A Montana In Africa
American Rifleman, Jul 2005 by Keefe, Mark A IV


An African safari, in a place aptly named Eden, won this traditionalist rifleman over to synthetic and stainless rifles-and changed his mind about optics in the field.

"Where are your sticks?" asked Jamy Traut, my professional hunter, as we crept through the tall Namibian grass toward a small herd of red hartebeest.

"In the truck. Danny drove off with them," I whispered back, speaking of the other RH., Danny Bartlett, who had left us as we began our stalk, which became a crawl on a particularly nice bull. It wasn't Danny's fault; it was mine.

"Backpack?" Jamy asked hopefully.

"With Danny," I replied with the shame of my own forgetfulness.

The grass was just too tall to shoot prone, yet we might spook the closest hartebeest, about 60 yds. from us, if I rose to kneeling. After crawling several hundred yards, I was unwilling to give up on the fine bull that was a mere 250 yds. away.

"Well, it is a long way-use my shoulder," said Jamy with abject confidence. "It will give you the height you need."

I knew this was common practice with African professional hunters (with clients they trust), but it was not a practice with which I was familiar. So, like a German machine gunner in a World War II newsreel, I laid my fore-end across Jamy's trusting shoulder. I synchronized my breathing with his as quickly as I could, and the Kimber Montana in .308 Win. barked. The hartebeest began running awkwardly, and I kept it in the scope as I worked the bolt and fired again. At the second shot, he stopped and dropped. Both 168-gr. Barnes Triple Shocks had punched right through. The second was unnecessary-it hit a mere 4'' back from the first, which had gone through both shoulders-but I was taught to keep shooting until the animal goes down, so I did.

A Tough Act To Follow

I was at Eden in northwestern Namibia-a magical place to hunt-with my friends Dwight Van Brunt from Kimber, Mike Slack from Leupold and Guns & Ammo Editor Lee Hoots. It was day five of a seven-day plains game safari during which we sought sable, kudu, waterbuck, warthog, impala, gemsbok, zebra, red hartebeest, eland and blue wildebeest.

My equipment was a bit different from that of my companions. The rest of the party was using a .300 WSM Model 8400 Kimber, the same rifle NRA Editorial Director John Zent had taken to the same place in 2003. He reported on it in American Rifleman (July 2004, p. 48), so I asked Dwight to send me a synthetic-stocked Kimber Model 84M Montana in .308 Win., since it was a rifle we hadn't yet evaluated. I also took along a blued and walnut .300 WSM Model 8400 rifle (one in stainless and synthetic is offered) fitted with a Leupold 3-9X Vari-X III with the new Boone & Crockett reticle.

Function Over Form

For years I have resisted the stainless and synthetic trend in bolt-action rifles. When it comes to my own rifles, I'm really a "blued-steel-and-walnut" kind of guy. Sure, this gun genre, pioneered by Browning's Stainless Stalker, makes for a quite useful and utilitarian tool. They are well suited to Alaska, Africa and other inhospitable places. I have tested and shot many of them over the years but, regardless of how well they shot, they always went back to their makers-until this one. The Kimber Model 84M Montana in .308 Win. stole my heart with its graceful lines and outstanding performance.

Kimber's signature walnut and blued steel Model 84M is an elegant, graceful center-fire sporter built around the .308 Win. cartridge. It's as classic and traditional as a bolt-action rifle can get. But there are some brutal places where elegant bluing and fancy walnut just don't belong. For those, there's the Model 84M Montana, a gun that combines the grace and handling of its blue and walnut cousin with the weather resistance of stainless and synthetic.

The 84M was conceived and designed specifically as a short action by Kimber's Nehemia Sirkis. The CNC-machined, cylindrical receiver starts out as stainless steel bar stock that finally measures 1.13'' in diameter and a mere 7.6'' long. The bolt diameter is scaled-down to 0.58''. It's a cylindrical, two-lug design with an external, Mauser-style claw extractor. This makes the 84M Montana a controlled-round-feed gun, as the extractor controls the cartridge from presentation out of the stock's five-round-capacity blind magazine all the way through ejection.

The bolt lugs ride rails cut in both sides of the receiver's interior that reduce binding or wobble during its cycling. Bolt operation is slick and smooth with no rattling or galling. The ejector is pinned in the bottom left of the receiver behind the ejection port. The three-position, firing-pin-blocking safety on the bolt shroud resembles that of the venerable Model 70. When in the forward or "off" position, a recessed red dot is revealed on the shroud.

The stainless steel barrel is 22'' long with a light sporter contour that tapers from 1.04'' forward of the receiver ring to 0.55'' at the muzzle.

It is button-rifled with six grooves and a 1:10'' right-hand twist. A dished, recessed muzzle crown protects the rifling's origin. The recoil lug is a separate component mounted between the barrel and receiver during assembly that engages a bedded recess in the stock. The barrel is not free-floated, but the two stock screws are pillar-bedded using cylindrical aluminum pillars. Engagement surfaces in the stock for the recoil lug and the bottom of the receiver are glass-bedded at the factory.

But it's the stock that sets the Montana apart. In general, it has the American lines of the walnut 84M, and its rounded fore-end tapers gently to the front of the magazine well. There is a bit of shadbelly to its bottom at the magazine to accommodate the five .308 Win. cartridges. Remember, the Montana has a blind magazine, so there is no floorplate. The stock has a slightly rough finish and its gray exterior paint makes it resistant to slipping in the hands. The butt is topped by a 1'' Pachmayr Decelerator pad.

The Montana is an extremely accurate production rifle. From the bench I was able to turn in slowly fired five-shot groups with Barnes X-Bullet Triple Shock handloads that grouped into 0.61'' at 100 yds. With Federal 165-gr. and Winchester 168-gr. factory loads it shot five-shot groups of 0.86'' and 0.97'', respectively, at 100 yds. Needless to say from Namibia to Fairfax with hundreds of rounds downrange for practice and with several at game, there were no failures of any kind.

The Kimber Montana is ergonomically a dream. It came to the shoulder naturally and never once afield did I fail to appreciate its scoped and loaded 6 ¼-lb. weight. When others slung their rifles on a long stalk, mine remained in the hands.

On Game

Over the course of our trip, I took a zebra at 200 yds. on the first day (which actually required a follow-up shot because I placed the bullet about 3'' too far back), an impala at 230 yds., a warthog at 130 yds., a gemsbok at 40 yds., a blue wildebeest at 150 yds., the aforementioned red hartebeest and the kudu that was part of the Namibian double (see sidebar on p. 46).

The prifle's accuracy and handling were an integral part of making this the most successful and enjoyable hunt of my life and career. My friends in camp and at Eden, of course, were the icing on the cake. But for this traditionalist rifleman, my hunting experience with a rifle named for Big Sky country couldn't have been more rewarding.

By Mark A. Keefe, IV, Editor In Chief

Copyright National Rifle Association of America Jul 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3623/is_200507/ai_n14686125

Why the blind floorplate on the Montana - to keep the weight down or rigidity?

A blind magazine saves a lot of weight. That must be the primary reason. The rifle aims for a niche as a lightweight and that keeps it in the hunt.

I was asked to check by Kimber 84M Montana for feeding etc. This is a 243 thats about eight months old.

It feeds CRF very well and in fact handles a loaded or empty round better than Brno 21's or 22's in terms of avoiding a double feed. It does only hold four rounds in it's magazine however. The fourth one is easy to push down quite far to drop a fifth into the chamber.

I believe that it's advertised as a five round magazine.