Montana Rifle Company DGR 505 Gibbs review

[matt85]

so I finally picked up my Montana Rifle Co. DGR chambered in 505 Gibbs today before work. I was pleased to see they shipped the rifle in a Plano hard case which protected the rifle well in its travels.

at first glance the rifle is very modest but not bad looking with a plain walnut stock and very dark black matte finish on the metal. the inletting is of decent quality and while not perfect, doesn't look bad. the action on the rifle is bedded and has two 19mm rails which use CZ 550 front ring mounts. the rifle has a 13 3/4" LOP with a 3/4" Pachmyr decelerator. the gun weighs roughly 10.5 pounds unloaded and is rather muzzle heavy. I suspect the barrel is thicker at the muzzle then it actually needs to be but the extra weight will help with recoil.

unfortunately when it came time to inspect deeper into the rifle I began to find problems. the first thing I noticed is if you are not gentle when operating the action it will bind up where the "striker guide" meets its channel. if that wasn't bad enough, the rear sight fell out while I was trying to figure out the stuck action. so ignoring the rear sight and the binding action, I proceeded to load 3 cartridges and cycle them threw the rifle a number of times. the rifle seems to have no issue feeding the rounds into battery (Woodleigh 525gr RNSP) and ejection is very positive. however the magazine doesn't like to hold on to the second cartridge. if operated with any real force (opened in a hurry) it will launch my second cartridge out of the gun leaving me with only one remaining cartridge.

so in short, the rifle will be going back to the factory for some work. hopefully they will be able to hammer out the problems and send me a fully functional rifle in time for my buffalo hunt!

thanks for reading
-Matt

 

[Royal27]

CZ makes a great rifle, but dang they are rough from the factory... I would never buy one without the expectation that I would have to send it back for work. So you definitely need to factor that time into the purchase....

The good news is that at least when I got mine back it was fixed and now both shoots and functions flawlessly. I also liked the customer service, although when they told me eight weeks it was eight weeks.

 

[CAustin]

Matt85 sounds like some serious issues. To hear you say things were not bad in my mind is a vote of no confidence. I'm sure this is an expensive rifle from a custom maker! One would think that the builders would inspect as you did and fix problems before shipping!

 

[Royal27]

CZ makes a great rifle, but dang they are rough from the factory... I would never buy one without the expectation that I would have to send it back for work. So you definitely need to factor that time into the purchase....

The good news is that at least when I got mine back it was fixed and now both shoots and functions flawlessly. I also liked the customer service, although when they told me eight weeks it was eight weeks.

Duh.... Montana, not CZ. No idea what I was thinking. Nevermind!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Expecting or even requiring a new firearm to be sent back or to a gunsmith for work to make it functional is insane to me.
Maybe the gun makers are taking a page from the software companies operations book. Send an unfinished product to market and supply fixes or "upgrades" as you go forward.
Why produce a finished product!?

 

[Royal27]

Expecting or even requiring a new firearm to be sent back or to a gunsmith for work to make it functional is insane to me.
Maybe the gun makers are taking a page from the software companies operations book. Send an unfinished product to market and supply fixes or "upgrades" as you go forward.
Why produce a finished product!?

Try being left handed like me.... The rifles are limited in genral and the bigger you go the harder they are to find!!!

I was going to go with a Montana in .458 Lott until I recently found a used custmom rifle that I got at a great price. Why Montana before that? Because there were no other options!!! Argh...

And nothing at all against Montana. They offer something that no one else does, more or less.

 

[ActionBob]

Sorry to hear that Matt. It would indeed be a shame to not have it on the buff hunt.

That has to be frustrating! I had little issues with Ann's 375 Ruger feeding but they seem to be resolving themselves as we get rounds through it... Just a bit rough on the machining. You have to wonder if they could not just take 5 minutes to check these things over... But this is a $860 rifle I am talking about.

I wish they would offer an ultragrade like Winchester does. I'd pay a bit extra. I really like the innovations of Ruger, but the quality could be a tad bit better. I returned a scope ring for a lower one and that was on backorder so took a while..... Then when I got it, it has a bur on the bottom where they just did sloppy work, tried to file it as I cannot wait for a replacement and mounted a nice Z5 Swaro on it (this is on 6.5 Creedmoor), the damned thing shoots so far to the left I bottomed out the windage and still cannot get it on target... Took it off and filed some more but have not got back out to shoot it yet. Frustrating to hear American Made and then deal with this type stuff.

I have a standard Safari Express 375 H & H M70 and a Ultragrade 30-06 M70... That Ultra is smooth as silk, just love it... The Safari Express is good, but extra money is worth the extra polishing on the Ultra to me, although the wood is so nice it is tough to take it hunting and risk scratching it.

 

[Wheels]

Bummer.

Way to make sure they fix it correct.

All the best.

 

[enysse]

Good Luck on getting the problems squared away. I have had great luck buying guns for the most part. Some the actions are sticky and all you have to do is oil it a bit and practice cycling the action.

 

[Bullthrower338]

It is sad that pride in craftsmanship has deteriorated so much, I still try to instill in my employees, their name, reputation and the companies reputation is signed to every structure we call complete, unfortunately I believe this is a dying practice regardless the industry.

 

[Royal27]

It is sad that pride in craftsmanship has deteriorated so much, I still try to instill in my employees, their name, reputation and the companies reputation is signed to every structure we call complete, unfortunately I believe this is a dying practice regardless the industry.

I SO wish I could tell you how wrong I think you are, but I can't.... You nailed it....

 

[matt85]

Matt85 sounds like some serious issues. To hear you say things were not bad in my mind is a vote of no confidence. I'm sure this is an expensive rifle from a custom maker! One would think that the builders would inspect as you did and fix problems before shipping!

Montana Rifle Co. is not a custom rifle company, the DGR is a standard rifle they offer in a number of calibers. thankfully it wasn't as expensive as a custom rifle but I wouldn't call it cheap. the large bore DGR's are $2000 which is a great price for a 505 Gibbs but still a fair bit of cash. I really hoping they will fix the rifle or provide a replacement.

I will keep this thread updated as I go threw the process of trying to get the rifle fixed.

thanks
-matt

 

[Royal27]

I'll bet they have good customer service like CZ does. I would even bet that if you tell them you are in a time bind due to an upcoming hunt they will turn it around extra fast. If they don't, i'll be very disappointed (but not as much as you!)as they talk about their quality and service.

Small companies are much more likely to go the extra mile evn when they mess up the first time.

 

[Velo Dog]

Expecting or even requiring a new firearm to be sent back or to a gunsmith for work to make it functional is insane to me.
Maybe the gun makers are taking a page from the software companies operations book. Send an unfinished product to market and supply fixes or "upgrades" as you go forward.
Why produce a finished product!?

+1.

 

[colorado]

Matt best of luck with MRC. Hope they make everything right for you. I almost went that way for my son (he's left handed), but I found a barely used Winchester M70 Classic Stainless LH in 416 Rem Mag for him (he was looking for a 375 H&H, but he loves it now). It had trouble feeding the 2nd round (no rifles are fool proof!). I had my local gunsmith fix it. I'm sending it to Duane Wiebe to have new bottom metal that will hold 4 down installed. These damn big bores almost all seem to take some work, I don't care who you buy them from, unless maybe it's from Holland and Holland or Hartmann and Weiss.

 

[Royal27]

Matt best of luck with MRC. Hope they make everything right for you. I almost went that way for my son (he's left handed), but I found a barely used Winchester M70 Classic Stainless LH in 416 Rem Mag for him (he was looking for a 375 H&H, but he loves it now). It had trouble feeding the 2nd round (no rifles are fool proof!). I had my local gunsmith fix it. I'm sending it to Duane Wiebe to have new bottom metal that will hold 4 down installed. These damn big bores almost all seem to take some work, I don't care who you buy them from, unless maybe it's from Holland and Holland or Hartmann and Weiss.

I looked for six months for a left hand .375 H&H in Model 70 before I gave up and got a CZ. Would still like to get one someday!!

 

[tarbe]

My earlier decision to produce two right-handed children is proving very wise.

Life sucks for lefties!

Of course, my mother always reminded me that geniuses are over-proportiately left-handed....

 

[Wheels]

Of course, my mother always reminded me that geniuses are over-proportiately left-handed....

That explains why I am right handed!

 

[Royal27]

course, my mother always reminded me that geniuses are over-proportiately left-handed....

Geniuses and Presidents, so both ends of the intelligence scale are covered.

 

[Velo Dog]

I'm ambidextrous so that makes me a half-wit.