To mess with or not?

[03mossy]

I have a Kimber Montana .308. I never intended this to be a rifle I sought out but I happened to trade into it. My main hunting rifle is a Tikka/Rokstokec 30-06 so this Montana will be a backup/woods gun. I found a .260 Rem Montana barrel and planned on rebarreling the Montana. The mistake I made was shooting it as a .308 before the barrel swap. It shoots so damn good I'd hate to replace it with an unproven barrel that very well could be a turd. If I leave it a .308 or swap to the 260 either way I will be cutting the barrel back to 18" for a suppressor. The .308 is already threaded but I want the same thread pitch as the Tikka so might as well lop off a few inches while I'm at it.

I guess what I want advice on is if my main goal is a light recoiling whitetail gun is it worth it to still swap to a 260 or would the 308 suppressed be everything I need?

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

Everything you need.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I’d leave it alone unless you really want a 6.5mm gun.

 

[The Harbor Master]

Leave the .308 alone, build a separate .260, enjoy all 3

 

[03mossy]

I’ve decided to leave it a .308. Now do I shorten it to 18” since I’ll be adding a suppressor or leave it 22”?

 

[Tmac]

I’ve decided to leave it a .308. Now do I shorten it to 18” since I’ll be adding a suppressor or leave it 22”?

You said back up woods gun, so I’d cut it to 16.1” and probably shoot 150’s. A suppressor on a 22” barrel gets looong, especially for woods use where short is handy and ranges moderate.

 

[danhuntingmi]

If it shoots well now no guarantees once you cut it especially assuming the same loads.

I have two rifles that would probably be different if they weren't easy shooters. But they're still the same.

Unless you're recoil sensitive I have a hard time seeing the benefit of a .260 in such a scenario. Same with short barrel and suppressor. Long barrels are considerably quieter. Yeah it's cool I guess.

But it's your life.

 

[Schmo]

Cut and thread that 308 barrel!

 

[Weldor]

Shoot out the 308 then replace it.

 

[Wrench]

A 308 Montana is about as perfect as it gets for a sub 500 yard everything rifle....and you can't wear it out.

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

Cut it back. I have 3 suppressors and even my ultra 5 is too long on barrels that are >20 inches. My "rule of thumb" is barrel + suppressor = 24 inches or less.