Heir to the crown: is Kimber's 8400 our new Rifleman's Rifle?

Guns Magazine, May, 2007 by Jeff John

With the passing of Winchester's Model 70, the mantle of "The Rifleman's Rifle" is sadly open and I nominate as heir to this claim the Kimber Model 84 Long Action.

With its combination of classic, graceful lines, understated beauty and quality manufacturing, it's a superb candidate for the crown. Indeed, it borrows many engineering cues from the Model 70 including the 3-position safety and Mauser-style controlled-feed extractor.

Even better, the Kimber's stock has well-figured grain, the fit has that "Old World" quality and the soft, muted, matte blue provides a glare-free finish befitting a hunting arm. The barrel is free floated and fit of the barrel to the channel is so good I wasn't sure it was floated until I passed a dollar bill all the way down the channel.

My test sample is chambered in .30-06, mostly because I shoot and load for the caliber and have a good variety of ammo on hand, but also because it is still number one in sales. Americans know a good thing when they see it. The long-action Kimber is available in the '06's kin including the .25-06, .270 Winchester as well as the .300 Win and .338 Win Mags should you desire more or less.

Other classic touches provided by Kimber include a steel grip cap, adjustable trigger (this one came from the factory at 2 3/4 pounds and offered a delightfully crisp and clean break) and glass-bedded action. Two other well-thought out parts are the bolt release and the floorplate release in the triggerguard. Both parts show nice attention to detail in their design, fit and function. Wood to metal fit is better than average overall. Swivel studs for Uncle Mike's-type sling swivels are expertly mounted. The front one is far enough forward to prevent your fingers from getting bashed during recoil even with the magnums, unless you're an orangutan, of course.

No cheekpiece spoils the lines and the comb undercuts are subtle and not overstated. The wood's matte oil finish is even, but does not entirely fill the pores of the wood. The comb is high enough to give a good cheekweld with the average scope. The 1" Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad is unobtrusive as well as comfortable. Filled with sorbethane, it softens recoil well and helped me maintain concentration as my shooting session passed the 100-round mark. It was smooth enough to allow for fast gun mounts, yet stayed put when the gun was under recoil or when the bolt was worked.

The rifle weighs in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces scoped, and the quick taper of the barrel gives the gun a neutral balance with the carry point being centered around the forward triggerguard screw. This gives the rifle a lively feel and it comes to the shoulder quickly and easily. It was a snap to raise the rifle and ring the three 100-yard gongs during the offhand portion of the test. The rifle swung smoothly between the gongs and the lack of muzzle heaviness eliminated any overswing.

Happy 100th Leupold!

In honor of Leupold's 100th anniversary, it is only fitting to use one of their fine scopes for this test. This Custom Shop scope was made for my own .30-06 and I had been achin' to try it out. (You've all heard how the mechanic's car is the worst running on the block, right? Well the gunwriter's own guns are the ones least shot, too.)

The scope is a Vari-X III 3.5-10x40mm fitted with a Leupold Custom Shop Ballistically-Matched reticle for a 180-grain bullet at 2,700 fps. The ranging reticle is meant to be zeroed for 200 yards and has a hashmark above for 100 yards as well as hashmarks for holdover at 300, 400 and 500 yards. The Leupold Custom Shop can put such a reticle into your current Leupold, too, at a reasonable $179.99 upgrade. All the custom shop needs is your caliber. bullet weight and profile, velocity and, if you can, the elevation you'll shoot at the most and the average temperature. The last two datum aren't positively critical, but will help the custom shop really sharpen the reticle to your ballistics.

Because I was using my own scope, I chose Burris Posi-Align rings to mount the scope in the Kimber-supplied bases. The Posi-Align rings are the tinkerer's best friend allowing the scope to mount in the plastic inserts mar-free and secure, so when I install the scope back on my own rifle, I won't have any worries about covering any scratches. An added bonus not necessary with the Kimber is the Posi-Align inserts can be used to adjust elevation on a gun with base alignment problems so the scope's internal adjustments aren't used up in the zeroing effort.

Range Time

Four loads in two bullet weights were assembled for the test, two from Federal, one from Winchester and one from Black Hills. Someone once said high energy loads don't group well (OK, it was me in a past Q&A column), so magnum fans rejoice. Federal's High Energy 180-grain Nosler Partition earned the accuracy crown on top of its speed crown with a stellar 3-shot 5/8" 100-yard group at a magnum speed of 2,882 fps. Recoil was no more noticeable than with the other loads and the Nosler Partition bullet is a long proven big-game bullet. It would be my go-to load for this gun.