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By
J. Scott Olmsted, Editor in Chief
The Caprivi Strip, a 280-mile-long
stretch of land between Botswana, Angola and Zambia, is named after
German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, who in 1890 annexed it for German
South-West Africa (now Namibia) to gain access to the Zambezi River,
a trade route to East Africa and the German colony of Tanganyika
(now Tanzania). Today it holds Namibia’s only significant
quantity of dangerous game, and it’s the inspiration for Kimber’s
latest rifle, the controlled-round feed, bolt-action Caprivi. Think
about it: A modern American bolt-gun with roots that stretch to
the Mauser Model 1898 is named after a German. Oh, how things come
full-circle.
Unlike any other prey we pursue, dangerous game
can wreak havoc on your psyche, maybe your life. A dangerous-game
gun, then, must reliably deliver an awesome blow. A double rifle
delivers a spectacular, one-two punch, but only in the right hands.
The right hands usually belong to an African professional hunter
who carries a double on a daily basis. This means the majority of
us should carry a sufficiently chambered bolt-action fitted with
a low-power scope and iron sights. It’ll deliver a hearty
blow, but it will be bulkier than the elk rifles we’re accustomed
to, which means familiarization is required before setting foot
in Africa with one hanging on your shoulder. I know, because last
year I carried a Caprivi on my first ever Cape buffalo hunt. The
experience prompted me to learn all I could about buffalo and the
guns used to hunt them.
Stateside, the Caprivi delivered scores
of incredibly accurate groups without a hiccup. In Africa, it
delivered a spot-on brain shot to a bull at 50 yards. |
The Caprivi weighs a bit less than
9 pounds, with a stock slimmer than one would expect on a rifle
in this league. It shoulders comfortably and quickly, points naturally.
The AA-grade French walnut is hand-rubbed with oil, and fitted with
an ebony fore-end tip, steel grip cap, inletted Howell-style rear
sling swivel and red Pachmayr XL Decelerator pad. The straight comb
and pancake cheekpiece help you shoulder recoil better than a Monte
Carlo. The iron sights are simple, robust. The rear is a New England
Custom Gun Service (NECGS) Classic Express with three windage-adjustable
leaves. The first is a standing V-notch regulated for 50 yards,
the other two are folders to be regulated by the hunter. The ramped,
hooded front sight is an NECGS Universal screw-on with an interchangeable
white bead.
The magazine empties through a hinged floorplate.
Capacity is four rounds. The Model 70-type three-position safety
can be set to fire, to retract the firing pin but allow the bolt
to open, and to lock the bolt in the raceway. A barrel band fitted
with a sling swivel and two crossbolts fore and aft of the magazine
well tell you this thing is chambered for something big.
The receiver and bolt invoke characteristics of
Germany’s Mauser Model 1898, Japan’s Arisaka Type 38
of 1905 (developed by Col. Nariake Arisaka, superintendant of the
Tokyo Arsenal, after studying Mauser’s designs) and America’s
Winchester Model 70 (also based on Mauser’s design). The Caprivi’s
combination of features is a clever solution to manufacturing an
expensive controlled-round-feed system in a world that relies on
CNC machines to reduce costs.
The bolt is machined from premium solid bar stock.
Its twin opposed forward locking lugs rotate into raceways in the
chamber to make an incredibly strong joint. The lugs taper forward
and terminate just before the bolt face (like the Arisaka), which
aids feeding (perhaps something Paul Mauser never thought of, because
after the 98 went into production he made no further changes to
it). Surrounded as the twin lugs are by the ring of steel that is
the forward “bridge” of the action, there is no need
for any other safeguard against an explosion caused by undue pressure.
Nonetheless, you’ll find one. A third lug
is formed, like the Arisaka and Winchester, by the root of the bolt
handle as it engages a cut in the receiver (Mauser’s third
lug is integral to the bolt).
The gun cocks on opening, which eliminates unneccessary
friction because as the bolt is closed the only resistance comes
from the cartridge being pushed up and out of the magazine. The
bolt rotates within the extractor collar—the extractor runs
back and forth, but otherwise remains stationary, ready to grip
a cartridge. The extractor runs the length of the bolt. It’s
this “claw” that does the controlling in the controlled-round-feed
system. When the bolt is pushed forward, the bottom edge of its
face pushes forward on a
cartridge fed upward by the magazine follower and plucks it from
the stack. The cartridge rim nestles behind the claw and everything
glides into battery as one unit. The claw relinquishes its grip
only when the shooter pulls back the bolt with a thrust and a spring-operated,
pop-up blade ejects the spent case.
Controlled-round feed extracts cartridges better
and makes feeding them more dependable than a push-feed setup, which
pushes a loose cartridge forward after it pops out of a magazine.
Operated briskly, push-feed rifles give you no trouble, but they’re
noisy. Some say the biggest advantage of controlled-round feed is
stealth. With it, a cartridge can be chambered more slowly, and
thus more quietly—a big deal in the presence of dangerous
game.
The 4340 steel receiver, also machined from premium
solid bar stock, is the same as that used on Kimber’s M8400
long-action, introduced in 2006. Its ejection port spans 3.51 inches,
just long enough to accommodate the 3.6-inch-long .375 H&H Mag.
That’s significant, because it means Kimber can offer a dangerous-game
gun without reinventing the wheel.
Rifles in this class don’t exactly fly off
the shelves. Consequently, production of them worldwide is actually
quite low, and, by default, their production costs and retail prices
are high. Right now .375 H&H is the only chambering offered
on the Caprivi, but .458 Lott will come when production allows,
which means .458 Win. Mag. will be an option as well, as the latter
is 3.34 inches long and functions in Lott-chambered guns.
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The receiver is round on top and
round on the bottom, which will make some rifle snobs cringe. They’ll
argue that the square bottom of a Model 70 or Model 98 is better
suited for accuracy because it eliminates twisting. But glass bedding
the length of the Caprivi’s receiver and stock screws that
travel through aluminum pillars should ease any worries. What’s
more, its 24-inch, match-grade, magnum-contour barrel is free-floated.
And its single-stage trigger is clean, crisp and adjustable, factory-set
to break between 3 and 3.5 pounds (ours broke at 3 pounds, 3 ounces).
Snobs also won’t like the Caprivi’s
forward recoil lug, sandwiched as it is between the front of the
receiver and the barrel after machining. Winchester and Mauser lugs
are integral to the receiver. But keep in mind a modern Mauser costs
more than twice as much as the Kimber, and a dangerous-game version
of a Model 70 isn’t even in production.
The Caprivi I took to Zimbabwe was outfitted with
a Leupold VX-7 1.5X-6X scope. I had to slightly angle the 3.6-inch-long
cartridges through the 3.51-inch-long port to load the magazine,
but it was hardly noticeable. Otherwise, feeding, extraction and
ejection were flawless—after all, spent .375 H&H cases
aren’t 3.6 inches long anymore.
The gun shot like the dickens. I shared it with
American Rifleman Editor in Chief Mark Keefe, as he also planned
to hunt buffalo. At the range, we placed the rifle in a Caldwell
Lead Sled to zero it, then averaged 5-shot, 1.11-inch groups with
three different loads! Then Keefe’s trip was canceled. So
when I got the gun to myself I discovered it liked my hunting loads,
too, grouping three, 300-grain Barnes Triple-Shocks into .7-inch
groups more than once. Thereafter I stopped measuring and had fun,
weekly shooting offhand and with sticks. By the time I left for
Zimbabwe the rifle had been fired probably 600 times without a hiccup.
In Africa, I struck an impala at 90 yards, exactly
where I aimed. And when the moment of truth came, I struck my buffalo
at 2 o’clock above its right eye at 50 yards. The bull dropped
in its tracks. I breathed a sigh of relief and, feeling good about
my connection with the Caprivi, wished for more.
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