Custom Kimber Lightweight Hunter

7055steved

7055steved

Regular
GunNutz
Rating - 100%
34   0   0
Location
Brockville, ON
JOY TO THE WORLD, MY GUN IS DONE!

I've been working on this little project off and on since the summer time. Various delays have made it take longer to finish than I originally expected, but I gave myself until hunting season 2018 so I finished much ahead of schedule! ;) re-assembling my gun after painting it yesterday was my Christmas present this morning haha

I apologize in advance for the mediocre photos, I would normally do this outside but the -27 and snow are keeping this little photo shoot indoors today.

No idea how it shoots yet as I've held off on shooting it until my project was finished.

The parts list:
  • Barreled action is a new Kimber 84 Hunter from Reliable purchased for this project
  • The stock is a Remington 700 ADL style long action from Wildcat Composites made to fit my rifle using Devcon Steel Putty
  • The magazine is for a Browning X-Bolt
  • The trigger guard is an aluminum ADL style from Bighorn Sales. I plan on giving it a quick dose of sandblasting to make it match the gun/scope
  • Recoil pad is courtesy of an Old Navy flip flop haha very light!
  • Talley Lightweight mounts
  • Leupold VX-2 Ultralight 3-9x33
  • Action screws are from Fastenal just fashioned to suit my project. May replace with SS ones

I'm very happy with how it turned out! The overall cost is the same as a Montana so I feel I made out pretty well in that regard. The bedding job was the most challenging and yet the best I've done to date. The trigger on this thing is awesome. Feeding from the magazine is slick as can be, and it can be loaded through the breach which I appreciate. After using all of these fairly premium components some may laugh at me for painting the stock with Krylon, but I've had good luck with this stuff in the past. There's a thin layer of rocker guard underneath for a textured look, some matte clear on top, and grip panels made with a traction spray meant for your porch. If I change my mind on this finish, then I'll sand it down and put a Kiwi Verde wrap on it.

On to the weight. I am happy to say I hit my weight goals and without having to flute the bolt, relieve the action, or chop the barrel down. I listed the scope, mounts, and magazine separately just for interest's sake.
  • Scope: 9.2oz
  • Mounts: 2.1oz
  • Magazine: 2.1oz
  • Bare Rifle: 4lbs 11oz
  • Rifle w/ scope: 5lbs 6.3oz
  • Stock w/magazine, screws, and trigger guard: 1lb 7oz

Merry Christmas! Thanks for looking..

Steve

1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    18.7 KB · Views: 688
  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    47.1 KB · Views: 688
  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    51 KB · Views: 687
Thanks both of you! The caliber is versatile 308 Win. There was a fair bit of fitting. With that being said, the only tools required were a Dremel tool, some files, and a drill press loaded with router bits and a cross slide vise.

The Devcon was my best friend here. I had a good sized void to fill ahead of the mag since the rifle is short action unlike the long action that the stock is meant for and it was filled with Devcon. I made the inlet for the mag with the drill press used like a slow milling machine. A 1/2" dovetail bit was perfect for making the recess for the mag latch up front. There was a lot of empty space filled by Devcon too where the Rem 700 action would normally occupy that space.

The Wildcat stock was very easy to work with and even though I cut a whole in the bottom of an ADL stock instead of using a BDL stock it is still very strong and rigid. I would definitely recommend one of these stocks as a starting point to a project, although I have no experience with a McEdge or any such thing. But this stock worked great!
 
Thanks again! Blind mag was the original plan but prefer DBM for the hunting I get up to. I had an x-bolt in 270 and liked the gun and mag so I started tinkering with feeding rounds from that mag into the Kimber. I don't really need a lightweight rifle but it's nice and will be one less thing to sweat over when it's freezing outside and you're walking to your stand.
 
Ia6PVAe.gif


To the O.P., nice work! Logging on to CGN and seeing a thread like this one makes my day.
I'm not familiar with the browning mag, is it a double stack design and if so how many rounds does it hold? Can you describe how you managed to get it to feed reliably?
 
I'm glad you like it too, thanks!!

The Browning mag holds 4 rounds. It's sort of a rotary style and is centerfeed as opposed to staggered. I started experimenting with feeding by holding a 270 X-Bolt mag that I had on hand up against the bottom of the barreled action and feeding 308 dummies through it. Did some measuring and saw the set up would fit nicely in the stock. So I went out and got a short action magazine and got to work. I tried to keep the magazine as tight to the barreled action as I could so that the rounds would be positioned as close to the axis of the bore as possible for smooth feeding.
 
Inletting wasn't too bad actually. The one I chose came inletted for a Remington 700 so there was lots of extra room. You have to cut a notch for the bolt handle. I had to cut a new recoil lug recess because of the long action inlet for a short action rifle. There is enough room for the Rem 700 ADL mag box in the inlet under the barreled action. If you do try this and have any questions feel free to PM. It was tricky but not impossible!
 
Interesting project 7055steved, looks great.

Did I miss something .... why did you choose a long action Wild Cat instead of a short action ?
 
Thanks all!

The choice of long action was just to allow more room for adjustment to line up the magazine and the action. A short action would have definitely worked, but I had lots of control this way. I think it made it easier to fit the Browning mag since it's a bit longer (and chunkier in size) than your average steel box magazine. This stock surprised me with how easy it was to work with and even with a big hole cut in the bottom it's still very stiff. I kinda rolled the dice cutting the hole for the mag but glad I did. I only had myself to disappoint at least.

The gun does feel like a grown up sized 22LR. I'm gonna shoot it next week when I'm off work again. I've got a few 180 gr rounds so those will be telling of recoil. Can't be any worse than a pump shot gun and 3" slugs I'm sure!

Steve
 
Ardent said:
I’ve guided and hunted with an Adirondack .308 a good deal, same weight, and it shoots better off hand than most of my other rifles and recoil is a non-event as it’s just a .308 (even at 180gr). You’ll be pleased.

Dv7qXzu.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice moose! Nice rifle too! Regarding recoil, that was kinda my thinking when I thought about the overall weight I was going for is that if Kimber sells rifles at a similar weight then obviously the recoil is fine. I'm glad to hear others getting good accuracy with their Kimbers. Hopefully mine will be the same. I find the balance biased forward which makes it easier to shoot off hand. We shall find out soon. . .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom