Kimber Hunter or a Tikka T3X Superlite?

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Thank you for your input.

Yeah heard all about the 6.5, never shot one. I guess it is mainly deer I will be using it for. So I guess I am trying to interpret your claim how I gain 150-200 yard? Because the 308 will have plenty of energy. Obviously it will drop more than the 6.5. I will be using a leupold with CDS so not to concerned there.

Look at the ballistics between the two and see where they both hit 1800 fps (typical minimum velocity required for reliable expansion). That’s where you get the additional yardage over the 308. Take a look at the numbers for the 270 Win and 7mm-08 as well.

 

[roosiebull]

I’d take a hard pass on the 308. Depending on which ammo your rifle likes, your 500 yards goal will be at it’s upper limits. The 6.5 CM the I’ll give you another 150-200 yards.

Do strongly recommend that you compare the ballistics between the two. The 308 isn’t “all that”. The 7mm-08 is a strong contender as well.

Don’t have a Kimber but do have several Tikkas and they’ve all been boringly accurate and reliable. But shoulder as many as you can as fit is important as well.

Edit: Forgot about the good ole 270 Win. It’s a good option as well.

If shooting factory ammo, the 308 gets more attractive… I will give up a couple hundred yards in trade for ammo to shoot… I like the creed myself, but if I could turn it into a 308 today I would with ammo and reloading supplies hard to find

I have not looked into 308 ballistics, but I know stuff gets killed with them further than I’ll shoot in the woods. A good friend of mine has killed a lot of deer and elk with a 308 outside of 500yds

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

You could buy a pre-fit barrel for the Tikka, the wrench and vise, and still have money left over for a lighter stock for it.

Then you can pick your cartirdge, barrel length, barrel weight, fluting, etc., And swap in a few minutes between .308 and your new cartridge.

Did not need that idea on my side…….

 

[sndmn11]

Did not need that idea on my side…….

It is silly easy!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My thoughts are all over the place with this, I have a Kimber Montana 308 and a tikka t3x 6.5 creedmoor. I’d be really hard pressed to pick just one of them. My Kimber has not had any issues and easily shoots 1” groups with my hand loads. It could probably shoot better but I don’t mess around much after getting to 1” or just below. I really like the 308 but completely understand that at this point it’s a bit antiquated. I’ve found that with 150 and 165g accubonds it shoots great but right now I mostly load hammers from 137 to152g in it and those have sort of added a new performance level to the 308.

The tikka is also a great gun and it’s hard to really complain about it, it is bigger overall and heavier than my Kimber which dosent really matter. The Kimber for me is pretty much purely a backpacking rifle or something I’d take bow hunting at this point. The tikka shoots great and is basically the rifle that rokslide built with a 3-9 SWFA and sports match rings. It’s a good gun, would make a great deer gun for just about anybody.

The cartridge thing is sort of a wash to me, I have a bunch of factory Ammo but primarily hand load, I have plenty of components to shoot 308 and 6.5cm for quite awhile. I have a hard time picking one of those cartridges over the other. The 6.5 has some good stuff going for it but I like 30cal.

If this was just for deer hunting, based on the type of deer hunting here in AK, I’d probably take the Kimber and call it a day.

I think that part of the reason that I like tikkas but don’t LOVE them is because I’ve never had an issue with a Kimber. They have all worked so well for me that I havnt had any reason to search elsewhere for what I wanted when I was in the market. Right now I have 2 kimbers (308 Montana and 300wm mountain ascent). I only have one tikka at the moment but looking to add a 30-06 sometime as a good, fairly lightweight mountain rifle. I already have an SWFA 6x and sports match rings sitting around just waiting for a gun to go on.

When I was hanging out around a lot of sheep hunters, both tikkas and kimbers had a pretty equal showing.

 

[NilsBackstrom]

Thank you everybody for the input. I ended up getting the kimber hunter pro in 6.5 creed. Haven't shot it yet since I am waiting to get ahold of a scope. I was able to get ahold of a few boxes of Hornady precision hunter. So I am hoping it won't be too picky.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Thank you everybody for the input. I ended up getting the kimber hunter pro in 6.5 creed. Haven't shot it yet since I am waiting to get ahold of a scope. I was able to get ahold of a few boxes of Hornady precision hunter. So I am hoping it won't be too picky.

Cool, I love kimbers.