Browning rifles

[Gm weatherby man]

I seem to hear little on this forum or anywhere for that matter on browning rifles, don't seem to have a following ?

 

[Oldtrader3]

I owned (4) browning rifles and a couple of shotguns until, last year. Plus, the new Winchester Model 70's, Model 92's, Model 1885 High Wall, 1886's and Model 94's are made by Browning in South Carolina and Japan respectively, now. I still own an A-Bolt, .280 and a 20 ga Gold shotgun, both Browning. Browning still owns a large market share of the US shotgun market.

I do not think that the A-Bolt and X-Bolt Browning rifles (made in Japan) have the popularity in this country that they did a few years ago. However, the new Model 70 Winchester is coming on nicely.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

While I don't own any of these, I have fired 3 different Browning Rifles in my time so far. Two of them were A-bolts, one was a Gold Medal in 338 Win Mag and the other an All-Weather Synthetic in 7mm Rem Mag, the third was a BAR also in 7mm Rem Mag.

Nice rifles for sure, all shot very well with the loads we had on hand. I just have never seen the appeal of the Browning rifles personally. I like Winchester and Remington rifles. Just like the feel of them...also Savage 99's, Mauser 98's, Springfield 03's, and Ruger's M77 and Number 1 models.

Just preference.

 

[highcotton]

First rifle I ever bought was a Browning A-Bolt in .270 WIN. I had the trigger worked on and it is unbelievably accurate. Dad has had countless BAR rifles- really the only rifle I remember him hunting with until recently.

 

[Richracer1]

I have one Browning, an A-bolt 338WM that was made in 1995 or so. The only thing I'm not fond of is the two position safety. You have to take it completely off safe to open the bolt.

 

[Guy Miner]

We've still got a .308 Browning BLR kicking around. My oldest son uses it from time to time. Dad bought it back in the late 1970's or early 1980's - I don't quite remember. Used it for wild hog hunting in California. It did a great job. Early BLR, built in Belgium, all steel. Very nice rifle with a very mushy trigger. Still, it works fine.

About the A-Bolts - I understand that there's something about them that rifle smiths don't particularly like when it comes time for a new barrel - but I couldn't tell you what that is...

A bear-hunting buddy has used one in .300 Win mag to take at least a dozen black bear. One out at 512 yards! Typically they are accurate rifles, right out of the box. I've no doubt about that. Just never really grabbed me. Not like a Winchester or a Remington. Not sure why.

Regards, Guy

 

[Too Tall]

There is nothing like the feel of a good Winchester Model 70, in my opinion.

 

[HTDUCK]

My personal experience with Browning rifles has been a BAR in 300 Win that shot 6 inch groups at 100 yards. It got traded off about a week after I got it.

Two A-Bolts.
1 in 30-06 that shot Winchester 150 power point ammo so well we never loaded for it. Dad killed everything he shot at with that gun for over 10 years. My brother is still shooting it.

The other A-Bolt was in 300 Win Mag.
It was the only rifle I hunted with for 4 or 5 years.
H1000 and 180 Partitions made a reasonably accurate hunting rifle / load but it never shot as well as my 700s.
It also kicked like a !@#$ mule.
I passed it on to my brother. It beat him up so badly he put a muzzle brake on it.
It spends most of it's time in the safe anymore....

Howard

 

[bbearhntr]

I own 2 A-bolts, 1 X-bolt and a BLR and really enjoy all of them. I really appreciate the 60 degree bolt lift and the position of the safties right on the tang by my thumb. The X-bolts offer a safety release so you work the action and keep the gun on safe. All of my Brownings have shot well out of the box. My 30-06 A-bolt loves the 150g winchester power point factory ammo. I haven't had any trouble finding a hand load to shoot between 1/2" and 3/4" either. I will say that manufacturing them in Japan probably slows down sales a bit.

 

[DrMike]

I had a Eurobolt in 7mm RM. I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of it. I had a BLR chambered in .358 Win. It was scary accurate, but it was traded to a hunting partner than could live without my rifle. I've shot quite a few A-bolts and X-bolts; all shot acceptably and some were wonderfully accurate. I don't recall any that were worthless. The only browning I own right now is a .22 T-bolt; with ammunition it likes, it is exceptionally accurate to about 50 yards on grouse. It has accounted for a good number of grouse to feed my family. The primary kick I have about for Browning rifles is that they seem expensive without justification for the extra cost. For the money spent, I'd rather have a Winchester, Savage or a Ruger. I can even match price with a Tikka, and the Tikka seems like value in my eyes.

 

[Oldtrader3]

DrMike, that is certainly true now. Browning rifles have gotten pretty expensive and really do not have the quality that some of the older models (Safari, Superimposed) had in the past.

 

[nshunter]

Funny you consider them to be too expensive. I just purchased an x bolt composite stalker and the price $ 829.00 semed quite reasonable to me considering the features on the rifle. I was comparing it to the model 70 extreme weather or the ultimate shadow in 270 wsm. In the end the browning just seemed like too good of a deal to pass up, and the free jacket offer didn't hurt either. The extreme weather was nice but it wasn't $300.00 nicer and the ultimate shadow was $100.00 less but I didn't care for the shiney blued barrel with the composite stock. The matte finnish on the x bolt looks way better, to me anyway.

 

[BK]

I was looking at an old FN Safari in .308 Norma on gunsamerica.com the other day, does that count?

I have a couple of Browning shotguns, one that I like, and one that has a very delicate finish... not a good quality in a duck gun. It's probably going to get an aftermarked coating job, probably Ceracote. I'd buy more Citori or Superposed shotguns, and Browning re-issues of Winchesters of the past; 52, '86, '71, '85 High and Low Walls.

 

[Woodycreek]

I kinda like to get a nice BLR but its chambered 450 Marlin not 45-70. I will have a Browning Superposed one day.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Funny you consider them to be too expensive. I just purchased an x bolt composite stalker and the price $ 829.00 semed quite reasonable to me considering the features on the rifle. I was comparing it to the model 70 extreme weather or the ultimate shadow in 270 wsm. In the end the browning just seemed like too good of a deal to pass up, and the free jacket offer didn't hurt either. The extreme weather was nice but it wasn't $300.00 nicer and the ultimate shadow was $100.00 less but I didn't care for the shiney blued barrel with the composite stock. The matte finnish on the x bolt looks way better, to me anyway.

You are probably correct about price on the Browing A-Bolt, X-Bolt rifles, maybe I am over reacting. Plus it is worth mentioning that the Winchesters are also made by Browning in their South Carolina plant. I guess that I am just reacting to having paid $475 new for a Browning A-Bolt Composite in 1995 and they are selling for about $900 now.

I realise that the Yen versus the dollar has deteriorated somewhat in recent years. I guess that I just have sticker shock?

 

[nshunter]

$475.00 in 1995 and $829.00 doesn't seem like a huge increase in 16 years, maybe it's because guns have either come down in price or stayed the same, here in canada in the past few years that it seemed like such a bargain. I can remember looking at an A- bolt in 2005 and the asking price was somewhere in the $900 range.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Canada has always been higher prices for rifles, scopes and components.

 

[DrMike]

Canada has always been higher prices for rifles, scopes and components.

Until recently. Within the past six months, we are near the price seen in the States.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Should be, your money is worth more then ours now.

 

[Gm weatherby man]

Thnx for all the feed back on browning rifles, myself think they make nice rifles, maybe someday I'll own one. A nice rifles good, a accurate one is better, so if they are both maybe a can be rubber armed into buying one. :lol: