Reloading for a Kimber Montana??

[13bonatter69]

I am having a #3 brux barrel put on my 280AI Montana so that it holds a little better for me. However, while I was at my smiths getting his opinion on what contour to use and just getting his thoughts overall on the project, he noticed that the magazine length is really short! We checked it against a standard Remington and it was shorter. As I recall, most people lengthen the Remington when possible.
So, does anyone reload for a long action Kimber Montana? Especially the 280AI?
I was hoping to load 160's or at LEAST 150 TTSX. I am hoping I don't have to go to a really short bullet. Anyone have any info? In the end, my smith was ok with it, so I guess I shouldn't worry. However, it would be nice to hear what others are reliably loading in this gun. Thanks

 

[Stid2677]

I have a 280AI in a Mountain Ascent, the mag is a limiting factor. If you google Berger seating you will find info on seating for a secondary accuracy node. But TSXs like a lot of jump anyway, Barnes recommends .050 off the lands to start and my own experience has been they like even deeper seating, as a rule I start by seating them just to the point the last groove disappears into the case. For bullets that like being in the lands like Bergers and Accubonds I seat so that they fit the magazine and I can eject them unfired, if they are too long the tips will break off when ejecting when they contact the action. I then work up for my powder charge and then solve for COAL, by seating my most accurate powder charge in .040 .080 and .120 and fire groups to see which combo shows my secondary accuracy node.

 

[13bonatter69]

Thank you SO much for the info! I am very new and very green to reloading, so some of this (second node and such) is a touch over my head right this second. It looks like you are making the 160 accubond work well, so that gives me hope. I am really hoping the mag length is a non-issue. If I can get my Kimber to shoot 160 accurately, I will have the perfect (FOR ME) 280AI. Really hoping all works well because if the 280AI build goes good, I am going to buy another one in 30-06 and have it rebarreled to 338-06. I have my fingers crossed.

 

[Rowdy]

I did almost exactly what you've done. I found the mag box on the 84L too short for the bullets I wanted to use so I pulled the barrel and installed a 6-06 AI 1-8" Lilja barrel with the factory contour, it'll now handle long for caliber bullets in a nice handy rifle. I also wanted a 338-06 on the same rifle but once again I didn't care for the short mag box for this round, went ahead and bought a Remington 700 mountain rifle in 30-06 and had it rebarreled by PacNor in the same factory contour. There is more than enough room in the mag box for any bullet I would want to load in that chambering. The rifle is super handy and a pleasure to shoot, gave it to my dad as he really liked it. There's nothing wrong with seating your bullet deeper it's just that I prefer options. I have no doubt that you'll be happy with your kimber regardless of what you do with it.

 

[13bonatter69]

I would probably go Remington as well, but I really like crf and all of my guns are crf instead of push feed. Im gonna stick with the crf design I think. I bet the little remmie is very handy though.....

 

[luke moffat]

I did almost exactly what you've done. I found the mag box on the 84L too short for the bullets I wanted to use so I pulled the barrel and installed a 6-06 AI 1-8" Lilja barrel with the factory contour, it'll now handle long for caliber bullets in a nice handy rifle. I also wanted a 338-06 on the same rifle but once again I didn't care for the short mag box for this round, went ahead and bought a Remington 700 mountain rifle in 30-06 and had it rebarreled by PacNor in the same factory contour. There is more than enough room in the mag box for any bullet I would want to load in that chambering. The rifle is super handy and a pleasure to shoot, gave it to my dad as he really liked it. There's nothing wrong with seating your bullet deeper it's just that I prefer options. I have no doubt that you'll be happy with your kimber regardless of what you do with it.

Yup you'll most likely be mag box limited in the Kimber Montana (I have 3 of them). But that doesn't mean you can't get accurary out of them. I picked up a used Kimber Montana in 270 for $850 I believe and had it rebored to 338-06 rather than rebarrel. It shoots 3/4" groups consistently with 210 Swift Sciroccos and I am now where near the lands. Shooting a 210 grain bullet out of the 21" barrel with only 62" grains of powder makes for a large step up in preformance over my .308 that I used mostly prior to this. Have you considered a rebore over a rebarrel? Might save ya some bucks. Have got sub MOA performance from 200 Speer Hotcors, 210 Sciroccos, and 250 Swift A Frames.....only one that I couldn't get MOA with was 225 grain nosler accubonds at 1.25-1.5", but I never played with seating depth.

Likely could have gone with a standard 30-06 in the Kimber Montana like Steve above and not noticed any realistic difference in terminal performance, but I just wanted something different and at the time last year JES hadn't done bored out any Kimber Montanas to a 338-06 so why not try something new.

No regrets on my part.


210 grain Scirocco load at 2760 fps:


Kimber Montana 338-06 mounted with VX-6 2-12X42 on top of it:


Just the rifle:


Anyways, I am happy with the setup and seems to check all the boxes I wanted. A joy to carry and knowing that with 4 250 a frames in there its more than enough gun for anything in NA.

 

[Rowdy]

Yeah my 84L started life as a 30-06 that I picked up at a similar price to yours. I guess I'm not sure about the bore dimensionally if a .30 caliber can be rebored to .338? What did you end up with for an OAL with your 250 A-frames, or a base to ogive measurement? Are you using RL-17? I'm sure I would have been more than pleased with the Kimber in 338-06, I own 5 of them and rebarreled 3 of the 5 and they are a pleasure to carry. I'm sure I'll buy more in the future, I just like the rifle.

 

[Blockcaver]

The Montana medium actions all have the same OD barrels, including my .223, my 7mm-08 and my .338 Federal (factory chambering). I suspect it is the same in the long actions housing the 30-06 based cartridges which should allow a competent barrel borer the option to open it to .338 and chamber it for .338-06. Obviously Luke has already worked thru this and he hasn't encountered issues.

 

[Rowdy]

I wasn't so worried about the OD as much as the ID, going from 30 cal to 338 if there's enough meat to do so. it seems there would be but having never done it I really don't know. I believe Luke started with a 270 which would allow for more than enough. I know you can't rebore from .277 to .284. After having a few of the Kimbers rebarreled though I know which companies I'd never use for a barrel based on their own lack of trust in their product to build Kimber OEM contour. Rock, Lilja, and PacNor are all good to go.

 

[13bonatter69]

Absolutely love the Kimber, I just like a little more meat to my barrel. It seems that my friends think I am crazy to rebarrel a new Kimber, but whats not to get. I can actually get a #3 custom barrel with flutes that will shoot lights out and do to the Kimber action and stock weighing close to nothing I can put the weight were it belongs IMO..(the barrel). In the end I STILL end up with a VERY light gun with a nice barrel contour. So for sixteen hundred give or take I get an awesome CRF action, great trigger and great stock all mated to a TRUE MATCH grade barrel!
Seems like an ok plan to me....

 

[MTarrowflinger]

I love mine. I have one with a factory bbl I cut down 2", added an aluminum trigger guard and a VX-R in 4-14 x 40mm. Overscoped for a lightweight gun; but, I like it and it's still really lightweight.

Reloading for it was a challenge, though. It took a while to find a load; but, when I did, it's lights out. I can't remember the charge. It's a 145gr Barnes LRX over IMR 4350 and shoots around 2,800fps and is more than enough for the things I'll hunt. Put an elk down graveyard dead last Saturday. I'm sure it'll be hell on deer, just haven't killed any with it.

And it's an absolute joy to carry.

 

[luke moffat]

Yeah my 84L started life as a 30-06 that I picked up at a similar price to yours. I guess I'm not sure about the bore dimensionally if a .30 caliber can be rebored to .338? What did you end up with for an OAL with your 250 A-frames, or a base to ogive measurement? Are you using RL-17? I'm sure I would have been more than pleased with the Kimber in 338-06, I own 5 of them and rebarreled 3 of the 5 and they are a pleasure to carry. I'm sure I'll buy more in the future, I just like the rifle.

As far as I know all Kimber 84M and 84Ls have .560" OD at the muzzle. Meaning evening if you didn't cut it back you would have roughly .111" if you left it at factory length. Of course I cut my barrel back from 24" to 21" to make it more handy for my uses. So at 21" my barrel OD at the muzzle is now roughly .577" (I just measured to be sure). There is plenty of meat left there. Kimber made the 338 Fed from the factory with a .560" at 22" leaving like I said .111". JES reboring wanted atleast .1" of "meat" left he said. So at .577" I could really punch it out to a 35 whelen if I wanted...but I don't.

As for my 250 A frame load I will have to get my comparator out. I will say the ogive starts early enough that at max mag length I can reach the lands. But would have to measure with the comparator to see where exactly it is. If you are interested I can go measure exactly if you'd like.

Here is a pic of the 338-06 with a .577" OD showing how much "meat" is left.

 

[Fireguy]

Luke,

How is the recoil out of such a light package?

 

[luke moffat]

Recoil is stout make no mistake. But I was able to shoot 50 rounds off the bench and sure my shoulder felt sore but far from unbearable. If you are recoil sensitive then I would say this obviously isn't the rifle for you. That said now that I have some pet loads worked up and it sighted in the rifle is meant to be carried and hunted with much more than plinking with.