Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles New Montana owner needs help!

Hi all, I'm an old lurker and a new poster. I've really appreciated the knowledge I find here. Several weeks ago I bought a new Montana in 308 and am experiencing rather inconsistent accuracy from it. At first it was awful (4"-6" groups), then I read the thread on shooting light rifles. That helped a lot (thanks!) Now I mostly see 2"-3" groups with an occasional sub-1" group that keeps me from despair. I've shot Remington, Winchester, and my handloads through it. I've shot it slowly, to keep the barrel cool, and controling it pretty tightly against my sholder to prevent bag-jump. I've tried shimming the bedding at the front lug and I've tried a pressure pad at the forend. The bedding is tight and the crown looks good (to me.) I know some of you specialize in making these rifles shoot, please help me!

Welcome to the Fire!

Dober

WW, welcome!

Are you holding the fore-end? Did you adjust the trigger nice and light? What mounts are you running, and is the scope a known good performer?

Wecome to the Campfire.

EXACTLY what I ran into with my .270 WSM!!! No matter what I tried, it was consistant - CONSISTANTLY INCONSISTANT. One time I shot a 5 shot group with a near max charge of Retumbo and a 150 gr. Sierra that literally had all 5 into one bug hole. Try as I might, I could never, ever duplicate that group afterwords and I had every bit of my loading info on hand including ogive distance. Like a real dummy, I spent about the cost of the rifle on gunsmithing work including 2 separate trips to the Lower-48. Absolutely nothing worked and I tried more powders than Carter has liver pills. Even a brand new Lilja barrel didn't work. I fought that POS for about 3 years and finally [bleep] canned it last fall and got a Win. Extreme Weather in the same chambering. This was just before it began turning too cold to shoot but I was able to briefly test 3 different powders and results with all 3 look quite good.
My advice to you is to not fight it and if it doesn't begin performing PDQ, [bleep] can it & get an Extreme Weather like I did. Just trying to save you some money and hair on your head. Good luck tho, 'cause you're gonna need it.
Bear in Fairbanks

My Montana 325 WSM took a couple hundred rounds before it settled in and started shooting well. At first it shot somewhat like yours and then settled in quite nicely. Now it shoots not to bad at all:




It's probably going to shoot just fine I'd stick with it. You do need to have the trigger nicely adjusted and have a consistant hold on the rifle off the bench. I have several Kimbers and they all are very quick to point out mistakes off the bench. I've gotten my best results shooting off a regular front and rear rest but with my left hand firmly grip the forend near the front bag. Most Kimbers end up shooting quite well despite the few that couldn't get theirs to shoot. I've had more than a dozen and all have shot sub-MOA and only 2 required any sort of tweaking at all........................DJ

WW,
Welcome to rifle nirvana. You'll see everyone gets along with hardly a heated discussion to be found.

I'm not going to say all Kimbers are angels cause they aren't! But I will say that I have had 8 84M's and they can be a little touchy to shoot straight consistently. Someone already asked about bases, rings and a proven scope. Its important to start with the basics and work from there.

The little 5# 2 oz. 84M's are more sensitive as to how you hold them on the bench. Think of it as the opposite of a big heavy barreled .308. Every once in a while I load a dummy round in a 3 shot group to check myself. I also adjust the trigger to a measured 2 3/4#'s.

I too have scene where it takes a number of rounds - in excess of 100 for me, before things settled in. Be aware of the barrel temperature. If you shoot it "hot", you are wasting time and ammo. Rotate it with other rifles.

Keep at it and things should settle down. Let us know.

Lapua brass, 155gr scenars and Varget....jump them 5 to 10 thoa.

Thanks much for the welcome and your feedback!
Jeff, I am holding the fore end, I have swapped scopes to check that possibility, the bases are Warne Maximas for Weaver rings, and no, I've not mucked with the trigger. Do you have instructions on how to do that? I'm pretty handy, but I'd like to know what I'm doing before I wade into THAT creek!
Bear, I sure hope my experience doesn't turn out like yours - I really do still have a lot of hope.
DJ, Whoop, and Scenar, thanks for your advice! I've never heard of a rifle taking that many rounds to shoot in - at this point I only have perhaps 80 through it. The two things that have made the biggest difference so far are holding the fore end and watching the barrel temp. My reloads are a GameKing 150 spitzer BT over 44 gr of 4895. I haven't been checking the jump because the magazine is kinda short. Thanks for the encouragement!

Welcome to the Campfire! I shoot other light rifles (NULA, Steyr) but haven't tried one of the Kimber problem children. I have heard some buzz about rebarreling...

jim

The Montana I traded into did not come bedded from the factory. Might want to start there.

Hi WW
I just got my sons 308 montana dialed in this summer, it took a combination of skim bedding the action,100 rounds down the tube & finding that it likes a stout load of H4895 ,Rem 9 1/2's & 150 gr. Tsx's .150 back. Havent been lucky enough yet to pull a rifle out of the box & have it shoot the way I want, but 9 times out of 10, I get it there.
Ron

All Montana's are bedded from the factory. They are bedded with a slave action and then painted over. That's why some people think theirs might not be bedded and the slave action is why it might be a good idea to skim bed to more perfectly match YOUR action........................DJ

I had good results from the start using my standard 308 load Lapua brass, 150 grain corlokts, 47 grains of Varget, 20 thou of the lands, safe in my gun puts 3 into 3/4 of an inch.
Mines a keeper, trigger has been adjusted to 2.5 lbs; currently being Devcon bedded.
Agree with the others about bench technique, consistent hold and consistent position on the bench go a long way to shooting groups.
First things I check are scope, rings, mounts, long screws contacting barrel shank and or bolt, bedding.
It may also be that the gun just doesn't like the current projectiles

could be the scope, the rings, go back to the original configuration try a new scope, make sure the rings are tight, put the gun on a front bag, hold it by the forearm behind the bag, put your cheek down on the stock the same way every time, try dry fireing it a few times before you shoot it the first time, oh I almost forgot adjust the trigger for the minimum amount of travel and the lightest release...a 5 pound rifle with a 4 pound trigger is not the easiest to hit with after trigger adjust bounce it on the butt a few times to make sure it does not go off.

About a month ago I purchased a 308 montana. I to feared the accuracy problems they have had. I contacted the factory about barrel break in after purchasing it and they emailed me their suggestion. I would contact them if you have concerns. They answered all of my questions and were very helpful when I called them. They stated that match grade barrels like the ones the Montana has requires a longer break in than most factory rifles. Fact or fiction, got me, only time will tell. Break in consist of at least a 100 round break in with frequent cleaning's in between groups. They recommend a 3 minute wait between shots due to the light contour of the barrel. I didn't wait that long but the air temp. was in the upper 20's. I am 60 rounds into my break in and I just starting to get regular groups with less fouling's coming from the barrel. This weekend I hope to try a couple handloads I have worked up and see where that leads me. Keep us updated with your findings.

Here is my latest Montana 84M in a .308 this past November.
I find Varget to be a very useful powder. I can open up the groups by getting sloppy on the bench.

Here is an earlier session at 200 yards. The pic on the left shows what a different OAL can make.


Your comments about Kimber recommending a 100 shot break-in and 3 minutes between shots sounds a little fishy. Yes, don't get the barrel heated up but all that sounds like Kimber bought a stake in copper solvent futures!

Bigwhoop, let me know when you are ready to send that one north. I am in the market for a new sheep rifle. That rifle looks like it is ready to kill things! I don't know if I can wait for the 84L to arrive up here. I noticed that my 300 WSM Montana is just hitting it's stride at around 100 rounds.
Two things that I observed when shooting the little 84m Montana. A light trigger and proper shooting technique are key to sub moa accuracy.

forgot to add, rest it closer to the magazine well, that little forearm is very flexible and depending on your technique you can mash it into the barrel thus getting weird results, like 3 inch groups when its contacting the barrel and 1 inch groups when its not.

Welcome to the fire! My suggestion would be to stick with the load that shot best and play with seating depth.