Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What light weight rifle to buy.

6.3#
.243 Win., .308 Win., .270 Win., 7x64, .30-06 Spr.
20" tube

Weatherby MK V ULW 6 lug 5 3/4 lbs

I really like the feel of a Montana in 308 or 7mm-08. And I will own one before I get too old to enjoy shooting and hunting. Since I have a great shooting 7mm-08, mine will probably be a 308. As is obvious, my recommendation is the Kimber. There is just nothing like it.

Well I have been talking myself into a Montana for a long time but I ain't no one to marry a bride without given her a few passes so what do you do. I have never seen felt or foundeled one in person. But that would be either a 1k well spent or not so good. What's a guy to do?

Buy a Montana.

Love my little 243 MT.


I've never handled an 84L but plan on ordering one here in the next month or so.
Like you I'm going with a 6x Leupold, honestly can't think of a better hunting rifle setup.

I personally would go with a Ruger GSR with the composite stock, it has an adjustable length of pull, backup iron sights, forward or regular scope mounting positions, muzzle break, threaded barrel for accessories, etc. Then I'd use the rest of the money to buy a nice scope, a timney trigger, some 3 round mags and starting hunting that thing asap.

I'd avoid the Montana like a rat dipped in aids.
That is unless you knve the dirty dope on a gunsmith who you can get to work cheap or you are retired and have multiple hours to spend trimming screws, bedding, crowning...blah blah blah...

Laffin' Everyone likes a challenge now and then.

I took a new 7/08 to the range yesterday.Only had factory 140 Fusions(no one had any brass so have to make some). Mounted a scope and started wanging away.

Things started well;scope tracked to rough zero and the rifle followed. Three groups showed the rifle strung horizontally off firm sand bags so I folded a gun sock for a softer front rest. That dropped POI about an inch and two shots were in about 1/2".....then it started stringing vertical. Heat? I let it cool. Didn't matter.

I pulled it apart. Have to say I was a bit impressed...it really looked lovely down there. Bedding "looked" sharp, machine work on the metal looked very nice;trigger is great and function perfect so far and very crisp with snappy feeding,firing pin indentation was spot on. Can't recall a nicer synthetic stock on a factory rig.Barrel perfectly floated.

But bedding seemed "loose" as the rifle just fell out of the stock;without screws I could detect no rocking and the action seemed to sit flat with no tension.I began to wonder if the front screw was bottoming out before the action was tight in the stock...it was behaving like something like that was going on.

You could see where the mag box had scraped paint in the bottom of the stock.



I tried to get to 300 yards but it was occupied so will get back after it tomorrow.I'm going to start the tweaks. 20 rounds isn't even a warm up,and too soon to quit on it.It's easy to shoot, comfy,and handles like a light grouse gun. I think the things are so light and rigid that any little inconsistency shows up.But other Montanas have shot lights out for me so I know the thing will shoot after some work.

I ain't skeered.....

There were a bunch of Forbes rifles on sale where I bought this Kimber....they seem to not be moving off the shelves as the same ones have been there for months.

The Kimber MT 308 with a Leupold 6x36 and dots is the no-brainer-of-the-year-award-winner.

I have both Kimber MTs and Tikkas. I enjoy carrying the KMTs but when it comes to shooting my Tikka Super Lites win.

LMFAO!!

I've got to use that one.

I'm surprised - no one has mentioned or suggested the Howa Alpine mountain rifle.

http://www.legacysports.com/alpine-mountain-rifle

5.7 pounds, Banser high tech fiberglass stock, weather resistant cerakote finish, and the ability to add detachable box magazine.

I held one at Sportsman's in Albuquerque and it felt like a feather.

I own several Forbes and also like that option...but the Howa is on my list as soon as I find one in 6.5 Creedmoor. Also the price was less than $1100 on the Howa. Pretty good value equation for a gun that you won't have to tinker much with. Every Howa I've owned and shot has been crazy accurate and one of the best factory triggers I've squeezed.

Nothing wrong with Tikka Superlight T3, Forbes or the Montana...but Howa Alpine is really looking good.

Tikka would need a stock upgrade IMHO, Montana's can be good, great or require some work. Forbes seem to have a divided following- my 2 are really good shooters (no issues...am I just lucky?)

For the money I'd say Howa, and pass the savings onto your scope purchase.

Hi, Tom.
Consider a Win M70 FW in 257 Roberts or 7-08/308.

These rifles are reasonable in price, and the ones I have are absolutely spectacularly accurate.

They are a bit heavier than some, but I carried the M70 in preference to a fine Kimber because of superb accuracy. Inspect your choice carefully before taking it, regardless of brand. The QA for everybody is pretty slim.

Good luck and happy shopping!!!

Dang. Are you overly meticulous or just meticulously slow?

It's obvious that you are overly biased, probably more from what you've read online than from what you've actually experienced in real life.

Somebody mentioned it earlier, but "light weight" needs to be defined. Is that 7lbs scoped, 6.5 scoped, 6 scoped, etc...

The Montana and Forbes are the obvious true off the shelf lightweights if that is what you want. There are a lot of differences between the two so weigh out what matters/doesn't matter to you on that. The big ones that stick out to me are:

Montana: controlled round feed, more open grip, no cheekpiece, slightly lighter barrel, slightly heavier stock, bedded to a slave action, barrel free floated

Forbes: push feed, more closed grip, cheekpiece, slightly heavier barrel, slightly lighter stock, bedded to the specific action, full length bedded, 3" mag box

I like them both. Needs to be realized from the start that any of them can have problems, they are off the shelf rifles not customs. I've no problem tweaking little things. Got lots of great options...pick what matters most to you.

Ditto on the stock ergos. I fondled a Montana one time and that's what struck me. Must be the giraffe neck syndrome. I need lots of drop to the heel of the stock and a MC comb for proper fit. Mickey Hunter patterns work for me.

The New Mcmillan Hunter aka Sako Hunter with the monte carlo cheek piece or the Hunter's EDGE aka Mcmillan Compact?

The answer the OP's question, get the Kimber Montana in any caliber you like. There is nothing else out there like it and you won't be disappointed. Search this site for Shortactionsmokers Montana Tinkering Thread. A few quick fixes if necessary will be well worth the effort. I have a Montana in 223 and it is a great little rifle.

Good luck.

Actually, neither. I've got the Win New Hunter pattern, which is based on the Sako Hunter pattern. Couldn't tell you the differences. Maybe it's the castoff and cant that make it work. I'll be picking up the new Whelen build after work today.

Visualizations:

Sako Carbonlight

$1,500 only buys the stock.