Talk me out of a Kimber Montana 84

WhelanLad

WhelanLad

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Guys I handled a Accent model the other day an fell in love with that thing. Seeing as the price is out of my league I may work toward a 84 L in something like 270 or 308.

Looking at around 2Grand for one down under, an 2800 for the Accent.

They seem the same except for some skeletonized an fluiting on the action an barrel, is this so?

What else would you say about them?

Wont handle anything bigger in the recoil department so sticking to what I know works.. the 270 mostly.

Thanks

WL
 
Don't buy a Kimber, especialy a 308. While the 308 is a great target round it's well know that anyone that would use this cartridge for hunting would fornicate with sheep. While not known to cause this to occur with the 270 it is possible other difficulties will happen.:jerkit:
 
I'm afraid I can't talk you out of it. The 84L montana is a wonderfully balanced lightweight gun. I have an 84L in 270 and the recoil is great due to a good factory recoil pad and stock design. I found a wood stock for mine cause I prefer the look and feel of walnut, but the quality of the montana stock is superb. MUCH better value for your money than building a custom lightweight. And lastly, the triggers on kimbers are a beautiful thing.
 
I have looked at quite a few and I just don't see the big price difference from the Rem 700 series or the new Win 70 series. They are not twice as well made, fitted nor do they shoot any better, if as good in many cases. It would seem to me that guys who buy Kimbers do so, just so they can say they have a Kimber, not because they are getting any more for their money than a new Rem/Win.
If you want a real light weight rifle that has features making it worth the money, I would look for a Rem 700 Ti in whatever caliber you want, mine is in the 300 WSM. It's a little finicky but likes 150 gn TTSX which suits me just fine. I did some other lightening mods to mine to get it exactly where I wanted it, but right out of the box it was pretty feathery.
Myself, I would take an old Sako A V or earlier, Husqvarna, Remington or new FN made mod 70 before a Kimber, there are a lot better made rifles out there for a lot less money.........JMHO.

The absolute best balancing, pointing and handling rifle I have is an old Rem Mod 7 KS in 350 RM, that rifle is positively alive, jumps to the shoulder and points like a hand fitted shotgun. It really is an amazing little gun and a truly devastating cartridge to boot, but I digress............
 
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c-fbmi said:
If you want a real light weight rifle that has features making it worth the money, I would look for a Rem 700 Ti in whatever caliber you want,
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I have owned a Ti as well and handled, worked on and shot more and would take a 84L over one every time. And no, its not just to say "I own a Kimber". There are many Kimber models I do not like.
 
I absolutely love my Montana in .338 Federal. Mine took a bit of tinkering to get it shooting accurately enough but now that I have it dialed in it's a keeper. The trigger is superb, feeding and ejection are flawless. The light weight and excellent balance makes it a pleasure to carry all day.
 
jbmauser said:
I absolutely love my Montana in .338 Federal. Mine took a bit of tinkering to get it shooting accurately enough but now that I have it dialed in it's a keeper. The trigger is superb, feeding and ejection are flawless. The light weight and excellent balance makes it a pleasure to carry all day.
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What kind of tinkering did you do? In my experience, if a rifle needs work to shoot "accurately enough" out of the box, it goes back in the box and back to the store or EE. :)
 
I've got 4 Kimbers now and like them. If you want me to talk you out of one though, I'll try.

I don't like blind magazines, even if they do save an ounce or two on a Montana. The trigger on a Kimber will make you hate your other rifles and that can get pretty expensive.

Those tiny soda straw barrels may keep weight down, but they do practically eliminate any chance of shooting longer strings. It also may make load development tedious because a gun that doesn't like to shoot hot can take a lot of range trips to establish what works. Some will find the recoil of a light weight rifle a little abrupt for their tastes. Some can benefit from a little action polishing.

Kimber, for some reason known or unknown to them seems to pinch the mag-box between the floorplate and action on just about every rifle they make. Don't know why, but there it is. Watch action screw length too.

When you push things to its limits, concessions have to be make. The Kimber is a super light, classic designed, all steel, carry for a week and shoot it once rifle that will sting some shooters. The Montana is one step past that. Once you get that specialized, its going to be perfect for less and less shooters. Its still a production gun that may not have all the boxes checked off that a accu-centric gunsmith would spot. They can be touchy about loads. You don't buy a Kimber to shoot 700 yards.

If you want to sit on sand-bags all day and brag about groups it likely isn't the gun for you. If you'll get upset when guys laugh at how light your rifle is then pass it up.

Last, .308s are ghey. So are short actions. Can you handle that?
 
The Kurgan said:
What kind of tinkering did you do? In my experience, if a rifle needs work to shoot "accurately enough" out of the box, it goes back in the box and back to the store or EE. :)
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Well my case was posted on here back when I purchased it and is not very typical so I wouldn't put too much stock into it. Kimber warranty and service was excellent but took a long time on the first rifle and the replacement rifle they ended up sending me had the same issue but to a lesser degree. After the second rifle I was basically brushed off and my phone calls ignored. Rather than lose a year and a half of waiting and substantial money selling a rifle that didn't shoot accurately and had chamber issues, I decided to just spend some time and fix it myself. A simple pressure point bedded into the barrel channel turned it from a 3-4moa rifle into a 1-1 1/2 moa rifle which is good enough for me.

I'd still buy another Kimber based on the excellent design and features. As I said, my case was pretty unusual and not the norm from Kimber.
 
I bought an 84M Classic in 308 new from Prophet River and the gun arrived with rough sanding marks on the stock as though it left the factory before it was completed. Also, the barrel channel was uneven and I just had a bad taste in my mouth after that. Kimber QC is hit and miss much more so than other so called "Premium" production rifles. They are light and neat but I got it out of my system, Prophet River made it right and I won't try one again.

Cheers

Patrick
 
I never liked the idea of a blind mag but after hunting with mine it doesn't matter to me anymore. I never liked the battleship grey so I painted the stock. I have sold M700's because of more problems than any other rifle I have spent money on. I just sold (pending funds) an M70 extreme weather that has nothing wrong with it other than it doesn't measure up to the Montana I love to use. So if you buy a Kimber you might start being fussy about what you carry around for hunting purposes. I don't think there are many rifles out there that can compare with what Kimber offers without spending a lot more money. For what you get with the price difference, I don't see myself spending more for the ascent instead of the montana. I too would rather the 84L over the short action.
 
Dogleg said:
I've got 4 Kimbers now and like them. If you want me to talk you out of one though, I'll try.

I don't like blind magazines, even if they do save an ounce or two on a Montana. The trigger on a Kimber will make you hate your other rifles and that can get pretty expensive.

Those tiny soda straw barrels may keep weight down, but they do practically eliminate any chance of shooting longer strings. It also may make load development tedious because a gun that doesn't like to shoot hot can take a lot of range trips to establish what works. Some will find the recoil of a light weight rifle a little abrupt for their tastes. Some can benefit from a little action polishing.

Kimber, for some reason known or unknown to them seems to pinch the mag-box between the floorplate and action on just about every rifle they make. Don't know why, but there it is. Watch action screw length too.

When you push things to its limits, concessions have to be make. The Kimber is a super light, classic designed, all steel, carry for a week and shoot it once rifle that will sting some shooters. The Montana is one step past that. Once you get that specialized, its going to be perfect for less and less shooters. Its still a production gun that may not have all the boxes checked off that a accu-centric gunsmith would spot. They can be touchy about loads. You don't buy a Kimber to shoot 700 yards.

If you want to sit on sand-bags all day and brag about groups it likely isn't the gun for you. If you'll get upset when guys laugh at how light your rifle is then pass it up.

Last, .308s are ghey. So are short actions. Can you handle that?
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Haha, Thank you for the post.

You have Talked me into the Kimber Montana! I believe its what I am chasing. Walk a lot shoot a little.
The Blind mag was a bit of a downer but isn't an issue for walk about hunting imo.
yeah I agree with the 308 win, Every man an hes dog has one, a bit like a Tikka- So id proberly stick to my Fave .270 Winchester.

I've also been interested in the Mountain TI Remington 700, Although from what I gather the Kimber is a little bit more than the Rem TI in most aspects.


Im going to have to try get a hold of a Montana myself before I go too hard looking for one, but if it feels anything like the Accent, it will be lovely.


Thanks for the Photos too, Im enjoyin the photos of the Kimber montanas and also like to hear about the issues some have had with accuracy etc.

Thanks
WL
 
The blind mag is a non issue for my style of hunting and if you intend to use it as a walking around rifle it won't be an issue for you either. Emptying the mag on a crf rifle is pretty easy.
 
Blind mags are actually my preference, and a 1MOA rifle will fulfill my hunting accuracy needs easily...I'm not a long-distance sniper. Unfortunately, my two experiences with Kimber (one about ten years ago, the other about four) have really put a bad taste in my mouth. Accuracy issues with both, as well as a feeding problem with the second, put the lie to the oft-repeated "That was then...they've solved those problems now!" story that I heard both times when discussing the guns with other owners. It seems that most guys get a good one, and are happy...but your odds of getting a bad one seem to be, in my experience, higher than with many other brands. I've had a bad Savage, and a couple of Remingtons with problems (and both makers quickly made the problems go away), but I've owned probably 8 Savages and easily 18 or 20 Rems. I've had a grand total of 2 Kimbers, and both were crap. I've never had any kind of glitch with new Winchesters, Rugers, Sakos, Brownings, and I've gone through a bunch. So what should I think? A fluke? Bad luck? Probably...but I would feel like an idiot giving them any more of my money, based upon my own experience with them. Reading threads like this one, it appears I'm not alone.
 
WhelanLad, Please keep in mind that most of the bad Kimber experiences you will read about are the older 8400's(feeding and accuracy). Since the 84L has come out I am not sure I have read about a bad experience on those yet, but I am sure there are a few just like with every rifle company. Do a search on the 84L on 24hour campfire and I am sure you will find that the majority of 84L Montana owners are very happy.

I have experience with 1-8400, 1-84M and 2-84L's, all Montana's. Not one has been a dud yet. All have proven themselves out to 500 yards to be very accurate hunting rifles. Dogleg now has the 8400 in 270WSM and as far as I know he is very happy with it.

I have owned far more lightweight Remington 700's and most of those needed work to get to shoot decent. My 700Ti was one of the worst but in the end after many headaches and work it would shoot good groups with one particular hand load.
 
The 84L Montana is an awesome rifle. There's nothing else out there that compares in features without spending double or more and going the custom route. You won't be disappointed. I've had several Kimbers, and like crazy davey said, the only one with issues was a 8400 in 270 WSM. A new feed ramp and crown could have possibly cured that one, but I dumped it and moved on.
 
I just posted some pictures in the Haenel jaeger thread for the fella that bought one, have a look at the pictures I posted in that thread, at $1275 for a .270 through wolverine I think it makes the 84L look quite boring.
 
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