Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Montana 308 Load Advice For My New Toy

Hey guys, I just bought the following gun. It's a Kimber 84M Montana in .308, with Leupold VX-III 2.5-8 scope. Kimber bases & rings. Painted with Brownell's Aluma-Hyde II coyote & OD. I'm going to do some load development and want to know what some of you are using. I know there are several of these owned by members of this board and thought I could get some good starting points. By the way I'm talking elk loads.

My Montana 308 likes the 165gr partition with RL15 and Fed 210M primers, WW brass.
2700fps and 1 inch at 100 yards(off of a benchrest)

My Kimber Montana (The Little Big Sky) 308 shoots 150 TTSX's at 2,885 over 47.0 gr's RL15 and 168 TTSX's at 2,755 over 46.0 gr's RL15. Both shoot in the 3/4" range. It'll be loaded with the 150 TTSX's this fall for elk.

Winchester brass?

Win brass, Fed 210 primers. Bullets seated at 2.790." Cases roll out of the chamber, nice rounded primers, no extractor cut-out marks (or any marks) on case head... I don't push loads, ever, and I've decided there must be something to a 1-12" twist giving faster speeds in the 308 than the oft used 1-10"...???

Mine (308) likes 44.5g of varget with the 165gr TSX, lapua brass and fed 210's.

Note its not a Kimber

The WW brass I have is pretty light at 155 gr. compared to my Lapua at 173. I'm putting 44.5 gr. Re15 under 165 Ballistic Tips with the Fed 210M in the Lapua brass for about 2740 out of a factory 22" LVSF barrel. I don't think I could get 46 in the case and still seat a bullet. In the WW brass 46 grains of Varget works great, but I haven't run the Re15 in those cases yet.

So you're the one that bought that off of the Kifaru board (?). Let us know how it shoots; I was curious about that rifle.

I've never loaded any of the Barnes bullets in my 84m as I won't be able to get near the lands. How close are you at 2.790 with the 150 gr TTSX?

I'm about fourteen feet off the lands...

Never found it mattered how close/far in any of the six or seven 308's I've worked with... it's the most "eager to please" round I've ever loaded for.

I'm a sucker for the Montanas. The one on the right in this pic is the 308. It wears a fixed 4 Loopy FXII and a Turner Saddlery M1903 sling. With a full load of ammo and the sling, its still under 7 Lbs. I love that damn rifle... We had a rocky start, but we can't be seperated now I would have used it on a 5 1/2 foot black bear yesterday if he'd cooperated.



These are pics from 3 saturdays out of my life, doing what I do best... Turning money into noise. Any group in here over 1" was about as good as it got with 150 grain pills. When it comes to 165's, this rifle is a slut. It tells me that it really likes 165 Hornady Interlocks and Partitions over 45.5 grains of Varget in Lapua brass with a Federal 210M spark plug for a 2743 FPS AVG. The Noslers run about 10 FPS faster... I went as hot as 47 grains of Varget, but from 45.5 up to 47 I gained very little in the velicity department and accuracy suffered, also saw the occasional ejector slot mark on a case head. 45.5 grains, also gave the lowest ES and best SD. So there's my load. RL15 was a very close second in my testing, I decided on Varget for the Kimber for one reason. I still have 3 8 pounders, and half of another one, all from the same lot number in the gunroom. (I've got more than a few 308s)



Brad... Didn't you know you can't use a 308 on Elk?? They require at LEAST 6500 Ft/Lbs energy to drop. What is that on top of your Montana, a 2-7 VX1? You can't be serious?? If you're bored, I don't have anybody to go bear hunting with Satruday-Monday. Early and late, you'll have to do some bugling and cow-calling upwind of me about 30-50 yards to work off the gas money though

No, just carried it over hill and dale, with no elk to show for it... played house builder and had little energy or time for it.

Will say, have never packed or loaded for a rifle I like better than the 308 Kimber...

Here's it's big brother, 300 WSM:

I'm not sure if I like the Brownell's Aluma-Hyde II or not. I hear it's great stuff. Unfortunately, from what I've read, I'm stuck with it even if I decide I don't like it. Oh well, it's a tool not window dressing.

Thanks for the load info guys. Like I said, I assume similar guns with accurate loads would at least be a good starting point. My old Winchester .308 really loved 165 gr. Partitions. I'll be damned if I can find my old load data.

Thegman, yep, that was me that bought this baby off of the Kifaru board. It was a pleasant suprise to learn that the scope has a B&C reticle when it arrived. I've been wanting to get one so it was a nice discovery.

Dakotan, You must live in East Dakota like Brad and Dober?

Try the 165 Partitions with Varget and RL15, and Federal 210 Match primers. Graf and Sons still has Lapua 308 brass, at least they did last week when I ordered another 200 sticks... If you put all those components in a bag and shake them up, and they don't shoot less than MOA in that Kimber, then thats as good as it's going to get

Ironically, I own more 308's than I do any other caliber rifles. And I've never hunted with one until this year. Its bow season right now (and fall bear,) and my beloved 260 needs a barrel. Even if it gets done before rifle season opens, I wouldn't have time to work with it. I know that a 165 Partition at 2740 something will kill anything in this state, and do it well.

Brad, if I didn't know better, I'd think that was the same pic. Thats why my 338 Federal has Fugly the Camo Scope on it. Otherwise I couldn't tell them apart. Before I stick another fixed 4 Loopy on the 338, I'm going to have one of my racetrack buddies airbrush a black and gray flame job on the 308. I'll post pics when its done That 300 WSM almost could be used on Elk... You might be able to shoot a calf or something with it

Mine does not particularly like -- at least compared to other loads I've tried -- my only handload thus far of a max load of Varget in Winchester Brass with a 165 grain Rem. CL bullet (@ 1.58" for three shots on the last try). Chose it for economical practice. It does however love Federal's HE 180 grain NP load so I'm thinking I'll go to the Partition for home grown elk loads. On the other hand that rifle shoots just about any load to the same point of aim so I think I can milk a box of the Federal's for a long time for hunting purposes and just keep on working on practice stuff. Kimber recommends 165 grain and less bullets in the Montana due to the twist but my limited testing doesn't bear that out.

These groups were all shot in a row without adjusting the scope. They were the first twelve shots out of the rifle just trying some different loads as I was really interested in testing the shooter from field positions who needs MUCH more work than the gun. I'm far from the best shot in the world and was using a 4x scope off a mediocre rest so I'm sure the rifle can do better.



Edited: Had my numbers wrong!

That reminds me CCH, and others. Something that somebody said on here about the Kimbers. When you're benchrest shooting them, your groups will really tighten up if you hold the forearm in your left hand. I do my best to duplicate the amount of pressure I would apply to it from a field position. Also try and keep that pressure consistant. I kind of pull it down a little into the front rest. It will tighten up your groups...

For some reason my Kimber 308 seems to shoot a little better with Moly'd 168gr TSX's than naked ones. A max charge of Varget or WW-748 shoot's them into 3/4 MOA or so:




RL-15 would be the next powder I'd try but there are several powders that will give good results with in the 308...............................DJ

Nice rigs. How much 748 are you running in the Lapua hulls again?

IIRC I've run 46.0grs of either Varget or WW-748 with the 168's.........................DJ

Thanks. I got my hands on a pile of 748 and a thousand 168 gr. Nosler match bullets for very good prices, but I haven't run 748 in Lapua. I'm looking to do a quick workup and mass produce a bunch of fun ammo.