Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tale of the tape, 84M vs 20B

Youngest is sick today so I worked this morning came home early since it's my short day and the wife handed him off to me so she could go in. So today�s trigger time got crimped�.

Spent a few minutes taking a look at these two while the little one is down for the count. Not sure which is the champ and which is the challenger but they seem to be two pretty good competitors. Weigh in pics below. I know the Kimber is a shooter. I�ve not spent time with the Forbes but was told it was a shooter with a couple of factory rounds.

Kimber is wearing DNZ mounts and Forbes has the Talley�s. The DNZ are probably about an ounce heavier. Kimber is a .308, Forbes is a .243. Kimber has a 22� barrel, Forbes a 21� barrel. The Forbes barrel seems slightly thicker. Barreled action weights:

Kimber, 3 lb 9.2 oz:


Forbes, 3 lb 14.2 oz:


Gotta say the bedding on the Forbes is VERY nice. I�d read where some had problems with this, but this one appears to be top notch. Pillar bedded action, full length barrel (number prints clean). The Kimber has paint over the pillars and a free floated barrel. Neither have a tight bedded lug (at least on the front). Both are very nice stocks. The Forbes seems to have a higher comb with cheek piece, more closed grip, and longer forend. Kimber has a more narrow open grip. The action area on both is narrow and will carry well with the blind mag..they feel about the same in this area in regards to how slim they both are. The Kimber tapers more from the action area to the forend tip resulting in a slimmer forend (and slightly shorter). The Forbes is deeper through the butt from top to bottom. The Forbes is just a slightly larger stock in comparison (dimensions are still slim). That being said, it is a lighter stock and feels solid as a rock. I like them both. Stock weights:

Kimber, 1 lb 11.8 oz:


Forbes, 1 lb 8.6oz:


Mag boxes tell a pretty good tale. No getting around the Forbes �+� on this one. This was the main reason I�d been wanting a Forbes donor. Mag box pics, Kimber on left, Forbes on right:



The follower on the Forbes is SWEET and appears to be a milled follower�.but it�s also much heavier than the plastic Kimber follower. Kimber left, Forbes right:




Pro's/con's can be weighted based on what you desire/like. The stainless Kimber is a big plus to me and I prefer the 22" barrel. Most everything else on this I favor the Forbes on. I think they are both winners. The true champ may be decided by how well their managers support the players. It's a good time to be a buyer for an over the counter lightweight rifle.

Total all up weights:

Kimber, 5 lb 5 oz:
[img]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/JCMCUBIC/IMG_5510_zps4395dbc4.jpg[/img]

Forbes, 5 lb 6.8 oz:
[img]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/JCMCUBIC/IMG_5509_zps0ae97bc7.jpg[/img]

Funny how both companies can figure out how to make a light rifle, but twist rate for a 243 baffles them.

Enter the 90 gr Lapua Scenar....

Yeah, I just can't understand why they can't understand....

Hearing about the 90 Scenar the other day almost made me want to keep this one as is for a while to try it and see...but I don't think I will.

part of the reason the kimber stock is heavier is the steel trigger guard, probably accounts for a couple of ounces. Why they would jump through so many hoops to make a light rifle and put that on is beyond me?

Jerry

I prefer the Kimber to a Forbes. But I have a Forbes LA 30-06.....no SA's.

But I prefer the ULA's to the Kimber......Duh!!

Thanks for the data. Glad you're bored.

Kimbers have good triggers, forbes uses a timney, haven't been impressed by timney's I've put on other rifles, is the timney on the forbes as good as the kimber?

JCM: Good write up...thanks for posting. I like the Kimber better of the two.

No.

Me109

Why do you say this?

I have had both a 7-08 Kimber Montana and a .270 Forbes 24B. The Forbes has one of the two best out-of-the-box triggers I have ever seen (the other was a Kimber K22). Extremely crisp and exactly where I wanted it at 2# 12oz with no hint of creep. My Montana had a good, but not great trigger out-of-the-box which took some messing around to get right. Both seem like excellent triggers to me.

I weighed components and found the same as above - a heavier barrel on the Forbes and a lighter, stiffer (if somewhat bulkier) stock. I was comparing a short action Kimber to the long action Forbes with total rifle weight of the Kimber coming in about 6 oz. lighter than the longer Forbes. Both carried Talley lightweights and Leupold 2.5 - 8's.

It is a personal thing but I liked the overall feel of the Kimber better than the Forbes mostly due to the Kimber being trimmer and having a more open wrist than the Forbes. I do prefer the heavier, longer barrel of the Forbes, finding it easier to control.

The Kimber shot well, with 5 shot groups running an inch or a bit larger on average. The Forbes is simply outstanding in the accuracy department with nice, round little groups consistently far smaller than the Kimber.

My sample of one each is limited but I find it hard to fault either one.

My Kimber went down the road and the Forbes is staying - based mostly on the fact that my Forbes shoots better than the Kimber and I prefer the .270 Win to the 7-08 for my deer cartridge.

My 24b 3 function trigger came with a heavy pull weight. When trying to adjust it down to 2.5 lbs the safety would not function properly. Titan said I shouldn't be tinkering with it and Timney said they manufacture the parts but don't assemble them. Titan did suggest talking with Melvin which I did. I sent it to him and he agreed he couldn't get it under 4 lbs, didn't like the internals, swapped them out and sent it back at 2.5 lbs. When I asked Melvin how much I owed him he said nothing, just my satisfaction. It's a nice lightweight rifle and accurate. I have two Montana's and I think adjusting them down is a breeze.

Gotta consider the cost difference too. I paid $900 for my Kimber 5 years ago. What will a 20B cost?

I have built some rifles with High Tech Specialties stocks [Bansner], that is the same that Kimber uses in the 84M.
They are 20 ounces before I square up the butt, screw and glue a butt plug, add a recoil pad, cut off flashing, put filler in holes, epoxy in pillars, and paint.

Exactly.