For those that have bought one, how has the magazine functioned? Any issues with inserting a full magazine on a closed bolt? Any durability issues?

only issue I had with the magazine was the fact that unnder recoil cartridges slide forward hard enough to flatten the tips of the bullets. that seems like a design flaw that apparently Kimber is aware of and just doesn't care

Laws of physics are a beech . . .

My neighbor was looking at one for his step son, who he has been hunting with for a few years now. I know nothing about them specially, but have had a couple Montanas that I really like. We started looking for another Montana, but can’t find squat.

I have two, a 6.5 Creedmoor & a .243
Both shoot great. A lot of gun for the money.

I do like the magazines. Bought several extra magazines when they were on sale & consider them handy. Have had no problems.

The problems you might read about apparently occurred with the1st generation of magazines lacking internal space & binding. If you tilt the forward part of the follower down & look at the inside of the floor plate with a flashlight, the 2nd & 3rd generation magazines show a numeral 1 or 2, the 1 looks like a plain line. (first gen shows nothing)

The gentleman who designed a lot, if not all, of the Hunter features while he worked for Kimber is on this site & might chime in. He is a wealth of knowledge & insight.

It looks like a lot of bang for the buck. I’ve found more and more recently, with all of the rifles now coming out with detachable magazines, that they will typically be the weak point of a design. Just like pistols really.

I bought a Montana used like new. It snapped on the first box of factory loads. first time in my life in a bolt action. The most expensive rifle I've ever owned also shoots like schitt.

I called Kimber and they want a fee to look at it. Most azzhole customer service ever.

laws of physics should be taken into consideration when designing such things. Not one of he various other detachble magazine rifles I use allow the cartridges to move under recoil

All of the bolt rifles I've owned flattened the tips of lead tipped bullets under recoil.

Yeah, it’s certainly not exclusive to Kimber rifles.

That has happened with every centerfire rifle of every brand I've ever owned with bullets with exposed lead tips .. a total of some hundreds of individual rifles. (I assume your "complaint" is tongue-in-cheek 'cause you've been around too long to be oblivious enough to think this is limited to Kimber. I'm just replying in case someone else is noob / greenhorn enough not to know it. The answer, if it is perceived to be a real problem, is to use polymer tipped bullets like Sierra "game changer", Nosler Ballistic Tip / Accubond, and Hornady ELD-X of course.)

Tom

I was talking about polymer tipped bullets, and I am not speaking of slight flattening, i am talking about mushed almost flush with the lead, like a penny on a traintrack flat

Light rifle, significant recoil, substantial recoil speed = tips hitting the mag box harder and flattening worse. Especially if you're talking about repeated impacts.

What bullets are you talking about? I've seen some plastic tips with slight flattening, but never anything as severe as you're describing.

it happened with both 162 ELDX and 140 Nosler accubonds. the magazines are junk you could shake them in your hand and the cartrisged would move back and forth

So, Tikka?

Sounds like a weak follower spring.

You know, you could try seating the bullets so the loaded cartridge just barely fits the mag box.

or the company could not make [bleep] equipment

i called Kiber adn was told what I was experiencingw as a common problem that they were aware of. when I asked how to remedy it or if they had corected the problem I was "transferred to service" where "service" never picked up the phone

I had a Weatherby 30-378 that would blow the Accubond tip off the next round in the magazine pan to be chambered.

Second shot, if needed, was a gaping hollow point.

🦫

Interesting.......

I have two Hunters, a 6.5 and a 7-08.
Both exhibit very minor peening of Bullet tips in the magazine, but nothing like the OP is experiencing.
I don’t worry about it. The targets tell me they’re shooting just fine.
My .204 and .223 are the only center fires I own that don’t do that.

The loaded magazines don’t rattle.
Well, honestly it’s not something I’ve ever thought to check or worry about.

I like the Hunter platform a lot.
If you don’t like yours, turn it and keep looking.....

I doubt if the OP is taking about “peening” issues. The magazine issues re: this gun, early on, we’re about binding up or not being able to seat a fully loaded magazine.

The peening thing is silly.

I wasn’t aware of the peening, I was wondering more about magazine issues in general. I’ve had experience with Montanas and Classics, but never the Hunter with the detachable box magazine.

This! Especially light weight rifles

I only have one Hunter, but can insert a fully loaded magazine on a closed bolt. Don't have many rounds through the rifle or magazine, but don't see any design details that concern me.

I've seen polymer tips get smashed in one Kimber Montana, a few Tikkas, a couple Savages, and a Ruger.

I don't think this is a problem with Kimber Hunters, per se.

Couldn't help myself today. Snagged a 7mm-08rem Hunter. Out actually hunting doubt a couple shots is gonna "mash" any tips. Not worried about it that is for sure.

I’m betting you’ll love it!

If you want to put a little work into it, you can remove the heavy gel in the butt cavity & pistol grip. I replaced the hollow spaces w/ great stuff expanding foam. I also swapped the solid steel bolt handle for the machined titanium “84 ascent” made by “Chris84” here on the fire. Got some titanium action screws to replace the steel factory screws, the rear of which has a lot of unnecessary weight to superfluously bring it’s surface flush with the outside surface of the stock. I cut a 1/3” off both sling swivel studs.

With a 1.5x5 Leupold & a simple nylon strap on plastic swivels my 6.5 Creedmoor weighs under 6 pounds fully loaded & ready for the field with excellent accuracy.

I'll bet that's a joy to carry.

The difference between the standard rear action screw and the "superfluous" Hunter rear action screw is 0.18 ounces so hardly significant. The stock vendor didn't want to have different aluminum pillars front and rear and didn't want the pillars to have a saddle which would require a specific orientation in the mold. They wanted everything to be as idiot proof as possible to prevent damage to the mold and to prevent the creation of bad parts. Kimber marketing wanted to have the rear action screw look like the standard action screw so that led to the weird looking action screw that ships with Hunter stocks.

You can run a Hunter front action screw in the rear position if you want. That would save a whopping 0.2 ounces or so. Did you cut down a titanium action screw for the rear?