Kimber 84 Hunter first trip to the Range

[Captcurt]

I finally had a decent day to ring out my new toy. I had to try a 5 1/2 lb Kimber chambered for 257 Roberts. These rifles are nice. The stock is pretty stiff. Not as rigid as my Bergara but then the B-14 is about 2 lbs heavier. The rifle's trigger is easy to adjust. I set this one at 2 3/4 lb. It breaks crisp with no creep or over travel. I did notice that the chamber seems to be a little rough with tool marks. You can see the machining embossed onto the brass. I will polish that out.

I set this rifle up with a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 3X9 set in Leupold bases and rings. The whole rig unloaded weighs 6 3/4 lbs. This was on my electronic fish scales so it may weigh a little heavy. Brass is non-existent at the moment so I bought 3 boxes of Hornady Superformance with 117gr SST's. This load is hot and I was surprised at the recoil. I have a Savage in 300WSM that weighs 6 1/4 lbs stripped so I am not new to the abuse, but the little Rob has some kick.

The little rifle has potential. I took my time and let the light barrel cool and cleaned after every 2 shots through the first 20 rounds. When it was time to get serious I set it on sandbags and had several 5 groups that were 1 1/4" to 1 1/2". What has me scratching my head is that nearly every group had a flier. There would be 4 shots in 3/4" and then one 1/2" out. At least I have brass to play with now.

 

[Dr T]

Thanks for the report. I have been looking at this rifle in 6.5 CM. The flier may be in the ammo. I have not had particularly good accuracy with the Superformance Hornady ammo. Unfortunately this is all that Hornady is making for the Bob right now, since I have had very good accuracy with the standard (Custom and Whitetail) loadings in other chamberings.

One other thing you may want to check is the barrel bedding. I have a Remington Model 7 in 7-08 with a very light 18" barrel that gave me fits with fliers until I discovered that a reinforcement pad for the front sling swivel would bear on the barrel at about the 5 o'clock position with just a little of the wrong type of pressure on the fore end (After fixing this, my best 3 shot group to date has been 0.19" center-to-center).

 

[Captcurt]

Thanks for the report. I have been looking at this rifle in 6.5 CM. The flier may be in the ammo. I have not had particularly good accuracy with the Superformance Hornady ammo. Unfortunately this is all that Hornady is making for the Bob right now, since I have had very good accuracy with the standard (Custom and Whitetail) loadings in other chamberings.

One other thing you may want to check is the barrel bedding. I have a Remington Model 7 in 7-08 with a very light 18" barrel that gave me fits with fliers until I discovered that a reinforcement pad for the front sling swivel would bear on the barrel at about the 5 o'clock position with just a little of the wrong type of pressure on the fore end (After fixing this, my best 3 shot group to date has been 0.19" center-to-center).

Thanks for the heads up. This is an nice rifle but to be honest I would pick the Bergara over it in the Creedmoor. That is unless you just want a light rifle. Prices are similar.

 

[MCMXI]

The little rifle has potential. I took my time and let the light barrel cool and cleaned after every 2 shots through the first 20 rounds. When it was time to get serious I set it on sandbags and had several 5 groups that were 1 1/4" to 1 1/2". What has me scratching my head is that nearly every group had a flier. There would be 4 shots in 3/4" and then one 1/2" out. At least I have brass to play with now.

I've never had good results with SST bullets, factory or handloads, unless the velocity was at the very bottom of the acceptable scale. I've always had excellent results with A-MAX or ELD bullets from Hornady at the upper end of the velocity scale so it makes me wonder if the SST bullets aren't uniform in construction in terms of the distribution of mass. That's just my personal experience and observation. As for your Hunter, I bet you'll be shooting 3/4" to 1/2" groups once you have a load worked up. 5-shot 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" groups with factory ammunition is quite decent for any lightweight rifle. The Hunter rifles benefit from re torquing the action screws after 20 to 30 rounds and torque spec is 65 in-lb. If you do work up a load I'd be very interested in seeing the results.

 

[Dr T]

Understand about the SST bullets. Frankly, my best accuracy loads have been with the "traditional" Hornady Interlock Spire Points and Speer softpoints (Hot-Cor and Boat Tail. The 0.19" group I referenced was with a Speer 145 gr. Spitzer BTSP, bullet no. 1628).

 

[Newtosavage]

I set this rifle up with a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 3X9 set in Leupold bases and rings. The whole rig unloaded weighs 6 3/4 lbs....

....What has me scratching my head is that nearly every group had a flier. There would be 4 shots in 3/4" and then one 1/2" out. At least I have brass to play with now.

Couple of thoughts. 1st, that Bushnell is a nice scope but very heavy. If weight is a consideration, drop a Leupold on there and you'll lose at least 4 oz. if not more.

2nd, welcome to the world of thin light barrels and fliers. I compared the Kimber and the Tikka side by side for probably close to an hour, and ultimately decided on the Tikka because of the frustration I've had with thin barrels in the past. I use a 10 oz. Leupold scope so I felt I could afford the heavier barrel. My Tikka still weighs 6 3/4 lbs. scoped in 30-06.

I've enjoyed following this thread as I was oh-so-close to buying a Kimber and I hope you have great luck with yours.

 

[Dr T]

The Leupold VX-3i 2.5-8x36 mm on this rifle would be a match made in heaven...I like the Bushnell Elites, but the Leupold is something else altogether.

 

[MCMXI]

welcome to the world of thin light barrels and fliers

My experience with light weight barrels is that with a good load there aren't any fliers, assuming good shooting technique of course. I think that some "fliers" aren't fliers at all but just part of a normal distribution that would become evident with more shots in the group and more groups shot. I've mentioned this before but when I work up loads for my personal rifles or rifles for friends, when it's time to validate the load I shoot from a cold, clean bore and shoot all five rounds in less than 3 minutes, and if possible, less than 2 minutes. A good light barrel/load combination should have no problem putting five shots into sub 3/4 moa within two to three minutes. Here are two such validation groups from a Kimber 84M Montana in .308 Win (5-shot group) and a Kimber 84L Mountain Ascent in .270 Win (6-shot group). Both handloads use Barnes TTSX bullets since these are hunting rifles after all.

 

[Captcurt]

My experience with light weight barrels is that with a good load there aren't any fliers, assuming good shooting technique of course. I think that some "fliers" aren't fliers at all but just part of a normal distribution that would become evident with more shots in the group and more groups shot. I've mentioned this before but when I work up loads for my personal rifles or rifles for friends, when it's time to validate the load I shoot from a cold, clean bore and shoot all five rounds in less than 3 minutes, and if possible, less than 2 minutes. A good light barrel/load combination should have no problem putting five shots into sub 3/4 moa within two to three minutes. Here are two such validation groups from a Kimber 84M Montana in .308 Win (5-shot group) and a Kimber 84L Mountain Ascent in .270 Win (6-shot group). Both handloads use Barnes TTSX bullets since these are hunting rifles after all.

You are so right about the fliers. I have been tempted to lock it in a lead sled because I am not the greatest shot off of sandbags. I just haven't been able to get the lead sled in my treestand.

 

[Dr T]

I have found that I shoot better off of bags than with a lead sled...Also they hurt less if they fall on your foot. (On bags, I don't touch the foreend. Any pressure will tend to skew the group. If it is only on one round you get a flier...I keep the right hand on the pistol grip and the left hand on the toe bag.)

More to the point, in the blind use a small bag like the Allen Filled Window Rest Bag (https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Compan...&qid=1495032597&sr=8-13&keywords=gun+rest+bag). I drape it over the rail on the side of the blind and pretend it is a bench rest.

 

[MCMXI]

(On bags, I don't touch the foreend. Any pressure will tend to skew the group. If it is only on one round you get a flier...I keep the right hand on the pistol grip and the left hand on the toe bag.)

With light hunting rifles I basically do the opposite to you since I've found that to work best for me. I never shoot light rifles using the free recoil technique because I want to control the forend and barrel in a consistent manner. With heavy rifles that have a lot more mass up front they tend to be far more consistent when recoiling off bags or a bipod using the free recoil technique. The other benefit to controlling the forend on a light hunting rifle and getting consistent results is that there's no disconnect in technique when out in the field hunting. This is just my personal experience shooting light, heavy and tactical rifles but I'm always trying to learn and will change my technique in a heartbeat if it results in improved accuracy and precision.

 

[Captcurt]

More to the point, in the blind use a small bag like the Allen Filled Window Rest Bag (https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Compan...&qid=1495032597&sr=8-13&keywords=gun+rest+bag). I drape it over the rail on the side of the blind and pretend it is a bench rest.

This last year I had a padded rail on a 2-man ladder stand that I used for a rest. Took a couple of deer out at 250+yds.