Kimber's Delightful Little Varminter: Trim, elegant, accurate and beautifully crafted — the Kimber 84M just may be America's classiest production rifle

Guns Magazine, March, 2002 by Holt Bodinson

Additionally, if you're a handloader, the .22-250 is easy to work with. It favors medium-burning powders such as IMR 4895, 4320, 4064; RL-15; H380 and Varget and bullets in the 50- to 55-grain range. A standard load for years was a 52- and 53-grain HP bullet loaded over 35.0 to 36.0 grains of JMR 4320; 34.0 to 35.0 grains of IMR 4064; or 34.0 to 35.0 grains of IMR 4895. By all means, try 50-grain bullets as well. They've tended to be exceedingly accurate in many .22-250s.

When the Kimber Varmint arrived, I had just received two samples of Redfield's revived scope line -- a Golden Five Star 618x40 AO and an Illuminator 3-9x42 (See sidebar story).

The 6-18x40 AO Five Star was a perfect match for Kimber's .22-250. It offered an exceedingly useful range of powers and clear, crisp optics while the adjustable objective feature kept parallax problems in check at all ranges. Now under Blount ownership and management, Redfield is once again producing quality optical instruments.

Putting It To The Test

In the field, the Kimber Varmint lived up to its good looks. On hand was a favorite handload consisting of 35.3 grains of IMR 4895. the Federal 210 primer coupled with a 53-grain Sierra Match bullet and Winchester's 55-grain Super-X factory load. As I often experience today, the factory ammunition outshot my standard handload. The Winchester load clocked 3,778 fps over the Pact Professional chronograph and turned in three-shot groups of 5/16 inch at 100 yards and 1/6 inch at 200 yards. The favored handload registered 3,752 fps with respective groups of 9/16 inch and 1 3/8 inch. I might add that the particular rifle I tested had already been abused on two promotional prairie dog hunts and exhibited visible throat erosion. Kimber is making its own quality barrels! and I expect it would be fairly easy to develop a high-performance load that would average 1/4 MOA or better in the Varmint model.

When considering its miniature action, subdued good looks, proportions and performance, the Kimber Varmint model is truly a customized rifle and a lot of gun for the money. It carries a retail tag of $978.

Having worked with the Varmint model, I look forward with anticipation to the new Kimber Classic Sporter chambered in a big-game caliber.

RELATED ARTICLE: REDFIELD IS BACK

HOLT BODINSON

An established name in sports optics and now part of the Blount group, Redfield is back in the game with a passion. In the '70s, I hunted with Redfield's Widefield 1.75-5X and 2-7X "TV screen" variables and shot long-range big-bore with its innovative model 6400 target scope. Optics were crisp, and adjustments were precise and problem free. Redfield had a fine product line, and while quality slipped at the end of the original era, quality is the focus of the new Redfield company.

Redfield is introducing four lines of riflescopes:

The Illuminator, available in 3-9x42 and 3-l0x50 in a variety of finishes is its top-of-the-line premium series.

The Golden Five Star is a mid-priced line consisting of 3-9x40, 3-9x50, 4-12x40, 6-18x40 scopes, again in a variety of finishes.