Thread: Kimber Montana 7mm-08

I've always had a bit of a fancy for the Kimber's especially the actions which is basically a Winchester Model 70 controlled fed action as my first centrefire was a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 7x57 albeit a push fed action but I've always loved those control fed three position safety actions of the Winchesters and often dreamt of owning a Model 70 in 375 H&H.

A couple of different friends have Kimber's and I've just always liked them so last year I saw a second hand Kimber for sale at H&F for $1800 which I bought and haven't done much with it since owning it.

One of the main reasons for wanting the rifle is to have something a tad less recoiling than the .284 for the kids but really... I just wanted one and yes I know the 7mm-08 is the Jaffa latte drinking sort of caliber but it's got the same ballistics as the 7x57 and from the ones I've shot, they go bang and stuff falls over.

I finally got around to getting the rifle sorted where I put on my old Leupold VX2 2-7 scope. This is a treasured scope having also been my first ever decent scope on the 7x57 which accounted for a few deer.

Next I tried to get my DPT suppressor threaded on but the local gunsmith down here said the threading was all wrong especially for a pencil barrel that it is so I knew I needed to get another suppressor but in the mean time I tried getting some Remington 7mm-08 brass but that's hard to source so I just bought a packet of Remington ammo to run through the rifle to see what the potential is.

Buying centrefire ammo isn't cheap as it cost me $50 for a packet of 20 which is why I like to reload!

After going to the local range and playing around the groupings were just over an inch at 100 mtrs so the rifle showed potential.

I was planning on buying another packet so I'd have at least 40 cases but I ended up in coming across 50 cases of PPU brass which is also the same brass I've been reloading for in my .243 and find that brass awesome to reload and use.

I'm planning on running some 120 gr Sierras (#1900) through the rifle as we're been running the same projectiles through mates T3 7mm-08's to great effect on big Reds with the recoil being lighter especially for the kids.

Last week I sent the rifle up to Darren at DPT where they cut the barrel to 20 inches, threaded and put on one of their new Mark 2 suppressors and sent the rifle back to me where I received it this afternoon.





As always I'm stoked with the threading job as DPT have cut and threaded a few rifles for me now and their machining is just AWESOME!

Comparing the two different version suppressors I see the newer model is slightly longer but also slightly narrower but there's really not too much difference, weight feels the same but as always it's just a great product and I know my ears will be a lot better off in using the suppressor and so will the kids for that matter!





Looking in the safe I now own four DPT suppressors. One for the T3 .284 Win, one for the Kimber 7mm-08, one for the .223 / .222's and the last for the .17 HMR where all of them are going strong. I also have a MAE stainless suppressor for the .22 LR



Next thing is to sight the rifle in with some of the 120 gr projectiles and see how it shoots with the reloads.