My cousin ordered one of these rifles in .308 Winny several months ago. It finally arrived and he asked me to go to the range with him for the initial sight in. Of course I obliged. He even let me take the first few shots from the new rifle. Actually, I think he was somewhat concerned with the recoil in such a light rifle.

Overall I was very impressed. Fit and finish was good and the rifle was certainly light and handy. Recoil wasn't bad at all, but we only shot it with the muzzle brake installed. We didn't have time to try it with just the muzzle cap which came with the gun. I'm not a fan of brakes, however the noise didn't seem bad but I was wearing both plugs and muffs.

The trigger had absolutely no creep and seemed to be letting off at about 4 lbs. It's adjustable so making it lighter shouldn't be a problem. Accuracy was excellent. Less than 1" groups with two different types of Federal factory 165 Gr. rounds. One box was loaded with 165 Gr. Nosler Accubonds and the other was a "bonded tactical" law enforcement load. The last group fired at 100 yds with the Accubonds had three holes all touching. I'm going to have a hard time beating that load for accuracy when I start reloading for him.

To summarize, I was very impressed especially with the accuracy this gun displayed with factory loads. The only thing we plan to do is to adjust the trigger weight somewhat.

Great to here the new rifle is all he hoped for. Would you mind decribing how the rifle looked and also what it cost OTC? I am in the market for a ultra lite rifle myself.

Thanks,
Art.

It is a love it or hate it camo and the brake would get tossed from my stand point

I opted for the Montana 84L in 30-06

Not any heavier by real world means and a bit more versatile than the 08

$950 out the door on most Montanas is also a good point that will hurt the sales of the new rifle

Glad you guys like it and it shoots well for you

I was looking at purchasing one in .280AI to use for goats and sheep but I was told the wait may be up to a year!
Instead I am likely to just get a Tikka T3 Lite which costs much less.
I like the Kimber camo pattern and the brake would be welcome to tame the recoil at the range. However yes I do agree that the price will hurt the sales of this niche gun.

Sorry for the long delay in responding but I was off successfully chasing a mgm't. bull elephant in Namibia. As far as looks, the rifle is stainless with a synthetic stock in what I call digital camo. You can see pictures on Kimber's website. My cousin paid $1,600 for the gun. It comes with both a muzzle brake and a cap so you can shoot it either way. Personally, I don't care for brakes.

I agree with Ted Thorn re: the Montana. You pay alot of $$ to save a little bit of weight with the Ascent. In fact I suggested the Montana to my cousin as an alternative, but it was his $$ and he wanted the Ascent.

quote:

Originally posted by JustOneMoreShot:
I was looking at purchasing one in .280AI to use for goats and sheep but I was told the wait may be up to a year!

Keep your eye on the various auction sites or put a WTB add here & there. They're out there and not very hard to find.

I lucked into a good one, shoots 150g BT's and Partitions, plus 160g accubonds into .5-.6 pretty consistently.

Love the rifle/caliber


Looked at a .308 accent a few weeks ago and thought it looked better in person than the pics I'd seen here and there. Think the price was 1800.00? Paid 1050.00 for my .280 and there's enough reg. .308 Montanas out there for under a grand that the couple extra ounces you save isn't worth the additional money.

I picked up one of these in .280 AI for Sheep and Goats. I had originally ordered a regular Montana but after waiting 7 months, this one came along and I cancelled my order for the Montana. (Incidentally, the dealer kept the gun on order and we are approaching the one year mark and still no Montana)

Like the OP said, fit and finish is very nice. Trigger is excellent. I don't love the camo, but that could always be changed.

Once sighted in, my first 3 shot group with Nosler Custom Ammo was .60 at a 100 yards. Haven't had a chance to do any long range shooting yet, but will put it through the paces this summer.

I am not a fan of a muzzle brake either, but this one isn't bad. I do not like the cap that comes in lieu of the muzzle brake as it doesn't protect the crown very well. However, I'll be using the cap and not the brake.

Overall, I am very pleased with the rifle. Can't imagine a better factory lightweight mountain rifle. Others have made their own Mountain Ascent by taking a Montana and having the bolt fluted, the barrell fluted and changing out the trigger guard. Making these three changes brings the Montana down in weight to about the same as the Ascent at at few hundred less.