Need a Kimber Mountain Ascent .308

Roger ordered and sold me a new 2012 production Kimber montana 7mm-08. Still working on load development but it's quickly proving to be a shooter. Action is not smooth, but feeds and ejects great and the trigger is nice. and 6lbs 2 oz's scoped with VX2 3-9x40.
 
Ardent said:
McGowen were the only folks offering something like Dodecagon, wanted something interesting to look at barrel profile wise and it was $5000 for the barrel I wanted, integral quarter rib, tapered octagon, integral sling stud and front sight etc. I realised I shoot out barrels and there was little point, the McGowen was $650'ish and looks almost as neat to my eye. I have a Krieger too but for a light barreled hunting rifle they'll shoot the same. Gets to the point of diminishing returns on barrel quality in a hunting barrel as McGowen even not being Krieger is better than any factory barrel, will save the Krieger for a long range rig.

20" is just to keep it handy, I go in and out of aircraft, boats, and trucks with a rifle like that and it's sure nice to have a 20" barrel in your lap in the Land Cruiser. :) 7x57 doesn't gain a whole lot in a longer barrel either. I've been looking at various flooring finishes for weather proofing the stock, there are a slew of good options for sealing with extreme durability.
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I see you put your barrel up for sale. What's the new plan?
 
Well it's here and it's silly light, the lightest full sized rifle I've ever picked up, I don't consider my 9 1/2lb RSM heavy so this feels ridiculous. Comfortable proportions, nice machining look forward to reviewing it and seeing how it shoots.

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Hows the testing going on that Ascent Ardent? I just picked a 84M Classic Select Grade in 338 federal up and can't wait to put it through its paces.
 
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Our range is just drying up today for the first time in a long while, so hopefully soon. I have a Leupold 3-9x40 on it with turrets and it's still under 6lbs, so that's pretty nifty. Have a Leupold VX2 1-4x40 I'll like go for in the end which will give me a 5lb 8oz package, or 5 1/2lbs on the nose in fractions speak.
 
nice setup Ardent. Last year I was going to get one ordered for myself in 308, but held off. Maybe will get one on order if yours is a shooter. Keep us posted!
 
Thanks, shot it tonight, but at 500 yards on our gong at the range at work. It was 500 yard night, so sighted in there and will have to wait for 100 yards, but it shot well. Gong was 12", so 2.2MOA and it was boring connecting with it once sighted in, even shot decent warm much to my surprise. No grouping as two of us were working that gong, but certainly will hunt. Will punch some proper paper soon.
 
Haven't fire my Kimber Mountain Ascent yet. Still waiting on scope and dies. Got 2 boxes of Nosler .280 AI brass though. Love the weight and CRF but as it is my first Kimber, I have to say, I am not at all impressed with the Quality Control..........

Got it into my hands and immediately found that the "free floated barrel" was ..... NOT... After disassembly, reassembly and then removing about 1/32nd of length off of the rear of the magazine box, it allowed for the action to seat fully onto the pillars and regain the "floating barrel"....

Then while running the action 50 or 60 times the bolt got progressively tighter and tighter. I removed the bolt to find that the rear set screw on the underside of the bolt had backed out and making contact with the action as the bolt was trying to move forward to the locked position. Tightened that up.......

Geez, for a rifle manufacturer that claims to be of the highest quality, I am not too impressed so far.............

I have now oiled and cycled the action about 700 - 800 times trying to polish it up and smooth it out. It isn't getting much better. There is just so much lateral slop in the bolt that it will actually bind up at times and at best is quite rough..... I guess I am just used to the smooth action on the heavy Weatherby Mk V rifles I usually pack around.

Having said all that, the weight of this .280 AI and the factory trigger is AWESOME!!!!!
 
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