We looked at the Browning A-Bolt Micro Medallion for my daughter today. The gun seems to be well made, though I'm not crazy about the style. More importantly is that the gun is about the right size for my daughter, and SHE does think it looks neat. I'm thinking about either the 7-08 or .308 since I can reload light loads for her to learn with, and there is an excellent chance of her hunting elk around my parents home with it.

The rifle will be one of the plain barrel versions without a muzzle brake or BOSS (I personally hate brakes)!

What have been your experiences with the A-Bolt in general and the Micro Medallion in particular?

[This message has been edited by loud-n-boomer (edited 09-24-2001).]

I have a Browning Stainless Stalker in 338WM.
Very accurate gun, 4" at 400 yds.
(yes I really shot it at 400) Nice gun, the only complaint I have is that the synthetic stock gets cold as the barrel when sitting on a stand.

The 60 degree bolt lift is handy, but will not handle sticky extractions well. (Keeps your reloading honest.)

Mine did not shoot well until after complete bedding, now shoots .5 MOA with any reasonable bullet.

All other fit and finish is good. Trigger was good from the factory - it is not easy to work on.

Don

Whatever you do, don't get the BOSS on a hunting rifle. They count the BOSS as part of the barrel length, so you end up with 2" less barrel than you think you have, and you'll end up with really sluggish muzzle velocity. My 30-06 BOSS performs like a .308. Rifles come with both the muzzle brake and non-muzzle brake versions, and you will use the muzzle brake version precisely once. The short barrel and the brake combine to give a muzzle blast that will blow your hat off and make your ears bleed.

All that said, I have a BOSS on my .223, and it works great there. With the smaller cartridge, the blast isn't a problem, and the remaining muzzle velocity is plenty for coyotes and jackrabbits.

As mentioned before, the 60 degree bolt throw is very nice, the trigger is crisp, and Brownings are generally very well made machines. Both my BOSS equipped machines shoot in the .6" range, 5 shot groups.

Listen (if you still can) to what Denton has to say about muzzle brakes. Muzzle blast is much more daunting to a young shooter than is recoil. There is no place on a hunting rifle for a muzzle brake.

I've fired about 5 different A-Bolts, from .223-.300 mag. All were accurate and appeared well made. Howevever, I do not like any rifle I have to take the safety off in order to empty the chamber! Possibly a consideration for a youth rifle!

There is a nice picture of a blown barrel on www.24hourcampfire.com on the Big Game under the thread " More JJHack photos"

Mike

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Victory through superior firepower!

[This message has been edited by ready_on_the_right (edited 09-24-2001).]

I have a micro medallion in 7-08, wonderful weapon !
accurate to under an inch @ 100 yds, pleasant to carry, wife shoots it well, and the younguns Ive loaned it to love it also....

I own or have owned Abolts in 22lr, 243, 270, 280, 308, 338, and 375.

While they may have some less then desireable characteristics like a detachable magazine that limits OAL, overall they are a very well made gun. Accuracy in all the guns was MOA or better without any work.

I do not like the BOSS, however if you plan to shoot it with factory ammo and one bullet weight it may be your thing. They are now shipped with the BOSS CR that gives the accuracy enhancement without the nosie.

I happen to like the two position safey that locks the bolt closed when the gun is on safe.

I have to say......don't get a muzzle break on anything except a 50BMG. Well, not really, but don't get the boss, you really want a break you can remove for hunting.

BROWNING
They're good. But not any better than some of the rifles they are priced well above. It won't disappoint you, but it probably won't be awesome as a factory rifle goes either.

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Live Free! Madison, Jefferson and all the boys paid for it, and so did our very own fathers.

The A-Bolt tends to be a very accurate rifle right out of the box, but other than that single virtue, it doesn't meet any of my requirements.

AD

A hunting buddy of mine has an A-Bolt in 7mm mag. Out of the box it shot like crap until glass bedded, and then it would shoot 3/4" groups regularly.

Once he got mud on the bolt flicked up from a 4 wheeler tire, and the gun was out of commission until the bolt was disassembled and thorougly cleaned. A mauser, M70 or Springfield would still have been usable with mud and all.

Personally, I would get a M70 or a Ruger. Better yet, a Sako or a Sauer 202.

I own a stainless stalker a-bolt in 375H&H with Boss. The rifle was inaccurate and no adjustment to the Boss would tighten the group. The rifle was covered by a 2 yr warranty so for $9 I sent it back to Browning and screamed bloodly murder. I told them I had bought this rifle for an Alaskan hunt and I needed and expected accuracy out to 300 or so yards, if not I asked them to put a normal barrel on it. I explained to them I was a little upset that everything they published about this particular rifle indicated it would have a 26" barrel. BS there is less than 21" of rifling in my gun. I recieved the rifle back in about 10 days and the only modification that was done was to reseat the action in the stock at the rear mounting screw. The rifle now produces less than 1 MOA, much better than I can shoot. I believe the brake is a good investment in a large calibers, sure you will lose some performance but hopefully you will make it up my caliber or accuracy, bullet placement is more important than power in most instances.

I have one of the older A-bolts in 25-06. That gun is a great shooter. The feeding has proved reliable every time. The magazine they use is the best I've ever had experience with. The kind-of BDL/detach-mag hybrid they use just flies real well with me. My only complaint is the synthetic stock. Then again, I don't like any synthetic stocks. But hey, it was a month until hunting season and I didn't have a rifle and then I saw this thing for sale, so I got it. And I am glad that I did.

I own 3 Browning shotguns, and a Browning .22lr, no centerfires.

The rifle you are looking at might be just the ticket for your daughter, I'm sure she will like it or any other rifle you find for her, but since I have little experience with them I can't help.

I will refer everyone to 24hourcampfire, where JJHack has some photos of an A Bolt that split it's barrel like a banana peel- it's unreal. Just like Elmer Fudd. Apparently there was no bore obstruction other than a piece of electrical tape on the muzzle. I don't know if he has determined the cause yet, but it's worth checking out.

I've owned over a dozen A-Bolts in as many calibers over the past 10 years. I still have a Micro Medallion in .257 Roberts.

Nearly every one has been very accurate right out of the box, and there is always at least one load that will group under 1 MOA. The synthetic stock guns are very light and more difficult to shoot well, but that is operator error.

The BOSS is great for women and kids because it cuts recoil considerably. Forget that muzzle blast BS. You ARE shooting with hearing protection arent you?

If they are wearing eye and ear protection, it is the RECOIL that bothers women and kids. The BOSS cures that. The one shot she takes at a game animal wont bother her. The 100 shots she takes in practice WILL bother her if the recoil is too much.

The safety is convenient, although it is not engaged while loading and unloading the rifle. So what? Teaching them to be careful where they are pointing the muzzle is better than any safety. The safety has only 2 positions, off and on, which is simpler. It locks the bolt closed when it is on, so if they are hunting with the rifle the bolt won't open accidently.

The trigger is a bit soft, but for a new shooter the lack of glass-breaking crispness is a benefit in teaching suprise let-off, and a safety measure when hunting.

If you buy the non-BOSS model, get something with lighter recoil like the 7mm-08. A .243 would be better in the recoil department and still OK for deer, but she couldnt hunt elk with that later in her career. In the BOSS model, get the .308 as it is more versatile and the target loads are excellent.

Browning stands behind their products and will fix anything that isn't right, but the guns are very tightly-controlled in the quality sense so they rarely go back. The only downside is that they will not modify a gun in any way, such as changing caliber, once it leaves the factory. And their service is generally horribly slow and impersonal.

My wife loves her stainless synthetic A-Bolt. If your daughter likes hers, you can sent the bolt back to Browning to have her name engraved on it in script for about $50 (and 4 weeks) and it is the kind of thing that women like.

It is a mass-produced rifle that uses innovative production techniques which the purists and traditionalists abhor. But the wood is generally nice-looking, the barrel accurate, the bolt and safety operation easy, and it is a safe rifle.

I took one in .270 to Africa and had a blast. I've also never had a failure to extract or chamber or eject or anything else, and i handload all my cartridges, to the tune of almost 1000 per year.

I have owned 6 or 8 A-Bolts and still have a set of Stainless Stalkers in 7mm-08, 7 Mag and .375. All are quite accurate and highly reliable. I am at a loss to understand why the more knowledgable "gun nuts" have so little interest in them. I am presently considering rebarreling a .375 A-Bolt to .458 Lott which, I suppose, is indicative of how comfortable I am using the Browning centerfires.

have you thought about a model 7 (remington) in a 7-08. I have one with a compact 2x7 scope on it. its light and handy. I have never shot an elk with it but I have shot some very big bodied mulies. With a 145 grand slam, it is very sudden. I would not be reluctant to hunt elk with it using 160 or 175 grand slams.

beemanbeme:

I think the gun should have at least a 20", and better yet 22" barrel to keep the noise and the balance further out front. Also, I have just never been able to get real excited about Remington's 700 based rifles. I know all about accuracy and all that, but its like cars, some like fords, some like chevys, some like something else. However, the 7-08 is one of the calibers I have narrowed down to, the others are 7x57 and .308.

I bought a micro medallion in .223 for my wife. I didn't like the style much but it was used and the price was good. I cut down the stock and put a little 4x Burris on it. In developing loads for it I found it to be flat out the most accurate factory rifle I have ever used. Any reasonable load goes under an inch and when I upped the scope just to see it ended up shooting better than my custom Heavy barrelled Sako varminter. With 60 grain triple jacket Allred bullets it has shot through and dropped a couple of caribou but needs to be used carefully and shot well. Fortunately my wife can really shoot this rifle but she has to fight to keep me from taking it down south to Saskatchewan on my yearly gopher safari. Great Gear...horrible shiny finish and the stock is so thin it broke at the wrist on a Komatiq trip, but a great rig none the less.

My experiences with A Bolts have been similar as with the other posters - accurate and reliable for a factory rifle. This is one of the few if any factory rifles that include with the instructions how to adjust the trigger. I'm able to lighten most A Bolt triggers down to 4-4.5lbs.

sure-shot

I have one each in .270 and .300 WM. The .300 comes stock with a 26" bbl. Both have synthetic stocks, the .270 an after market. Barrels all float back to the recoil lug. Accuracy is moa, but not bench rest. I like them, but I do not like the bolt. It requires a special tool to disassemble.

I have a stainless stalker in LH .270 and have no complaints. She is my bread-and-butter rifle and has never hinted at failure. The only time I ever shot her from a bench she put 3 factory Remmie 130 grain Corelokts into 3.25 inches at a 300 meter range (witnesses).

I am partial to a tang safety. I had my trigger smith-set at 2.5 lbs and is soft, but always the same. I think the steel looks quite good; the stock not so good. The stock fit and palm swell are good for me. All in all, I like the rifle a lot. I may get a walnut stock for her though. As I get older, I become more sentimental it seems!

On the other hand, I have hunted all day from a canoe in pouring rain and never had a worry about the synthetic gun. If I wood stock her, I will float and bed her.

Jeff

By the way, for the love of mercy, do not get the BOSS. Please.

Jeff

Don't worry about the BOSS or any other abomination/muzzle break, I hate them. What I will do with whatever I end up with for my daughter is to make sure the gun fits her, handload the lightest load I safely can, make sure she has adequate ear and eye protection, make sure the rifle wears a good recoil pad, make sure the scope has good eye relief (I'm leaning toward a fixed 4X Leupold), make sure she understands how to hold the rifle, and make sure she dry-fires a lot before any live fire.

I own the 300 Win Mag Browning A Bolt 11 Stalker with Boss. The rifle is beyond belief in the accuracy department. The downside is the barrel is only 21" long and I have a 2800 fps 73 grain per round powder guzzeling short range rifle no better than the 308 cartridge. The only reason I keep rifle is it's superior accuracy. I bought the rifle through a dealer sight unseen and thought I would get a full 26" length barrel.
The purpose of owning the 300 Mag is extended range abilty because of higher velocities when using the 26" barrel. With the 21" actual barrel length not counting the BOSS the velocities I want are not possible. I get 300 or more fps loss in velocity with a barrel 5" shorter than expected.
I only have three options, keep the rifle as is, or replace the barrel with a 26" tube to achieve the velocity I want, or get rid of the rifle. It shoots such fantastic groups I just don't know what to do.