Kimber SVT

[Kima]

Kimber has earned a well-deserved reputation for building accurate, classy rifles, pistols and more recently, shotguns. Regular readers may remember a feature on its SuperAmerica rimfire from the August 2005 issue of Shooting Illustrated. Recently Kimber sent me an example of its SVT—Short, Varmint/Target—rimfire to wring out. What sets the SVT apart from the rest of the line is its 181#8260;4-inch barrel and massive target-style stock. The receiver is the same one designed by Nehemia Sirkis, with its off-center bolt raceway to allow the firing pin an undiffused, straight-line shot at the case rim. Kimber’s rimfire rifles all have a true controlled-round-feed action, and the engineering and its execution are a marvel. The bolt face has two adjacent radii machined into it; one for picking the cartridge from the magazine, the other for aligning the cartridge with the chamber and firing.

The muzzle is capped off with a recessed,11-degree, target-type crown. A heavy-profile barrel delivered excellent accuracy in the author’s tests, but needed considerable care to do so.

One reason Kimber’s rifles are so accurate is they are built to excruciatingly close tolerances. Chambers are reamed so that the forward portion is at minimum match dimension, while the rear portion is held to standard chamber tolerances to facilitate reliable feeding and extraction. The result is sort of a funnel that starts the bullet from virtually the exact same position every single shot, and that means better accuracy.
The impetus for Kimber’s rimfire bolt action is the Winchester Model 52. True, this all-American-made rifle departs somewhat from the original design, but the legacy of a finely crafted rimfire sporter begat by Winchester in 1934 is still very much alive from the Yonkers, NY-based company. The SVT takes those characteristics that made the Connecticut sporter so desirable and adds modern innovations to reflect the needs of shooters today. In short, the SVT is a truck gun—a rifle that is easily deployed from a pickup while performing other tasks on a ranch or farm. It is equally home on the rimfire silhouette firing line.

Not only is its barrel abbreviated from the standard 22 inches, its contour is that of a heavy varmint rifle. Shorter and fatter means stiffer and less prone to the variances of temperature and vibration that accompany firing. The muzzle features an 11-degree recessed crown to protect the rifling.
The SVT is fed from a single-stack, five-round detachable box magazine that fits flush with the bottom metal. It was a minor irritation that the bottom metal was recessed about 3#8260;32 inch in the stock. This meant I had to make sure I used a finger to fully seat the magazine and engage its latch. It wasn’t critical at the range, but as a varminter truck gun, a careless seating with just the heel of the hand might find the shooter searching for the magazine on the floor or in the dirt after the first shot. Other than a few instances where I did not take an extra moment to make certain the magazine engaged its latch, there were no failures to feed, fire or extract. To ensure ejection, the bolt needs to be operated briskly since the blade ejector works in direct proportion to bolt velocity. Work it gently, and the spent casing may end up sitting in the ejection port.



From the receiver ring to the tip of the fore-end, the barrel is free-floated. This negates any influence the fore-end might otherwise have on the vibration dynamics of the barrel.
This veneration of the Kimber rimfire rifle is nestled into a grey-laminate, target-style stock, and the barrel is completely free-floated. Its fore-end is wide, flat and extends further below the bottom metal. On the back end there is a pronounced Monte Carlo comb set high enough for a large, target-type scope. The pistol grip is hand-filling, and there is a hint of a Wundhammer swell. A 1#8260;4-inch-thick rubber buttplate caps off this uncheckered stock.
Dwight van Brunt of Kimber warned me that I’d fall in love with the accuracy of this rifle, so I mounted the scope I keep on hand for just such situations, a Leupold 35x45 mm Competition benchrest model. The SVT comes with a set of Leupold’s STD mounts, so I scrounged around and found a pair of 30-mm, high STD rings, and went to work. I expected a monotonous range session, shooting a bunch of teeny groups and nearly falling asleep in the process. It was not to be.
The rifle was accurate enough, but like a lot of sexy sirens it needed to be coddled. Just wrapping myself around the stock and having at it simply would not do. I’d get three or four shots in a single hole, and then one would show up nearly an inch away from its brethren. That just wasn’t right, so I started playing with it a bit. Changing ammo didn’t make a lot of difference, except where it grouped on the target. High-speed or match, the groups were frustratingly similar to what I’ve just described. Maybe I was just having a bad day at the range—we all do from time to time. Mind you, most any of the groups I shot with the SVT would be satisfactory for any varmint shooter and a lot of competitors—none would have drifted off a rimfire silhouette target—but I believed this rifle was capable of better.


The bottom metal is slightly recessed into the SVT’s stock. It’s necessary to carefully seat the flush-fit magazine with a finger to ensure the latch catches.
A week or so later, I returned to the range and blocked off enough time to unlock this rifle’s secret. I held it tight and held it loose. I backed off with nothing touching the rifle but my thumb and index finger squeezing the trigger across the trigger guard. It did not like any side or downward pressure from a firm cheek weld. Letting it run wild across the sandbags with no restraint gave equally wild and unpredictable results on the target. A death grip like a jealous lover was just as frustrating. A couple of hours later the Kimber finally divulged how it liked to be held—firmly and straight to the rear with moderate pressure and virtually no cheek weld in the conventional sense. This rifle wanted to be controlled, but not smothered, in order to perform at its best, and it would tolerate nothing less than perfect consistency in that regard. My, what a petulant little thing!
But that petulant little thing did shoot when it was treated properly. Fifty-yard groups were all nearly one hole, though they varied a little bit in size. Once we got the treatment issue settled, the rifle surprised me again by turning in its best performance with CCI Mini Mag hollow points—a load more noted for its performance on small game, rather than its superb target accuracy. The hunting contingent from Idaho turned in a remarkable .21-inch average for five, five-shot groups at 50 yards—the smallest measuring a mere 3#8260;32 inch center-to-center. I just had to shoot this at 100 yards. Time didn’t allow me five, five-shot groups at the longer range, but two, five-shot groups measured 3#8260;8 and 1#8260;2 inch. I can live with that.
So the Kimber reputation remains intact. The SVT is perhaps not the beauty queen of my SuperAmerica, but it is a shooter—in spades. Most rimfire silhouette and pest shooters could not care less about fancy wood and fine, pointy checkering. All they care about is ensuring each of their bullets going into the same hole—every time. The SVT certainly delivers on that promise, even if it does require some coddling.
—Dave Campbell

Accuracy Tests Kimber SVT
Five, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag rest at 50 yards, measured in inches

Group 1
5/16
Group 2
3/16
Group 3
1/8
Group 4
3/32
Group 5
5/16
Average
.21

Ammunition: CCI Mini Mag hollow point

Mvh
Kim

Jeg er ikke fejlfri,men det er så tæt på at det skræmmer mig.