$1500 Budget - Which Gun - Which Caliber?

[hunting1]

True. I put a Manners stock on my Tikka. Solid as a rock. I still haven't found a rifle with an action as smooth as the Tiika's. Plus with the top of the breech being solid metal and not open, that action has almost no flex. Smooth baby smooth.

Post a picture, Manners makes great stuff! The parent company or Sako has all the positive aspects plus more and that silky, smooth action. I have gift cards for SWH and am tempted to play with their T3 light with the flutes in 300WM. I have a Remington Ti in 06 and a Kimber 84M in 308win so their lies my dilemma...

 

[Rucker61]

Post a picture, Manners makes great stuff! The parent company or Sako has all the positive aspects plus more and that silky, smooth action. I have gift cards for SWH and am tempted to play with their T3 light with the flutes in 300WM. I have a Remington Ti in 06 and a Kimber 84M in 308win so their lies my dilemma...

I had SW weigh the regular T3 and the fluted T3. There was only a 3 oz difference.

 

[gelton]

The "325" is actually a .323 8mm. The short mags allow for a short action rifle which means handy and light. Go hold some rifles and see what "fits". The new Winchesters were'nt on the market when I bought mine. I never could warm up to the magazine concept in the Tikkas. I held lots of rifles but when I picked up the Kimber I knew I was holding my rifle. Lots of good ones out there and if you look hard enough you'll find someone that has had issues with all of them. My Kimber has been trouble free.

A 30 cal or .323 cal 180-220gr at 2800-3000fps will kill anything you want to hunt in north america out to any range you can realistically place a good shot.

I was checking out the Kimbers on their site and only see it chambered in .270 WSM, .300 WSM, .300 WinMag, and .338 Win Mag. Did you have the gun re-chambered or do they no longer offer it and did at one time? On a side note, weatherby doesn't offer any short mags in the backcountry.

 

[Ross]

Another vote for the tikka 7mm and upgrade the scope.........i wont pretend to know all lingo on shooting, but can say the tikka 7mm is a great all mountain gun for elk.

 

[gelton]

Weird....when I saw your post thats the first rifle I thought of. You can pick that thing up at sportsmans for about 1100.00. I have a model 70 extreme weather s.s., it is an excellent mountain rifle also. It doesnt weight you down and is very handy. Can be got for around a grand. Mine is in a 300wsm, but they sell em in several elk whopping calibers.

I am impressed at how many calibers the model 70 extreme weather is offered in. Could go the .325 route with this gun and I had a client remind me today how the 7 mag was the perfect round as far as ballistic coefficients go...decisions, decisions.

 

[Dammlm]

Post a picture, Manners makes great stuff! The parent company or Sako has all the positive aspects plus more and that silky, smooth action. I have gift cards for SWH and am tempted to play with their T3 light with the flutes in 300WM. I have a Remington Ti in 06 and a Kimber 84M in 308win so their lies my dilemma...

Here you go hunting1
View attachment 14254View attachment 14256

 

[Dammlm]

Second try hunting1

 

[Snyd]

I was checking out the Kimbers on their site and only see it chambered in .270 WSM, .300 WSM, .300 WinMag, and .338 Win Mag. Did you have the gun re-chambered or do they no longer offer it and did at one time? On a side note, weatherby doesn't offer any short mags in the backcountry.

Scroll to the bottom of this page. Kimber Montana

http://www.kimberamerica.com/rifles/model-8400-wsm-calibers

 

[hunting1]

That is nice! Did you order from Stocky's? May need to try one! Did you replace the bottom and shroud as well?

 

[gelton]

Scroll to the bottom of this page. Kimber Montana

http://www.kimberamerica.com/rifles/model-8400-wsm-calibers

Somebody in marketing over at Kimber is really missing the boat. Their Montana page only shows it available in four calibers, while your link shows it available in numerous others, huge selling point that is left out of this page:

http://www.kimberamerica.com/rifles/model-8400-wsm-calibers/montana

 

[Whisky]

Lots of Tikka fans here.....I've never owned one but my brother has and it shot pretty good.

I say whatever you go with, Tikka, Remington, Savage, Winchester, etc...if it comes with a crappy plastic stock, leave yourself some money to get that replaced with a McMillan Edge or Manners EH, and have it pillar bedded. No sense buying a $500 stock, and then not having it bedded IMO. If your budget is $1500, doesn't mean you have to buy a 1500 rifle. Buy a $700 rifle and put the rest towards upgrades.

 

[Whisky]

Somebody in marketing over at Kimber is really missing the boat. Their Montana page only shows it available in four calibers, while your link shows it available in numerous others, huge selling point that is left out of this page:

http://www.kimberamerica.com/rifles/model-8400-wsm-calibers/montana

Your link goes to the WSM specific rifles (8400WSM)...His goes to all of them, 84L for long actions, 84M for short actions, etc...

 

[VernAK]

Like the other Alaskans, I find the Kimber Montana in 300 or 325 WSM hard to beat .....A decade ago, I bought the 300 wsm, mounted a scope and bought some fed 180 TSX to sight-in.....shot way less than an inch so I bought more ammo rather than reload......the rifle gets loaned out and knocked around on ATVs and rocks and has proven to be one of the most reliable rifles I've ever owned.....

 

[SJ-AK]

Some Kimbers are good, others are not. I had read all the mixed reviews and decided to roll the dice on a Montana. I liked the concept but I never got it to shoot better than 1.5 MOA and that was rare. I sold it and the next owner had issues with it not firing (Kimber said it was the firing pin spring). A friend has a Mt Ascent in 06 that doesn't feed if it is fully loaded. I know some guys have good ones, that has not been my experience.

After the Kimber debacle I bought a Tikka Superlite in 7RM. Like others have said it is slicky smooth. So much so that I had to double check it was feeding the first time I shot it. Accuracy is top notch. I have not had a load yet that didn't shoot sub moa.

 

[Dammlm]

That is nice! Did you order from Stocky's? May need to try one! Did you replace the bottom and shroud as well?

I ordered it straight from Manners. They have awesome customer service and have always replied to my emails. I used the factory floor plate and bought a magnum sized clip. The larger clip length allows you to set bullets out further if you reload. Love that stock though.

 

[SJ-AK]

I ordered it straight from Manners. They have awesome customer service and have always replied to my emails. I used the factory floor plate and bought a magnum sized clip. The larger clip length allows you to set bullets out further if you reload. Love that stock though.

Did you weigh the Manners versus the plastic stock by any chance? Also did the Manners stock come with the recoil lug already bedded?

 

[Dammlm]

Did you weigh the Manners versus the plastic stock by any chance? Also did the Manners stock come with the recoil lug already bedded?

The Manners stock weighed 5oz. Less than the plastic one from Tikka. It also came with a hardened steel recoil lug. The original lug was aluminum I believe.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I just recently purchased a scale that weighs in half gram increments up to 55 pounds so, to combat cabin fever, I've been weighing just about every piece of gear I own. I was really surprised to see that my 7mm-08 Tikka T3 lite weighs exactly the same as my Kimber Montana .300 wsm. I would've bet money that the Tikka was a lighter rifle.

 

[Dammlm]

Seems like Tikka could shed some weight from the action and a lighter barrel. But when all said and done, things start to flex when they get lighter. I'm just glad it is not my 338RUM. It comes in at 9.5lbs.

 

[husky390]

I just recently purchased a scale that weighs in half gram increments up to 55 pounds so, to combat cabin fever, I've been weighing just about every piece of gear I own. I was really surprised to see that my 7mm-08 Tikka T3 lite weighs exactly the same as my Kimber Montana .300 wsm. I would've bet money that the Tikka was a lighter rifle.

Seriously? Wow. I figured the same as you.