FINALLY, I am finished. Well, except for load development.

This is a Kimber Montana in 300 WSM.

I used Brownells Gun-Kote in matte gray (originally made by KG Products) to coat all metal surfaces, internally and externally. I hunt in a lot of salty marshes by boat in Southern Louisiana and Florida (as well as Kodiak Island, Alaska again, hopefully.)

"It is resistant to all known gun solvents and thinners. Each coat is approximately .0004" thick so Brownells GUN-KOTE can be used on both internal and external parts where a close-tolerance fit is required without having to worry about interference."

I have been very pleased with the finish. Before I coated anything, I worked the bolt a few hundred times to break it in. After applying the Gun-Kote, it is slicker than snot on a door knob.

I also adjusted the trigger to be a very crisp 2 lbs. It breaks like a glass rod.

Brownell's - Gun-Kote

For the stock I used Brownell's Aluma-Hyde II epoxy finish in "Coyote" color. Unlike the Gun-Kote, it is not cured in the oven (for obvious reasons). So it took about a week to fully cure in the cool weather. (2 days if you place it near a heater vent)

"The special feature of Aluma-Hyde II (and the reason for its development) is its increased resistance to bore cleaners, solvents and other cleaning chemicals, even trichloroethelyene."

Aluma Hyde II

I used Talley lightweight one-piece rings (low). They are great rings and the alignment was nearly perfect. I used a lapping tool to get them to 95% without needing too much elbow grease.

After much debate (via the optics forum), I finally settled on a Swarovski 4-12X50mm with a TDS reticle. I could not be any happier. The low rings left the rubber scope covers just kissing the barrel, adding just a touch of pressure to the objective to keep the cover from spinning or moving. PERFECT!

The whole rig with scope and rings weighs a touch over 7 lbs. WOW. Daddy likes!

It is not in the pictures, but I attached TOC stainless steel sling swivels. I have to vent here: I HATE the new style Uncle Mike's sling swivels with the plastic around the push rod. The damn thing holds water, rusts, then strips out and can't be removed. Then the pieces of shit starts to squeek from the rust. This happened on two of my rifles with stainless steel studs. Okay, enough of that.

I also use a very comfortable "Butler Creek Comfort Strech" nylon and neoprene sling.

As you can see from the pics below it is very well balanced and feels quick and nimble in my hands. I can pick a spot out in the field, draw the rifle up with my eyes closed, and then open them to find a perfect field of view and my crosshairs very close to the target every time. For my build and shooting stance, this rifle fits pefectly.









I spent most of my days in January wearing all black, mourning the death of North Fork bullets. They left me yearing for nothing else in the way of hunting bullets, but now I am at a loss. Speer's Trophy Bonded Bear Claw seems to be the closest thing in design, minus the little rings that are found on the NF's and GS Customs. You know what I like, so suggestions are welcome. (I refuse to shoot a plastic tipped bullet for big game)

I guess that's it.

Nothing all that exciting really. Just a factory rifle in a epoxy paints and a nice scope, but I at least hope you liked the pictures.

Thanks for looking,

MDL

You hit a home run with that rifle. Good job.

quote:

Originally posted by Moose-Hunter:
You hit a home run with that rifle. Good job.

DITTO!

Looks very nice. How does it shoot?

I'm with Kroil, what are you shooting in her for now, and how does she shoot.
Really good pics!

Great job.I hate plain Stainless.I will give that a shot on my Montana.Did you use your Kitchen oven to bake it on???? Thanx,OB

All-
Thanks for the compliments!

Olbiker-
Yes, I used an oven. Luckily, we have commercial type range, so it made it SLIGHTLY easier. It was still a real pain in the ass, to be perfectly honest. No small wonder why so many people choose to send their rifles off for coating. The stock, however, was a snap.

This is the same rifle I posted about back in November while I was trying to quickly prep it for short hunt in Mississippi.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/...=865105367#865105367

At that time I had only broken in the barrel and sighted it in using some factory Winchester ammo, saving 5 rounds for the hunt. I shot a doe with one and three more just plinking over the pond from the cabin. I have one round left to fireformed... I might just blast it off in the pool and try to recover the bullet! Haha

On paper using a 3-9X50mm Conquest, I squeezed three into just under an inch at 200 yards. So I think it will be a shooter.

I never did get the North Forks, so I am leaning hard towards GS Custom's HV bullet.

Others in the running are:
-Barnes MRX
-Speer Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
-Swift A-Frame
-Nosler Partition

Given the downtime for getting the GS HVs, it might be a while before I can post any more range results. I also have to check and see if the Norma brass is still on backorder at Midway or Sinclair's.

However, I do have some 110 gr Hornady V-Max's. I love to bust coyotes on our ranch with large caliber varmint bullets. What a nasty, nasty mess it makes. I just let 'em lay as a message to all the others that they ain't welcome!

I'll keep you all posted on the load development. Feel free to respond with any other suggestions, in particular with any experience with the GS HV bullets in a WSM caliber.

Thanks!

Kenati, I like your option's on bullets you listed, all good choices. I would stay away from MRX's for right now--just a hunch by me--but looking at the price reductions that are just starting to hit, I would guess they are gonna go the way of the dodo. I like the bullet in principal, have only shot a few on paper, and just didn't like their price per shot, so to speak. Of the others you list, the Swift A-frames have been most accurate for me.

I've not tried any GSC bullets, but would if ordering was a little simpler I suppose--not cheap either, but just spectacular stuff from all I've seen a report from.

Good luck--Don

It's been a while, but I wanted to give an update on load development for "Kimberly".

I think I got her dialed in for a good hunting load.

300 WSM
Bullet: 150 gr. GS Custom HV
Brass: Norma
Powder: 71.5 gr Ramshot Hunter
Primer: CCI Magnum
Vel: 3198 fps average, SD: 20.1 fps, CV: 0.6%

I decided to go with the 150 grain pill in lieu of the 160 gr for two reasons:

1) Being a solid copper bullet, the 160 gr bullet is long and takes up more room in the case than I felt comfortable with. 71.5 gr of Ramshot Hunter powder already comes to the bottom of the neck even when using a 6" drop tube; I didn't want seating depth to be an issue.

2) According to GS, the 150 gr stabilizes best in a 1-10" twist bbl at 300 WSM velocities

Based upon head case expansion, bolt lift, and the pattern of progression of velocity changes as I worked my way up to heavier charge weights, I estimate that this load is nearing the top end for my rifle. It was 92 degress at the range, so I can feel safe that temperatures will be cooler than this while hunting and pressure will not be a problem.


I did all my load development at the range using a Harrell's Precision powder measure and hand dies. I am pleased with the velocity and consistency of this load. Here are the results for two three shot groups fired back to back:




I will start tinkering with the seating depth and primers a little, but it's actually good enough to do what I need now.

What I am REALLY excited about is how well this load corresponds with the TDS reticle on the Swarovksi 4-12X50mm AV scope. I had this plan in mind all along, but I honestly didn't expect it to work out so nicely:

200 yd = cross hairs
299 yd = 1st hash
412 yd = 2nd hash
505 yd = 3rd hash
596 yd = 4th hash

Screenshot of Swarovski online calculator using load above with an 8" vital zone.


Doesn't get any simpler than that!

Then next range session will be devoted to working up a cheaper practice bullet to roughly estimate the ballistics of my hunting load. I like the 168 gr Hornady A-Max, but we'll see. It's probably too heavy.

Thanks for tuning in.

-Kenati

Very cool. Thanks for sharing the results!

Very nice job! She is a beauty.
MM

That's an admirable job on the rifle. I've always wanted to try gun-koting one of my rifles, but I'm too much of a chicken s**t to follow through for fear I might screw it up! It looks like you thought everything out well in advance and did you homework, which makes the final product all the more impressive.

How's the accuracy?

Thank you for the compliments.

Preliminary accuracy results have been satisfactory for a hunting rifle. Everything has been under 1 MOA so far out to 200 yards. However, I don't feel like I have given the rifle a fair chance at proving herself. I have been concentrating on pressure and velocity, with little care given to proper bench shooting technique (ie. leaving bench between shots to load rounds, shooting from a Harris bipod, not allowing time for barrel to cool, etc).

Now that I have the proper charge set, I will begin my accuracy work-up as I experiment with:

-varying the seating depth
-using different bushings to adjust the neck tension
-changing primers (if I can find other options in this crappy shortage).

I will post the results in a few weeks.

Thanks for again for looking,

Kenati