What ammo have you tried? I have a Kimber mountain ascent that is about 50/50 on which ammo it likes.. 150g Barnes TTSX and 190g ABLRs will shoot touching 3 shot groups.. same gun will not group 165 TTSX under 3 inches. And 180 e tips about 1.5-2” inch groups. i know Kimbers can be finicky
I also have a Kimber, in a Hunter in 280AI. It has just replaced so many other rifles/calibers. At a mere 5 3/4 pounds with a 24 inch match grade barrel, it heats up and strings very quickly. It is a "three shot" rifle, at most, The first two shots will touch, making a "figure 8".
The third shot makes a little larger group and the 4th shot really opens the group up. It shoots tighter longer in very cold weather.
I could care less. This entire rig meets my hunting needs perfecting. The 280AI is not a powder hog like a 7mm mag or any magnums really. It is not a bully, even in a light rifle when it comes to recoil and noise either. It is so efficient being barely a gnats ass less in velocity than a 7mm mag with maybe 10 grains less powder. It is so much faster than my old 280 and loves heavier bullets than my 270's did. So much flatter than any 30 cal too.
Noisy, short barreled rifles, with so much muzzle blast are not my cup of tea.
When a hunter can use one rifle for all shooting/hunting he has a huge game field utility advantage. "Beware of the man with only one gun., he knows how to use it"
During the off months I shoot other rifles, but a few months before deer/elk or antelope season begins I stick to my 280AI Kimber exclusively. It does take time and use to have my muscle memory adapt to such a light rifle, but that does happen quite well.
For the dark timber I once used a 35 Whelen, now I used my 280AI with super long high BC and SD 160 grain all copper Lapua Naturalis bullets. The 140 grain Barnes TTSX is my deer/antelope "do all", with the 150 grain TTSX for open country elk. I get great velocity from that 24 inch barrel.
For practice i used 120 grain copper core bullets loaded to match the trajectory of my heavier bullets. My scope is either a 2-7 or a 3-9. I have both sighted in and ready to go with Leopold rings.
I actually prefer the 2-7 for the lower 2x power for fast shooting in the thick dark cover.
Western hunting has changed over the past decades. More game animals have been driven into cover from the pressure of long range "shooters". I really saw this starting in Wyoming when I lived there during the gas fracking boom.
Rough-neck drillers making tons of money really started building long range rifles.
That was a big game, game changer. Except for antelope I hunt deep and steep in the darker places now more than ever.
Western hunting has become more eastern. Before i went to all copper bullets and the 280AI, i used 180 grain Barnes originals in my 270.
