Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Thinking about getting a Kimber Hunter and chopping it to 18”

And threading it for suppressor use, or may just piddle around with my short barrel, and the short rifle too. Plan to remove all the gel in the stock and put a 2.5-8x36 on top. Question is, what caliber? This will be deer/hog/coyote only. 257 Roberts, .308, 7mm-08, or 6.5 Creedmoor?

Maybe consider starting with an Adirondack, already short barrel, already threaded?

-Chris

Well Adirondacks are really hard to find right now, and chopped and gutted I’d be looking at the Hunter being lighter for $400-$600 cheaper, with the same action and barrel. The cheap stock is a plus for me, I want one I can beat the crap out of without worrying about.

ChrisAU, I have cut 2 barrels to 18" and 1 to 16" threaded for can's, 6.5 PRC, 18" 308 !8" .243 16", add 5 12" to 6 1/2" for the can, Of the 3 I use the 243 the most, as a jeep gun, all 3 shoot as well as they did before I cut and threaded them, But I have not run them past a chrno, Rio7

Hunter won’t be lighter... the difference will be a couple ounces probably not enough to matter. I don’t know what removing the gel will do weight wise but it for sure make a cheap plastic hollow stock sound and feel like a cheap plastic hollow stock.

Go 308 The smaller the bore the more powder you waste out the front. Also it will seal better with the can. You will probably need to get a thread adapter those Kimber barrels are thin. The standard Kimber threads are 7/16” while most cans are 1/2” threads (.223 class) or 5/8” (.308 and up) you aren’t going to get 5/8” threads on there. So pick your poison with the other 2 and use an adapter. Kimber makes them for the 7/16” threads they use. All sorts of companies make them for the 1/2”-5/8” conversion.

I’ve done exactly what you are talking about with kimbers in .223 6.5 creedmoor, .308 .338 Federal, and fixing to chop a 30-06 and rebore it to 35 whelen.

If I could find another .223 Montana I would make it into a 300 Blackout and never look back.

Or find an adirondack in 300BLK. That would be the best ticket.

My buddies 6.5 hunter may shoot a 2in group on a good day, we've tried several factory loads, different torque settings on stock, etc. He is more of a woods hunter and bought it on impulse but still is a little disappointed in it. Joker has a little thump to it too.

here you go;

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/kimber-adirondack-7-08.96942/

You can remove the gel and replace with spray foam and net 5-7 oz weight loss. I have seen a lot of speculation that the gel is added to up the weight so that people will still view Montana's as the lighter option. And yeah I'm hoping with the chop there would be enough meat for 1/2-28 but if it must be thinner I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Doubt he still has it from 2.5 years ago.

It won't ever be used for a shot past 125-150. Most 75 and in. Mostly want a super light and compact rifle for sitting on the ground in swamps. Need to be able to toss it in jet sled for river crossings without worrying about it. I have plenty of nice rifles, just looking to go as light and compact as possible for under $1k.

Watching this thread with much interest. I have been thinking about doing the same thing myself, except possibly only to 20 inches. Always thought that Kimber got it wrong offering the Adirondack with a blind magazine. Primarily hunting deer in farm country of the East I find that I am loading and unloading the rifle a lot more and it would be better to have the advantage of a removable magazine on a short barreled rifle. Plus using the rifle as a truck gun in a state where they do not allow ANY ammunition in the weapon while in the vehicle, not even with an empty chamber, makes a removable magazine all that more praticable.


CT

Nothing wrong with the Hunter at all. I like them a lot and have one. If you want short and cheap, take a look at the Ruger American Compact. It might even be threaded.

Cartridge doesn't really matter. Since you included it, go with the Robert's.

Do it!

My 6.5 Montana is cut to 20" and threaded 1/2x28, and feels and shoots fine dropped into a Hunter stock. If I was doing it again I would cut it to 18", and I'll take an 18"-20" 6.5 over a similar .308 any day. 7mm-08 might be an interesting option as well since Kimber uses a decent twist. At 18", if you get Ecco Machine to do a cut, thread and collar job you might be able to get a 9/16x24 thread on there.

That's not speculation, it's fact. The 84M Hunters ended up being about 3/8 lb lighter than the equivalent Montana models. This was true for 84M and 84L and it was decided by the VP of sales that 8oz should be added to each stock. The added weight had to be cheap, it couldn't shoot loose, couldn't be removed easily and had to dampen sound and vibration. Originally a 2-part polyurethane rubber was added to both the wrist and the buttstock volumes which had communication via a "window". The vendor wanted to close up the window and only add rubber to the buttstock volume. Testing seemed to indicate that the change actually improved accuracy/precision. Testing over the years has also shown that the Hunter rifles tend to be more accurate/precise and certainly more consistent than the Costa Rica stocked alternatives.

I have an 84M .300 Blackout barrel if anyone's interested. It's the Adirondack type with 5/8-24 threads at the muzzle.

^ A more authoritative source you'll not find.

I really wish they made the Hunter in .223 or 6mm ARC, I'd snap one up in a hurry.

I removed 8.3oz of gel from my hunter stock starting from an original weight of 1lb15.8oz
It only takes a few minutes to remove it all.

The larger the surface area of the bullet the less velocity you’ll lose per inch of barrel removed. That being said, all the calibers you listed will exceed the needs you’ve stated.

6.5 Creedmoor is perfect for what you are doing.

That’s crazy....

If they made the Hunter without the detachable mag I might start buying those too!

I gave up detachable mags along time ago when I spent a weekend walking around in the brush looking for a steyr .243 magazine in the brush after losing it walking to the stand.

Traded that rifle in on a Kimber adirondack in .308 and never looked back

https://ruger.com/products/americanRifleRanch/specSheets/16950.html
ChrisAU. Ruger Ranch 16" tube threaded. 5.5 lbs. .450 bushmaster. Perfect carbine for swamp creatures. Do not overlook the .450---- ---- A light Remington 7600 pump with 18" tube in .450 bushmaster would be a big seller here in the Northeast.