Kimber Mag space COAL?

[rileybassman]

How much space or what types of COAL's are you guys getting out of your kimbers? Can you get to the lands with a 84L or 8400 WSM actions or is it a no go for heavy for caliber bergers? Shoot primarily TTSX's and VLD-Hs... Thanks!

 

[RoJo]

I am about to find out. I have a .280AI modified case being delivered by USPS today for my Subalpine...not a short magnum, but it is an 84L.

 

[N2TRKYS]

According to my buddies that shoot ttsx bullets, don't worry about chasing the lands. Barnes bullets like a jump.

 

[rileybassman]

According to my buddies that shoot ttsx bullets, don't worry about chasing the lands. Barnes bullets like a jump.

Yea I have reloaded em for awhile... my 06 shoots good with a small jump, but I have them loaded at 3.330" which is a little long...

 

[RoJo]

I will be working with Barnes 145gr LRX and Berger 168gr VLDH bullets, just because that is what I have right now. I have found that Barnes' suggested .050 off the lands generally works well. I plan to start there and see if there are any fitment or feeding issues.

 

[luke moffat]

Shooting stubby bullets like CEB Raptors, woodleigh, and heavy swift aframes and such I can get to the lands....high BC heavy for caliber bullets...not so much.

 

[rileybassman]

Shooting stubby bullets like CEB Raptors, woodleigh, and heavy swift aframes and such I can get to the lands....high BC heavy for caliber bullets...not so much.

Awesome, thanks Luke!

 

[RoJo]

The .280AI modified case arrived as expected. I measured up both the Barnes 145gr LRX BT and the Berger 168gr VLD Hunting bullets at the lands of my Subalpine, and then backed those off .050". That gave me 3.324 OAL for the Barnes and 3.375 OAL for the Berger. I then seated one each to the respective lengths.

The Barnes round fit in the magazine, and also fed and ejected.

The .051 difference was just enough to cause problems for the Berger round, though. A single round would go into the magazine because the bullet tip was just above the lip of the box, but it was just a bit too long to fit down into the magazine box to make room for subsequent rounds. It also would not feed or eject properly. On ejection, the bullet tip caught the front edge of the port.

I am actually OK with these results since I am a fan of Barnes bullets anyway. I will be loading up a ladder test of the LRX's with some IMR 4350. Obviously, I could seat the Bergers deeper and make them work, and if the Barnes do not perform well I may try that.

 

[rileybassman]

The .280AI modified case arrived as expected. I measured up both the Barnes 145gr LRX BT and the Berger 168gr VLD Hunting bullets at the lands of my Subalpine, and then backed those off .050". That gave me 3.324 OAL for the Barnes and 3.375 OAL for the Berger. I then seated one each to the respective lengths.

The Barnes round fit in the magazine, and also fed and ejected.

The .051 difference was just enough to cause problems for the Berger round, though. A single round would go into the magazine because the bullet tip was just above the lip of the box, but it was just a bit too long to fit down into the magazine box to make room for subsequent rounds. It also would not feed or eject properly. On ejection, the bullet tip caught the front edge of the port.

I am actually OK with these results since I am a fan of Barnes bullets anyway. I will be loading up a ladder test of the LRX's with some IMR 4350. Obviously, I could seat the Bergers deeper and make them work, and if the Barnes do not perform well I may try that.

This is good information - thanks for checking on that!

 

[wyo2track]

I have a Kimber 8400 Classic in .300 win mag. My Kimber has a throat as long as a giraffes'... But.. the magazine restricts overall length if you want to be able to use the rifle as a repeater. I don't even worry about where the ogive is on bullets. Just load to COAL of 3.360". That's as long as the magazine will allow and the rounds will still feed reasonably in the magazine. I'm confident that if I decided to use it as a single shot I could shoot Berger 215 gr Hybrids, but that's not how I want to use the rifle.

 

[tm7554]

I have a Kimber 8400 Classic in .300 win mag. My Kimber has a throat as long as a giraffes'... But.. the magazine restricts overall length if you want to be able to use the rifle as a repeater. I don't even worry about where the ogive is on bullets. Just load to COAL of 3.360". That's as long as the magazine will allow and the rounds will still feed reasonably in the magazine. I'm confident that if I decided to use it as a single shot I could shoot Berger 215 gr Hybrids, but that's not how I want to use the rifle.

Why not open up the mag box? Kimber’s win mag action Is the same action as the 375 H&H. As I understand it, this can easily taken out for extra mag box length needed.

 

[wyo2track]

Why not open up the mag box? Kimber’s win mag action Is the same action as the 375 H&H. As I understand it, this can easily taken out for extra mag box length needed.

I really appreciate the information. That'd be great. I've never researched into modifying anything on it, its just always under 1 MOA with either 180g or 200g Accubonds so I've never fiddled with changing anything. It'll shoot 180 Remington CoreLoks near 1/2 MOA, but who wants to shoot factory ammo... So...I make life more interesting shooting bonded bullets...lol. I just got some 200g ELD X to try and those are ~0.030 longer than the Accubond 200g. Couldn't be a better time to look at a lengthening the mag box.