Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Montana .308?

Strongly considering purchasing a kimber Montana in .308win. for my do it all backpacking rifle. Does anybody have any experience, good or bad, with this gun???

Can't find a reason to carry my other rifles afield because of one.

I have own two Montana .308's. The first was a older used one that had been poorly maintained and was gummed up with what I think was WD40. It would not eject properly and the accuracy was poor, around 2"+ 3-Shot groups with factory loads. After after giving it a good cleaning the ejection issue went away. The accuracy dropped to around 1 1/4" three shot groups with the same factory loads after bedding the action and getting the magazine box out of the bind as it came from the factory.

The second one was a newer model Montana, the one with the threaded barrel, and it shot so well out of the box that I did nothing to it at all . It will group many factory loads at 1" 3-shot groups and with a couple of factory loads will put 5 into 1". It was the best Kimber Montana I ever had.

I did not do any load development with these because I was giving them to my grandchildren, and their families do not reload.

I had a 7mm-08 that never shot better that 1 1/2" 3-shots and most loads around 2" even after the action was bedded and the magazine box corrected.

If I purchase another Montana for myself it will be a .308.

Hi! I started hunting and shooting when I was eight years of age. shot many of rifles, And many cal. Carried the hog M-60, 308 in the army. I have been partial to the 308 case, 7mm-08, And 243. And 7mm08 I feel is a perfect deer rifle, 139gr.bullet. A few years back my Wife won a Kimber 84m classic 308. Beautiful looking rifle, I put a leupold 4x12 on it, At 50yds 2 inch groups. That is not good My friend. For the money that they sell for, that rifle should shoot 1/2 or better. tried a number of grs. and did not help! My Remington model 7 cdl lays them in there side by side, Also My ruger M77 Mark2 compact does the same. I'm selling the Kimber for 750- I think that's all its worth. So I would try to shot one before spending a pile of cash on one. Good luck! Buster

I'd suspect the scope before that rifle....

I have one that has been an awesome shooter right out of the box, I absolutely love it and I've found several factory loads that it will shoot under an inch. All scoped up, its a 6lb rifle. Ill never get rid of it.

I’ve owned 2 Montana’s in 308 and one in 300wsm both .308’s were as accurate as a factory rifle could possible be. A better shooter than me could of one holed groups at 100yds. The 300wsm was MOA all day everyday. Find yourself a used .308 for $800-850 and love the chit outta it. No better factory mountain rifle made.

I bought my gf an 84M Montana .308 Win in 2016 and it's her go to hunting rifle. I also gave her one of my Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40mm scopes with the RZ600 reticle which seems to work well for both of us with the 200 yard zero. Her rifle has the 1:12 twist barrel but newer ones should be shipping with a 1:10 barrel.

Her rifle does this with Hornady Superperformance 150gr SST ammunition.




It does this with a Barnes 165gr TTSX handload that I worked up for her in '16 but I plan on tweaking or changing the load this year. I'll probably use a Nosler AB or similar.



Here's the rifle.

Just bought one. I'll go pick it up tonight.

I been using one, primarily for deer hunting, for the past 2-3 years. I love them. It is the perfect combination of power and lightweight rifle for about anything. I put a recent post on mine in the Big Game forum.

The Montana 308 will weigh right at 6 lbs with Talley Lightweight mounts and a 12-14 oz scope. Mine weighs 6lb 8oz with Talley LW, Burris E1 3-9x40, scope cover, and a neoprene sling. It shoots 180 Sierras into subMOA at 2575. Most will do 2700 with a 165.

I hope Brad chimes in here - he's been using one for years as a backpack rifle. He's killed more than a few big bulls with his.

I'd also say, I must be really lucky. I have 4 Montana's in the safe now and I know 3 will do MOA or better. The 4th is a brand new 280 AI I haven't shot yet. I suspect it will do MOA before I'm done with it. I've had 3-4 more that would do the same thing.

Always wanted one and a big box of factory 155 Lapua Scenars.....


Of course, I want a lot of schit.

Mine has been good, it shoots cheap WW 150 grain PP into about 1.5 inches for 5, shoots handloaded 165 speer bt bullets over varget a bit better, mine has talley mounts and a Kahles 3.5-10 x50 american on it. There are so many things to like about the montana, I have a select classic in 257 bob, and I like that gun a lot as well, I killed a nice 9 with it this year shot him left handed, this gun has one of the old 3-9 x 36 diavari's on it, good scope. If I had to pick one cartridge out of all that I have ever hunted with, it would be the 308 win.

Pretty close to the perfect all around hunting rifle in my opinion.

You will like it, and then buy the next, and next etc. Very addictive rifle.

I love mine. Shoots 150 NABs better than MOA, a load that has proven itself on black bear, elk and deer.

Had one, really liked packing it, but the accuracy was poor. I could never get it to produce 3 shot groups better than 2 MOA and by 300 yards, the best groups were around 12 inches. Eventually I sold it, bought 2 more Montanas, a .280AI and a .257 Roberts. The .280AI was not reliably accurate either so it went away after about a year. The .257 shoots accurately but it has chamber problems and absolutely mauls brass. I have a reamer on order ... we're going to fix that.

Everything I've heard about the new guns .. green stocks / threaded muzzles .. has been pretty encouraging suggesting whatever issues were behind my problems, Kimber has fixed them. I would absolutely take one more try with a Montana in .308 .. although I might go Sub Alpine instead.

Tom

I've owned two and still have one. The first was an older 2 position safety. Both shoot great. I sold the first to a hunt pard that talked me out of it. The current one also loves the Hornaady 150 grain GMX with Re15 or Varget. Greta velocity and accuracy. I carry that one when we are heading 10 or so miles back for elk.

Beautiful rifle for the long walks. Big change in my perspective since I was once a walnut or maple only guy. Now I appreciate those dead, plastic feeling stocks for what they don't give me, weight! What I really like about the Montana stocks is that they don't even feel synthetic. All I feel is the lightweight wrapped in perfect balance.

Well, a big box of 155 Scenars is not too ‘spensive.

I have a number of rifles that I hunt with. My favorite, by far, is my Kimber Montana .308, with a VXIII 2.5 x 8. It is a deer killing machine. Incredibly light, but shoots most loads at or under MOA. It is the last rifle I'd ever part with for chasing bucks over hill and dale. The only trouble with it is that you'll want another Montane in another cartridge, then another...

I have hunted with this Kimber for the last few years. It is a boring rifle. Just shoots small groups all the time. Loves Federal 150 gr Fusion ammo. It was accurate right out of the box. The only changes I had to do to it was to make it a little more convenient to hunt with and a little harder for deer to see. I cut the barrel to 20 inches, Cerakote finished the metal and camouflaged stock, to me it is about as good as it gets for a deer rifle. I will get to watch my son enjoy this one now since I passed it down to him just before Christmas...I got another Kimber 308 with a walnut stock. and I'm not getting rid of it.