Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Kimber in .338, .300 Win Mag, or .300 Short Mag

Damn, limp-dick and a mental midget. Not sure I'll be able to sleep night with those insults hurled at me. You already gave me an eating disorder by calling me fat.

It's a good thing at quit my fast food career at the age of 16. I was a shift manager at a chick fil la in a big mall. If I'd have stuck with it, then I'd really be a loser. Can't imagine the abuse you'd heap on me.

Yes, I certainly did miss your point.

Yes he is...

The ranch I work on borders a vast wilderness area. I get to look at BH sheep every day. See black bears, grizzlies, mule deer, etc., and elk that sometimes number in the thousands. Said that to say, killing a big bull on the ranch ain't that big a deal... going up in the backcountry, on public ground, and doing it on your own without the benefit of owning thousands of acres is an entirely different elk hunt... anything you take under those conditions is something to be truly proud of.

In Montana there's all sorts of elk hunting, not all of it is the same, and I've seen 300 class bulls and smaller that were far and away truer "trophies", taken on public ground solo, than some 380 bulls I've seen taken on ranches... not all elk "hunting" is the same...

But chest-pumping Type-A dipchits can never know that... especially ones that have never done it.

Sounds like:

Montana public land hunting is to Montana ranch hunting,

as Oregon hunting is to Montana public land hunting.

At least, my buddies who do both give that report, as just a general truism.

The elk tag we Oregonians can get OTC is almost not worth hunting. The elk are just so thinly spread, and so mobile, that you it's kind of depressing out there. BSA's general-season spike is indeed something to be happy about. I'd pop a spike in a second on that tag.

Hunting a spike tag in an area where bull tags take 4-5 years to draw, (Tower Mountain, Ukiah unit) I've been among lots of elk. If you hunted hard you see elk every day, though sad to say a spike-only tag will break your heart... grin... But being amongst 'em, THAT is a whole other feeling! Love it.

Unfortunatly if you want a decent elk hunt/tag every year here it just doesn't work that way.

You can get a decent mule deer tag every 3 years or so, I'm told...

Antelope tag takes 10-15 years to draw.

Anyway you Montana (and Alaska!) boys are livin' large.

I looked at a Kimber 8400 Montana today. It had a great barrel and the crown of the rifle was perfect. Everything looked spot on but the trigger was lawyered up. It had to be at least 4.5+ lbs. but it was without creep. I was wondering if either Brad or Calvin might stop fighting for enough time to tell me how hard it is to adjust the trigger. It seems that both of you know the rifles but I figure that if you guys want to scrap that you could.

Also Brad, do you know when the 84L Montanas will start shipping?

Sincerely,
Thomas

Thomas, it's a simple trigger to adjust. Just like the M700 adjustments... no trick to get it to 2.75lbs safely.

84L's are "supposed" to ship next month. I'll believe it when I see it. Should be dynamite though in a 270 or 06'...

Thanks,

I have another perhaps stupid or unfounded question. Why hasn't Kimber produced a 84M in 7X57 and 6.5 X 55?

I have always wondered why Ruger would make them but Kimber wouldn't?

Sincerely,
Thomas

Thomas,

If the trigger is crisp but just too heavy, likely it'll be REALLY simple to adjust. Mine took about 10 minutes including taking the rifle apart and back together. It's just turning one screw.

I'd worry a bit about a Kimber trigger that had creep in the gunshop. I did talk to one guy who couldn't get the creep adjusted out.

It's a really, really nice-feeling trigger!

I had to take the creep out of four of my Kimbers. Not hard to do but you need to proceed with caution. Had one though that would just not cooperate and ended up with a new trigger.

Did they replace the trigger group for you?

They would not replace it since it was touched by someone other than them. Shelled out $125.00 rather than argue with them.

[quote=2legit2quit][quote=Mark R Dobrenski]Tag-listen up as Mac (aka Brad) has been a student of this stuff for a long time and knows his stuff


I've a .338 that weighs 8 lbs. or so all up (a heavy weight to me)

a 7 mag that weighs 7 lbs. 4 oz. ( a mid weight by todays standards)

and a NULA in 7mm-08 that weighs 5 lbs. 5 oz. all up ( believe it qualifies as lt. wt.)


Yo MC Hammer, I've got one of absolute lightest rifles NULA makes, a model 20 in 308 with #1 contour barrel. I can tell you it is heavier than 5.5lbs all up, even with a light scope. Don't know what NULA you have, but I am curious?

Ouch! Well, like I said... I'd be just a little leery of one with lots of creep in the gunshop. You are now example #2 that I've heard of. Though, as you say you were able to adjust the creep out of several others.

I was just up shooting the reason I don't own another Kimber today. It's a Rem 700 7-08 Mountain Rifle that I bought 8-9 years ago. It's a very accurate rifle and is quite light. If I didn't have it, I'd have an 84M for sure by now. Already owning a great-shooting light 7-08 makes it hard to justify though, even to myself, and I'm easy that way.

As fate would have it, the trigger on that rifle actually has just a bit of creep I've not been able to adjust out! It's my worst factory M700 trigger in that regard. It's not bad, and I notice it only rarely. I did notice it today though.

Do the Kimber triggers have a screw adjustment to change sear/trigger engagement for adjusting creep? Or are they like Winchester and are without an adjustment for sear/trigger engagement requiring one to hand stone the engagement??

Okay, I found it on page 17 in the manual. As long as the contact surfaces between the trigger and sear are within spec, adjusting the engagement for creep should be a simple task without any issue:

"It is fully adjustable for over travel, depth of sear engagement and weight of
pull. However, the trigger pull has been set at the factory with proper
overtravel and sear engagement, so we do not recommend disassembly or
adjustment except by a qualified gunsmith or by our factory personnel." - page 17

See Jeff, this is a good lesson for you. You now know how to do things "Brads Way".

For example. Conventional wisdom would say that the harder you hiked, the more effort you put in, and the more years of experience you had, the bigger the animal you'd kill. Not in Brad's world. Apparently, the harder you hike, the smaller the animal. I never realized that only 2 guys in Montana killed big bulls on public land. My Bad...

Conventional wisdom would also tell you if you took a shot at an animal and you scoped yourself, to move further away from the scope on your second shot. Not in Brad's world. He moves closer. Because what could be better than scoping your once? Well, it'd be scoping yourself twice. Duh.. how did I not know that? My bad...

And then packs... Conventional wisdom would tell a guy that after 30+ years of backpacking, to buy a pack that could handle 35#'s, on a trail hike. Nope! Not for Brad. Apparently you use that vast experience to buy a POS, and then get your ass handed to you. My bad...


There you go Jeff. Now you know how to do things Brad's Way. Fortunately for you, he posts a lot on the internet, and you'll get to learn all these neat "tricks". I personally can't wait until I'm 50 and I've gained all the wisdom that Brad has.

Calvin,
Concerning that story about the pack that didn't fit Brad with a 35# load.
He re-posted that review recently after I had asked him about the same pack as I was in the market for a new, larger pack. I am glad he did as it may have kept me from making the same mistake, that is, buying a pack that didn't fit well and was uncomfortable.

So thanks for those who gave me some feedback on my rifle ideas. I have to say for the record that I hunt public land and I love to eat elk, deer, etc. I have never found a good way to cook those antlers! My passion is getting out on the ground and putting some meat in my freezer. Not to preach to anyone here but we have enough problems defending our right to hunt, especially on public lands, without arguing amongst ourselves about who is the "best". Some guys hunt for trophies and I respect that and some folks hunt to put meat on the table and I also respect that. I'm kind of in the middle and I would hope that my fellow hunters can respect that. I tend to judge other hunters not just for the quality of their trophies but how they harvest them (clean kill, fair chase, etc), and how they carry themselves in the field.

So thanks for the advice guys and hopefully we can all remember we are on the same team!

Amen to that Tag, best post so far on this whole f'ed up thread. I havent found antlers or bear hides to taste too good either.

+1.

"Mr. Whitetail"/ Larry Weishun, will tell you in a heartbeat that he's not half the hunter many think he is. He's killed big bucks because of WHO he his, and that gives him access to property and "kept" bucks others can't access.

Want to kill a huge bull or mulie? The Jicarilla Apaches will hook you up...for a fee.