Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats What would you do here?

I had my Kimber 84M Montana re-barreled and re-chambered in 250AI. I'm not sure what happened during the process, but my guess was that the shank was cut too short. I realize that I can have someone like CAS re-bed the rifle to fill the gaps and then give it one of his paint jobs, but I'm not sure how it will look with all that material on either side of the barrel. Would you just go the bedding/paint route or would you start over with another barrel done correctly?

I would just with a fill and paint. Most folks would probably never notice, and I know it wouldn't bother me as long as it shot well. If its one of those things that will stick in your craw, and you will constantly notice.... Then go the other route.

Yep fill and paint.

+1 on the bed and paint. It will not be noticable when finished. I have done a few myself and they turned out great.

I'd consider what I specified and how clearly I did so along with what I paid.
Likely I'd bed/paint but maybe not if I paid top dollar and specified and conversed about factory contour. For sure I'd shoot it before going further.

Definitely go with fill and paint.....can't possibly make a stainless and plastic rifle any uglier anyway.

If done properly you would never know there was a gap there to begin with.

I'll agree with that. If you specified matching the contour of the factory barrel I would have a discussion with the gunsmith.

If it were my rifle, I'd ordered a new stock with the proper inletting!! That's a big gap that will take alot of patch work.

Depends on what contour you specified and how specific you were. If we are talking 250 Savage AI built on something that was a 308 length from the factory, the shank is okay for what looks like a heavy sporter.
And yep, I'd shoot it first...I'm in the "beauty within" camp.

Have the stock worked. If it shoots well you will likley forget about the stock over time. I have talked to a lot of 'smiths who won't really give much attention to stock/barrel contour issues.

I think once it's been done well you'll fuget-aboud-it.

It is a 'ell of a lot easier to fix the stock than to match a stock cutout.
Butch

Bed it, paint it, forget it.

There's no reason to get a new stock. Having it properly bedded will make it look perfect. You may or may not need to paint it, depending on if the blending of the bedding color matches the stock.

Shoot it and see if you really want to change anything.

The question is also what will make you happy. Asking a group of different personalities will only give multiple answers you already are aware of.

fill, paint, forget, go shoot!!!! Clint

That's a no brainer, fill, bed, paint. Look on the bright side you now not only get a custom barrel but also a nicely painted custom stock/bedding job. That gap isn't bad at all and should be easy to fill.

I am going to have it bedded and painted. The barrel is a Lilja barrel and was an exact duplicate of the 84M contour. I just think that the barrel shank got cut too short during chambering (I really have no idea). I think it will look pretty good if I can get one of CAS's speckle paint jobs. I might even Cerakote the metal....We'll see.

Thanks!

post up pics when done. i'd like to hear how it shoots for you, too. (i'm a Lilja fan and would love to put a Lilja 1:8" barrel on my .223 Montana and AI it)