Kimber Montana vs. Tikka T3x Superlite vs. Savage 16 LWH (308)

[Formidilosus]

OP, don't listen to that because it's factually untrue. Barrel twist, bullet weight, and velocity will determine how well a round performs through a certain rifle, if the rifle is without fault. There's no such thing as a picky rifle, just an uninformed shooter. Don't listen to us though, just give it some review online and come to the conclusion yourself.

Granted I could be mistaken as I get paid to shoot and only around 70,000 rounds a year through rifles and and I only see a half million or so shot by others- though admittedly some are pistol rounds.... nah I'm not mistaken.


Now through extrapolations of multiples of each- good guns do in fact shoot most ammo acceptably well. Poorly put together rifles with poor componentry and poor QC do in fact not shoot most ammo well. I.e. they are picky. Some rifles are renowned for shooting pretty much all ammo well and to the same point of impact: ULA/NULA's being the clencher in that regard, though Tikka do well also, though not so much in POI placement.

 

[elkguide]

OP, don't listen to that because it's factually untrue. Barrel twist, bullet weight, and velocity will determine how well a round performs through a certain rifle, if the rifle is without fault. There's no such thing as a picky rifle, just an uninformed shooter. Don't listen to us though, just give it some review online and come to the conclusion yourself.

Granted I could be mistaken as I only shoot and only around 70,000 rounds a year through rifles and and I only see a half million or so shot by others- though admittedly some are pistol rounds.... nah I'm not mistaken.


Now through extrapolations of multiples of each- good guns do in fact shoot most ammo acceptably well. Poorly put together rifles with poor componentry and poor QC do in fact not shoot most ammo well. I.e. they are picky. Some rifles are renowned for shooting pretty much all ammo well and to the same point of impact: ULA/NULA's being the clencher in that regard, though Tikka do well also, though not so much in POI placement.[/QUOTE]



70,000 by 365 = 191.78 per day. That's a lot of shooting.

WOW! What kind of a job do you have that allows/pays/ requires/ lets you get to have that much fun?

 

[Formidilosus]

All,

Just an update: I just hit 'submit' on an order on a Kimber Montana in 308 from EuroOptic.

Fingers crossed.

Thank you all for the assistance and discussion as I've thought through this topic and attempted to benefit from your collective knowledge.

I just saw this. It will probably be a good rifle. Go to 24hourcampfire and search for the Kimber fixes thread. It has everything you need to check when you get it.

 

[Rorschach]

Like I say, this will have been a failure if I have to 'tinker' with a $1200 rifle in any way to get it to shoot, when I could've possibly gotten an $800 one and not had to tinker with it to get it to shoot.

I'm going to put as little wear on it and as few rounds through it to verify whether it can or cannot shoot to my accuracy standards, then it's on to the next life for it if not.

Edit: most of those threads at 24hourcampfire or anywhere else I could find were either older threads, or were about older guns. I'm hoping it's the case that they got their issues worked out.

Next, I guess it'll be a Tikka, if this doesn't work out.

 

[Jimbob]

Like I say, this will have been a failure if I have to 'tinker' with a $1200 rifle in any way to get it to shoot, when I could've possibly gotten an $800 one and not had to tinker with it to get it to shoot.

I'm going to put as little wear on it and as few rounds through it to verify whether it can or cannot shoot to my accuracy standards, then it's on to the next life for it if not.

Edit: most of those threads at 24hourcampfire or anywhere else I could find were either older threads, or were about older guns. I'm hoping it's the case that they got their issues worked out.

Next, I guess it'll be a Tikka, if this doesn't work out.

I would gladly tinker with a gun if it saved me 16 ozs. Heck I'll tinker with a gun just for the fun of it. I understand though that is not what you want with this gun.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Don't worry about it. When you get the rifle, buy some decent ammo and take it to the range. Allow a little time between three shot groups for the barrel to cool down, run a wire brush down the barrel between every couple shots, and enjoy. I'm betting that you're going to love this rifle when it's all said and done. But I don't know, maybe I'm just an optimist.If in the end you want to shave a few more oz's off of it, for very little money, you can put an aluminum trigger guard and titanium bolt handle on it, and cut almost a quarter pound.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[elkguide]

It's probably not going to shoot so why don't you just have them ship it directly to me and then you won't have to worry about not liking it. I'll be glad to give you half of your money back and you'll never even have to touch it.
Just my kind side showing through.

I was excited when I bought my first Montana and after getting it home and ringing it out a few times, I discovered that Kimber was then offering them with a 3 position safety. So I sent it to them and it was everything that I wanted and all it did for me was to get me to buy 2 more and so when you ship me that awful one of yours, Rshack, I'll put it in the safe right beside the other ones and it will be right at home.

I'm very sure that you're going to be very happy with your decision.

 

[Rorschach]

Thanks for the reassurance - I'll keep y'all posted. May get to shoot it later this week. If I go the Leupold Custom Shop route, I won't have an optic just for this rifle for some time, but I do have a Vortex Strike Eagle on another rifle that I could perhaps mount to the Kimber temporarily.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Don't worry too much, I just got a brand new 308 like you. I was nervous so I pulled it apart to check on things I'd seen online. Mine had none of those problems and easily shoots sub MOA.

None of the other more recent ones I've seen from my friends have any problems either. I'm convinced that the problems were all on older ones.

That being said, I'd love to grab an older one that won't shoot for a good price and fix it up.

 

[luke moffat]

I have had 4 Kimber and have never had any of the typical Kimber issues. And yes I do have a load for each one that will go between 1-1.5 inch 3 shot groups everytime.

I don't nor have ever dialed for distance with a scope when killing an animal, for target fun sure, but for my needs for a hunting riflescope a standard duplex reticle with a waterproof scope that holds zero for me is all I need. I have come to realize that I don't need a dang dial for the hunting I do. Granted I am only shooting inside 400 yards at animals and have yet to find that a limiting factor in my success or lack there of.

I would say the OP has nothing to worry about and have no doubt he will find something that works in his 308 Kimber. With the right scope and a few mods you can have 5.75 pound scoped rifle. I hunt A LOT more than I shoot and likely put less shots at the range all year than Form does on his 200 shots a day average. Luckily animals aren't hard to kill for my sake

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Where can one buy the aluminum trigger guards and to bolt handles for a montana?

 

[Rorschach]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I'm seriously crossing my fingers for a sub-MOA rifle with factory loads once it's all said and done.

I've sort of narrowed it down to just a few optics I'd like to try (but of course I'm open to more suggestions).

I wasn't thinking Leupold scopes at first, but the initial discussion back a couple of pages turned me onto them, given their weights.

1) VX-1 3-9x40 with TMR reticle, capped turrets.
2) VX-2 3-9x40 with TMOA reticle (TMR not offered, but I'm not opposed to the TMOA reticle anyway), capped turrets.
3) VX-3i 3.5-10x40 with TMR reticle, capped turrets.

Again, should I make a new optics thread about this, or are we okay to discuss this here? I don't mind either way.

Any big pro's or con's to any of these? The prices are all affordable, they're all right there at 11-12oz, and I think those reticles would afford me the convenience of not having to dial out to 450yds at least. I'd really like to avoid dialing, per the advice given in this thread.

 

[luke moffat]

I have VX-2s on most of my hunting rifles and they work fine for me.

 

[GKPrice]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I'm seriously crossing my fingers for a sub-MOA rifle with factory loads once it's all said and done.

I've sort of narrowed it down to just a few optics I'd like to try (but of course I'm open to more suggestions).

I wasn't thinking Leupold scopes at first, but the initial discussion back a couple of pages turned me onto them, given their weights.

1) VX-1 3-9x40 with TMR reticle, capped turrets.
2) VX-2 3-9x40 with TMOA reticle (TMR not offered, but I'm not opposed to the TMOA reticle anyway), capped turrets.
3) VX-3i 3.5-10x40 with TMR reticle, capped turrets.

Again, should I make a new optics thread about this, or are we okay to discuss this here? I don't mind either way.

Any big pro's or con's to any of these? The prices are all affordable, they're all right there at 11-12oz, and I think those reticles would afford me the convenience of not having to dial out to 450yds at least. I'd really like to avoid dialing, per the advice given in this thread.

Frankly, for money spent I'd go with #3, heck I HAVE gone with #3, have 3 of them - 3.5 is a perfect lower range and if you can't tell you want to kill it on 10x it doesn't need killin' - optics just a little nicer with the vx3i series - IMO all you'll need is the 40mm objectice

 

[Rorschach]

Thanks, luke. Is the glass on the VX-1 much inferior to that of the VX-2/3?

 

[Rorschach]

Ooops - replied while you were typing, GK.

That seems reasonable. I'd been reading somewhere that the glass on the VX-1's were somewhere around 91% transmission, the VX-2's were ~94%, and the VX-3's were something like 98%. As my engineer brain understands it, jumping from 6% loss down to 2% loss is a much bigger deal than it would seem just from the numbers.

 

[Rorschach]

If I can bug y'all one more time...

Rings/mounts: Will the relatively large bolt lift possibly cause an issue with mounting the optic as close as possible to the barrel (objective just short of touching)?

 

[JollyRoger]

If I can bug y'all one more time...

Rings/mounts: Will the relatively large bolt lift possibly cause an issue with mounting the optic as close as possible to the barrel (objective just short of touching)?

There's a few online calculators to help determine if your scope ring height of choice will give enough clearance. Cant remember the website off hand otherwise I'd post it. There's also a pretty easy formula to use to find this out as well.

 

[Elkfitness]

I have a Kimber adirondack in 308 and have a Nikon monarch 2.5-10x42 on it. I have talley lows and have just enough clearance. I have to use a neoprene scope cover as the butler creek scope caps run the bolt.

 

[Rorschach]

Elkfit - sounds good. I think BC's are kind of a waste anyway, so I'm planning on using some sort of bikini covers. I tear BC's up within a few months anyway, especially with any kind of carry.