New member.. Kimber 8400 300WSM accuracy??

[gt1900]

I just back into big game hunting and went out and bought a Kimber 8400 300 WSM. It will shoot 1 1/4 in. groups at a 100 yards with all the factory ammo Ive tried so far. After finding this site I decided that 1 1/4 just aint gonna cut it. You guys who are shooting out 800-1000 yards are my hero's. I would love to have the experience and equipment to do that, but for now, Id like to get my kimber to shoot 3/4 in groups with factory ammo. I figure that would be good to about 500 yards at the max. Ive looked into a couple of gunsmiths "accurizing" service. Do you guys have any suggestions on the best way to go about this and who are some of the better gunsmiths I could use? I know that handloading would help, but right now I just don't have time for that. So I figure 3/4 in. with factory ammo would be a good start. Thanks in advance..
Travis

 

[Huff762]

Don't take this the wrong way but, how good a shot are you? I have the same rifle and shoot about the same groups you're reporting. Sometimes I'll get the odd 1/2" group but most of the time I'm just not that good. The thing is I know that I am BY FAR the limiting factor in the system. Besides becoming a more proficient marksman handloading can sometimes cut group sizes quite a bit.

 

[gt1900]

I understand what you are saying about the marksmanship thing. But I can shoot better than 1 1/4 in. If I have a gun that will shoot 3/4, then I can shoot 3/4. I have never fired a gun that was down to 1/2 in. So I have no idea if I'm capable of that.. But I know I can shoot around 3/4..

 

[Savage99]

My 8400 would not even shoot that well until I did a lot of work on it. Accuracy of what you speak is average for most guns. There are exceptions but not by brand in my experiance.

Limit yourself to 250 yds. That works for me.

 

[gt1900]

Maybe this came across wrong. I was looking into having some work done to get my gun more accurate before I saw this site, thats how I found it. Now, I really want to get it more accurate. 250 yards isn't far enough. I want to be able to comfortabley shoot out to 400-500 yards and have the confidence in my gun to do that. Any ideas on who the best person is to work on the gun.. And what I should have done to it?

 

[tjbill]

What work did you have done and what was the end result.

 

[ol mike]

gt1900 ,

There are a few gunsmiths here Kirby 'fiftydriver', Shawn
Carlock ,are around here onboard alot.

My advise would be to handload your own ammo..I'm not convinced that factory ammo will cut the mustard at those ranges consistantly.
I started handloading about 3yrs ago and love doing it.Longrange accuracy is something that there are few shortcuts to.
I looked at the Kimber site last night after reading so many people speaking highly of them.The Montana comes pillar bedded/bedded i'm not sure if the 8400 does or not.

I do some basic gun tinkering myself and can tell you a few things to look for.
Check to see if the barrel is free floating -meaning not touching the stock -wrap a fairly heavy piece of paper around the barrel and slide it down between the stock.
If it's touching you need to do a little sanding then refinish the wood.

Adjust your trigger as low as safely possible ,odds are it won't go to low in pull weight for you to not like it.

Those two things plus good barrel cleaning procedure are important.
I won't bother talking about bedding at this point.
When a gun is new shoot and clean alot and 90% of the time the groups will improve ,but over and above anything else handloading will be your best friend.
Feel free to ask and i'll give you a run down on loading items needed + i'll walk you right through the whole process if need be!
PM fiftydriver he's a great guy and gives alot of good advise and i'll bet he will say just about the same things i did.Your kimber is definately capable of 3/4" groups and 500 yd shooting.Best of luck to you -Mike

 

[gt1900]

Mike.. Thanks for the reply.. My 8400 is free floated... I am starting to think about handloads. At the gunrange where I shoot, there is a guy who handloads for people. I know that may be a bit risky, but is it safe to have someone hand load for you? (I would make sure they are a reputable source with lots of experience)...... Has anyone had a gun accurized by Hill Country Rifles?? They said that they see about 3/4 in average on the Kimbers after they accurize them. The guy I talked to said that out of the box the kimber is about 85% and their accurizing will bring it closer to 100%. He also told me that it usually costs about half what a normal rifle would because kimbers already come with a lot of the things they do to accurize a gun.

 

[ol mike]

gt1900 ,

I'd have no problem w/someone handloading ammo for me.
I'd make sure he has some knowledge of loading shortmags first.From what i gather'd over at shortmags.org the saum's and wsm's like full length resized brass not neck sized.
If you start out w/top quality components like 180gr nosler accubond/ballistic tip or 178gr a-max ,mag pro powder ,good brass -->winchester or lapua things should come together quickly for you.
At the cost of wsm ammo handloading yourself would pay for the equipment in short order.I bought my equipment and just began by looking it over and must say i was making a mountain out of a mole hill!Handloading is very simple but w/anything you can take it as far as you want.
The thing about having someone load for you -IMO-that would double your time frame on load developement.
I have no expierience w/Hill Country although if they were bad in this day and age they probably wouldn't be in business!
Also lite compact rifles don't shoot bughole groups as well as big longrange hammers do-- of coarse you probably know that.I'd go out and do some shooting at longrange and see how the rifle/ammo stack up out yonder where it counts.
Well keep us updated on things -->Mike

 

[Jimm]

Does Black Hills make ammo for the 300wsm ?

If they do and you haven't already you should try them .

Your Kimber should shoot better at 100 yds than you are getting without having to spend any more dollars on it .

I just finished finding a load for a friends 270wsm in a Kimber 84. I was not reloading for it . JUst looking for the best accuracy out of a factory load .

So as to not muddy the water I won't say what factory load shot best . Just suffice it to say that with 5 different factory loads groups went from 4 inches to 3/4 inch at 100 yds .............................repeatable !

Remember , I didn't say what factory shot best and though I mentioned Black Hills ammo I did not use any of it .

If you do not or don't want to reload then the way to go is to shoot the factory stuff and see what happens . If you think this is expensive just start pricing reloading equipment /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jim B.

 

[zupatun]

Why not try some match grade ammo as well? See how much, if at all, your groups tighten up. If you don't reload and want accuracy, you probably should be looking at using match grade ammo, Black Hills, Federal etc...make some very accurate store-bought ammo.

This will not make your rifle any more accurate, but it will reduce the variability associated with your ammo.

One other thought is to try Tubbs Final Finish and reducing your trigger pull. Also proper bedding job (if not already done), is another thing you can do yourself. If you're looking at 500yds or less I think the above can be done by yourself and you'll definitely see some improvement in the range of 3/4" at 100 yds, but I'd be looking at what you get at 300yds as a better measure of improvement. Of course if you shoot bugholes at 100 that can't be all that bad...

I guess it all depends on how confident you are in doing what you can by yourself first, or if you have the means to have a good smith like Sean or Kirby do the work for you.

Matt

 

[roninflag]

i have a 300wsm in a rem sendero( rechambered from rsum with a muzzle brake added) it shoots 1/2". sometimes better. i use the accuracy load from one of the sierra manuals. 55.0 h-4895 and a 175 matchking; wlrm primer. the kimber i hefted was a very light rifle. i have heard nothing but good about kimber. they attractive and have a great trigger . my 300 wsm is a little heavier and has a 36 power scope on it. roninflag

 

[rotorhead]

Qt1900, How new is your gun? how many rounds have you shot through it? Being a factory gun you might benefit from the Tubbs fire lapping bullets you could ask the guy that does the loads to make some up for you. I have seen this system work well in some factory guns. The point is this is the cheapest thing you can do up front. I do custom reloading for about 30 different people but nobody has the 300WSM or a Kimber. I usually require the gun to come to me then I build a load for that particuliar gun. I would say try the tubbs first I have used them on several Factory rifles and have always had good results.
As far as gunsmiths go Kirby has alot of happy customer on this bord, I have never sent one to him but I understand he is good his replys on the board sound like he knows what he is doing, I figure I will give him a try in the future. Other than him I have used a guy in colorado name Ray Montgomery he is good and fast. He has always been able to do what I want and will do as I ask I look for certian things to be done and He does it not problem, for example if I want a throat long , short or small to a particuliar measurement he will get it done. Depending on how much money you are willing to spend you might change the barrel , I am not sure who makes the barrels on the Kimber but you could put a Lilja or a Krieger on the rifle I know this would help I will add I know you can reload and do better than the factory 99% of the time. The factory loads rounds that will fit within the SAMI spects if your gun is at the top of the scale the ammunition is at the low side. This can cause accuracy issues. In the future when you get more time you might want to consider handloading

hope this helps, RH

 

[Clifford.Ward]

I have had very good results with factory ammo, so far. I don't have enough brass from shooting at the range to start serious reloading (so I just ordered some). However, after I replaced my scope with a much better one, my groups for 3 or 5 shots are generally less than .32 inch, .5 inch max. My problem, I can see my pulse as my rifle twitches to the right .5 inch or so and have to time my shots accordingly. Your rifle is a really nice one, it should do far better. I'm shooting a Sako A7 in .300wsm and also had a muzzle brake put on by High Score Gunsmithing that reduced the recoil to that of a .243.