 loss.

i like what bob said,"it either shoots or its gone"-whsk

I sent it back almost the minute I got it when I found the forearm touching. To their credit, I got it back within about a week - 10 days. That's when I began shooting it and finding out it was inconsistant. Guess I trusted their enclosed targets & hype too much but there was no way I could come near to duplicating those. Even tried some factory ammo. Sent it to Hill Country for them to do the voodo that they do. Got a target back with that too. Something like 3 touching. Went out & bought the exact same factory ammo they claimed they used. Results? Basically patterns. I suppose any rifle will group 3 touching at 25 yds. - Yup!!! This one did that. Don't know about anybody else but I've never shot anything at 25 yds. Decided to send it to a smith in the Lower-48, well respected too. He finally figured a bad barrel. I wasn't about to start a fight with Kimber & told him to do it. Still consistantly inconsistant. It's finally gone - for good!!! Sure hope the guy that bought it doesn't come after me.
B.I.F.

I re-crowned mine then started handloading/shooting.

300+ shots later 140 Accubonds over 42.5 grains of varget I get 1" groups with a clean barrel. It is a clean freak.

I bought my first 7-08 84M Classic at a store that has a 30 day return policy. When it didn't shoot I traded it for a different 7-08. When that one didn't shoot I traded for a 308. This one shoots well enough and has the best wood of all three.

Those Kimbers are pretty little guns but can be a PITA. Great design, poor execution.

The 243 Montana I have is my most used rifle year round. I was looking at some of the very small groups it made when it was new. It still shoots well. I have to look in that barrel soon with a better bore scope than what I have. If its worn out this is a good time of the year to do it.

The 308 Montana is a landmark rifle to me. I checked its sighting it put two 155 VLD's into 1.25" at 100 yds and it was sighted in.

The 270 WSM is an early one and I recrowned it when it was new and it shot ok. Now its making vertical groups with soot on the brass all the way to the base of the case. I called RCBS and they said to send the die to them. I suspect neck tension as brass made from 300 WSM cases shot well and clean.

The 7mm WSM Montana is one of those rifles that makes one feel relaxed. Its so accurate that it's like a pre 64. What a rifle. On 11-16 it put two shots 1/2" apart at 100 yds and then two shots touched at 200 yds. It says sighted in.

The 3 I have had have all been 1 inch 100 yard shooters. That's all I ask. One had to go to Kimber for a feeding issue. Returned in 8 days fixed.

I sent mine back twice. Had alot of issues with customer service,sold gun at a loss. Will never buy another.

wiktor:
You were smart & jumped out early. Good on you.
Bear in Fairbanks

my montana 7-08 shot nice large groups(2"-3") with any factory ammo out of the box. i sent it back to them and they re-crowned and re-bedded it and sent it back with a target showing about a 3/4" group. i thought great! but then they wouldn't tell me which load it was, in fact they said the group came from three random different loads to prove it would shoot less than 1". I said ok which three loads and again they couldn't tell me the loads. I don't do hand loads so i bought some different factory loads and try as I might I couldn't a decent group. it got shoved to the back of the closet for a year until I sent it to Ultimate Ammunition where Ricky loaded some 140 gr VLDs..now it shoots tight little cloverleaf groups time after time. A rifle that pretty shouldn't take this much work to be accurate!

I had a Montana in 7mm-08 that shot patterns with any factory ammo I tried. The factory didn't seem to concerned about fixing it so I traded the thing off to a dealer for a Sako Finlight and couldn't be happier now. Truth is, I wanted that Montanna to shoot at least an 1 1/2" group, or any kind of group and did not want to get rid of it since it was a US made gun and was a joy to hold. I tried to eliminate every possibility I could but finally said to hell with it!

That just strikes me as kinda funny. I realize that not everyone is a handloader, but I can't imagine having to use just factory ammo to ascertain the accuracy potential of a rifle. And believe me, I'm not that picky.

My 7WSM shot patterns with factory ammo and several handloads...Sent it back to the factory....New barrel
and bullets basically touch....Good to go...


George

I bought a used Montana 7mm-08 that wouldn't shoot or feed worth chit, so I called Kimber and they said to ship it back. Once received, they checked it over and said the barrel was toast, but no longer offered them in 7mm-08 and didn't have any replacement barrels, so I could have my choice of a .243/.257/.308/.338 Fed. I told them I wasn't particularly interested in any of those, so I convinced them to send me a new Montana .223 as a replacement. It and my Montana .300 WSM shoot great and function perfectly! Two of my favorite rifles!

Overall, Kimber treated me great and I'm into my .223 all of $750.00! Can't beat that with a stick! One of these days I'll have either another 7mm-08 or a .308 also.

reading this, makes me not want one.
they sure are light and some have some great wood, but...

sounds like a whole lots of accuracy issues with kimbers.

i'll stick with remingtons.

Not sure why, but sure seems the majority of problems/issues were with 7mm's.

I've bought two Montana's and both shot great right out of the box. One is a 308Win the other is a 7MM WSM. The only thing I would change is I wish they would offer the Montana with a floorplate.

I'll take my chances with Kimber any day.

I've had 3. Two shot sub-MOA right from the box. The 3rd shot 1.5" at best, no matter the load. A girl friend got it. She couldn't shoot anyway. I really like Kimber rifles, but eventually I sold the other two and am now shooting Coopers. Now there's an accurate rifle. I want another ultra-light, but want it to be a NULA. I am also considering a Kimber Talkeetna, if I go back up to AK.

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lightest Tikka is 6 pounds and has a 20 inch barrel.....lightest Kimber is 5 and a half pounds and has a 22 inch barrel....lets trim another half pound off the Tikka and see if it still out shoots the Montana.....had a Savage in 260 that would out shoot my Montana in 260.....sold the Savage, refuse to sell the Kimber.....

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As has been said, My Kimber 84 M Montana in 338 Federal weighs 6 lbs WITH scope, mounts and sling! That's pretty light. Asking a factory gun that is missing that much metal to shoot like a Target gun is a lot. Mine just barely shoots well enough for over the range it is effective over. 1.5" @ 100 and 8.5" @ 500 yds. Good enough, because I love the design and features. Mine has been back to Kimber three times. First, the bore was all messed up, something about the indexer skipping and cutting scratches across the rifling. The stock came back cracked at the rear of the trigger guard. They fixed it. Still wouldn't shoot. I skim bedded it. Sent it back to them, they shot a 1.5" 3 shot group with Nosler partitions, said "see it shoots". And I have been using it ever since, because it has settled down some; and or I have learned to shoot it better.

In my frustration I bought a T3 "superlight" from sportsman warehouse in '06. It's 5 lbs 12 oz, bare, 22.75" tube. I suspect that will be within an ounce or two of a 84L Montana when it comes out. It was $629. Thats roughly half the cost of a Kimber, weighs "the same", easily 1 MOA gun, just shot a .32" 5-shot at 12 deg F. While I was doing some cold weather testing of RL 17. Love the trigger, it can be called a bit ugly, but it fits and it works, for a lot less money. And it easily out shoots the Kimber, for what, maybe an ounce more gun......my next gun will be another T3.