During my time here I have mostly sat back and read, added my 2 cents, threw a barb and gotten in a good jab now and then. Ive also taken a few on the chin. SO Im not asking this qestion to stir the pot, or to zing anyone that owns a Browning.

Very few here tout the value of Browing bolt rifles. Is there some inherent accuracy problem? Are the actions difficult to work on? Are the materials of poor quality? Are replacement parts(barrles, stocks, triggers) not avalable? Do people have issues with the fact that they are made in Japan?

Ive handled them, and shot them in the past. I do like the 60 degree bolt throw, but Ive never warmed up to the angular reciever and bolt area. Im a lefty so they do have some apeal to me but I guess Im courious as to why they seem to lag well behind, Rem, Ruger, Savage, Winchester ect.

I have a Medalion in .270 WSM and think it's a fine rifle

I sure like my LH SS in 7-08.

No love? Mainly because John Moses shoots them....

I've had several Browning rifles in the past and never had ANY issues with them. Mine were accurate and fed well without fail. I just think most of it comes down to personal preference and growing up with a certain name brand rifle in your hands so you run into those guys... like my long time friend (loves Remington's). I've had numerous brand names so I can't fall into that niche. LOL

My gunsmith said they are easy to work on so that can't be it.

I like the A-Bolt enough, that i have three of them

made in Japan?

I have owned a couple in the past and never had a problem. In fact the stainles stalker I had in 30-06 was INCREDIBLY accurate. I was too young to realize what a gem it was and sold it...

I think most guys who ACTUALLY use one like them.

The biggest complaints I've heard is the metal used in the receiver is "cheap pot metal".

Yes and they have lozenge for a bolt knob.

My X Bolt 300 WM is the finest shooting bolt action I have ever owned. Fit and finish is as good or better than other brands I've owned or handled. When I pick up other rifles, it's the benchmark I use for comparison.

SubMoa out of the box. No trigger adjustment, no glass bedding, no pillar bedding, no floating the barrel, no fiddling with pressure point on the barrel, no recrowning, no special bench rest shooting techniques, no sending back to the factory three or four times only to be told it is within specs. NO ROULETTE.

I first shot an A-Bolt the year they were first introduced, which I believe was 1985 or '86. It was so accuate and lightweight that I bought it for my wife, who wanted a for-sure elk rifle rather than the .257 Roberts she'd been using.

It shot almost everything well, and Eileen really liked the detachable magazine inside the floorplate. Due to some arthritis, she'd always had a hard time loading a conventional bolt rifle in the typical cold weather of a Montana November. With the A-Bolt she could load a magazine in the warmth of home, then put in the rifle when it was time to go hunting, even in the dark. She hunted with it for several years, never having a malfunction, and at one point shot 10 big game animals in a row with one shot each, including pronghorn, whitetails, mule deer, elk and moose.

Since then I've shot several A-Bolts and a couple of X-Bolts. All were very accurate and worked fine. They might not be quite as rugged as a 98 Mauser, but....

Lost me when they left Belgium.

My 30-06 BBR has always been a consistent shooter.

I've owned Safaris, A-Bolts and X-Bolts,

While the A and X-Bolts don't compare workmanship wise with the Safaris (What does?) they are dependable rifles with above average fit and finish for massed produced guns.

The rifles on a whole are quite accurate. They aren't picky about different loads and will shoot most any factory fodder well.

The pot metal comment above doesn't refer to the action steel , but is a knock on the metal they use for trigger guards.

I've never broken a trigger guard and have hunted with probably 20 different A/X Bolts over the years.

JM

I've never tried an a-bolt but my x-bolt is one of my favorite rifle.Its accurate,lightweight and it handle very well.

My newest bolt gun is a X-Bolt Stainless Hunter in 308 and I have no complaints at all. Three shots led to three deer in the freezer. (4th deer fell to my Kimber Montana in 257 Rob). I also have a couple of A-Bolt varmint rigs that I have no plans of ever selling or trading. They are all accurate and have features I like. I like the new x-bolt stock and magazine better than the a-bolt.

On the other hand I'm a looney and "love" all my rifles until the next gotta have comes along.

You couldn't give me one.

Japcrap.

My next factory rifle will be an X-Bolt.

Do you feel the same way about a Weatherby Vanguard or Howa? Both made in Japan.

I would hunt with a Safari Grade from the 70s

Never owned a Browning bolt gun. I have always felt that IF I could find something I liked that was made in the USA, then that was the one I bought. Still feel the same way, maybe even more so with the way our economy needs all the help it can get right now.
Having said that; I have lusted for years over the Browning M92 .44 mag lever action that they made back in the early 80s.

Yes, I do.

Would you buy a samurai sword made in America?

Liar!

I have no use for a Samurai sword but lots of people buy full size trucks by Toyota and Nissan too.

I agree that there are better choices out there, but for out of the box accuracy and reliability I think you could do much worse. I've had a few and they all have gone down the road but I can say that they all were pretty good shooters.

I think factory is the key word in that sentence.

Light, handy, accurate, unfussy...



I will gripe about lawyer proof triggers, however.

I bought a new, left handed A-Bolt Medallion in .300 Win Mag, and used it for several years in the early 90's. It shot very well, even with the mushy "adjustable" trigger. I did have a few complaints with the rifle, some minor, some not. The removable magazine was difficult to load while in the gun (the ejection port is smallish, and belted cases don't help). Unlike JB's experience, mine was way too fiddly to remove, load, and reinstall in the field. The floorplate rattled, the recoil pad was hard as rock, and was too small. The rifle's looks never did much for me, either, particularly the action and bolt assembly. I finally moved it for rifles more ergonomically friendly and easier on my eyes.

OTOH, the FN Brownings and the original T-Bolt are nice rifles.

And those are the good points....

I've had a Browning BAR in .30-06 and a Model 64 in .218 Bee for years and dearly love 'em both, but the newer bolt just never really did anything for me.

Sure says a lot about a 22 year old memory. Musta been made by someone in Yonkers.

Inland44: Indeed I have no "love" for todays Rifle offerings from Browning.
I have owned many Browning bolt action Rifles from the 1960's era of manufacture and still own one beautiful Browning bolt gun in 222 Remington Magnum from that era.
One of the main reasons I quit buying Browning Rifles is because I prefer to buy American Made products when ever possible.
And the American Made products have provided me with about everything I desire to shoot/own.
I like my dollars to help keep Americans employed whenever possible.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I would be lying if I said I didn't wish they were made here. Buying here is a good thing.

That's why I want a new Win 70 Extreme Weather. It will be very nice to carry an American made rifle around for a change.

Nothing against Browning, but It's my money.

I don't care for them but they are considered "the best" by many of the people that I hunt with. My friend went to help field dress a deer, took the magazine out ejected the round, put the magazine back in, closed the bolt and calmly fired a 300 Win Mag round into the ground, the rifle popped out of his hands and landed barrel first in the dirt standing up like a tomato stake. I told him to go ahead and pull it out of the ground as it was too deep in the woods and too late in the season to try and plant any.

Those magazines can be tricky to some.

LOL.

He should have closed the bolt, then put the mag back in...

Glad no one was hurt, but the way he did it, that would have happened with any detach mag.

JM

Wow, and no longer a hunting buddy...or golf...or anything involving projectiles.

Relegated to checkers.

No bowling.

A SS X-Bolt nearly walked with me the other day...in one of my favorite cal's too. 7mm-08Rem.

I like em!

I am sure that they are great guns but, being made in japan, I will not own a Weahterby, Howa, or a Browning bolt gun. I will not hunt with a japanese made rifle. Life is too short for that.

You probably aren't going to own much as no firearm currently made is sourced entirely in the USA. All have components or sources from Japan, Thailand, Philippines, china, Italy, brazil, or other European, south American or Asian countries.

You wont hunt with a Japanese made rifle, but would hunt with one sourced in china, india, or packastan. Something wrong with that picture.

I think you're making things up.

lastround- About 7 or 8 years ago I was in a gun shop looking around when the salesman directed me to a like new, light, good looking, lever gun. Sure enough it was a Browning M92 in 44 mag. It had the smoothest action of any lever gun I have ever handled. bought it on the spot for $300.00. He said they took it on trade and it had been there a while. Still love that gun to this day.

To the original question- Never have cared for the angular looks, that's all.

Where is the steel made, the plastic for the stocks, the CAD, the drills and presses, the trigger components, the pins and screws? How about the wood and recoil pads or the shipping boxes.

Many firearms made in Italy, Spain and Finland not to mention ammo made in Africa, Israel, Australia.

sadly, "made in america" most often actually means "assembled in america". even the new sc has some parts from other countries. not a criticism, just an observation.

Really. I thought the SC M70's were home grown rifles.

Kinda figured the same for Ruger's M77 Hawkeye too.

As to the OP - They've just never interested me. Usually command a premium over something else on the rack and they tend to have that glossy coat on them. May as well have a damned mirror in the woods.

I just never saw a reason for me to buy one over a Ruger/Remington/Winchester.

I have a abolt 2 with the boss cr on it and I love it but would love it more without the boss on it. It shoots everything i feed with under a inch and half and several loads under 3/4.

"Why no love for Browing bolt rifles?"

I've shot them.

Mr. Ed,

Just how in the heck am I supposed to know that parts of some guns are sourced in other countries? Give me a break! Howas, Weaherbys and Brownings are clearly japanese made guns and I will discriminate against them by not buying them.

They probably work great if you hunt from a truck, but for hard use they are filled with durability issues--BTDT.

Horse hockey...

I can show you over a dozen of mine and friends that are 20+ years old, have been thru the ringer and never missed a beat.

Please fill us in on the durability issues.

Do what now?

As a lefty shooter I should be excited about all the caliber options in the A and X bolts. They just have never done much for me in the looks department. Just darn ugly. I suppose I could get used to going to the range with a bag over my head. I guess I could adopt my old shop teacher's philosophy. When we would bring our projects to him for review and grading he would opine, "well I guess there is beauty in function".

Mart

I owned a 25-06 they looked pretty good but wasn't able to keep moa so off it went.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3541429/1

Not any more. If it says, "Made in America" it has to be.

Leupold was sued a few years back for making that claim. While all their main parts were made in America their glass was made in Japan.


Brownings are delicate rifles, it's no surprise then that mostly women, like John's wife, prefer them.

I've always felt like I should be wearing gold chains and a fake Rolex when I handle Browning rifles. The overly gaudy gloss, stupid angular lines and general lack of utility make them a no go.

If I were a porn star who had never owned a gun, never hunted, and had no sense of tradition, a Browning rifle would probably look appealing to me.

Wow-nothing like insulting someone.

And what about the scope on top?

I thought it was a complement.

Please list all the delicate parts. I've just never had any trouble with them, but need to know what to watch out for.

Would hate for one to fall apart in my hands while on a hunt.

Do the bolt handles break off? Will some fire unexpectedly? Hold on...I think that is another brand...

That sounds like a delicate rifle to me.

Thanks!

Here's just a little-bitty buck I killed with a Browning.

Hell of a rifle.

Steve

I bet it broke in half soon after this pic was taken.

I can tell you one thing, I had a bitch of a time getting him out. Fifteen hundred feet above camp, my horse came down with a kidney problem and couldn't be rode or packed. So I had a racked-up horse to lead out and a deer to carry.

I was a man then, but it still was a tussle.

It was a long, long day and part of the night.

But worth it.

Fairly decent buck, actually. I didn't have much time to judge horns because he was literally running over me. I shot him under the chin and rolled out of the way and he continued a dead roll for another hundred feet or so.

He may be the prettiest three-point I've shot; and I LOVE three-points. Width is a clean 28-inches.

Steve

Steve is that a BBR?

I have no doggie in this fight, but will just say that several of my buds have hunted a ton load with their A-bolts and when I mention issues they just kind of chuckle and go back to showing me pics of their grand slams and such.

I no that they're accurate rigs and my friends have had no problems. But, obviously others have had issues.

Dober

I had a Browning one time and on a hunt I fel on the flimsy bbl and bent it almost to the shape of an "C"....but that was OK cause a little scope adjustment and now that crazy thing will shoot around corners.

Someone likes the A-Bolt series. They've been for sale since when, 1990? Twenty plus years of sales... That says a lot of people have bought them.

Well I recently got the 325WSM bug. Bought a Winchester Extreme Weather. It fed slick and looked and felt great. Took the first one back and exchanged it for another as the first one had a lot of copper fouling in the new barrel, I assume from proof firing. The next model also had a great deal of blue fouling to remove. It also shot not all that great (1.5-3MOA) and copper fouled like a bugger. Had a gunsmith scope the made in USA barrel and he said too rough,sell the damn thing.

I also bought a Browning. It didn't feel quite as nice in the hand. The synthetic stock feels a bit flimsy. It shoots 3" groups at 400 yards consistently. It is easy to develop loads for and shoots extremely well with bullets from 150-220 grains. I don't have to spend 1 hour cleaning it after every use.

I still have the Browning. It hasn't broken yet.

Savage has sold a lot of 110's, too. Doesn't mean either rifle is flawless, in form or function.

They did. But for half as much as Browning sold theirs for.

Big difference...Different buyers.

You dole out that much for a rifle you tend to have higher expectations than one you bought for half the price .

Apparently, The A-Bolt met the expectations of most of their buyers. If they didn't, the design would not be enjoying a 20+ yr. run at it's current price point.

It would have been discontinued and replaced with another design had it been infested with all the imaginary defects some like to post here...

Great Buck Steve and appreciate the pic. I never carried a horse and don't want to. LOL

Merry Christmas!

Yep, a BBR and I shot it a LOT. It was in .30-'06, of course, and the rifle is still killing big critters for the kid I gave it to.

Karen and I could have no children of our own, so I've been "passing it forward, in many, many ways, for lots of years." The kids are the future of our sport and of our world ... it doesn't just end with us.

By the way, when I was a writer for the gunfunnys, I went on several prairie dog hunts sponsored by Browning/Winchester Ammo. I remember one little "Medallion" grade .223 that was way beyond spooky-accurate.

Most manufacturers would shove a non-zeroed POS in your hand and expect a positive article. NOT BROWNING, their rifles came zeroed and perfect in every way.

Anyway, we were on the Hougen Ranck East Pasture and I was shooting the little Medallion .223. I'm not sure I've ever fired as accurate a rifle, custom or not. With 40-grain Winchester Supreme (black box) ammo, I killed some dogs that were literally impossible. I kept stretchng out and out and out and the rifle/ammo kept hanging with me.

I won't reveal what a half-dozen dogs I killed lasered, but it was a far piece and I'm not sure if I could have even hit the mound itself with my .25-'06.

Naw, Brownings are shooters and fabulous commercial rifles, in my opinion.

Steve

I should have been more precise in my critique. I was thinking particularly of their top shelf A-Bolt and when I said "hunt from a truck" I intended to say that if your day starts and ends in a truck then they're going to perform better than if you take them in to the wilds where rain, snow, sleet and sub freezing temps are the norm for days, even weeks, at a time.

As for the parts that give trouble, it's as if woobieitis completely blinds some guys. John Browning must be rolling over in his grave when looking at his namesake's most popular bolt action rifle. I've not counted the number of pieces that make up the bolt of an A-Bolt, but they are many and I've seen them freeze tight with moisture--not too mention the almost impossible nature of keeping the rifle moderately clean in the field. I had a trigger mechanism freeze and with my "gargantuan strength" I literally crushed the "gold plated trigger" trying to get it to fire. Rugged is simply not a modifier that comes to mind when considering an A-Bolt.

The Safari is a different beast altogether and I've no experience with the X-Bolt. I think engineers would have to intentionally design a bolt action rifle with more component parts than they did with the A-Bolt...

Sounds like you got a bad one.

One.

I've owned and hunted with close to 2 dozen and never had any trouble. If I had, I would have quit using them like you did. So I don't blame you for getting away from them.

I've hunted out of boats on the Mississippi river for years, it rains here a lot in winter as well. I have camped in wet temps in the high teens on many occasions and used the rifles for days when the temps never got above freezing and never experienced any issues.

I haven't had the rifles in arctic conditions, so I cannot speak to that.

I know Sitka has posted that several trigger mechanisms have frozen up in his presence.

What I find curious is that other designs use an enclosed trigger housing very similar to Browning's, so they must also be susceptible to a wet freeze condition.

Maintenance is an important part of owning any firearm. If you neglect any firearm you are asking for trouble regardless of brand.

And that trouble will usually come when you need it most.

I know a ton of people that have and had Abolt rifles. I have owned 2 and a good friend in Bama has owned/owns 1/2 dozen. Bolt is a PITA if you want to field strip it but the funny thing is that in 15 years I have never had one go bad on me nor have my friends and acquaintances. I don't think I will provide an example of Remington and Winchester Rifles I have been associated with because that will make this thing go to 100 pages. In short I have seen zero problems with Abolts,. Not everyones cup of tea but they work.

The one and only trigger I've had FAIL was a straight-factory 1950s Winchester Model-70. Yup, the highly-touted piece of schit failed me miserably. Broke in two, actually, from a factory fault in the metal.

I was way far north in the Yukon Territory, on the NWT border and I had the friggin' Model-70 trigger take a dump on me. Yes, I was fixin to kill a 40+-inch ram when it broke in two parts.

I always carry a kit, but it was back in camp with a spare trigger group, a spare bolt and a spare scope in detatch mounts. So we walked down two-thousand feet to base camp, I replaced the trigger, checked the zero and was good to go.

Three days later, I killed the ram in my avatar, which is many inches longer than forty.

In many ways, I'm happy the Model 70 trigger failed.

No, I never hunted with a Winchester M-70 again. I've never had a Remington 700 fail and I've owned and tested a couple hundred of them. Gimme a Remington 700 any day.

Steve

WRONG. Please provide a citation for your anecdotal claim as well.

Steve;
I trust this finds you and your wife doing acceptably well on this Christmas Eve.

Thanks for sharing the photo of the dandy buck and yours vintage BBR.

I bought a BBR in '81 and carried it for years here in BC. It didn't have the fore end tip that yours did and the stock was flatish on the fore end. I ended up rounding the bottom off on mine and doing some wrap around checkering one winter when I thought I needed a challenge!

Mine too would shoot just fine thanks and the lone dig I had against it was that it was a pretty heavy rifle.

I ended up selling mine to the son of a good friend after I'd lent it to him for a season and the young man just couldn't see living without it. It's still killing stuff as well Steve - we helped him cut and wrap the whitetail buck that died in front of it this past fall actually.

It was kind of cute that when we were cutting up the buck, his father was teasing him for using a rifle that had killed enough bucks on that part of the mountain that it was almost trained to do so by itself.

A very blessed and Merry Christmas to you and your wife this Christmas Steve and all the best to you both in 2012.

Dwayne

Having owned both, I'd take the 110, regardless of the "price point". Fortunately, I don't have to take either.

Gun made in Japan are better than most turned out in the US

The only one I ever owned had a "wondering zero." The 1st cold bore shot could go anywhere, the rest of the magazine usually grouped pretty well. I had no confidence in the rifle so I sold it and moved on.

Mine was a white gold medallion model in 7Mag. It was stainless with a super shiny claro walnut stock and had laser cut engraving with gold paint in the cuts. It was a real pimp rifle

I liked the rifle but I never had any confidence in it. That said, I don't think mine was representitive of A-bolts as a whole.



Terry

Thanks for the reply Steve. I had a 30-06 BBR like yours, wish I still had it! It was a fine rifle. Never owned a A-bolt but I do see an X-bolt purchase in the near future!

Mark, do you know of any rifle maker that hasnt had ANY issues?? Just Sayin

Nope, some sure have more than others but they all have the opportunity to turn out a lemon. What I look for is trends not annomaly's (spl?)

Make sense?

Dober

The lemon thing is what I was getting to.

Thought so and Merry Christmas to ya

Dober

Same to you and yours

3 years ago I decided I needed "wanted" a new rifle. I had decided that the upper limit in price was going to be a grand. I looked at a lot of stuff. Sako a7, tikka, winnies, didn't want a 700 and still don't really know why. Among others. The first time the salesman handed me the Browning x-bolt I looked at and felt like it was way to modern a design for me. "here ya go, you can put this one back" I said. As a few weeks passed I thought you know if I am going to dish out alot of coin I owe it to myself and the manufactures to really look good at all of them. In the end a new Browning x-bolt stainless stalker in 7-08 came home with me. What a great rifle it has been! I think about 6 whitetails to it's credit now and very accurate. 5 not 3 Federal loaded BT's into an inch. Yea I know but I like BT's. Not one problem with the gun and the fit and finish is great. Last year after the season I removed the action from the stock for a good end of the season cleaning and put it back together tightening down the action screws with a wheeler FAT wrench to spec. So before season this year and checking preseason accuracy guess what? Point of impact didn't move at all @ 100 yards. I'd say that the tolerances on this rifle are about dead on too. So no complaints here. Still a little to modern looking for my taste though. LOL

I'm fond of Brownings made in Belgium, not so fond of the Japanese editions. Can't hardly hit a bird with an A5, but it's not the guns fault. They just don't fit me fer poop.

I'd pick up any number of Brownings guns if they returned to US or Belgium production at the same level of quality.

No, RIGHT.

The claim was made, "sadly, "made in america" most often actually means "assembled in america"

The burden is on you to provide a claim for the above.

Not only have I seen a Browning failure first hand but have heard first hand of more than a few accounts of failures in Alaska.

From our own Sitka Deer.


From JJHack
"Having had plenty of clients over the years with all sorts of rifles, I have come to the conclusion that the Browning stainless A bolt was the rifle that gave people the most trouble I have seen of any single brand.

I hate to be negative or bash anything like this. I know there must be people who have had great results with the A bolt rifle. I just don't know any of them. I think there are certainly much better more dependable rifles available. I have never seen a single failure with a Ruger or a Winchester rifle. Nothing broken, never a fail to fire or fail to extract/ eject. I have seen odd things come up here and there with just about every other brand. Many of which were do to lack of care by the owner.

The Poor Browning has had to many probelms for people I have hunted with for me to ever own or recommend one. I am also certain you will hear it is the best rifle ever made by others on this forum. I'm relating my personal first hand experience with them just as others will give you theirs. You be the judge after reading the posts.jj"




The Abort earned its name.

It's not a rifle for the looney for sure. But IMO, neither is the Blaser 93.

A hunting Bolt Action, by design, should be as simple as possible.

But it's a free country and a guy should use what makes him happy...

That's the nice about the good ol mauser 98 and its offspring....

just wanted to change the title back.

Merry Christmas everybody.

I see. You can post just whatever in the f*ck you feel like and everyone is supposed to believe it because, well, YOU posted it. What a f*cking piece-of-[bleep].

You must have some proof other than this "because I said so" bullshit, do you not? Yes or no?

Well, that's utterly f*cking convincing.

Your argument is "BECAUSE I SAID SO AND I POSTED IT ON THE INTERNET AND I SAW IT POSTED ON THE INTERNET, THEREFORE I BELIEVE IT AND IT'S TRUE."

What a f*cking moron. Come up with something better, [bleep].

I'm not as rugged as I used to be, however for two years in Nunavut I used a pretty little A-Bolt Micro Medallion in .223 as my caribou gun. I used 55 grain bonded bullets and never lost a boo. Used it between 0 and -40C. It finally did break, the wrist of the slender stock broke when I had it loose in the Komatik box. Pinned it together and we used it for 5 more years.

This gun was the most accurate factory gun I ever fired. 1/2MOA with several loads. Really great rig. Sold it when we moved up to a 6mm Rem in a Rem 600 as our light rifle.

I guess it could fail. It is a bit of a Rube Goldberg trigger group. However I am still waiting to see it happen. In the meantime I keep killing stuff with mine.

OOooo, I didn't know you knew how to speak German. Very impressive.

You're a tough guy!! LOL!!!




Same to you, please call Leupold and ask them. I cited their example to you.

If for some reason I lost all my rifles(heaven forbid ) I could quiet easily go in to my LGS & buy a 300WSM, 223Rem & 7mm-08Rem, all X-Bolts & live happily ever after. Hunt, gather meat & enjoy em

Wow.... guess we are getting a bit off topic!

All the little pins and parts are what bug me... but I sure as heck have friends that have used them long and successfully.

But none of those guys are rifle nuts, "just" hunters...

This is the only Browning A-Bolt that I've ever purchased.
Grice Special



Says right on the label " Made in Japan "

Ken

I don't recall Leupold having a need to defend themselves, do you? You cited come horseshit, heretofore unknown case, so pony up with the specifics, dickweed. You can either prove your claims or you're just f*cking full of [bleep].

Bricktop your wasting your breath with poor SU. He is irrelevant and bases his opinions on emotions rather than experience.

Speaking of which, He has practically none with the A-Bolt and has been forced to admit as much in the past.

Just an emotionally fragile fella with an irrational hatred of A-Bolt's. Probably pinched his finger as a child.

He will ignore facts, has none of his own and will question the experiences of Dogzapper, JB and countless others here that have 50 times more experience with the rifle than he has.

laffin.

Some of these guys will stand in dog schit and accuse others of smelling bad.

Merry Christmas!

I stand by the quote of mine above, but have seen an additional SS A-Bolt with a corrosion locked trigger...

If they were truly hunted hard in very wet country only, the chances of them remaining on the market would be slim... It is obvious the metalurgy is the issue as not all of them fail as I know of several that have been hunted hard under wet, salty conditions and they are doing fine.
art

I've owned various rifles. Including an A-Bolt. I liked that A-Bolt to.

IMHO the bottom line is a good Mauser is the most reliable magazine bolt action design and the rotary magazine Savage 99 is the best lever action design.
Most of us do not need the reliability of a Mauser or a Savage 99.

Gotta admit that Made in Japan is a major turn-off to me. Not sure what it is but I am not opposed to many other things made in Japan or elsewhere. I mean Japan has put out some fine optics, motorcycles, cars, pickups etc. When I think rifle, I think hunting in the western mountains, 2nd Amendment, I think American, I think of generations past and those great rifles like your Mod 70 Super Grade. My granddad's generation did not favor things Japanese. I just don't want a hunting rifle made in Japan. Not nitpicking if some small part was sourced there or even a major component like the glass in a Leupy scope, that is not the deal. Is the tooling all made in the US - that's not it either. Howa - sounds Japanese. Bushnell? Nikon - surely. But Browning - Browning is a great American gun name and its a darn shame. Merry Christmas. OT

Yea right and My next factory rifle will be a Kimber..LMAO..........................Hb

Browning has NEVER been a "great American gun name." They've always been the Milli Vanilli of guns. They've never manufactured anything themselves and have sourced things from wherever manufacturing capacity has existed and contracts could be obtained. Europe, Asia, North America, etc. It's never mattered.

Holding a bias over country of origin just doesn't make sense anymore. The global economy pretty well guarantees anything you buy is either going to have parts, subassemblies or materials sourced from outside the U.S. And in some cases, made in the U.S. with workers sourced from outside the U.S.

The A-Bolt series of rifles are great rifles. Period. They do everything they've been advertised as capable of doing. However, I prefer Rugers, Winchesters, USRACs, Remingtons, Sakos, Howas, and MRCs.

If they were still made in Belgium, I guess most of us would be satisfied, but having them made here would be great.

There are still hard feelings regarding Japan and the role they played in the Big One. There mistreatment of POW's is my main hang up.

Even though the Japanese do good work, I'm not fond of them being made there for this reason.

I guess that we all carry some resentment for them regarding that. I do.

What I find ironic is that we are proud to own fine German rifles and especially optics.

The Nazi's were just as bad, if not worse, but they didn't have the reputation for mistreating American POW's like the Japanese did.

They just murdered 6 million jews and countless others...

My question is, how long do you carry a grudge against a former enemy who has since been a strong ally?

Browning, as in JM Browning, is a great name in American guns... The OP asked,"Why no love," I answered. Not that I think all Americans would be great arms builders... Nor that it makes sense. How about this: back in the day they were so shiny they kinda hurt my eyes! Merry Christmas Bricktop and everyone else.

Yeah, and the Belgians really did right by the Congolese.

The current generation doesn't need to be saddled with the sins of the past.

My sister in law hunts with a lever action Browning in 7mm-08. Its the PERFECT rifle her as she is a lefty and not fond of bolt action rifles.

Browning BLR is a keeper!

Sherwood

I like mine. It is a Belgian made FN Mauser action, to bad they made the new ones in Japan. Watch World at War a few episodes. A friend of mine had a father who was a bomber pilot in WW2. Before he died he said his only regret was that he didn't kill more of them.

I drive Toyota Landcruisers, and hunt with A-bolts. They never fail me.
My shotguns are all Ithaca though I would gladly hunt an SKB.
Thankfully Montana has a mild climate, not known for temperature or moisture extremes, which allows my fragile A-bolts to function.

Great idea. Let's start boycotting things made by nations who oppressed or subjugated other peoples or nations. The U.S. permitted segregation well into the 20th Century, decimated Indian tribes, while the European nations gave us the colonialism we all know and love. So let's not buy anything made in the U.S. anymore or anything from the European continent. And for GOD'S SAKE, QUIT USING THE $20 BILL!!!! It pays homage to the demonic bastard who forced the removal of the southeastern U.S. Indian tribes!!!!

What a load of BULLSHIT.

I like the older Belgium Brownings maybe for no other reason than they are so PURRRTY and they have always worked fine for me.
I have a BPS (so far, it's a great gun) and I believe they were ALL made in Jaypan.
A buddy hunts with a 280 A-bolt and he loves it. Never had a problem with the Jap Brownings.

I like my Brownings...period

I've loved two 1970's BLR's in .308 and .358 and a BL-22 that has had at least 10,000 rounds through it without a single hiccup.

Some wise & well spoken words there John.

The Japs were cruel to the Aussie POW too. My motto is. Don't let the past become the future. And don't think about yesterday or tomorrow, just the now....

The main hangup many people have is good, old-fashioned RACISM. Japanese just look different, but no one wants to admit that they might have some kind of ethnocentric and xenophobic shortcoming. Oh no, they're "better" than that. So now they have a problem with the Japanese acting like barbarians during WWII.

How well were American Indian tribes treated throughout the 18th, 19th, and a good part of the 20th century? I'm guessing everyone will harbor the same mock outrage against the various atrocities committed against these native peoples as exacted upon them by the British and U.S. governments, will they not? Yes? No?

How well were the Congolese treated by the vaunted and magnanimous Belgians? Oh, that's right, they were just uncivilized black folks.

And what about the atrocities committed upon the Ethiopians by the fascist Italians? I guess there's going to be a long line of people lining up to boycott Beretta and Benelli because the Italians got away with unspeakable cruelty.

Exactly where does it end? You're just going to have hard feelings against the people who look different than you?

Well - that sums it up. "Why no love for Browning bolt rifles?" Because it has brown in the name...

Why no love for Browning bolt rifles? Anymore ideas?

Love everyone I ever had, they all shot lights out. My 375 H&H SS stalker has been rained on, snowed on, etc, in our balmy Montana without issue. As far as where there made, I really don't care. Howa is made in Japan and there seems to be more and more people shooting them. As I recall, I believe the model 70 was made in Japan at one time as well. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Browning if the price and caliber were right.