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  #31  
Old 09-18-2020, 09:53 AM
Stinky Coyote Stinky Coyote is offline
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Originally Posted by Patrickn View Post
Barrett has discontinued the Fieldcraft for the time being. Something about a military contract taking up production space. Although they might not have been selling like they hoped. Glad I got mine when I did. Very nice rifle.
yes, they were teasing some .224 valkyrie for shot show before so the grendel hoard were getting excited, they do look like awesome rifles, hope they start back up when covid has relaxed and business gets more back to usual...a rifle to watch for
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  #32  
Old 09-18-2020, 10:04 AM
dave99 dave99 is offline
 
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To Bacon’s original question:

Finnlight and Montana are two very different rifles.

The Kimber is truly minimalist, in terms of weight, comb height, and stock profile and design. Pencil thin barrel and blind magazine. An awesome rifle (kind of regret selling mine in .280ai) meant for a specific purpose of lightweight and multi day trip.

The Sako is better refined, smoother, but is by no means an ultralight. It feels more luxurious in hand and holds its aim better (for me, anyway) because of its balance and weight. Stock is relatively well designed. Felt recoil is less, and is pleasant to shoot at the range.

Having owned both, I opted for the Finnlight as my go-to hunting rifle. Even for multi-day backpack hunts.


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  #33  
Old 09-18-2020, 10:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrickn View Post
Barrett has discontinued the Fieldcraft for the time being. Something about a military contract taking up production space. Although they might not have been selling like they hoped. Glad I got mine when I did. Very nice rifle.

Surprised as they were selling a ton of these. They had promised a LH version but they kept delaying it so I finally lost patience and bought something else. I shot one right hand and I was very impressed. Wolverine Supplies is still showing a bunch of different Chamberings in stock for about $2,600 a pop. There are probably other Canadian dealers and I would imagine Prophet River or IRGuns can bring them in, but I don't know the other Canadian dealers are.



https://www.wolverinesupplies.com/Pr...CTURER=BARRETT
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  #34  
Old 09-18-2020, 11:31 AM
JD848 JD848 is online now
 
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Check out Bashaw sports,i just bought a great shooter in a sako.It takes one heck of rifle before I say great shooter,specially in 300 win in A7 roughtech for 1129 reg 1599 in most stores ,I have bought 5 k rifles that never shot this well,plus my first set of reloads to boot.I did change out the recoil pad.

I have owned one kimber and it was a very nice rifle,shot really good and went out with a friend on a hunt for the day and he tried it and begged me to sell it to him,so off it went..

Pud is great guy plus they got a wicked online sale plus in store on sako's plus fast shipping.

JD

Last edited by JD848; 09-18-2020 at 11:40 AM.
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  #35  
Old 09-20-2020, 07:17 PM
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AB2506 AB2506 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean2 View Post
Surprised as they were selling a ton of these. They had promised a LH version but they kept delaying it so I finally lost patience and bought something else. I shot one right hand and I was very impressed. Wolverine Supplies is still showing a bunch of different Chamberings in stock for about $2,600 a pop. There are probably other Canadian dealers and I would imagine Prophet River or IRGuns can bring them in, but I don't know the other Canadian dealers are.



https://www.wolverinesupplies.com/Pr...CTURER=BARRETT
IIRC, Barrett stopped making the Fieldcraft pre-Covid. They have a military contract that they have to meet and assigned Fieldcraft resources to fulfill the contract.
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  #36  
Old 09-20-2020, 07:30 PM
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AB2506 AB2506 is offline
 
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I have nothing against the Sako Finnlight except that for the money, the stock feels cheap and poorly designed. I feel like I would want to replace the stock.

I have a few Kimber Montanas. IMO, the Montanas are near perfect. You do have to learn to shoot them from the bench. IME, they do not do well on a firm surface. They do best on a softer surface (use a towel to pad the rest) and they need to be held firmly on the bench. Do not let them free recoil. They are easier to shoot in the field. On shooting sticks, I still grip the fore end firmly. Less so using a bipod. Because of their lightweight, they do recoil more than heavier rifles, but the stock design is excellent (for me) at handling it.

Overall, I prefer the Kimber Montana.
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  #37  
Old 09-20-2020, 07:49 PM
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It's great hearing everyone's opinions on this. This is why I inquired about it. Like I said before I was shooting a ruger American with a nikon monarch 5 scope. This combo was fine for me, nothing fancy but I wanted to step it up a bit.

I ended up going with a christensen arms mesa like a few people have mentioned. With the black and grey webbed stock. In 7mm08. And also got a swarovski z5 scope and talley rings to top it off.

Thanks for everyones feedback. And thanks again sns2 for helping me track things down. Kind of made me want to buy several rifles lol. I'm super excited. Now this gives me a kick in the butt to get the loading room finished. It's not too far from finished.
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  #38  
Old 09-21-2020, 06:26 AM
Stinky Coyote Stinky Coyote is offline
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Sounds like an awesome combo, congrats.
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  #39  
Old 09-21-2020, 07:22 AM
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That is a seriously nice package you got right there. Pics on this thread within two days or you have a timeout until hunting season is over. LOL
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  #40  
Old 09-21-2020, 08:29 AM
elkhunter11 elkhunter11 is online now
 
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I have developed loads for two Mesa rifles recently. Although I don't shoot the Mesa as well as I shoot the Traverse, due to the differences in the stock, I do like the Mesa more than the Sako or the Kimber. And the Z5 is my favorite scope for big game hunting.
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  #41  
Old 09-21-2020, 09:08 AM
hawk-i hawk-i is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Savage Bacon View Post
It's great hearing everyone's opinions on this. This is why I inquired about it. Like I said before I was shooting a ruger American with a nikon monarch 5 scope. This combo was fine for me, nothing fancy but I wanted to step it up a bit.

I ended up going with a christensen arms mesa like a few people have mentioned. With the black and grey webbed stock. In 7mm08. And also got a swarovski z5 scope and talley rings to top it off.

Thanks for everyones feedback. And thanks again sns2 for helping me track things down. Kind of made me want to buy several rifles lol. I'm super excited. Now this gives me a kick in the butt to get the loading room finished. It's not too far from finished.
Good buy! How's it shoot?
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  #42  
Old 09-21-2020, 09:13 AM
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Glad you found something you are happy with. That is a really nice rig you picked out. Look forward to seeing pictures of it and the load development targets.
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  #43  
Old 09-21-2020, 09:20 AM
Stinky Coyote Stinky Coyote is offline
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another picture request please
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  #44  
Old 09-21-2020, 04:07 PM
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The package is coming from Corlanes sporting goods in BC. They got everything together and called me this morning for the payment. So I'm hoping it ships out today. Greg in the back is who I dealt with. Seems to be a great guy. It will be a long few days waiting for it to arrive. We might go out camping this weekend. If i have everything together by then it will be the christensen christening.
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  #45  
Old 09-21-2020, 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by sns2 View Post
That is a seriously nice package you got right there. Pics on this thread within two days or you have a timeout until hunting season is over. LOL
As soon as it arrives. I'll send pics of the packing slip to prove I had to wait for Shipping lol.
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  #46  
Old 09-21-2020, 04:58 PM
hawk-i hawk-i is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Savage Bacon View Post
The package is coming from Corlanes sporting goods in BC. They got everything together and called me this morning for the payment. So I'm hoping it ships out today. Greg in the back is who I dealt with. Seems to be a great guy. It will be a long few days waiting for it to arrive. We might go out camping this weekend. If i have everything together by then it will be the christensen christening.
Greg did the barrel on my Christensen 300 PRC, good guy and does good work!
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  #47  
Old 09-21-2020, 08:25 PM
Bolete Bolete is offline
 
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I’ve had both. Give me a Sako any day.
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  #48  
Old 09-29-2020, 08:42 PM
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So late Friday afternoon my rifle showed up. But we were just leaving to go camping. Then last night I was in Calgary. So I hadn't opened the box right up until a few minutes ago. I did take a quick peak on Friday. But here she is. I'm going to try and get the scope mounted tonight. Thanks again everyone for your input!
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  #49  
Old 10-10-2020, 06:18 PM
Mikeboehm Mikeboehm is offline
 
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Well I've had 11 sako's at one time. I currently now have four and I just purchased my first Kimber mountain ascent chambered in 280 Ackley. I probably won't grab my sako rifles anymore. This 280ai out shoots all my Seiko rifles. Just over 6 lb scoped and Clover leaf shots with factory loads as well as my hand loads
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  #50  
Old 10-10-2020, 08:26 PM
Stinky Coyote Stinky Coyote is offline
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Sounds like someone is in the honeymoon phase.😉👍
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  #51  
Old 10-12-2020, 06:47 AM
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Quote:
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Sounds like someone is in the honeymoon phase.😉ðŸ‘
Its not a Grendel. Its a real keeper

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  #52  
Old 10-12-2020, 11:55 AM
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So Friday I went out and set up a target to go through the extensive Christensen Arms break in process. Fire 6 shots, then clean the barrel. Running a nylon brush through 30 times, so 60 passes, more cleaning, and then 6 more shots, and then the same cleaning process again, until 50 rounds are fired.

With the limbsaver recoil pad I had no issues with comfort. Even after 50 rounds it was like I hadn't shot anything. My other rifle also chambered in 7mm08 with no recoil pad does get tiring after a shooting session.

I had a few targets and wanted to shoot some groups, but after I got all set up and walked out to set up my target I realized I had chosen a muskeg field. I knew this area looked too good lol. So I made one trip to set up one target, and one trip to clean up. Those walks were exhausting.

I didn't mess around with any load development. Just wanted to fire the 50 rounds, then start messing with loads. The cheapest bullets I had were 140 grain nosler ballistic tips so that's what I used. With 42 grains of IMR 4350. Which is the starting load in my nosler book. And 50 new hornady brass.

I have some Accubonds and tipped tsx both 140 grains, and 175 grain long range Accubonds. So I'll develop a load for each of these.

With my wobbly table and chair and not concentrating too hard on accuracy, it didn't shoot bad at all.

Loading the rifle from the top and having the cases straight so they don't bind up in the magazine is something I'll have to get used to.

So to sum it up... so far I'm very pleased with this rifle.
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