Gimme the Story on Kimber Rifles

[WapitiBob]

Montana 84m 7-08
Mine was a piece of shiit and the best day of my rifle owning life was getting rid of it. They're for suckers or gamblers and I have better things to do with my time than fiddle with a crap stick. Buy a Tikka T3 and sleep well at night.

typical result when cycling the bolt


CS guy told me he'd never heard of that happening.
Guy on rokslide had the same issue, Kimber used a dremmel on the feed shoe and sent it back; classy work.

1-1/2" rifle on it's best day. Guys on RS touted their shooters but finally fessed up "it's good enough for a hunting rifle" when targets started showing up.

 

[EKYHunter]

Well, easy to see why it’s a love it or hate it brand. Simply beautiful @noharleyyet

 

[BZNHNTR]

Had a Montana in 280 ackley, purchased around 2011. Fought to get it to shoot OK, even then second shot was inches from first, next couple would be around 1.5 moa. Heard they have improved since then but I’m not buying.

 

[pawhitetail]

Kimber 84m 7mm-08

Didn't shoot worth a darn. It didnt matter what I tried best was about 2 moa maybe 1.5
Also had the fro t sling stud just pull out of the stock while carrying it. Only time I have ever had or seen it happen. I understand if its dropped or something but on this one you could tell that the hole was just oversized for the stud. Honestly for what that rifle cost it was a nice looking polished turd lol

 

[TheJason]

Kimber Hunter 6.5 CM. Love it. Sub MOA gun and it makes a superb backpacking rifle.

 

[Watts307]

What’s up with Kimber rifles? Some people seem to love them, but many think they’re a horrorshow.

The Montana checks a lot of boxes for a high country rifle. Lightweight, good stock, and an all around classy looking firearm without all the twisty fluting that looks like a 9 year old designed the thing.

Do they have some serious manufacturing issues that make it a crapshoot as to whether you’ll get a shooter or a stinker? Or, are the complainers just buying 5lb big magnums and upset when they can’t handle them and the thin barrels that heat up fast.

I’m lusty for a 7mm-08 for what it’s worth. Thinking low recoil is gonna be best with that weight class of mountain rifle.

Just doing my due diligence on options before I jump on the Tikka train and pair it with one of them Canadian Wildcat stocks.

Not sure how helpful this will be, because I have never shot one. I have looked at the Kimber Rifles as well and seem very nice, my brother owns one and seems to love it. However after years of working outdoor retail jobs and selling guns it seems in general Kimber gets a weird wrap. Especially there 1911s. It seems like there tolerances are to tight on a lot of guns we get in and has issues. Seems like there trying to be perfect and ends up biting them. In my personal opinion I would look for a Tikka, either a T3x Superlite or the bigger brother Tikka Roughtech. Easily some of the most accurate guns, best reputations, excellent quality control being under Sako Rifles and under the whole Beretta Corporation. OR a Bergara Rifle. They make a Premier Mountain rifle similar to a Weatherby Backcountry 2.0 for way less and a better gun. The Bergara barrels are some of the best and will probably be a more accurate, as well as longer lasting barrel. Both sell guns that are under a $1000 that feel, look, and seem built better then some brands charging ridiculous prices.

I know this is a long rant and doesn't answer much about the Kimber but if you go with a Tikka or Bergara, then it is not settling or going down in quality. I personally have my eyes out on e Tikka Roughtech Ember in .300 WM.

 

[millerkiller77]

A 5.5lb rifle will show a lot of shooting form flaws that an 8+lb rifle can hide easily. I think a lot of their bad press comes from that

You must have written Kimbers CS flow chart, your post is damn near verbatim.

 

[Doublegunner]

I own two Montana's. The first one was purchased in 2019, had the green stock with threaded muzzle and was chambered in 6.5 creedmoor. The light weight is impressive. I put a vx5 2-10 on it. Which put it at under 7 lbs without sling or ammo. When I first started shooting it my groups averaged about 2". For what I paid for the rifle I was not very happy. I could best that with any of my other rifles easily. Rather than trade it off I started doing some research on shooting lightweight rifles. There is a bit of information out there and Melvin Forbes has some good insight into it. Anyway, I made some changes with how I was shooting the rifle off the bench and my groups shrunk dramatically. I have been shooting factory ammo and settled on Hornady 120 GMX Outfitter load which grouped about .5 inches in my gun. I will also say that I adjusted the trigger on my rifle and I think that is important as shooting light rifles requires a good trigger in order to get the most out of them. As they come from the factory they are too heavy. My 2nd Montana I got in Late 2021 and is chambered in 30-06. I bought it online and it was listed as used. The website I purchased it from I had bought guns from in the past and trusted them enough to take the leap of faith since photo's of the actual gun weren't on the website. Anyway, when it arrived at my FFL I was suprised to find out that it was actually a brand new rifle and appeared to be just old stock. It had the grey stock and the muzzle was not threaded. I put another VX5 2-10 on it. I also adjusted the trigger and tried two different loads and both shoot .75 inch groups at 100 yards. In fact I have never shot a group with that rifle larger than 1 inch. I have been very happy with both of my guns. That being said I think they are purpose built rifles. If you are heading into the mountains and plan on doing a lot of hiking then I think they are hard to beat. I really don't think they are the best range guns though. The barrel's do heat up quickly and the groups will spread. Does that really matter given they are hunting rifles. I don't think so. The carbon fiber stock is impressive. It's light, stiff and does a great job handling recoil. I also have a Tikka T3X in 7RM. they are also very good guns with very slick actions. They weigh more than the Kimber's, but they aren't heavy guns by any means, and I can highly recommend them. I have not found my Tikka to be more accurate than the Kimbers. I would say on par. Which is to say, accurate. The trigger on the Tikka is not quite as good as the Kimbers. Once adjusted the Kimber triggers are fantastic. I don't doubt that some of the people who complain about the Kimbers got Lemons. It happens with any manufactured items but my suspicion as to why some people don't like them is they try to treat them like the conventional 9-pound hunting rifle and that just doesn't work very well.

 

[brockel]

You must have written Kimbers CS flow chart, your post is damn near verbatim.

Just owned enough of them. I’ve had 7 of them and all have shot good but all take great form to get to shoot good. I struggle with them in field positions

 

[Southern Elk]

Just owned enough of them. I’ve had 7 of them and all have shot good but all take great form to get to shoot good. I struggle with them in field positions

What are your thoughts on one that won’t group out of a lead sled? That’s what mine did. Worst grouping rifle that I’ve ever owned.

 

[brockel]

What are your thoughts on one that won’t group out of a lead sled? That’s what mine did. Worst grouping rifle that I’ve ever owned.

Get rid of the lead sled. Worst thing to shoot from. Especially for a light rifle

 

[David58]

Montana 84m 7-08
Mine was a piece of shiit and the best day of my rifle owning life was getting rid of it. They're for suckers or gamblers and I have better things to do with my time than fiddle with a crap stick. Buy a Tikka T3 and sleep well at night.

typical result when cycling the bolt
View attachment 258617

CS guy told me he'd never heard of that happening.
Guy on rokslide had the same issue, Kimber used a dremmel on the feed shoe and sent it back; classy work.

1-1/2" rifle on it's best day. Guys on RS touted their shooters but finally fessed up "it's good enough for a hunting rifle" when targets started showing up.

I wonder if they used the8-year-old they keep on staff with the dremel? That might be their feed ramp specialist, he got my pistol to work on. They use a pretty remarkably coarse grit, too.

David
NM

 

[npaden]

I have a stainless synthetic Kimber Montana in .300 WSM I bought used about 5 years ago and it shoots fine. I wish it liked 180 gr bullets better but it groups all of the 165 gr factory monolithic bullets right around 1” or sometimes a little better.

Don’t really love it or hate it. It has killed a few animals and is light and easy to carry.

 

[TN2shot07]

There’s definitely some truth to the form thing. A friend of mine who has helped me with a couple of guns has one of the hunters (cheaper plastic version) in 308. We scoped and sighted it in and it was pretty consistent at about an inch when he shot it.

My first 2 groups looked closer to minute of pie plate… It got better but took some practice

 

[justdada]

I've got an Ascent in 308 and love it. I'm not the greatest bench shooter, but that rifle cloverleafs on paper. I think the kids and I have filled 10 tags with it the last couple years. 80 to 440 yards. Antelope to elk. Nearly all with one shot and the recoil is light on them

 

[noharleyyet]

Just owned enough of them. I’ve had 7 of them and all have shot good but all take great form to get to shoot good. I struggle with them in field positions

The Montana 7-08 produced my favorite outcome...

 

[schmalts]

I had a Montana in 300WSM. Wanted to love it so bad, but after a year I dumped it due to accuracy and feeding. As stated, customer service is not that great. They told me the $1000.00 rifle I bought has a .75 inch 3 shot guarantee at 50.... yes 50 yards. I replaced with a Sako Finlite in the same caliber. That gun did a little over .75 inches, but at 100 yards. So I am in the side of hate them, but wanted to love them. I think that some of the rifles they make are probably great and it seemed most problems were with magnum rounds in light thin barrels.

 

[Southern Elk]

Get rid of the lead sled. Worst thing to shoot from. Especially for a light rifle

Please elaborate. I’ve never had issues with any other rifle in the lead sled. I even had a cheap lightweight savage that did much better than the Kimber.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Get rid of the lead sled. Worst thing to shoot from. Especially for a light rifle

^^This.

I used almost a box of cartridges in my 6.5 pound (scoped) Remington 700 Ti, trying to “zero” it from a lead sled after a flight. I finally took it out of the lead sled and just shot off bags. Turns out zero was where it had been originally.

 

[Seamaster]

Montana 308. Beautiful rifle, but with problems. The mag box was to high for the recess and that caused most of the issues until I took a file to the bottom of it. After a full rebedding and fooling with the rifle for a few months with different handloads I got it to shoot well enough to hunt with, but it still does not shoot tight "internet groups". I have not bothered to measure it's best groups precisely, but somewhere in the 1 1/4" to 1 3/4" range for three shots (letting the barrel cool between) is what I am seeing. The five shot groups are a bit larger.

All light rifles are a bit of a challenge to shoot well, but I have had others (Forbes, etc.) that I shot much better than than the Kimber. With a bit of work the Montana is an OK rifle, but I would certainly not buy another.