After Brandt took a fine buffalo with his .416, and with no sign of my ammunition, it was time to make a new plan. I gave up on my bag and its vital contents, borrowed Tim’s rifle, and zeroed it for 400-grain Trophy Bonded Sledgehammers. The next day I took the troublesome elephant bull with that combination.

And then my bag arrived in Kasane.

Manufacturer: Kimber
Model: 8400 Caprivi
Caliber: .375 H&H Mag., .416 Rem. Mag., .458 Lott (tested)
Action Type: bolt-action
Receiver: Matte 4140 steel
Finish: Matte blue
Magazine: internal, four rounds
Overall Length: 44 5/8”
Barrel: 24: Magnum contour
Rifling: button-rifled, six-groove, 1:12” RH twist
Weight: 8 lbs., 11 ozs.
Sights: NECGS white bead front, windage adjustable three leaf express rear
Trigger: adjustable, single-stage; 3-lb., 8-oz. pull
Stock: AA-grade, oil-finish French walnut: Length of pull 13 3/4"; drop at heel 1/2"; drop at comb 5/8”
Suggested Retail Price: $3,263

The Beauty
As our time in the Caprivi was extended, and we had only two short days to hunt in the mountains of central Namibia at Panorama Camp, the unfenced preserve that is home to Jamy Traut’s main plains game hunting operation, it was not until day nine of 10 that I finally uncased the beauty for time afield. A Model 84L Kimber Classic Select chambered in .30-’06 Sprg., the rifle’s stock was simply beautiful. The catalog says hand-rubbed French A-grade walnut, but (not to get anyone at the factory in trouble) this gun’s bold, straight grain looks a little closer to AA to me. Setting off the grain is well-executed 20 line-per-inch bordered-point-pattern checkering adorning the wrist and fore-end, blemished only by a few flattened points. And there is an ebony fore-end tip, too. The comb is straight, and the semi-pistol grip has an open radius that is tipped by a blue grip cap.

There are three action sizes in Kimber bolt rifles, the .308 Win.-size short-action, the long action Model 8400 Magnum that accepts up to .338 Win. Mag. and the medium-size Model 84L designed specifically around the .30-’06 Sprg. cartridge. No dimension is greater than it absolutely needs to be. What this minimalist approach means is that the rifle weighs only 6 pounds, 3 ounces with its 24-inch sporter-contour barrel, sans scope, rings or bases. Like other Kimbers, the bolt is two-lug design with an external claw extractor on the right, and the internal magazine holds five rounds. The matte-blue steel metal work does not bear the polish of a Super America, nor does the price reflect that level of handwork.

The 84L is capable of quite good accuracy. With the 180-grain Trophy Bonded Tipped factory load I chose, I had several groups under the sub-minute-of-angle mark, although barrel heat becomes as issue with extended shooting sessions. If you want the groups to stay small, you need to let the barrel cool. For optics, I mounted a Weaver Super Slam 2-10X 40 mm riflescope. Before leaving Virginia, I did shoot the square with it, and found it to be repeatable (within 1/16 inches center to center at 100 yards) and the pull-up-to-turn adjustments extremely useful.

Finally I had my chance with the .30-’06 Sprg. On the first afternoon at Panorama Camp, I took a rest on Jamy’s Traut’s shooting sticks, took a deep breath and began the squeeze. The rifle barked, and 165 yards away the Trophy Bonded Tipped passed completely through a fine Springbok ram, flipping it over once and depositing the creature on the ground.

On the last night of the hunt, bags already packed for the long return trip home, as we sat around the final campfire of an incomparable safari, I turned to Van Brunt in the half light of the fire’s dying embers and said, “You know, I’m kind of glad the Lott didn’t arrive in time.”

Manufacturer: Kimber
Model: 84L Classic Select
Caliber: .25-’06 Rem., .270 Win., .30-’06 Sprg.
Action Type: bolt-action center-fire
Receiver: Matte 4140 steel
Finish: Matte blue
Magazine: internal, five rounds
Overall Length: 43 1/8”
Barrel: 24” light sporter contour
Rifling: button-rifled, six-groove, 1:10” RH twist
Weight: 6 lbs., 3 ozs.
Sights: None, drilled and tapped for Kimber scope bases
Trigger: adjustable, single-stage; 3-lb., 2-oz. pull
Stock: A-grade French walnut
Suggested Retail Price: $1,359