I like the lightness and trimness of the A-bolt, like the 3-lug bolt head, and find the fit and finish very good. Do not like the alloy bottom metal and find the magazine arrangement has few of the advantages of either the box or detachable, but many of their respective disadvantages. I simply abhor the combination muzzle brake-tuning device.

It's a quality gun, but there are others I find more attractive.

It shoots 3/8 inch groups all day long with 59 grains of H4831 and 140 NBT and also shoots the 120s very well.

What I do not like about the gun is the position of the safety. On more than one occasion, I have looked down after carrying it with one hand to find that I had accidentally pushed the safety to the fire position. It is not much of a problem now because I am always conscience of it, but it still bothers me to a degree.

Having said all that, I would not purchase another one for the simple fact stated above that finding a gunsmith who will work with that action is next to impossible. After frequenting these pages and many other shooting related sites, I now lean towards rifles that can be customized without having to search high and low for a competent gunsmith willing to do the work. Out of the box, it is a fine weapon. However out of the box weapons do not interest me much anymore and i do not even have my first custom job back as of yet.

If you have no interest in building something more from it, it is a great buy for the money. Otherwise, i would suggest looking at something a little more easy for a smith to work on. If you decide to get one anyway, I believe you will be very happy with it. Good luck! Jim R

The detatchable magazine is one of the reasons I chose them over other brands. It just makes so much sense! It really is handy when you get used to it...no more cycling the bolt three or four times on your front porch--open the bolt, push the button and pop the magazine into your pocket, you're safe. When you head back out reverse the procedure...takes about three seconds to go from empty to loaded.

When trying out different models, another thing that sold me was the smoothness of the action, along with the 60 degree throw. After cycling it a few times with the palm of my open hand, it just felt so "right."

Probably the biggest knock on them is the trigger. Both of mine were adjustable for weight but were still about 4 pounds on the lightest setting. My 7-08 had a bit of creep, I just got used to it. My 300 had quite a bit. I disassembled the trigger and attacked something in there with a file (it was 10 or 12 years ago so I don't remember exactly what I did) and took out almost all of the creep (could have gone farther but started to get nervous). I would think any decent gunsmith would be able to accomplish what I did. If I remember correctly, it only took me about an hour. It definately isn't match grade, but it's pretty darn good for a hunting rifle.

Mike

quote:

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Originally posted by mark65x55:
I looked at a Browning A-Bolt classic hunter yesterday and like the looks and feel of it. I've owned Rugers, Winchesters, Remingtons and Weatherbys but never a Browning. The two brownings I've shot had 9# trigers which I didn't like, is the a problem with all brownings? Should I look for one with a lite triger pull, I've been told you can't ajust a browning triger. Is this true.
Also if I bought a used one in .270winchester how hard would it be to rebarrel it to 6.5x55. Mark

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Just brought a stainless stalker in 270win, I am very impressed with it so far, the trigger can be adjusted down to 3 lb by adjusting the screw under the trigger gaurd.
Shot very well straight out the box,still working on a load with AR2213SC,it can only get better!!1"groups no problem.

Gunsmiths don't use the Browning action. They also don't use the action of the Blaser R93, Sauer 90, and a whole pile of other ones. This doesn't make them inferior, just harder and more costly to work on.

The fit and finish on the Browning was great. The Win M70 Featherweight I bought a few years ago was apparently assembled by school kids.

Likes: Short bolt lift, especially in cold with gloves. Safety locks firing pin. 1 moa accuracy out of the box. Magazine system. Light carrying.

Dislikes: Aluminum floorplate, Aluminun bolt shroud, Aluminum safety button, Aluminum trigger(just too much aluminum for me). No aftermarket upgrades(steel floorplate, Badger scope base, etc) Synthetic stock is too flexible, If I keep it forever it will definitely get a McMillan stock.

MM

One more dislike: The rear action screw seems overly complex and not as strong as a single solid screw in the rear(like win, rem). The rear screw doesnt go into the receiver it goes into a piece attached to the receiver. I prefer the simplicity of the Rem, Win method.

[This message has been edited by MontanaMarine (edited 01-04-2002).]

Ca I ask why do you want to re barrel a .270 to a 6.5x55mm? Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the 6.5x55mm but I think I would simply load some mild loads in the .270Win. Just curious thats all!

Peter

Ask JJHack who posts in the Africa forum about A-bolts.

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JD

Dislikes: Aluminum floorplate, Aluminun bolt shroud, Aluminum safety button, Aluminum trigger(just too much aluminum for me). No aftermarket upgrades(steel floorplate, Badger scope base, etc) Synthetic stock is too flexible, If I keep it forever it will definitely get a McMillan stock
Mountain
If you had your way it would not weigh less than 7 lbs, I think its fine the way it is, my opinion!!

They make a nice product that shoots well out of the box. If you can get past the pretty nontraditional design they are a nice gun.

All of the Abolts I have had from 22 to 375 shot sub moa without any work, for the money I do not see anything better.

I have owned a few Winchesters which are plagued withquality control issues and bought a Ruger 77 a few weeks ago and they don;t do all that much for me.

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www.rifleshooter.com

Save a plant, shoot a deer!

[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 01-05-2002).]

I certainly can't fault you for liking the 6.5x55...my stalking partner has one in a Tikka and it is an outstanding deer combo.

Can't comment on the browing, but good look with the project anyway..

Peter

quote:

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Originally posted by milosmate:

Dislikes: Aluminum floorplate, Aluminun bolt shroud, Aluminum safety button, Aluminum trigger(just too much aluminum for me). No aftermarket upgrades(steel floorplate, Badger scope base, etc) Synthetic stock is too flexible, If I keep it forever it will definitely get a McMillan stock
Mountain
If you had your way it would not weigh less than 7 lbs, I think its fine the way it is, my opinion!!

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Don't get me wrong, I believe it is a pretty good rifle. Just giving my own subjective comments based on my personal tastes. I do appreciate the light carry weight of the rifle, I'm just not in love with the aluminum parts. In the .338 WinMag, it makes a great lightweight hammer to carry a lot and shoot a little. 20 rounds off the bench is plenty for me.

Lord knows that the M16 and M9 have plenty of aluminum in their assembly and are pretty serviceable. I have only seen them fail when a steel part has broken(slides, barrels, extractors, springs gas rings), never the aluminum parts(except in the case of M16 magazines). MM

If it had any more potmetal and plastic in its construction than it already has, you might as well call it a "Sony" instead of a "Browning".

But damn, come ta think of it, I gotta be all wrong! My local "Browning Authorized Dealer" told me that any Browning firearm was "The Best There Is", and that genu-wine, engraved gold stag's head looks great on the trigger guard... and shoot......... My neighbor, Bobby Ray has an uncle that gets one-inch groups all day long with his A-Hole '06..... I mean if it shoots good groups it's a good gun, aint it? And heck-fire, Browning imports 'em clean from Jay-pan, which has GOT to cost 'em a bundle... so I mean....... Shucks! They gotta be good, don't they?????????

AD

[This message has been edited by allen day (edited 01-05-2002).]

Do you have some sort of point? I looked but I couldn't find one in all that nonsense you wrote.

Care to list all the parts on an A-Bolt that are made from plastic?

So what if they are made in Japan. Just because it doesn't sound as "romantic" as other countries doesn't mean anything. Unless you've been asleep the last 30 years it might have dawned on you that they make some pretty good stuff over there.

Do you drive a car? Ever fly in an airplane? Do you watch TV? Own a computer? No matter what "brand" you think you're buying there are componants in those products that were manufactured in Japan. They make good stuff efficiently (cheap). Good enough that American manufacturers buy parts and components from them so they can stamp the "made in the USA" tag on the final product for a lower price.

The war was over half a century ago. It's called a global economy. Get used to it or go join the dinosaurs.

You can buythe M-bolt in the rest of the world directly fromm Mirhou, the company that manuafcturers the gun for Browning.

They have the same compnay make about half their product line, including the O/U shotguns.

Another subcintractor makes the Gold, BAR, BPR, etc...

It is the way most companies do business nowadays.

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www.rifleshooter.com

Save a plant, shoot a deer!

That cheap injection molded stock on the A-Bolt Composite Stalker and Stainless Stalker is all plastic as far as I'm concerned, and it bears no relationship to even a quality fiberglass and Kevlar laminated stock, other than the fact being that it's non-wood.

As far as "getting over" any objection I might have to the junky construction of the A-Bolt, well, I don't have to get over anything. There's no rule that says I have to. I simply won't compromise my standards of quality for any reason, and I see no relationship whatsoever between being a part of the "global economy" (not a new concept at all, by the way) and swallowing cheap construction concepts and materials with some sort of great big phony grin on my face. A car or a computer is one thing, but to me a firearm is another issue altogether. Guns are very personal things to me, and I simply don't wish to own a Japanese-made firearm. There's something about elk mountains and "MADE IN JAPAN" that simply don't go together. The Japanese have almost no sporting tradition, and they are also strong advocates of global gun control. They don't want us to own personal firearms, but they'll make industry out of the very freedoms that they denounce? Not on me they won't........

Maybe that's what happens when you grow up in an era, as I did, where the Browning name meant best-quality in a production firearm. I'll never forget the fine-quality Belgian-made Browning High Power bolt action rifles that I examined with my dad when I was a young boy. Everything about them exuded quality, from the all milled-steel metalwork (the later triggerguards were indeed aluminum, however) to the finely hand-checkered walnut stocks and top-quality open sights. They were are close to hand-built rifles as you could buy off the shelf. Sorry to say, but the A-Bolt is not in the same league as that rifle by any stretch of the imagination.

Now if the A-Bolt represents your taste and meets your standard of quality and performance, that's great. It doesn't meet any of mine, and since this is a FORUM I can stand by that pronouncement as well as you can stand by yours.

AD

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Don't tread on me!
Pennsylvania Frank

The use of lightweight materials doesn't really bother me. If A-Bolt owners were breaking trigger guards and floorplates left and right, then it might matter to me. But as far as I know, they aren't. I agree it definitely isn't as "nice" but all I really care about is if it can get the job done.

As for other quality issues, I've had two, my dad has one and my brother has one. The three with wood stocks all had a really nice piece of wood, fit/finish looked good from my Hunter to great for the two Medallions. The Composite Stalker is supposed to be ugly .

Compared with the other brands we had on hand and those that friends would bring over, the A-Bolts usually looked nicer. If you compare them to the hand-built beauties of old, of course they'll fall short. But don't the 700's and M70's they are selling today fall short as well?

Where it counts--function--all have been perfect. All 4 have been tack drivers for such light weight rifles. Not a single problem has ever been had with any of them.

You may have a point on the composite stocks. I really don't know as I've never compared mine side by side with the factory offerings from other companies. Without knowing the exact material properties of each it's impossible for me to make any sort of Engineering judgement on stiffness or durabilty. I just know that I've put mine through hell and it just asks for more.

That does bring up a couple points about the stocks I failed to mention:

First the good: When I got my 300 I had just finished glass bedding my Savage 110 .223 (talk about lack of quality!...but that's another subject). I still had a bunch of the material left over and the first thing I did when I got the 300 was to pull the stock to do a proper bedding job. To my surprise, I found it was already glass bedded and it looked so good I didn't think I could do any better. So, I left it.

The bad: My 7-08 was one of the first Hunters sold, I think they changed in a year or so...but mine came with a hard plastic butplate! That little thing kicked like a mule! I replaced the plate with a rubber pad and all was good. My 300 came with a rubber pad, but it might as well have been made from titanium it was so hard, also pretty narrow for a magnum rifle. After 30 rounds or so during the summer, my shoulder would be black and blue.

I don't know why it took me so long, but just a little over a year ago I installed a Pachmayr decelerator. What a difference! I've since learned that Pachmayr sells pads "pre-formed" for A-Bolts (as well as many other brands) so you don't need to spend hours on the belt sander as I did. Anyway, if you buy and A-Bolt in anything bigger than 270, I would highly suggest one of those for your first modification.

If you practice with your rifle as much as you know you should, there's no reason to let it beat you up any more than it has to.

[This message has been edited by Jon A (edited 01-07-2002).]

quote:

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Originally posted by JD:
A-Bolts are OK out of the box for the average hunter, but they are terrible if you're hunting near the coast or in cold, humid conditions.

I'm guessing you are referring to the propensity to rust???? I have a BPS (jam-o-matic) shotgun. I also hunt in a salt water marsh. Side by side, compared to other shotguns, it is a rust magnet. I ended up spray painting mine with Krylon. Still the chamber is always rusting and causing extraction problems. Just polished the chamber yesterday, as a matter of fact. Spent some time in the duck blind prying fired shells out with a rusty wonder bar that morning. Pretty frustrating when the ducks are flying. Sure wish they would use a little more chromium and or nickel in their steel. I guess they use the same material in the A-bolt?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JD:
[B]A-Bolts are OK out of the box for the average hunter, but they are terrible if you're hunting near the coast or in cold, humid conditions. Also, the SS model is very hard to get the barrel out of if you ever want it rebarreled; most gunsmiths who have worked on them simply cut the barrels out.

Ask JJHack who posts in the Africa forum about A-bolts.

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[This message has been edited by scot (edited 01-08-2002).]

Get a little of mud in the bolt and it is done.

Go with a M70 controlled feed, a M98, an Enfield or a Springfield.

Just wondering, has this actually happened to you? Have you actually seen it happen in person?

No, you can't take the bolt appart in the field...but I have yet to hear of anybody that needed to do so. I have a feeling this is one of those, "somebody thinks it might happen, therefore it's a serious problem" things that isn't really a problem because it never happens. Am I wrong?

If this has actually happened to you, I'll gladly eat my words.

I've had rifles that were covered with ice from the weather that still functioned, including a Ruger 77 that I had to shoot in order to get the bolt loose, but these A-Bolts simply give it up.

Please visit here for some more info on A-bolts. http://208.50.7.237/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=UBB5&Number=10627&page=&view=&sb=&o=
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JD

[This message has been edited by JD (edited 01-08-2002).]