In 1987 the Montana Department of Fish & Game attempted to relocate an adult male grizzly bear that had been trapped alive after allegedly killing a cow on an Indian reservation near Kalispell, Montana. The bear was tranquilized, fitted with a radio collar and some ear tags, and the trap was put into the bed of a pickup truck and driven deep into the nearby Bob Marshall Wilderness, where the bear was to be released.
Michael O. Humphries spent seven years on the editorial staff of NRA’s American Rifleman magazine before going freelance to cover military-pattern firearms for a variety of gun magazines, including Field & Stream's sister publication SHOT Business.
Humphries has attended many amorer’s courses and shooting schools while researching articles, including events held at Gunsite, Direct Action Resource Center, the Crucible and U.S. Training Center (formerly known as Blackwater USA). He lives in North Carolina.
My personal choice would be the FN SCAR. Great gun. I wonder if people in the 1920's debated the importance of the man killing military 30-06 caliber. The fact is the military spends lots of money learning what works and that's what they buy. I think that we should all be greatful that we get to fallow in their foot steps, weather you know it or not by watching them you can save youself alot of money. Not just on guns but camping gear and other "military tech". I seriously doubt any one would say that GPS has no place in Field and Stream but it was born for the military. Oh yeah, if it shoots well and is cheap to shoot it's for hunting. I've never seen an animal refuse death in the face of being shot with an inferior rifle.
Normally, my expression is that of an IRS auditor who has found someone who diddled the government out of $37.50. But last summer I was smiling because I got to try two rifles that are just plain wonderful. One is the Tikka T3, which I reviewed in the November 2003 issue, and the other is the Kimber 84M Montana.
Kimber has traveled a rocky road. The original business was called Kimber of Oregon, which operated from 1980 to 1991. It produced beautiful but flawed rifles that were plagued by malfunctions and lack of accuracy. In 1997, a new company called Kimber Mfg. Inc. was started in the scenic city of Yonkers, New York, by entirely different management, and there is nothing flawed about what they're building.
The new Kimber is based out of what has been described as the most modern firearms plant in the world, and benefits from the talents of a gifted Israeli gun designer named Nehemia Sirkis. In its second incarnation, its firearms have proved to be very, very accurate. Kimber chose to first produce Government Model 1911-style .45 automatic pistols, and those have been a raging success. In 1999, a series of Mauser-actioned .22 rimfire rifles joined the line, and a year later the Mauser-actioned Model 84M centerfire debuted.
BEYOND LIGHTWEIGHT In the past, all Kimber rifles were stocked in claro walnut and checkered by hand, with quite traditional looks. The 84M Montana, however, is a radical departure. Kimber wanted a Kevlar stock for the gun, it being the lightest and strongest of all stock materials. So the company hired Melvin Forbes of New Ultra Light Arms, who was the first to develop a Kevlar stock, to show it how to make one.
The resulting rifle weighs 5 pounds with Leupold scope bases attached, which means it weighs 4 pounds 14 ounces by itself. Friends, you do not want a centerfire rifle any lighter than that. All stainless steel, the Montana comes with Kimber's very high quality 22-inch button-rifled barrel, an excellent trigger, and a tasteful paint job in Institutional Gray. It's chambered for the .243, .260, 7mm/08, and .308.
SOME CAVEATS Like the Tikka, this is a nearly perfect rifle (nearly because it's right-hand only). Even at my pickiest, I can't come up with anything that the gun lacks, or that Kimber should have done differently. The Montana I tried out (a .308) shot only average groups of 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches with ammo it didn't like, but an inch or much less with what it did.
Rifles this light are difficult to shoot accurately. Every little tic and twitch in your quivering body will be transmitted to the crosshairs, and unless you can hold a rifle steady, you had best resign yourself to missing a fair amount. Light rifles also kick. The 84M Montana will not kill you by any means, but it does provide a noticeable jolt. Then there is its availability: In the immediate future, Kimber will probably not be able to meet demand because the stocks are made by hand, and it is slow, highly skilled work. At press time, the company is back-ordered well into late 2004. And it is not cheap. Suggested retail is $1,053.
But this is a truly fine little rifle. I know of others that are its equal, but they cost two to three times as much. And that makes the Kimber 84M Montana a bargain.
WHAT IS KEVLAR?
In 1965 DuPont developed an organic fiber that was five times stronger than steel on a by-weight basis, half the weight of fiberglass, and resistant to nearly everything. Since then, Kevlar has become the stuff of which most bulletproof vests are made; it's used in boat hulls; and it has found its way into rifle stocks as well. Kevlar stocks are bonded together with epoxy. Graphite fibers are added at critical points to provide rigidity. A Kevlar stock is stiffer than a sporter-weight rifle barrel, and trucks have run over them with no ill effect except to the paint job. --D.E.P.
I like the Remington model 700 7mm-08 in synthetic for reducing wieght. It's easy to carry and has exellent knock-down power. Not to mention it's cheap and accurate.
I CAN EASILY measure a rifle's worth in cold mechanical terms, but not so the lever action. Let me put it this way: Can you picture John Wayne with anything but a lever gun? It's easier to imagine Roy Rogers accompanying himself on the harp, or the Lone Ranger yelling "Hi-yo, Titanium." The lever action isn't just a type of rifle; it's part of our American culture.
I own 4 model 81 BLR's I have them in 7mm-08, .308, .358, .243. They are with out question the best lever-action ever made in terms of quality and out-of-the-box accuracy. They are however a bit on the stiff side for recoil especially the .358 chalk that up to the straight stock. For a long time they were the lefty's saving grace. Good to pack too, on your back or in a saddle scabbard since they're very flat and light.
Welcome to Field & Stream
Search
climate_zero
Comments
Grizzly Attack Caught on Camera52
In 1987 the Montana Department of Fish & Game attempted to relocate an adult male grizzly bear that had been trapped alive after allegedly killing a cow on an Indian reservation near Kalispell, Montana. The bear was tranquilized, fitted with a radio collar and some ear tags, and the trap was put into the bed of a pickup truck and driven deep into the nearby Bob Marshall Wilderness, where the bear was to be released.
These pics have to be very old the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks haven't worn those uniforms for a very long time.
Trophy Room: Photos of the Week111
Nice catch. Oh, and the fish isn't bad either.
Late season pheasant hunt3
Good looking Dogs. Better looking dead pheasants.
F&S Picks the 25 Best AR-Style Rifles111
Michael O. Humphries spent seven years on the editorial staff of NRA’s American Rifleman magazine before going freelance to cover military-pattern firearms for a variety of gun magazines, including Field & Stream's sister publication SHOT Business.
Humphries has attended many amorer’s courses and shooting schools while researching articles, including events held at Gunsite, Direct Action Resource Center, the Crucible and U.S. Training Center (formerly known as Blackwater USA). He lives in North Carolina.
My personal choice would be the FN SCAR. Great gun. I wonder if people in the 1920's debated the importance of the man killing military 30-06 caliber. The fact is the military spends lots of money learning what works and that's what they buy. I think that we should all be greatful that we get to fallow in their foot steps, weather you know it or not by watching them you can save youself alot of money. Not just on guns but camping gear and other "military tech". I seriously doubt any one would say that GPS has no place in Field and Stream but it was born for the military. Oh yeah, if it shoots well and is cheap to shoot it's for hunting. I've never seen an animal refuse death in the face of being shot with an inferior rifle.
A Light, Great Deer Rifle4
Normally, my expression is that of an IRS auditor who has found someone who diddled the government out of $37.50. But last summer I was smiling because I got to try two rifles that are just plain wonderful. One is the Tikka T3, which I reviewed in the November 2003 issue, and the other is the Kimber 84M Montana.
Kimber has traveled a rocky road. The original business was called Kimber of Oregon, which operated from 1980 to 1991. It produced beautiful but flawed rifles that were plagued by malfunctions and lack of accuracy. In 1997, a new company called Kimber Mfg. Inc. was started in the scenic city of Yonkers, New York, by entirely different management, and there is nothing flawed about what they're building.
The new Kimber is based out of what has been described as the most modern firearms plant in the world, and benefits from the talents of a gifted Israeli gun designer named Nehemia Sirkis. In its second incarnation, its firearms have proved to be very, very accurate. Kimber chose to first produce Government Model 1911-style .45 automatic pistols, and those have been a raging success. In 1999, a series of Mauser-actioned .22 rimfire rifles joined the line, and a year later the Mauser-actioned Model 84M centerfire debuted.
BEYOND LIGHTWEIGHT In the past, all Kimber rifles were stocked in claro walnut and checkered by hand, with quite traditional looks. The 84M Montana, however, is a radical departure. Kimber wanted a Kevlar stock for the gun, it being the lightest and strongest of all stock materials. So the company hired Melvin Forbes of New Ultra Light Arms, who was the first to develop a Kevlar stock, to show it how to make one.
The resulting rifle weighs 5 pounds with Leupold scope bases attached, which means it weighs 4 pounds 14 ounces by itself. Friends, you do not want a centerfire rifle any lighter than that. All stainless steel, the Montana comes with Kimber's very high quality 22-inch button-rifled barrel, an excellent trigger, and a tasteful paint job in Institutional Gray. It's chambered for the .243, .260, 7mm/08, and .308.
SOME CAVEATS Like the Tikka, this is a nearly perfect rifle (nearly because it's right-hand only). Even at my pickiest, I can't come up with anything that the gun lacks, or that Kimber should have done differently. The Montana I tried out (a .308) shot only average groups of 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches with ammo it didn't like, but an inch or much less with what it did.
Rifles this light are difficult to shoot accurately. Every little tic and twitch in your quivering body will be transmitted to the crosshairs, and unless you can hold a rifle steady, you had best resign yourself to missing a fair amount. Light rifles also kick. The 84M Montana will not kill you by any means, but it does provide a noticeable jolt. Then there is its availability: In the immediate future, Kimber will probably not be able to meet demand because the stocks are made by hand, and it is slow, highly skilled work. At press time, the company is back-ordered well into late 2004. And it is not cheap. Suggested retail is $1,053.
But this is a truly fine little rifle. I know of others that are its equal, but they cost two to three times as much. And that makes the Kimber 84M Montana a bargain.
WHAT IS KEVLAR?
In 1965 DuPont developed an organic fiber that was five times stronger than steel on a by-weight basis, half the weight of fiberglass, and resistant to nearly everything. Since then, Kevlar has become the stuff of which most bulletproof vests are made; it's used in boat hulls; and it has found its way into rifle stocks as well. Kevlar stocks are bonded together with epoxy. Graphite fibers are added at critical points to provide rigidity. A Kevlar stock is stiffer than a sporter-weight rifle barrel, and trucks have run over them with no ill effect except to the paint job. --D.E.P.
I like the Remington model 700 7mm-08 in synthetic for reducing wieght. It's easy to carry and has exellent knock-down power. Not to mention it's cheap and accurate.
The Six Best Lever Action Rifles (and When to Use Them)38
I CAN EASILY measure a rifle's worth in cold mechanical terms, but not so the lever action. Let me put it this way: Can you picture John Wayne with anything but a lever gun? It's easier to imagine Roy Rogers accompanying himself on the harp, or the Lone Ranger yelling "Hi-yo, Titanium." The lever action isn't just a type of rifle; it's part of our American culture.
I own 4 model 81 BLR's I have them in 7mm-08, .308, .358, .243. They are with out question the best lever-action ever made in terms of quality and out-of-the-box accuracy. They are however a bit on the stiff side for recoil especially the .358 chalk that up to the straight stock. For a long time they were the lefty's saving grace. Good to pack too, on your back or in a saddle scabbard since they're very flat and light.
ADVERTISEMENT
Today on Field & Stream
Visit Our Sister Sites at Bonnier Corporation
FieldandStream.com is part of the Bonnier Outdoor Group Network
Copyright © 2009 Bonnier Corp. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.