Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How many have had Kimbers with good barrels........................

Shot the Montana yesterday. Two different loads, factory 180 gr ballistic silver tips and hand loaded 168TSX's. both shot well under an inch at 100. my scope was crooked and i didn't stretch it out farther but i'll fix that today and hit the range on the weekend to see how it does to 550, that's the farthest i can shoot at the range.

You let Steely mount ur scope?



grin

i did it on the couch watching TV... i never mount them straight the first or second time...grins

You still talkin' about the scope Paul??????
Laughin'

Haha..BTDT Now I bring a tool kit with me whenever I go shooting for that reason.

i could have fixed it at the range but with all the idiots there i just wanted to shoot and leave!

TFF!

Enjoy your Tikka.

You just have to wonder, Vikings, Tikkas, what's next?

Do a search of this guys posts. He's as bad as E in the Optics Forum. He poopoos on every thread discussing Kimbers. I just don't understand people like that.

Clark98ut, There are 2 or 3 guys who will chime in on every Kimber thread and go on about how awful they are, I think most of us know them. On the other hand you can pretty much count on me and a couple other to chime in on the postive side.
Maybe it sorta balances out, or at least we all can try to be open minded. I've realized that not everyone has had as good of luck as I've had. Maybe others can realize that most of what they make is pretty darn good............................DJ

Well, I'm the new guy. Here's my Kimber 84 Montana story. I bought mine used about a month and a half ago from a friend. He wanted to buy one in .338 Federal and I never pass up a good deal on a .308. First off, I bought a set of Kimber bases because that was all that was available. Took it out to the range to sight it in and it was all over the place. I gave the scope the wiggle test and the whole front base lifted up off the rifle. Both screws had broken off. So I made a late night trip out too a gunsmith buddy of mines house (we're both night-owls, and if you want him to work on a rifle you're better off showing up at ten at night than 10 in the morning.) We removed the two broken screws from the reciever and decided to "rockwell" the head of one of them. It was around 65R, WAY too hard for a fastener in that application... Then we looked at the hole spacing on the base, WAY too far apart. So between the holes not being spaced correctly and the fasteners being too hard and brittle, we were amazed it made it 8 rounds before breaking.

Next day, back to the range. All was well, punched several one hole 3 round groups off the rest. So I put a sling on it and decided to work over a few gongs at the range. I stuffed 4 rounds in the mag and blazed away only to discover that it won't feed the 2nd round off the left hand side of the mag. So back to the gunsmiths it will go in the near future.

I'm a little pissed about the whole thing. It shoots great. But Kimber needs to tell whoever is manufacturing their bases to use real fasteners and watch their hole spacing. The not feeding thing can be fixed... But it should be done right at the factory the first time IMO

I think there should be a law that Montanas wear a set of Talley One-Piece Lightweight Rings/Bases.

DJ, I think you're right about some of us offsetting the badmouthers, I just don't understand how people that have never owned something will constantly badmouth it.

-Dan

My main point is that the level of Kimber's QC is not where it should be and as such is a disservice to customers buying their rifles. I think Kimber designs good riles but too many bad ones seem to make it out the door. Since I have worked in the manufacturing industry for 25 years I know pretty much what is going on at Kimber. At this time, they are probably selling guns as fast as they can make them. In this push to maximize revenue, QC is probably not where it should be. I have seen this before at companies where they just want get the product out the door and let customer service and the customer deal with the fallout. I have thought of buying a Kimber a few times but chose not to due to the negative QC issues I see on the forum. FYI I have one Tikka in 338 WM. My other rifles are Remington 700's and Weatherby's.

7 WSM 8400 Classic- bad barrel. Re barreled by kimber and shoots okay.

338 Win 8400 Classic- good barrel, bad crown, bad bedding, bad pillars. Nothing done by Kimber, fixed by Hill Country Rifles.

Ive only had one Kimber (so far). Its an 8400 Montana in 325 WSM. If it doesnt shoot into 3/4 inch at 100 with any decent handload its because I didnt do my part. It tends to shoot different bullet weights so close together up to 200 that I can interchange without making scope adjustments. This is rather handy when I want to slip into the dark timber and switch over from 180s to 220s. I'm happy.

None of my 3 Kimbers have been 'tack drivers' that is, sub 1/2 MOA at 100 yards, but on the other hand, none of them have shot 3-4 inch patterns like some folks have seen.
Mine have just been steady, one to one and a half inch rifles.

Don't know about my latest Kimber, a 308 Montana.
Poor thing still has not been shot as of yet!

I'm wondering how someone who owns Remington 700's can complain about Kimbers QC! ...........................DJ

Beargrease is right. Theres no reason for these Kimbers to leave their factory with such obvious faults. Theres no doubt that they need to improve their QC if they already havent. Bear in Fairbanks, one of the forum members (and a super nice guy) bought one of the Montanas in 270 WSM after reading many of the Happy Kimber owners posts (mine included) praising Kimbers on this forum, and teh idea that it may just be one of teh greatest packages for a high mountian sheep hunter. He spent endless amounts of time and money with factory ammo as well as many of his own handloads and just couldn't tighten up his groups only to find he has a bad barrel. IMO a fella shouldn't have to endure that kind of BS on a $1100 rifle that has had known QC issues for years now. But on the flip side I am glad as hell I got one of the good ones!...grin I would also buy another without blinking if it filled a niche.

Had one in 7/08 that wouldn't shoot anything well, meaning 1.5" or less. Contacted the factory and was brushed off. Polished the crown, rebedded and it was the same. Sold it and the new owner returned it to the factory twice. Shot worse when it was returned the second time. It has been sold again. Now another friend has the wood stock model in 7/08 and hasn't has anything less than 2.5".
I am glad some of you have Montana's that shoot but mine was not up to my standards. The factory is totally unconcerned. I can't see paying their price on what I consider a crap shoot and then spend more at Hill Country to correct the problems that shouldn't have been their to begin with. I was glad to find a Montana in 7/08 since that was the caliber I wanted and had planned to hunt with the rifle last deer season but after many range sessions and a few hundred rounds it was sold. Couple hundred more rounds and two trips to the factory, sold again. It still did not shoot. You'll can post all the good things about them and be critical of those who got bad ones but they do exisy and no amount of horn blowing will change that. They have a QC problem at Kimber and their customer service doesn't exist.Rick.