Any of you guys have experience with the new Kimber Hunter rifles?

[bsa1917hunter]

Alright, I was at Coastal farm and ranch the other day looking for powder for a new 223 rem and I saw one of these rifles. I've seen them before and handled one about a year ago. They are stainless and really lightweight (somewhere around 5.5 pounds), offer a controlled round feed action like a miniature pre 64 model 70. I've been kicking around the idea to try one of these out, but there's still bad publicity about Kimber rifles in regards to quality and some with poor accuracy and some feeding issues. Iv'e been told that Kimber has really stepped up to the plate and have tried to fix these issues and now even offer a sub moa guarantee. Just wondering what your thoughts are on these rifles. Sportsman's has these as well and they are in the $800.00 range. I'd like to hear your honest opinions. Thanks and I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas!!!
Kimber Hunter Bolt Action Rifle

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[osprey]

The Hunter has a plastic stock vs the nice Kevlar fiberglass stock on the Montana. The Hunter has removable box magazine vs the blind mag on the Montana. I believe the Montana's now come with threaded barrel vs non for Hunter. I didn't think I would like a blind mag but I have grown to like the simplicity and reliability. You will never accidentally dump your mag contents on the ground at an inopportune time with a blind mag. I suppose if you were a road hunter in a state that did not allow rounds in mag while in vehicle, you might hate a blind mag. I love my Montana in 280ai and it is very accurate and carries like a dream. I guess you would have to decide whether the features on the Montana are worth the extra $400.

 

[No_Regerts]

Ive had a couple Montanas and a Classic. All shot minute of deer, but not much better. Then came the Tikka T3 Superlight with an 8 twist.....

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Ive had a couple Montanas and a Classic. All shot minute of deer, but not much better. Then came the Tikka T3 Superlight with an 8 twist.....

I see where you are going with this Trust me, I think the superlights are sexy as hell too. But being a model 70 man that likes CRF on his hunting rifles, well.......

 

[bsa1917hunter]

The Hunter has a plastic stock vs the nice Kevlar fiberglass stock on the Montana. The Hunter has removable box magazine vs the blind mag on the Montana. I believe the Montana's now come with threaded barrel vs non for Hunter. I didn't think I would like a blind mag but I have grown to like the simplicity and reliability. You will never accidentally dump your mag contents on the ground at an inopportune time with a blind mag. I suppose if you were a road hunter in a state that did not allow rounds in mag while in vehicle, you might hate a blind mag. I love my Montana in 280ai and it is very accurate and carries like a dream. I guess you would have to decide whether the features on the Montana are worth the extra $400.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Kimber rifles. I appreciate it..

 

[No_Regerts]

I see where you are going with this Trust me, I think the superlights are sexy as hell too. But being a model 70 man that likes CRF on his hunting rifles, well.......

My problem with the Kimber Hunter is that the stock and magazine situation looks no better than most plastic rifles. Plastic molded trigger guard and a plastic magazine that looks right at home in a $349 RAR. I could take it on an RAR, but an $800 Kimber?

If I had to have CRF, I'd likely try to find a Ruger Hawkeye over a Kimber Hunter.

 

[osprey]

With the lighter barrels you will find if you let them heat up your groups will open up a bit. My Montana shoots 3/4" 3 shot groups with no cooling in between shots. It will shoot 3/4" 5 shot groups if allowed to cool between shots. It will shoot 1-1 1/4" 5 shot groups with no cooling in between shots. The design of the stock also lends itself to be shot well and really manages the perceived recoil to the shooter for such a light rifle. My Tikka light in 270 win shooting 140 gr bullets seems to recoil as much as the Kimber shooting 160gr bullets at the same speed. The Kimber Montana is About 1/3# lighter than the Tikka as well.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

My problem with the Kimber Hunter is that the stock and magazine situation looks no better than most plastic rifles. Plastic molded trigger guard and a plastic magazine that looks right at home in a $349 RAR. I could take it on an RAR, but an $800 Kimber?

If I had to have CRF, I'd likely try to find a Ruger Hawkeye over a Kimber Hunter.

I hear what you are saying and agree to a certain degree. My only problem with the Hawkeye is the weight. I'd buy the Tikka T3x Superlite in 6.5 creed far before I thought about buying a Ruger of any kind.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

With the lighter barrels you will find if you let them heat up your groups will open up a bit. My Montana shoots 3/4" 3 shot groups with no cooling in between shots. It will shoot 3/4" 5 shot groups if allowed to cool between shots. It will shoot 1-1 1/4" 5 shot groups with no cooling in between shots. The design of the stock also lends itself to be shot well and really manages the perceived recoil to the shooter for such a light rifle. My Tikka light in 270 win shooting 140 gr bullets seems to recoil as much as the Kimber shooting 160gr bullets at the same speed. The Kimber Montana is About 1/3# lighter than the Tikka as well.

I totally agree with you on the skinny barrel heating up on the Kimber. The beauty of that rifle is it's light weight and huntability. I'm willing to give up a certain amount of precision and accuracy by switching over to a sub 6 pound rifle.. Again, I'm just tossing around the idea in my head. I appreciate you and no regerts willingness to help me out.

 

[No_Regerts]

I hear what you are saying and agree to a certain degree. My only problem with the Hawkeye is the weight. I'd buy the Tikka T3x Superlite in 6.5 creed far before I thought about buying a Ruger of any kind.

Most CRF guns are pretty beefy and I'm convinced Ruger Rifles are actually made of something far heavier than steel.

Maybe save up some more coin and go Montana?

 

[osprey]

While the Montana is not perfect it checks a lot of the boxes for me. I am not sure you saw this thread from earlier but there is a post where I talk about the things I would change about it.

Kimber rifles

 

[orygun]

Every time I see an ad or an article for a Kimber rifle I check it out. I really prefer the CRF design and Kimber is one of the few that has that claw. They sure make good looking guns, but put me in the camp that won't go back.
The Montana I had was accurate. 5 shots right about an inch (or slightly larger) and like mentioned, groups went big quickly with heat. Great stock, wonderful looks and a very good, adjustable trigger. It would decide when it would feed, or not feed, the second round out of the mag. Didn't matter that it went back to Kimber with a detailed letter and pictures.... They fixed the cosmetic issues and sent it back. Very obvious that looks matter more than performance.
Comparing the Kimber 8400 (older) Montana I had to a Ruger 77MKII (Hawkeye is the same thing), both stainless, both 30-06.
Kimber slightly, ever so slightly lighter than the Ruger while packing a 2" longer tube (24 vs 22) that added only about 25fps. The Ruger will open up it's groups with heat, but not THAT bad. For that weight savings you give up a floorplate on your rifle. The Kimber wins the trigger contest and will hold one more round in the mag. Unless you're after 30mm rings, the Ruger comes ready to screw your scope in place. That's a huge savings I realized when I went to scope the Kimber.
Honestly, if that damn thing would have fed consistently, I doubt I would have let it go. My wife bought it as an Anniversary gift because it was what I thought I wanted. It sure was purdy.
Turns out it left such a sour taste in my mouth, I doubt I'd ever buy a Kimber that wasn't made in Clackamas.

 

[Stomper]

Tikka T3xCTR for the win....




Sorry.... off topic!

 

[osprey]

Every time I see an ad or an article for a Kimber rifle I check it out. I really prefer the CRF design and Kimber is one of the few that has that claw. They sure make good looking guns, but put me in the camp that won't go back.
The Montana I had was accurate. 5 shots right about an inch (or slightly larger) and like mentioned, groups went big quickly with heat. Great stock, wonderful looks and a very good, adjustable trigger. It would decide when it would feed, or not feed, the second round out of the mag. Didn't matter that it went back to Kimber with a detailed letter and pictures.... They fixed the cosmetic issues and sent it back. Very obvious that looks matter more than performance.
Comparing the Kimber 8400 (older) Montana I had to a Ruger 77MKII (Hawkeye is the same thing), both stainless, both 30-06.
Kimber slightly, ever so slightly lighter than the Ruger while packing a 2" longer tube (24 vs 22) that added only about 25fps. The Ruger will open up it's groups with heat, but not THAT bad. For that weight savings you give up a floorplate on your rifle. The Kimber wins the trigger contest and will hold one more round in the mag. Unless you're after 30mm rings, the Ruger comes ready to screw your scope in place. That's a huge savings I realized when I went to scope the Kimber.
Honestly, if that damn thing would have fed consistently, I doubt I would have let it go. My wife bought it as an Anniversary gift because it was what I thought I wanted. It sure was purdy.
Turns out it left such a sour taste in my mouth, I doubt I'd ever buy a Kimber that wasn't made in Clackamas.

I totally get what you are saying and your story is not an isolated case as evidenced by the tales of the many who have learned to loath Kimber's customer service, The part that really gets me is they are capable of putting out a fine rifle but they evidently have had qc issues with limited evidence they are trying to improve it. From all these tales it seems customer service is not very responsive and is not driven to provide complete customer satisfaction. It must be a top down problem and could be corrected to make them a great company if ownership would shift their business model a bit. At this point it just looks like they are content to keep the status quo and maintain the profits they have been getting with their business model. I hope maybe they are changing but I wouldn't hold my breath. As I stated before I love my Kimber but feel fortunate I got a good one and I am far from a Kimber fan boy. My advice to potential Kimber rifle owners remains the same. If you take the leap, buy a new one. Don't increase the odds of getting a turd by buying used, as there is probably good reason it is for sale. If you have someone you know, willing to sell their Kimber rifle and let you demo it at the range that would be different. The odds of finding a situation like that are long. If they have a good one it will probably need to be pried from their cold dead hands like mine.

 

[osprey]

S

Tikka T3xCTR for the win....

View attachment 531315


Sorry.... off topic!

I had a Tikka cost me a really nice bull elk due to a design quirk, so I am not quite so high on them anymore. To be fair I have not checked out the new models lately to see if it has been corrected. The isuue is if the bolt handle gets lifted up to the end of its travel with safety on, the safety gets hard to dissengage especially with gloved hands. It is managable by constantly checking that the bolt handle is all the way down but the fact remains it cost me a great opportunity and I can't completely trust it anymore. For all you Tikka hunters out there, I would advise you to check this out and be aware of it. Cock your action and put safety on. Then lift bolt handle to its upward limit of travel and try and take safety off. It can be done but in the case of my two Tikkas and several other examples, it takes a lot more concerted effort to do so. Add a gloved hand on a cold day and you have a recipe for failure. Flame away!

 

[bsa1917hunter]

All good info. I guess I should have said I am well aware of "Kimber roulette" in my first post. Been reading about it for many many years. I'm going to go out and work on my BSA Model E for a while.

 

[orygun]

All good info. I guess I should have said I am well aware of "Kimber roulette" in my first post. Been reading about it for many many years.

Awww, C'mon, You haven't played yet. Your odds are at least 50/50.
Geeze, I have a Leupold CDS that works perfectly.

 

[Stomper]

S


I had a Tikka cost me a really nice bull elk due to a design quirk, so I am not quite so high on them anymore. To be fair I have not checked out the new models lately to see if it has been corrected. The isuue is if the bolt handle gets lifted up to the end of its travel with safety on, the safety gets hard to dissengage especially with gloved hands. It is managable by constantly checking that the bolt handle is all the way down but the fact remains it cost me a great opportunity and I can't completely trust it anymore. For all you Tikka hunters out there, I would advise you to check this out and be aware of it. Cock your action and put safety on. Then lift bolt handle to its upward limit of travel and try and take safety off. It can be done but in the case of my two Tikkas and several other examples, it takes a lot more concerted effort to do so. Add a gloved hand on a cold day and you have a recipe for failure. Flame away!

Dunno about pre-T3x models, but if the firing pin is cocked and the safety is on, the bolt handle is locked in place.

 

[osprey]

Dunno about pre-T3x models, but if the firing pin is cocked and the safety is on, the bolt handle is locked in place.

Same with the Tikka t3 but with the safety on there is still some travel of the bolt handle in the upward direction allowed. The bolt is restrained from opening the action with the safety on but with the bolt in this upward restrained position the safety is a mfer to deactivate. I hunted 8 years with 2 different t3's before I discovered the issue.

 

[No_Regerts]

Same with the Tikka t3 but with the safety on there is still some travel of the bolt handle in the upward direction allowed. The bolt is restrained from opening the action with the safety on but with the bolt in this upward restrained position the safety is a mfer to deactivate. I hunted 8 years with 2 different t3's before I discovered the issue.

My M700 safety moves freely whether the bolt is cammed all the way down, or is all the way open. It also makes the trigger redundant.