All right, since this thread keeps limping along, I can't stand it anymore so will comment.
I've had experience with two X-Bolts, shooting both considerably and hunting with one. Neither gave any trouble in function in any way, but then the hunting and shooting was done in Montana and Wyoming, not bouncing around in a boat in Alaskan saltwater. Both were also very accurate with a variety of loads.
(For anybody who believes this thread is about A-Bolts, I'll comment that my wife Eileen hunted with an A-Bolt in .270 Winchester--which is OK since she's a girl--for a number of years after they were introduced in 1986. Hers was a first-year rifle sent to me for testing, and was about as light as factory rifles got for the period, and since it shot well we bought it. At one point she had 10 one-shot kills in a row with it, including pronghorn, whitetails, mule deer, elk and moose, and never had any problems with the rifle in any way. One of the scopes she used is another subject....)
I've shot and hunted with at least three Weatherby Vanguards, a couple for a number of years, and will say exactly the same things about them--except that the triggers on earlier models really sucked. But that problem has been fixed.
