A Kimber Montana Story

[Antares]

I've recently been having a little fun with a rifle that I haven't shot in years and I thought I'd share.

This is a Kimber Montana in .308 Win that I bought new around 2013. It was my main hunting rifle for 5 or so years, then I got sucked into Tikka World and I hadn't shot it since. All this gun ever did was AK blacktail and goat hunts.

This spring I decided to pull it out and shoot it a bit, with no real plan other than that. Since I had last shot it, I had the barrel cut to 16.5" by Kampfeld, bedded the action, free floated the barrel, and replaced the bolt handle with a Ti one from that guy on 24CF. This rifle used to wear a Leupold 2.5-8x36 but I had since sold that, so to rescope it I decided to try a SWFA UL. I've always had a leather buttpad (with an extra slice of cutting board inside it) on this rifle to extend the LOP (14 3/8").

This is how it looked after a quick dusting off and w/ the new scope installed.

Kimber Montana .308 Win (16.5" bbl)
SWFA UL 2.5-10x32mm (556 BDC reticle) in Talley LW rings
US OG suppressor w/ LS Wild cover
6 lbs 6 oz



I decided it would be fun to take this rifle on the first deer hunt of the season. I have lots of factory Hornady Black 168 A-MAX ammo, so that's what I tried first. This is a 300-yard max rifle for me, so the 2500 fps and 1.5-2 MOA groups I got out of the A-MAX was good enough.

The SWFA UL is a variable 2-10x, but I locked the magnification ring at 5.5x with tape, making it a fixed power scope. I did so for the following reasons:

1) It's SFP with a BDC reticle; 5.5x magnification is what lined the 300-yard subtension in the reticle up with the trajectory of this rifle (when combined with a 2" high zero at 100 yards).

2) The imagine quality on this scope really deteriorates in the higher magnification range, so why bother.

3) Simplicity.

After zeroing (2" high at 100 yards), I decided to see how well my napkin-math 300-yard subtension worked. I set up a 10" plate at 300 yards and went 5/5. Shots were pretty well centered elevation-wise, so I called that a win and moved on. At this point, I probably only had 20ish rounds through the gun on this "reboot," but I'm zeroed and ready to hunt.

 

[Antares]

Found a weather window I liked and headed out around mid afternoon so I could get to alpine with enough time to setup camp and do a little glassing. Saw many younger bucks but also one that looked older. He was across a big ravine at about 500 yards. Kept an eye on him as the light faded. Set up camp, set my alarm, and decided if he was still there in the morning, I'd try to get him. Listened to ptarmigan call around my tent all night.







Woke up early, had coffee and grits in the dark. The light came up and I found that he had rebedded in the night but was still on the same face. I hustled because all the other deer on the mountain were up and feeding already except for him. It took me an hour to go around the bowl at the top of the ravine and come down on top of him, closing the range from 500 to 75 yards. He was still bedded and facing away downhill. I set up over my pack and shot him in the head/neck junction. He was too big for me to pack in one load, plus camp, so I double carried which made for a 9-mile day. I used to do deer like this in one load, but started double carrying more frequently a few years ago. It takes forever, but my body feels a lot less wrecked when I'm done.

 

[Antares]

Took the Kimber out for another quick overnighter. Saw some bucks but nothing was in a good spot. I’ll get em next time. Always nice to get out regardless.

Everything is out of velvet now except for the spikes.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I actually pulled my Montana 308 out the other day, mine hasn’t been hunted with in awhile either. I installed a DNZ scope mount and put my ti xc on it (I swapped to the rearden thread cap which saved some weight) and I was sitting at 6lb 5oz with the accupoint 3-9 and the silencer. I was sort of even thinking of using it for moose this year with my 165g partition hand load.

 

[handwerk]

Looks like a fun project and handy rifle to have afield. I sure enjoy the custom rifles I've put together on that 84M action.

 

[Te Hopo]

Looks like a good start to its 2nd life

 

[ianpadron]

Love me some Kimbers...number 6 is currently in the mail.

I used that SWFA scope for years on my .243, it's as good a scope as any for stackin' deer at all reasonable ranges, and can't beat the weight.

Good luck with it, I like my Tikkas just as much as the next guy but I'll take a Kimber 10/10 when given the chance

 

[ianpadron]

Do it!

I actually pulled my Montana 308 out the other day, mine hasn’t been hunted with in awhile either. I installed a DNZ scope mount and put my ti xc on it (I swapped to the rearden thread cap which saved some weight) and I was sitting at 6lb 5oz with the accupoint 3-9 and the silencer. I was sort of even thinking of using it for moose this year with my 165g partition hand load.

 

[Antares]

Updated

 

[handwerk]

Thanks for the write up and congrats on a beautiful buck in stunning country.

 

[Antares]

Thanks for the write up and congrats on a beautiful buck in stunning country.

Thanks! Yeah, it's been fun. I'm thinking of taking this rifle on maybe one more deer hunt this year and then switching back to my 6CM Tikka for later season.

 

[Ecampbell25]

Great write up! Congrats on an awesome buck!

 

[Jon Boy]

Cool rifle. More importantly, incredible hunt. Very jealous this seems to be a standard hunt for you every year!

 

[Pilsner]

This makes me want another Kimber 8400. Or rather makes me want my old one back AND a new one. Such is the way of life I suppose

 

[Jordan]

Nice buck! What cheek pad is that?

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

Somehow missed this one, very cool write up and sweet rig. Excited to get out on Kodiak within the next couple years and chase some blacktail.

 

[Antares]

Nice buck! What cheek pad is that?

Kick-EEZ

https://kickeezproducts.com/collect..._0BvduSXTFuPM--lUCVBbGCshIY-KcGhYlbVDPQhn8CL5

 

[Antares]

Checked zero this morning. Still looks like it’s roughly where I set it (2” high at 100 yards) after two hunts and a lot of 4wheeler miles. Letting a friend carry this on a hunt this week, so glad to see the zero is holding.