I have been looking for Light weight rifle for my son(15) to deer hunt with in the Southeast. We have looked - a lot.
The Remington Mountain rifle in 7-08 feels good to both of us. However, we are disapointed in the quality and I don't like the way Remington is handling the "safety issue".
The Winchweester FWT classic short action does not feel as good - is a little heavier, but we like the safety and the claw extractor (I shot Mausers myself.) Have read lately of problems with scope mounts needing shims.
Tonight we looked at a Browning A Bolt II stalker short action- blued with synthtic stock - -no boss. He loved it. We liked the balance, the mag box and the bolt through.
The BOSS is out of the question - UGLY and from my experience at the range much too LOUD.

I don't know much about the A Bolt II. Things like
Are they accurate out of the box?
Quality or safety problems?
Is the trigger adjustable?
Are there after market triggers?
Is it amy harder to glass bed than a Mauser of Remington?
Can you guys help me on this one?
Thanks

Not much is said about them as they are not a favorite for rebarreling and such, but they seem to work fine "as is". Some also bitch about their 'investment cast' recievers but I've never heard of one being unsafe.

If it fits your son and he likes it, let him have it I says (IMHO).

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Shoot straight, shoot often.
Matt

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Larry

This is with a factory rifle out of the box. I am thinking about replacing my rem 22-250 and maybe another 1 or 2 rifles with tikkas or a-bolts and save myself $$$ and hassle trying to get these rems to shoot.

RJS

As to the A-bolt, it is nicely lightened compared to the standard American "war club". The metallurgy is good, as is the finish. While the trigger is adjustable, I could never take all of the creep out of mine, but it is as good as the Remington, though not quite the equal of the Winchester. I don't particularly care for the aluminum magazine cover and am ambivilent about the "detachable but fixed" magazine. Reputation (which is exactly that, since rifles vary tremendously) for accuracy is better than Winchester, and at least as good as Remington.

My recommendation: I would choose it over the other two if I were in your position.

By the way, I completely agree with you on Remington and the safety issue. They are trying to charge people to fix a problem that is their fault, should have been fixed 30 years ago, and has caused dozens of innocent (though some foolish and some cautious) people great pain, suffering, and sometimes their lives. Something's wrong when a corporation finds it cheaper to keep on maiming people than to fix a simple mechanical device.

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Growler

H. C.

I have two A-Bolts, my Dad has one and my brother has one. All have been very accurate right out of the box and performed flawlessly in every way.

It seems anytime you ask opinions about A-Bolts basically everybody who has ever owned one will tell you how much they love it and highly recommend it.

Then you hear opinions like this:

quote:

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Originally posted by And then you Awoke:
The A-Bolt is seriously over engineered Japanese trash. Too many pieces, pins, springs, etc. They have a wonderful reputation for breaking down in the field. Not a serious hunting rifle by any stretch of the imagination. Should be fine for the one box a year deer hunter. Don't mean to insult other fellows rifles, but this is factual.

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Funny how you don't seem to see threads like this about A-Bolts:

http://www.serveroptions.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/001278.html

quote:

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Originally posted by And then you Awoke:
The A-Bolt is seriously over engineered Japanese trash. Too many pieces, pins, springs, etc. They have a wonderful reputation for breaking down in the field. Not a serious hunting rifle by any stretch of the imagination. Should be fine for the one box a year deer hunter. Don't mean to insult other fellows rifles, but this is factual.

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Lets have some facts to back up your statement!!!!

Thanks in advance!

Kevin

I am a local guy and not well traveled, cant comment on the rest of the country, "Trigger Hill" in Salinas California has one now and again. When I see one for less than $400 I grab it. For tht money I expect a messed up stock. So far the metal has been fine. I Refinish the stock and touch up the blue.

Haunt your local gunshop that carries used guns??

Good luck,

Scot

PS. Failing a M-70 I would opt for a Rem M-700. Brownings are glossy, designed by engineers, not gun people and also tend to rust. Something about the Japanese steel. I am not saying it is not a non functional piece of junk, just not my style and not something I could be happy with . But that is why we have chioces.

On the trigger, my 7mm-08 had a bit of creep, my 300 Win had a lot of creep. I attacked the 300's trigger with a file and got most of it out but was afraid to go any further. They are adjustable for weight but not very far (still fairly heavy on the lightest setting). Keep in mind, both of mine are 80's vintage, I've heard the newer ones are better but I don't know that for sure.

The only aftermarket trigger I know of for them is made by Moyers. It's adjustable for creep, weight and overtravel but I have no first-hand experience with it. You can get them through Midway.

Safety-wise, it gets some criticism for the 2-position safety. I personally love the safety. I guess it comes down to personal preference but I don't see a need for a 3-position safety unless the rifle has a blind magazine so the only way to unload it is to jack all of the rounds through the action. With an A-Bolt, the only time it's a concern is when you already have a round chambered and want to remove it. IMHO, if you can't point it in a safe direction and keep yourself from yanking the trigger for the 1/10 of a second it takes you to lift the bolt handle once, I don't want to be hunting with you....

Don't worry about bedding. They come glass bedded with the barrels free-floated from the factory (probably one of the reasons they are usually accurate "out of the box").

About the only other gripe I have with them is the recoil pads. My 7-08 came with a hard plastic buttplate (ouch!) but I'm pretty sure they stopped doing that years ago. My 300 had a rubber pad but it was hard as a rock. Being so light, it could beat a guy up. I put a Decellerator on it and that made a night and day difference.

Hope that helps.

Go ahead and buy the A-Bolt, it won't bother any discriminating rifleman.I realize not all hunters can have class. A-Bolts are the Ford Pinto of hunting rifles and an eye sore to boot.

quote:

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Originally posted by And then you Awoke:
Ask JJHACK the Brown Bear guide to post the picture of what became of the A-Bolt one of his bear hunters took to Alaska. You will be shocked! JJHACK is member here but also hangs out at 24hourcampfire.com. Safari magazine had a disgraceful article about the jap crap rifle ruining an expensive sheep hunt. Seems the potmetal trigger guard broke along with the pot metal trigger.

Go ahead and buy the A-Bolt, it won't bother any discriminating rifleman.I realize not all hunters can have class. A-Bolts are the Ford Pinto of hunting rifles and an eye sore to boot.

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What did he do with it? use it as a club.
Find it very hard to believe that it just fell off!!
You seem to be one of these Americans that only buy American.
Reading a lot of posts in here your fellow countrymen dont rate some of your American CRAP to highly either!!

[This message has been edited by DOCTOR LOU (edited 05-19-2002).]