Uberlight Kimber Rifle Build, by Luke Moffat

[hodgeman]

Good write up! I love this rifle.

After trying the subsonic loads last summer...I still think we need to haul it out for a bunny/ptarmigan hunt.

 

[luke moffat]

I had been waiting for this write up. Your gun came out great! and its the first time I have actually seen one of the MPI microlite stocks in the wild. I have been putting off trying one because I figured once it was done it would be around a pound anyway 12 ounces is AMAZING!

I have a kimber Montana in 338 federal that I think is going to get a very similar treatment, in the near future.
Question: when you ordered the MPI stock did you get a blank, or the semi pre fit model? I'm curious because I want to know if I order a blank microlite exactly what I am getting myself into. I have bedded plenty of rifles and done a little inletting but Im not sure what I would do if it just showed up as a solid piece of fiberglass and foam.

once again great job. I have spent a lot of years chasing down Light rifles and that has got to be one of, if not the lightest fully featured rifles I have ever seen. Also is it the leupold "ultralight" 2-7 you have on there? if not you could save another couple ounces pretty cheaply. Although I'm not sure why you would need to

It had some inletting done but my gunsmith (Derrick Moffitt at Alaska Frontier Custom Guns) still had to finish it up. Might be worth giving him a jingle and picking his brain on how much work was required as I just dropped it off and voila it was magically inletted and fully bedded. His contact info is at the end of the article.

As it came from MPI is was 13.4 oz with the recoil pad. After scraping out more for inletting and cutting LOP down to 12.5" (I wanted it to work well with lots of clothing too and I prefer a shorter LOP as the standard 13.75" LOP on my Montana always kinda bugged me.

Hope that helps.

 

[texag10]

Funny you mentioned that. I did this on my Browning Mountain TI 325 WSM several years ago.

So I did the same thing on this rifle during this summer:



So yeah you can get it lighter than some of the larger hand cannons by going with a reflex red dot. Being sub 4 pounds handily even.

That said as I stated in the article I also want to have the option for the MUCH more likely scenario that I spot a black I would like to take while out hiking rather than have to use it in a self defense from a bear scenario. In that case for less than a 1/2 pound more I can have a scope with 2-7X which is much more ideal for actually hunting a grizzly.

But the red dot sure makes the little devil feel even lighter and very quick for target acquisition.

Ok, I'm not going crazy, I could've sworn I saw a picture of this rifle with a micro red dot sight.

Last question: Can you give us more info on this grippy clear coat you mentioned in the article?

 

[AdamW]

Keep the info coming Luke, I really enjoy hearing your experiences and thoughts on this project. Really cool.

Now, let's be honest...how f-ing brutal is this thing to shoot?

 

[luke moffat]

Keep the info coming Luke, I really enjoy hearing your experiences and thoughts on this project. Really cool.

Now, let's be honest...how f-ing brutal is this thing to shoot?

Its honestly not as bad as my 4 pound 14 oz (before optics) 338-06 shooting 210 Sciroccos at 2830 fps.

I mean yeah the 225 partitions at 2400 fps def know its going off, but not as bad as the 338-06. The 150 Raptors at 2800 is not bad at all. You can see its pretty heavily ported so that certainly helps.

 

[BigWoods]

Now if we were to ask how brutal it is when you forget ear pro, I imagine that might be a different answer. A ported 16" barrel with a .35 cal hole must have some serious bark!

I once had a guy (the extremely considerate sort) do a mag dump in the lane next to me at an indoor range with a braked 18" FN SCAR in .308 - that was downright painful even with ear pro.

 

[luke moffat]

Now if we were to ask how brutal it is when you forget ear pro, I imagine that might be a different answer. A ported 16" barrel with a .35 cal hole must have some serious bark!

I once had a guy (the extremely considerate sort) do a mag dump in the lane next to me at an indoor range with a braked 18" FN SCAR in .308 - that was downright painful even with ear pro.

You certainly want ear pro, but honestly its not as bad as my 325 WSM with 18" ported barrel burning 50% more powder.

 

[dotman]

That’s pretty dang cool!!!

 

[Sodbuster]

Need the right tool for a situation, build it yourself. Very nice.

 

[Grambo]

So awesome !

 

[JP100]

Id like to see a video of you shooting that sucker with no break on it! haha

Awesome write up. makes all other guns look like a whale.
would make a perfect guides gun

How far have you shot with it Luke?

 

[huntabsarokee]

Luke
Did you have to go that short to have enough meat on the barrel for the rebore since the Kimber barrel is so light? I realize you wanted it short anyway. Reason I ask is I have a Kimber Hunter in 7-08 that I thought about sending to JES for a 358 but was worried if the barrel was thick enough. I don't mind going to 20" but that is about it. Thought about doing the rebore on something a little heavier but I already own the Kimber.

 

[luke moffat]

Luke
Did you have to go that short to have enough meat on the barrel for the rebore since the Kimber barrel is so light? I realize you wanted it short anyway. Reason I ask is I have a Kimber Hunter in 7-08 that I thought about sending to JES for a 358 but was worried if the barrel was thick enough. I don't mind going to 20" but that is about it. Thought about doing the rebore on something a little heavier but I already own the Kimber.

I believe JES requires 100 thou on each side of the bore as a minimum. Being as most Kimbers are finished at .560" at 22", technically a .358" bore should be just enough. But I would give him a call to verify that.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Thanks for doing the article.

 

[elkguide]

Great article. Thanks for giving us something more to dream about.

 

[gbflyer]

Neat.

 

[ReddingArcher]

Luke, how effective do you find the porting vs a brake? I have a tikka 300 wm that I have been kicking around either porting or putting a brake on. I dont find the recoil bad at all on the rifle, its more of just hoping to spot my own hits at longer distances. I am a little leary of a brake from hearing so many guys say shooting even a round or two without protection is brutal on your ears. I dont always have time to put in plugs, especially if Im pig hunting and kicking pigs out of the manzanita here.

 

[luke moffat]

Luke, how effective do you find the porting vs a brake? I have a tikka 300 wm that I have been kicking around either porting or putting a brake on. I dont find the recoil bad at all on the rifle, its more of just hoping to spot my own hits at longer distances. I am a little leary of a brake from hearing so many guys say shooting even a round or two without protection is brutal on your ears. I dont always have time to put in plugs, especially if Im pig hunting and kicking pigs out of the manzanita here.

A brake in my experience is more effective at reducing recoil than porting. However porting certainly helps as well. That said truly all center fire rifles really need to be shot with ear pro. But brakes IMO are the loudest, followed but porting, then standard barrel being the least loud (not quietest, but least loud )

 

[Groin]

Ok, I'm not going crazy, I could've sworn I saw a picture of this rifle with a micro red dot sight.

Last question: Can you give us more info on this grippy clear coat you mentioned in the article?

I too am interested in what this grippy clearcoat is?

 

[luke moffat]

I too am interested in what this grippy clearcoat is?

Sorry for the late reply. The grippy clear coat is just a hydrodip that Alaska Hydrographics does after the base layer of graphics is done. I really like the feel and texture it gives the stock.