Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Kimber Montana?

Dang, y'all make me wish that I'd kept the one that I had...or at least shot it before I sold it. I bought one a while ago cause it was a smokin deal and sold it before I even fired it. Maybe next time!

Mike

Palmetto, whatchya planning to hunt with the rifle?

If it's deer-only I'd suggest you take a hard look at the Kimber MT in 308. For larger game the 300 WSM certainly will have an edge.

My entire "rifle battery" consists of two Kimber MT's... the Kimber Little Sky (308) and Kimber Big Sky (300 WSM):

PS, would agree with others assessment... the 30-06 Kimber is overly large proportion-wise for my tastes...

I agree with Jeff's assesment of the Kimber 30-06's. The action they are on was made for the .375 H&H and not just the shorter .458 Win! They put a spacer behind the 30-06 magazine to fill in the extra space.

The barrel on the Kimber Montana 30-06 is 24" which, in my view, is too long. The rifle weighs 6.75 lbs, just a 'featherweight'.

The 'same' rifle (with a short action instead of a Magnum length) weighs just 6.25 lbs in a WSM. Thats the one to get.

I am kind of torn about Kimbers.The 308 Montana shot good from the gitgo.My 7MM 08 would shoot 3 to 4" groups at 100 at its best.I took it in to a Gunsmith and he looked it over.Showed me the inside of the barrel with a borescope.For about 6" down the front of the tube there are chatter marks from the reamer.The crown is terrible and one of the locking luggs does not touch.So he will recrown it,hand lapp the barrel.Lap the lugs and skim bed the action.Should do the trick.By the way this rifle was made 6 mos. ago.I also have a 260 Kimber with the wood upgrade.It shoots OK,not great,just OK.I just love how these little Rifles handle,other wise they would be gone!!!!

Palmetto,
I maintain that Kimbers are still hard to beat for the money. Even though thye have gotten their share of "bad press", they fill a niche that others don't.
Not knowing what you are hunting, if the majority of your game is smaller than elk, I'd consider the Kimber Montana in .308. If an occasional elk hunt might occur, the .308 with premium bullets is still fine. The LA Kimbers are a bit "fuller feeling" and have a 24" barrel. I have one in .270 Win. and it is an excellent performer.
If you want a 30-06 on steroids, then the 300WSM Montana is the way to go. It is a trimmer package than the LA Montana's.
Hope this helps and keep us posted as to your decision.

As to recoil, I can't say how the 300 WSM recoils. But I have a .325 WSM Montana, and by all logic it should recoil a little more than a 300 WSM, right? Anyway my .325 is very shootable. Hot 200's from prone get tiresome after a while; not something you'd want to do 50 rounds every day or anything. But I really enjoy shooting it. 220's are a little much for plain fun shooting; they rattle my fillings a little, but they'd be fine for actual hunting. The 175-gn Sierra shoots like a laser from my Kimber and is a FUN practice round, very comparable to my 30-06 in recoil.

The Montana stock is a modern miracle as far as recoil reduction. It does buck pretty good though <g> (muzzle jump).

I think there's plenty of factory 300 WSM ammo out there for anything you'd want to do, but, the WSM's are very friendly calibers to reload and with the price of GOOD ammo these days, it's a great excuse to invest in the gear to reload. For ~ $250 you can get set up very nicely. That's like 5 boxes of good ammo these days!!

(Sigh)...Brad,you are SO practical......

Sort of pathetic I know...

To me when I handle the LA Montana it feels as if it's been inletted into the narrow end of a 2x4. The action sits way up inn the stock and seems a long ways out of my hands. For comparison I've the little sky in 243 and 7-08 and really like both of them.

Brad's combo is a pretty darn cool; if I were starting from scratch I could see ending up right there.

I'm too attached to my bolt rifles to be in a "starting from scratch" mode though...not gonna sell good/great rifles... so things like a 300WSM are pretty hard to justify when you have a fast, accurate 30-06 in the safe, etc.

But see, a .325 WSM was EASY to justify 'cause of how nicely it fit between my '06 and .338!

See how that works? A peep into the deranged mind of a gun nut <g>.

Hey Bob, you think if I sweet talk Brad enough he'll let me borrow that .308 to pack on the pony this Fall?

I know my horse would really appreciate it!

I dunno,Sam.He is pretty attached to that 308.After playing around with the Kimber Montana 257, I understand why folks like them.I think they are passing a new law that all Montana residents are required to own one.....where did I hear that...?

I am fighting the urge for a 270 WSM myself;not cause I luv the cartridge...just the rifle

I'd be attached as well Bob! Sweet little rifles.
First dibs once Brad gets tired of it....

Good luck fighting the urge...grin

..............

Thanks for all the replies. I already have a nice magnum rifle that shoots well. A .338 model 70.
Brad, I'm gonna have access for the next few years to a ranch in west Texas that has lots of Aoudad on it. I figure my 7mm-08 might be little light for long shots on those sheep. It's also a pretty heavy rig(steyr pro hunter).
I think I'm gonna stick with the 30-06. I played with a new ruger today and one of the new brownings. Didn't really care for either of them.
Thanks again for all the replies. I may not be able to post for the next 8-10 days. I'm headed to Cimarron, NM for elk on Saturday! It's about 1,000 miles from south Losuisiana so I have a long ride ahead of me. I'm pretty fired up!

Hey Buddy, you have fun on your Elk hunt.
HD

Not a bad cartridge at all, esp. in the 8400. They were made for each other.

I am noticing that