I have been without a lightweight bolt action rifle for a while. I haven’t deer hunted in several years and my selection of bolt guns has recently tended toward the large heavy type…kind of like me! I decided I wanted to get a light bolt gun with an eye toward maybe doing a little deer hunting this year so I set about educating myself with respect to the current offerings.
I looked at all the major manufacturers and found one I thought would be interesting. My new Kimber 84M Classic in .308 Winchester arrived on Monday. My first thought when I picked up the package was that they forgot to put the rifle in the box! A sub-six pound rifle is obviously light but until you hold one in your hands it is hard to believe just how light it actually is. As I examined the new Kimber, I mentally prepared myself for a rifle that would probably kick like a three legged Ninja!
On Wednesday I received my Leupold VX-2 2-7x33mm matte duplex scope, mounts and rings and mated them to the Kimber. It makes for a really attractive little package, still very light, and very nicely balanced.
I had a few boxes of Hornady TAP FPD 168 gr A-Max so today I headed to the range for a sight-in. I had read on-line reviews that indicated this particular rifle series could be somewhat finicky about ammo and that some samples could experience less than stellar accuracy so my expectations were tempered somewhat by those reports. On the other hand, Kimber touts both pillar and glass bedding as well as match grade barrels so I was planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
I set up my bags, bore sighted the scope, put on my eyes, ears and home-made padded recoil shield and fired a few shots at 50 yards to get started. Much to my surprise, the classic stock design and generous recoil pad made the rifle quite manageable…not pleasant, but not brutal either. It didn’t take long to get dialed in at short range so I moved to the 100 yard target. I immediately fired a three shot group for accuracy confirmation. The group wasn’t centered but it was just a hair over 1” across and I started to smile just a little.
I made some adjustments and shifted my attention to the 200 yard mark where I had a couple of targets posted. This would be my zero distance for this little sporter and I was hoping to get at least a 1.5 to 2 MOA group at this distance…not stellar but acceptable big game accuracy for a whippy little lightweight. The first three shots were close to the right elevation, slightly right and surprisingly grouped at just about 2 inches! My smile got a bit bigger!
I made an adjustment, let the barrel cool a while and then fired a second group which landed just to the left of center and again almost exactly 2 inches across! I’m really smiling by now…I’ve got a 1 MOA rifle that weighs less than 6 pounds! Now with two groups to work with I know exactly how much scope adjustment to make. I position my recoil shield, settle in with the rifle and go into “bench-rest mode”. I breathe, let it out, squeeze and just eat the recoil to see what this rifle can really do. I fire three shots, rub my shoulder and look through the spotting scope to see a nearly perfect three shot ring around the bullseye that is scarcely 1.5” or slightly less center to center!!! Hulk Hogan couldn’t slap the grin off my face!
This little rifle is a KEEPER!
I looked at all the major manufacturers and found one I thought would be interesting. My new Kimber 84M Classic in .308 Winchester arrived on Monday. My first thought when I picked up the package was that they forgot to put the rifle in the box! A sub-six pound rifle is obviously light but until you hold one in your hands it is hard to believe just how light it actually is. As I examined the new Kimber, I mentally prepared myself for a rifle that would probably kick like a three legged Ninja!
On Wednesday I received my Leupold VX-2 2-7x33mm matte duplex scope, mounts and rings and mated them to the Kimber. It makes for a really attractive little package, still very light, and very nicely balanced.
I had a few boxes of Hornady TAP FPD 168 gr A-Max so today I headed to the range for a sight-in. I had read on-line reviews that indicated this particular rifle series could be somewhat finicky about ammo and that some samples could experience less than stellar accuracy so my expectations were tempered somewhat by those reports. On the other hand, Kimber touts both pillar and glass bedding as well as match grade barrels so I was planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
I set up my bags, bore sighted the scope, put on my eyes, ears and home-made padded recoil shield and fired a few shots at 50 yards to get started. Much to my surprise, the classic stock design and generous recoil pad made the rifle quite manageable…not pleasant, but not brutal either. It didn’t take long to get dialed in at short range so I moved to the 100 yard target. I immediately fired a three shot group for accuracy confirmation. The group wasn’t centered but it was just a hair over 1” across and I started to smile just a little.
I made some adjustments and shifted my attention to the 200 yard mark where I had a couple of targets posted. This would be my zero distance for this little sporter and I was hoping to get at least a 1.5 to 2 MOA group at this distance…not stellar but acceptable big game accuracy for a whippy little lightweight. The first three shots were close to the right elevation, slightly right and surprisingly grouped at just about 2 inches! My smile got a bit bigger!
I made an adjustment, let the barrel cool a while and then fired a second group which landed just to the left of center and again almost exactly 2 inches across! I’m really smiling by now…I’ve got a 1 MOA rifle that weighs less than 6 pounds! Now with two groups to work with I know exactly how much scope adjustment to make. I position my recoil shield, settle in with the rifle and go into “bench-rest mode”. I breathe, let it out, squeeze and just eat the recoil to see what this rifle can really do. I fire three shots, rub my shoulder and look through the spotting scope to see a nearly perfect three shot ring around the bullseye that is scarcely 1.5” or slightly less center to center!!! Hulk Hogan couldn’t slap the grin off my face!
This little rifle is a KEEPER!
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