At one time I was all set for a Kimber Montana until I had the chance to interact with and shoot a few that friends had bought.
They are a nice looking and good feeling rifle but the best of the ones I messed some with would shoot was around 2-2.5 MOA.
All of them needed a good bit of bedding and other work (i.e. action screws, mag boxes etc.) to get them shooting 1-1.5 MOA.
Conversely, the Tikkas I have owned and shot have all been sub MOA out to the 300 yard line (the furthest distance I have available at the range) with multiple bullet weights and loads.
The only thing any of the Tikkas needed was a trigger pull weight adjustment.
The actions are as smooth running as any you will ever see and they feed and function flawlessly from the detachable magazines.
The triggers are the best of any factory rifle I have encountered.
The synthetic factory stocks are plenty stiff too. Not a McMillan by any stretch but light years ahead of anything Remington, Savage, etc. use.
For me, I cannot find an upside to a rifle like the Kimber that costs at least 50 - 75% more than a T3 and then still needs a lot of work, whether done yourself or sent out to a gunsmith to make it shoot well.
I have also never bought into all the "its a long action only in short action caliber stuff." But then I have no trouble running a bolt gun in any action length from the shortest to the extra long one used for things like .338-378's.
I also don't buy into the the Kimber is so much lighter theme either and I hunt some pretty steep rough mountain country.
The 7 lb all up T3 works very well and I can't see a 6 -6.5 lb all up Kimber being that much better. Maybe if I was at the highest elevations after something like sheep where every ounce is critical the Kimber might offer a bit of an edge.
Bottom line give me a Tikka over the Kimber any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
