Best non custom mountain rifle

[WonkyWapiti]

Has anyone checked out the Kimber Mountain Ascent?

Luke, I've been looking at the standard 84M in .308. I'm curious, what upgrades did you make to this?

 

[rodney482]

have you guys seen the new remington.....

http://www.remington.com/en/product-families/firearms/centerfire-families/bolt-action-model-783.aspx

 

[Shrek]

The remmy looks like another 770 version and all I can say is run from it ! Remington has gone WAY down hill in quality and their new budget designs are throw away rifles. The action is glued into the stock and the gun is not meant to ever be rebarreled.

 

[Stinky Coyote]

Blaser k95 looks pretty versatile, takedown, iron sights backup, quick detach scope system, light. The .270 win I just picked up is 5 lb 7 oz naked, scope mount/rings 6.5oz, wearing a leupy vx3 2.5-8x36 it's 6 lb 9 oz, thats near 24" barrel with irons, and the versatily that goes with. Wanna pack out with gun in hand, leave scope in pack and carry 5.5 lbs and use irons if u need to protect yourself from a bear? A blaser r93 professional would be a doozie if a repeater was mandatory and it still takes down but need the Allen wrench to put it back together, two screws. I will try one eventually. And up till now I ran a tikka t3 lite stainless in 270 sub moa no sweat and then sako a7 stainless in 270wsm also easy sub moa with factory ammo. All make excellent factory mountain rifles! I figure I'm going to step from the t3/a7 right up to the blasers bypassing the kimbers n such.

 

[Salmo-Priest]

Most accurate rifle I ever owned was a Kimber Montana in .308. Off the bench anyway. Most can't shoot really light very well offhand. I know i'm one of them! The Kimber 84M 308's are very accurate and and really wonderful carry.

 

[worx53]

I'll revisit this topic. I ran a gun shop for a few years in the late 80's early 90's and sold every brand/model and we did a lot of shooting with various factory ammo and the stubborn guns we would develop loads for. Some of the best "out of the box" lightweight shooters then:
Remington Mountain Rifles 270, 280, 3006
Remington Custom Kevlar KS 270, 280, 7 mag, 308,7mm-08
Weatherby Vanguards in all calibers (much better and consistent than MKV's)
Ruger 77RL ultralight in 270,308,280,30-06

A lot of these older models are in the used racks these days at a pretty decent price and these consistently did very well with factory ammo. I remember about 75% of Weatherby MK5 owners belly-aching about how the cheap Remington's shot way better and then working up handloads and dealing with bedding issues with their MKV's.
AHHH the old days, boy have times changed.
BTW: I've owned three Kimber Montana's that didn't shoot well enough to keep them. I have a wood stocked Kimber that's a tack driver.
I bought a HS Pro 2000 in 30-378 and it shoots everything in one ragged hole and was worth every penny.

 

[boom]

i have a weatherby MKV in 257 wtby. that thing is a lazer!! i have killed so many mulies with the thing. all died standing. furthest shot was a 400 yards or so.
i only shot premium factory ammo loaded with 120gr nosler partitions.

my other rifle is a beat up, slightly modified M70 in 30.06..with handloads, i can shoot tiny cloverleafs all day long off a bench. i got got lazy and bought premium nosler bullets. groups open up to about an inch..but ELK hate that thing. looking thru the VXIII scope at an elk and it is worth a chuckle. elk are big..hard to miss.

now i bowhunt only. elk are tiny!! easy to miss! i'm like a freaking vegetarian.

if i rifle hunt the mountains..either one of my rifles would kick butt. both are scratched from the mountains.

 

[bcimport]

Marlin 1895 SBL. Sold everything else.

 

[mtswampfox]

I have been using my Remington Model 7 ss in 7mm-08. Small package,lightweight and accurate. It's a joy to pack around.

nice rifle. have a winchester mod 70 compact in 243 that has about the same specs.

 

[Birddog]

I have a Mod 700 LSS in 280 Rem scoped with a Leupold VX3 3.5-10X40 with a Jewell trigger that shoots 0.39" with 140 gr AB and 0.54 with 160 gr AB. I had it glass bedded and the trigger changed here http://www.robrobertsgunworks.com/ and I can't imagine wanting anything else. It weighs in at 6.4#. The groups open up when I heat up that tiny barrel, but for three shots it stacks em. Beyond that it opens up to around 1.5-2.5".

 

[BackpackHunter]

I'm going to have to go with a Christensen Arms Carbon Classic 7mm Rem Mag. Just picked one up and it's out of box accuracy is as guaranteed. It dropped about 3.5 lbs from my previous hunting rig and the perceived recoil is lighter than my .308.

 

[Clarktar]

I'm going to have to go with a Christensen Arms Carbon Classic 7mm Rem Mag. Just picked one up and it's out of box accuracy is as guaranteed. It dropped about 3.5 lbs from my previous hunting rig and the perceived recoil is lighter than my .308.

How much was that Christensen rig?

 

[Justin Crossley]

At around $4,500.00 I would consider that gun a custom. Nice rifle. I liked the one I shot.

 

[luke moffat]

I'm going to have to go with a Christensen Arms Carbon Classic 7mm Rem Mag. Just picked one up and it's out of box accuracy is as guaranteed. It dropped about 3.5 lbs from my previous hunting rig and the perceived recoil is lighter than my .308.

Got pics of that thing on a scale...sounds pretty sweet!

 

[BackpackHunter]

I have to eat some crow guys. I purchased the Carbon Hunter not the Classic. I apologize...I thought the Hunter was a subcategory of the Classic.

I called Christensen Arms today and learned the difference. Same rifle, but the Hunter used a stainless Remington factory barrel and has a 1.5 MOA guarantee. The Classic has a Shilen stainless match grade barrel and has a 1 MOA guarantee. The Hunter has been discontinued.

I picked up my rifle for $2400 at my local hunting store. The Classic, according to Christensen Arms is $400 more, so I'm guessing the price is approximately $2800.

My rifle with scope and accessories weighs in at 8 pounds 11.9 ounces. That saved me about 3 pounds on my rifle.

Again I'm sorry for the confusion.

 

[BackpackHunter]

I forgot to add. The rifle is shooting sub 1 MOA groups out of the box with cheap factory loads. Over the Winter I'll work up some handloads and see what it can really do.

 

[Matt W.]

What weight do you guys want your mt rifles at? I like them as close to 7lbs, or less, as possible for me to consider it a Mountain Rifle. You guys?

 

[luke moffat]

What weight do you guys want your mt rifles at? I like them as close to 7lbs, or less, as possible for me to consider it a Mountain Rifle. You guys?

Same here...but if I can get them in at 6 pounds even better. My shots aren't that long, and hiking in 10+ miles I prefer lighter the better.



Though if only going a couple miles in or something I could see hauling a cannon certainly. Certainly a time/place for heavier rifles and hunting northern ID last week sure proved that very thing!

 

[Buster]

T3. .270wsm

X2 on this rig. Stainless synthetic, topped with a vortex 4-14x44 HS. Think it's sitting a little over 7 pounds before the sling. Stock feels a little cheap, but boy does she shoot.

For ultimate 1 gun flexibility, was going go with 300 WSM, but was too antsy to wait for one to come in. The 270 with 150 grain lead has done well on sheep, elk and goat. Confident it will handle a moose too. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Matt W.]

Same here...but if I can get them in at 6 pounds even better. My shots aren't that long, and hiking in 10+ miles I prefer lighter the better.

Though if only going a couple miles in or something I could see hauling a cannon certainly. Certainly a time/place for heavier rifles and hunting northern ID last week sure proved that very thing!

What do you mean by cannon. 8lbs? : )