So, how light can a Kimber Hunter be? A build thread.

Trackselk

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Added a lot more holes to the stock, and put some foam in it, glued a flip flop pad on there with the water activated gorilla glue, ended up at 13.6oz and still plenty rigid. I can't feel any flex pushing on it inline with the recoil. I think i forgot the magazine in my previous post where it looks lighter than this. 20240116_214907.jpg
 

Trackselk

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Finished for now. This flip flop pad is right about 0.3 oz, but I screwed up, because it isn't very soft like it should be. Going to have to do it again most likely. At least it was pretty easy to make it nice with a palm sander. Took me like 3 minutes to make the edges flush. I got stupid and choose this blue flip flop because of free shipping. The other foam I have around from exercise mats that's listed as the same foam is actually soft. I'll see how it shoots and go from there...
 

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Trackselk

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That’s a work of art. Great job. More photos please. I have a Hunter stock ready for customization.
Thanks, I could shave maybe one more half ounce with a ton of tiny holes, but I think I'll leave it alone for now. I've been talking with LRI gunsmithing and they can shave another 2 oz or so by taking off material closer to the chamber, but I think I'm done here. I might send off my unfluted 6.5cm, as they can knock off about 4 oz with fluting and 'reprofiling'. Here's a pic of the 6.5 wearing my 'cheesy' stock. It's about to lose 4 oz via changing the 6x loopy to a 2.5x, so down to 4.25 pounds if I have LRI go after it (about $300). Decided I only need the 6.5 to be my 300 yard gun, so the 2.5x scope with suffice.
 

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gtriple

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Thanks, I could shave maybe one more half ounce with a ton of tiny holes, but I think I'll leave it alone for now. I've been talking with LRI gunsmithing and they can shave another 2 oz or so by taking off material closer to the chamber, but I think I'm done here. I might send off my unfluted 6.5cm, as they can knock off about 4 oz with fluting and 'reprofiling'. Here's a pic of the 6.5 wearing my 'cheesy' stock. It's about to lose 4 oz via changing the 6x loopy to a 2.5x, so down to 4.25 pounds if I have LRI go after it (about $300). Decided I only need the 6.5 to be my 300 yard gun, so the 2.5x scope with suffice.
What ya naming it? The Swiss (cheese)?
 

Trackselk

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Thanks for the kind words, it's still a heavy weight compared to the big bore originals! I like the SC designation! Did I mention this one is the 22cm or 22SC? I swap the stock between it and the 6.5cm for now. Hardly worth going the mpi stock route now with a big maybe save about 1.6oz for $1000ish.
Here's the sad secret about all this money spent on the barrel on the 22cm. The leija barrel I got is listed as a 84m profile, which is right, but I've found out the hard way that it's not the hunter/ascent profile, it's a little heavier/thicker, so be careful if you get a new barrel, as I don't think any of the barrel makers are actually selling the hunter/ ascent profile. Now, LRI can mill it down to even lighter, and barrel only cerakoting is only $75, so I'm not out that much of a penalty if I go that route for the last 2-3 ounces. But, I haven't verified that they can turn down the diameter where it's already fluted, but I assume they can based on how lathes cut.
 

mtwarden

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The Hunter barrel is a pretty light profile, I was thinking about some straight flutes ala the Ascent barrel.

Not sure the juice is worth the squeeze though- any ballpark guess on weight savings?

If it was 3-4 ounces I think it would be worth it, if it’s only 1-2 ounces, not so much.

Thanks
 

Trackselk

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Been hunting with mine a lot lately to try to get first blood for it. Hopefully this weekend.

View attachment 658628
Good luck on the hunt! I don't think I posted the first blood with the 22cm barrel in this thread, so I might as well. A little (500ish pound) 5 point for the freezer this year. This one has a good story, because I'm pretty sure we got on this bull 3-4 years ago. It's hard to tell in the pic, but it's a medium sized bull with a disproportionately small rack. We noticed him before opening day those years ago, and I always hoped to track him down someday, but had pretty much forgotten about him. Well, I had no idea when I shot him (bedded from 300ish yards) that he had a little rack, just saw antlers and blasted him as usual. Well, his teeth showed that he was actually an old elk, luckily still fat and healthy. But, he was just a small guy, genetics or a rough start I'd guess. When my buddy finishes the euro mount process I'll try to get a pic that shows more of the story.
 

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The Hunter barrel is a pretty light profile, I was thinking about some straight flutes ala the Ascent barrel.

Not sure the juice is worth the squeeze though- any ballpark guess on weight savings?

If it was 3-4 ounces I think it would be worth it, if it’s only 1-2 ounces, not so much.

Thanks
I weighed this out once, between a mountain ascent barrel and a hunter barrel, both in 308, cut to 16 inches, the difference was 1.4oz for the flutes.
 

Trackselk

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The Hunter barrel is a pretty light profile, I was thinking about some straight flutes ala the Ascent barrel.

Not sure the juice is worth the squeeze though- any ballpark guess on weight savings?

If it was 3-4 ounces I think it would be worth it, if it’s only 1-2 ounces, not so much.

Thanks
They can go deeper with the smaller calibers, but isn't yours a .308? Kampfeld advised me not flute my 6.5cm, so I didn't. But, now that it's my 300 yard and in gun, I'm not worried about a little loss of accuracy. I probably won't carry my suppressor on the spring trips, so without that weight on the end I don't think the wippy-concerns are needed. It'll mostly be a short range elk gun for my buddy, and a goat defense wilderness gun, so if it went to 2 moa no problem.
Anyhow, think you'd get about 2 oz for fluting, and another 1-2 for the reprofiling by the chamber. I'd guess total 3 oz for 30 cal, 3.5 ounce for 6.5, and 5 ounce for 22 cal based on my chats with LRI, but I'm only guessing based on the 3-4 oz guesstimate they gave me for the 6.5.
 

Trackselk

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I weighed this out once, between a mountain ascent barrel and a hunter barrel, both in 308, cut to 16 inches, the difference was 1.4oz for the flutes.
That's pretty useful, because you can add about 2oz for the reprofiling, which is mostly taking out material near the chamber. If what they told me over the phone is accurate, it was only about $250 for both fluting and reprofile, which surprised me.
 
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ChrisAU

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They can go deeper with the smaller calibers, but isn't yours a .308? Kampfeld advised me not flute my 6.5cm, so I didn't. But, now that it's my 300 yard and in gun, I'm not worried about a little loss of accuracy. I probably won't carry my suppressor on the spring trips, so without that weight on the end I don't think the wippy-concerns are needed. It'll mostly be a short range elk gun for my buddy, and a goat defense wilderness gun, so if it went to 2 moa no problem.
Anyhow, think you'd get about 2 oz for fluting, and another 1-2 for the reprofiling by the chamber. I'd guess total 3 oz for 30 cal, 3.5 ounce for 6.5, and 5 ounce for 22 cal based on my chats with LRI, but I'm only guessing based on the 3-4 oz guesstimate they gave me for the 6.5.

Strange, he didn’t hesitate to flute my .358 ha
 

mtwarden

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I weighed this out once, between a mountain ascent barrel and a hunter barrel, both in 308, cut to 16 inches, the difference was 1.4oz for the flutes.

My barrel is 19", but looks like it would still be a pretty minimal gain- thanks!

^^ yes .308, but have a new Hunter in .243 too :D
 

mtwarden

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Has anyone ever checked w/ Kimber on the cost (or if they would even sell one?) of an Ascent bolt?
 
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