So armed, I hied off to the range, a 100-yard flat on the side of a rocky hill where friend Danny O’Connell had built a shooting room complete with a television monitor that delivers a clear view of the target via remote camera. A steady snow obscured the Columbia River far below. Myriad tiny flakes landed like so many microscopic paratroopers atop a base already a foot deep. No wind stirred their descent.

The author regrets pulling a fourth shot out of this group and had no stomach for a fifth.

After bore sighting, I fired a 180-grain AccuBond at the center of the paper. It struck just three inches from point of aim. I adjusted the scope and fired a couple of groups. The best measured under an inch and a half. Subsequent shooting with 185-grain Barnes Triple-Shock X-Bullets and 210 Nosler Partitions failed to match that. But while I was able to quarter the big bullseye targets I’d tacked to the frame, that Leupold’s heavy crosswire (excellent in elk cover) prevented precise aim.

I repeated the exercise and managed to put three Triple-Shocks out of four into a single ragged hole. While such performance cannot be expected with a low-power scope and is not needed for big game, it’s a credit to both rifle and ammo. Federal’s factory-loaded ammunition has always impressed me for its consistency. The Barnes Triple-Shock has delivered, in my rifles, far better accuracy than the original X-Bullet. I think Randy, Coni and the other people at this Utah company have produced a superior game bullet. The Barnes Triple-Shock may even nudge me from my crusted reliance on lead-core bullets.

The 84M cycled dependably. Its action lacks the silky feel of a seasoned pre-war Model 70, but it never failed to feed. Incidentally, that compact magazine holds five cartridges under the bolt. Other riflemakers, who fill our hands with brick-size magazine boxes, should note the dimensions of this Kimber.

As received, the trigger on Kimber’s 84M in .338 Federal broke at an even three pounds.

Of course, you expected a rosy conclusion from this review. After all, don’t we scribes get paid to write good things about rifles? Not me. It is true that most rifle evaluations accentuate the positive. That’s partly because most rifles that reach the market have something to recommend them. Mainly, though, good news is the predictable result of selecting good stuff for review. I try not to commit text to gear of marginal value. It’s easier and more useful to tell about products worth buying. The 84M is a likable rifle, the .338 Federal one of the most sensible new cartridges I’ve seen in a long time. Before tackling this project I was convinced the combination would make for a good report.

And it did. No fudging necessary. I can’t name a better all-around rifle, especially for hunting in remote places and on steep faces. Solidly midrange in price but long on quality, features and performance, the Kimber 84M in .338 Federal should establish itself as one of the best hunting-rifle values in 2007.

Will the .338 Federal become a commercial success? I can’t say. Weatherby’s introduction a few years ago of the excellent .338-06 seemed a good move. But though the .338-06 ranks as one of the most popular American wildcats of all time, it has not sold well as a Mark V chambering. Perhaps if ammunition firms stateside had followed Norma in manufacturing the round and domestic manufacturers had offered it in ordinary rifles, its fortunes would have improved.

Kimber’s 84M has a Mauser claw extractor and true controlled-round feed.

In my view, both the .338 Federal and the .338-06 deserve more attention from shooters than do many cartridges introduced in the last decade. They’re both effective on game as big as elk out to the ranges most hunters can consistently hit vitals. They’re efficient in barrels of modest length, manageable in recoil and easy to handload. They slide eagerly through any mechanism designed for the .30-06 and .308.

Though the 84M magazine holds five rounds, the rifle’s belly is slim and straight, easy to clutch.

What more could you ask? Well, the minions who shoot and sell fire-breathing magnums would have you believe you need higher speed, flatter arc, a heavier blow; that elk up close and deer far away demand bigger hulls; that real men are unaffected by recoil.

Don’t you believe any of it.