Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber Montana .338 Federal

How accurate is your Kimber Montana chambered in .338 Federal?

Does it shoot Barnes bullets well?

Is the recoil "stout"? (The Kimber stock fits me very well).

I have a KM 7-08 so know about the rifle, but was thinking about the larger caliber. There is a used one that has me thinking.

Thanks,

Kurt

Well, Kurt, I don't have a direct answer to your .338F questions, but I have a Montana in .325 WSM, and I feel recoil from it is very similar to my '06 Featherweight.

Kurt

I have one, the felt recoil isn't bad at all. It shoots the 185 gr. TSX's very well. I have one in 308 also. It does recoil a little more than the 308. I'm shooting 150 gr. TSX's in the 308. They are very comfortable for me to shoot.

Kurt, I've shot a 338Fed in the 84M Montana and it wasn't that punishing to make it a "flinch producer". Yes more than my 7-08's but not that bad. Only you can decide what is too much for you. Good luck.

I have one. It shoots the TTSXs better than anything else. Both 160s and 185s. I only recently started shooting the 160s, but out of a couple 3-shot groups the biggest group has been .71 and they are running in the low 3000s. The 185s are my go-to load and run 2725ish. As for recoil it is pretty snappy. It does not have a big punishing push like heavier recoiling rifles, but it is very quick on recoil. Don't use a scope with low eye relief and/or get lazy and creep up on the scope..ask me how I know... All in all I really, really like this rifle and cartridge.

Kurt, my experience has been very similar to what prm just said. I was just out shooting mine today and tried a couple new loads while I was out. Like prm, my go to load is the 185 TSX at about 2650 fps and that shoots sub moa. I also shot the 160s today and think I may swith to that bullet for all my Texas hunting. The groups showed potential and the recoil was a bit less than the 185s. One thing that I will say about the 338 Montana is that, IMO, recoil seems to become noticeably stiffer as you increase bullet weight, more so than other rifles I have shot.

Just for variety, I think the 160 may become my deer load. Certainly a noticeable decrease in recoil from the 210s down to the 160.

The 160 is def more enjoyable to shoot than the heavier bullets. The higher velocity should make it hell on deer. I want to see it work on some bigger stuff too.

What kind of speed are you getting from the 160's ? I have a Ruger and a Sako 85 in .338 Fed. and I have just got the Ruger dialed in with 185gr. TSX's. It shoots in the .400's with my load. I dont know the real world velocity yet.

Thanks,
Kevin

I only have a couple of chrono readings with the 160s, but with 49.5-50 grains of 8208 (Hodgdon book) it is 2900 and with 52 grains of AA2230 (Barnes Book) it seems to be low 3000s (~3000 one day, ~3030 for another). Looking forward to shooting again in some decent light and getting some more refined numbers. FWIW, the 52gn AA2230 load was 20FPS faster and shot tighter groups (.71 vs. 1.28) with BR2s than with 210s (based on a single three shot group each mind you).

Thanks for the input so far! The .338 Federal sounds like a good cartridge in the Montana package with decent accuracy potential.

Kurt

The 338 Federal kinds of pushes my old favorite the .358 Winchester aside.

If the .338 Fed. had been chambered in my 99 when I got it a half century ago, instead of the .358, I might have been a little better off, somehow.

Now if you want to be practical, and who wants that, then just get a 308.