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Depends on how big dollar those customs are.

Chuck

First let me say....for the most part...what a load of manure. Save it for the garden. I had to register just to respond. This is just the same old debate thing..."it's no good cause I dont like it" I read the whole thread and I don't know anymore than when I started. One or two objective posts from guys with experience and a bunch of opinions. I've never owned an abolt. Would I buy one...damnright I would. There light and they have a clip....two features I like. I get tired of fumbling with a handful of shells from my Ruger's floorplate in the dark, standing in a foot of snow with numb fingers. Do I love my Ruger...sure do but I wish it had a clip and was lighter. If you never had an abolt...your opinion is just that....no experience to relay. I have owned a bunch of other Brownings....never had a lick of trouble with any of them.....matter of fact...same goes for my Remingtons and Rugers and so on.... If your mind is made up....you shouldn't let yourself be confused by facts... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Glock29,

Welcome aboard <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> even though my Sig 245 is better <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Just kinding!!

"I'll bet the resale is better than most other brands and one hell of a lot better than those big dollar customs" You're damn right!! I just sold a custom made Model 70, I got about half the money I spent on it back when I sold it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> I've had a few customs built over the years but I don't plan to ever do that again. FOR ME its a waste of money!! I've shot deer with a used factory rifle, I give $300 for and a custom, I spent $1500 on. Both were just as dead, the only thing diffence was my wallet, by $1200. No thanks, no more cutsoms for me. I'll spend my money on airfare and trophy fees <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Now, I''m off to the range, its A-Bolt time.

Mark

"TEAM A-BOLT"

Africa '05!!!!!!!

This is what bothers me.

"I can appreciate the subjective as well as the objective so feel free to vent either."

This is a line posted in the original question. On these forums many people ask questions while asking for answers and opinions. Yet when they arrive well.......

I vented, and here is why. Factory rifles, IMO, leave a lot to be desired simply because Joe Q Public get weak in the knees if the price tag on a new rifle exceeds $1000 (I am talking CDN money here?). So gun manufacturers spend money developing new cartridges to attract new buyers to add to their gun cabinets. Heaven forbid they spend a little money developing a magazine box that might assist feeding, charge $50 dollars more to supply a glass bedded rifle, or maybe they could at least drill the holes in the reciever of the rifle that resembeled something straight and square.

I paid more for the Browning that I owned than a comparable Remington, Winchester, or Ruger. Just what did I get for that extra money?

I tend to take my guns and hunting fairly seriously and my fingers aren't typing in a screaming or abrasive manner. I'm just trying to get my points and experiences across (someone did ask). Unfortunately, with Brownings, they were bad.

Chuck

P.S. I've been stung on custom rifles as well. Maybe we could hash out that topic another day. Tomorrow? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Don't own an A-bolt, and don't plan to. Had an old FN action Safari grade Browning I stupidly traded off, but the A-bolt action is too homely for me, while at the same time wearing a glossy stock dolled up like a cheap hooker. That said, as far as function goes, I have two examples:

1) My best friend and usual hunting partner has used a .30-06 A-bolt for at least ten years now with excellent results. The rifle shot MOA with factory ammo out of the box, and actually had a good factory trigger. We've hunted together from the south Louisiana swamps to west Texas, New Mexico, and above timberline in Idaho, and the Browning stayed zeroed. That glossy stock isn't very glossy anymore, but the thing works. Its owner isn't a gun fanatic, he just loves that rifle. I wouldn't want it, but you can't knock the record.
2) When my 12 year old son went to hunting summer camp at the YO Ranch this summer, the rifles they issued the kids were .243 A-bolts with Kahles scopes (provided by Browning and Kahles as part of some promotion). I asked the guides about problems (figuring kids can break anything if they try) and they said they had had no problems in the two years they have been using them.
I'll stick with Model 70s and commercial 98s, but I suspect this may really be a Ford/Chevy deal.

I love this post because I always thought the same thing about the hard time the A-bolt has got on this forum. I have a A-bolt that I selected after handling and checking out many guns that are production run. I must say that I am very happy with the gun. A 300WSM hunter with a 1 inch decelleration pad shoots 5/8" groups. Light weight, short bolt lift, adjustable trigger, detachable magazine, and durable matte finish decided the choice for me. I see no need to have a gunsmith touch the gun, but will admit that the trigger is kind of funky in that it seems fragile. I just keep in mind that it is turned down to 2.5lbs and it doesn't take much pressure to fire a round. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Some like brunettes, some like blonds, I got a redhead to live with <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />!

I just bought another one, that makes three! I hate rifles that can put rounds in the ten ring all day long out of the box, they suck! Oh yeah, I bought a Stainless Stalker.

I had a custom rifle built on a Mauser 98 action with a Shilen barrel, Timney trigger and Fajen stock. It was a 7x57 Mauser with a 26 inch barrel. It shot excellent, but no better than the Brownings right out of the box with nothing done to them. I guess if you like running back and forth to a gunsmith and giving someone else your money then to each his own!

Hello all,
just thought that i would throw a little gas on the fire. i have 5 browning a-bolt II rifles of various calibers. two of them are fully customized. so yes you can customize them all you need is a gunsmith who will listen to your ideas and then improve on them. the first rifle i ever purchased with my own money was a 7mm magnum it is 7 years old and has been out west on three ocassions. it was dropped about 18 feet down a hill when my 4 wheeler tipped over climbing the side of a snow covered mountain after i got all the snow and dirt out of it i took it back to the guides range fired it three times and the zero never changed and all three shoots were touching at 100 yards. the rifle still functions flawlessly. as for me i will stick with my brownings they have been used under extremely adverse conditions and i have yet to have one fail. this post is not meant to say that brownings are better than any other rifle, they have served me well and would i buy another? in a minute.....

This has been an interesting thread � thanks to all that pitched in.

I suppose my opinion is pretty much in the same place as when we started � I don�t understand all the A-Bolt bashing. These have been legitimate questions raised about the quality of some parts and subjective opinions about the rifle�s looks, but all in all similar criticisms apply to other rifles as well.

In spite of the criticisms, not one person has complained about the A-Bolts accuracy. This type of consistency is not an accident, and definitely not a result of a bunch of Japanese pot metal shaken together in a bag. The Browning folks have some skills and to say otherwise would be a slight to all the gunsmiths that make accurate rifles out of inaccurate pieces.

While there are definitely fewer options in customizing an A-Bolt, a quick search shows that Pac-Nor and Shilen both make barrels, McMillan makes both hunter and varmint stocks, Moyers makes a stainless steel trigger, and replacement springs are available all over. A skilled gunsmith would still need to fit and tune the rifle and I really doubt I would have trouble locating one.

Part of the satisfaction of a custom rifle is that it�s custom: different and improved. If it�s true that there a very few custom A-Bolts out there, well then more power to me. I will probably have a custom A-Bolt built, but not on the Medallion I currently own. Contrary to remarks about a poor resale value, A-Bolts hold their value very well around here - much better than Winchester or Remington. I�ll either sell my Medallion to fund a Hunter/Stalker donor or buy one outright. I�ll come out further ahead money-wise.

'Tis your project and you are the only one that has gotta believe that stuff.

More power to you...............

don't know where you're from, but here in alabama also the a-bolts maintain better value than anything else of off-the-rack nature.
folks around here buy 'em, like 'em and mostly keep 'em, i guess 'cause they ...

keep killing deer
year after year

(how'd y'all like that couplet?)

There simply isn't another modern boltgun that is absolutely shunned by routinely superlative 'Smiths. That should(and do) speak volumes.

It is an often read tidbit on the shingle of many,that they simply won't work on the A-Bolts period.

A quick glance through GunList fails to drive the point of high resale value home.

They is what they is and if they yank your crank,so be it................

I've owned one and had no problems with it. Kind of an impulse buy. Very accurate and trouble free.
But I never could get use to that glossy stock. Nice crisp trigger but could'nt adjust it under 5#'s.
Browning has a few screwed up twist rates. On my 260 it was 1 in 11. Don't know where they came up with that.
I know from trading mine in and going over the book values they don't hold their value any better or worse than Remchester.

Big Stick,

If you're right, it won't be the first time delusions have emptied my pockets. Fortunately, an A-Bolt project is far enough down the list that I still have time to come to my senses.

So far, I've never had an internet firearms transaction. I have a tough time buying sight-unseen. We have a lot of gunshows here though and I do most of my business at them. Brownings hold their value well.

That said, the Campfire "Free Classifieds" will likely bite into me before long. There have been some excellent deals in the short time I've been here.

FVA - Well looky here, you ole hunt thievin sodbuster!! Saw that picture of ya t'other day. Good thing there was a shadow on your face, because I could print it out and tell everybody it's me!!

BTW, you can get an A-bolt in stainless with a synthetic stock, matching matte gray finish Leupold glass and she looks pretty good.

Regards, sse

I wasn't trying to bust your balls or piss in the punch. My point was simple: If you have faith in the action,then that is a very large part of the equation that can't be purchased.

The flipside is that certain things work very well and routinely demonstrate a superb end result. When setting by with a box of loot burning a hole in your pocket,keen research is never a poor idea,regardless of the confidence level. That despite the consensus not being music to your ears.

I don't employ tact often,but that were the best I could muster as those keys are rusty(grin)..................

�I can�t fricken� believe a dumbazz still breaths that would climb over a pile of proven designs to plunk hard-earned cash on question mark. Give yourself a good slap, ya moron�

I figure the tact-free version would go something like that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

My gunsmith could careless what you bring in to be worked on as long as you pay him before you leave with it! He definetly qualifies as Superlative! I don't understand why you would want to build a custom rifle when the rifle can shoot that well out of the box <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> It must be me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I can think of quite a few.

Chuck

I knew you would be around Chuck.