Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Montana 257 Roberts

I have a line on a Kimber Montana in 257 Roberts. I really like the rifle, but this chambering is not common. Is there anything I should be concerned about or aware of?

Good rifles. How much?

A few hundred below new pricing,

Make sure you're good on feeding it.

Thanks. I handload some so that’s not a huge concern if I can find brass. I looked online and loaded ammo is sold out everywhere.

You are no doubt aware, but they no longer chamber the Montana in 257 R. If you want it, best grab it before someone else does.

I had one. Another 'fire member had one. We both had the same symptoms, guessing it was the same problem. The chamber on my rifle was cut with a reamer that was too small. If I FL-sized to bump the shoulder, the cases were too large in diameter and took excessive force to close the bolt. If I sized more, just enough that the bolt close was a slight drag, not a lot of force, then I got case head separations. Kimber pretty much told me to go "f" myself, the rifle worked with Remington factory ammo (true) so it wasn't their problem. To fix the problem, I ordered a custom reamer from PTG .. they botched the throat on that. When I got that replaced, the throat was too long, accuracy (which had been decent despite the other issues) went to crap. I fought it about 3 years .. ran out of "Fight with it" and sold it. Got rid of all of my .257 brass, dies, bullets, etc.

I assume we both had rifles cut with the same reamer. As long as yours isn't in that batch, you're likely good to go with a pretty nice rifle.

Tom

Not a Montana, but my Classic Select will be the last deer rifle I ever get rid of.

My heirs will have to get rid of my Classic Select BOB.

I’m there with you both!!

Yeah buddy, those are some nice rifles.

Mixed reviews with the little 257 R.
Does anyone know if the issue was limited to earlier rifles, and perhaps corrected on the later production ?

Thanks
CD

Mechanically,it's far and away THE schittiest fhuqking chambering,ever offered in a 84M. Hint.

The Montucky hasn't the COAL latitude to contend a case of that length and there isn't a boolit worth a fhuqk,that'll nestle same. Hint.






GREAT donor for something good,like a 224 Speedmire,6BR or 243 Kreed,which blows it outta the water. Hint.

In fairness however,I've never seen a Krassik Serect,but by the numbers...one in 264 Kreed would offer performance lightyears beyond a Bob. Hint.





Hint.

LAUGHING!...................

Nice rifles

I have a Montana 6.5CM and a Hunter 308. Absolute max COAL is 2.81". Never having had a 257R, will 2.81" get you close to the rifling?

Does a 2.230" case trim length,sound like a good fhuqking idea in a 2.815" COAL magbox? Hint. Congratulations?!?

Again..."Mechanically,it's far and away THE schittiest fhuqking chambering,ever offered in a 84M." Hint.

Cite any/all words that are "too big" or "too Technical" for you to fhuqking understand. Hint. LAUGHING!

Bless your heart.

Hint.

LAUGHING!...............

I too have heard Kimber used short actions for the .257 roberts which hinders it's capabilities. Ruger always used long actions for this chambering for comparison. Not sure about winchester/remington.

The issue with throat is bullet shape. The standard load that the factory / SAAMI reamers are built around is the 117 grain Remington pretty-much-round-nose. If you have a short mag box, then more pointed bullets have a lot of jump. That does not absolutely preclude accuracy but it makes it a bit less likely. It is not hard to reach the throat, limited to 2.8 to 2.82 inches OAL, with a custom reamer, but you won't have a ton of flexibility either.

My Kimber .257, with the factory throat, needed a COL of about 2.95" to reach the rifling with the 110 grain accubond, a jump of about 0.125 (I could load to 2.825" OAL in my rifle) if the cartridges were to magazine feed. It's not ideal but I've had rifles that had 3x the jump shoot 3/4" 200 yard groups.

The .257 is based on the 7x57. The original 7x57s had a mag box around 3.1 inches, more or less. .257 is still best suited to that action length. Shorter, 2.8" or so, can be done, but you'd probably be a touch better off with a .25 on the Creedmoor case or on the .308 case. If you're going with an '06 length action, .25-'06 is a better way to go. One option .. works for a short 700, not an 84M, is Wyatt's extended mag box. I had a 700 LVSF clone built with one which let me load to 2.97 to 2.98 inches. I've heard people bitch about Wyatt's boxes ... for me, it worked great, but the gunsmithing was all done by Wyatt himself, not by a second rate hack who had an axe to grind.

Tom

I owned a Montana in 257 and currently own a Classic select in 257. The Kimber short action is fine if you are loading standard loads. I use 100 grain bullets in my Kimbers and never had any issues with feeding or accuracy. 117 grain and 120 loads seated to standard lengths worked fine as well and never had any issues with those either. In short the Kimbers in 257 Roberts I have experience with killed deer in Georgia just fine with my standard handloads. But then, I dont try to make the cartridge be or do something its not designed to be or do.

Would I take this load to Texas or Kansas and try and kill those big deer at 300 yards?? No, I would not. I have rifles chambered in something more adequate for that. For my purposes in Georgia, a 180 pound whitetail at 60 to 200 yards, its more than adequate. The one rifle I sold and regret to this day is that Montana in 257 Roberts. Personally I would be all over it.

I bought it despite the short comings that come with running the 257 Roberts in a short action. The price was good, and I can always rebarrel later. For now I’ll use it on small white tails, coyotes, and the occasional hog. Ranges will be less than 300 yards, and usually less than 150 with many shots at 50 yards or so.

tas6691, what do you consider standard bullets and loads. I’m considering the 115 BT, but I’m not sure how much this bullet will intrude into the case impacting powder capacity.