Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Browning/WInchester BOSS

I now have a Winchester model 70 in .22-250 with that Boss on the end of the barrel. I don't particularly like it, but I like the rest of the rifle. Have any of you worked with this thing? How much of a change makes a difference? I've set it in the middle of its adjustment range and left it there for the lack of a better idea. Who has used these things?

I have one on my M70 7mm mag I bought when I was 16. It came with a book with recommended starting points for various bullet weights. From there you can adjust the weight in/out to tighten up groups. The idea is to have the muzzle at a peak/valley of oscillation as the bullet leaves to minimize the impact of barrel vibrations on your accuracy.

I pretty much just set it at the published value for a 150 grain bullet and left it alone. I was happy with my groups at that point so I didn't see the need to tinker. The one thing I did buy a few years later was an accessory called a BOSS CR. Same weighted sleeve except its not ported to cut down on muzzle blast/noise. If I had it to do over again I'd probably by the same rifle sans the BOSS.

I've got both of the end pieces, the sleeve and the muzzle break, but no owners manual. Thanks for the hint, maybe it is online.

I forget if the manual is caliber specific or if it had different calibers on different pages. If you can't find anything online let me know and I'll see what I can find. I think my manual actually still may be in my dad's gun cabinet at my parents house and not with the gun.

I have three ABolts with the Boss. They work... Instead of shooting different brands of bullets and different weights to see what your rifle likes, you can choose the PERFECT LOAD, and tune the rifle to the load. It flat works...

Here's a link to the manual:

http://stevespages.com/pdf/winchester_boss_supplement.pdf

And here are their published sweet spot settings:

http://www.winchesterguns.com/support/faq/boss-sweet-spot-settings.html

I had a 264 Std Rifle and still have a 280 FWT with a BOSS. The dang things are ugly, but they work. It's nice to be able to pick a load you want to use and then tune the rifle to the load.

I have had a Browning Stainless Stalker with BOSS-CR for about 20 years. The device does make a significant difference to accuracy. I started with the "sweet spot" setting and followed the instructions, and soon had one-hole groups at 100 yards. I would only do anything more with it if changing loads. Once tuned the accuracy of that little rifle is amazing with whatever I feed it.

That last link sheds some light on the accuracy the previous owner and I have been getting. I've been running it at "5", and the previous owner had it at "2". It would only shoot the 53 gr. Vmax. I want to shoot 55gr. FMJ-BT with it, but the groups have been twice the size. I'll try it at "4" and go from there.

Every boss gun I have had ended up with the Boss cut off and thrown in the trash.

I've had a lot of owners have me cut 'em off and recrown... FWIW.

That is a shame that they could not figure out how to work it... Like anything else, you actually have to put in the time and effort to tune them. Like many others posted, once you do the work, they will shoot little itty bitty groups... If you don't want to do it, just cut it off and say that it does not work.

I had one on a .223 Rem target gun. The problem I had was that the company did not develope "sweet spots" for that caliber. This forced me to do a lot of shooting in order to find a sweet spot. My only other complaint was that if I wished to change bullet weights I had to go through the search function again which involved a lot of shooting. Instead I just left it on the first sweet spot I had found and did further adjusting with my powder charges (i.e. the old fashioned way).

Jim

I think its probably a better option for those that don't reload. There's no question that they work it is just one of those things that takes some time and patience to get dialed in. If you aren't at least mechanically inclined or don't have the patience to tinker its probably not for you. My late uncle purchased a rifle similar to mine a year or two after I did after seeing my results at the range. I was using non premium silver box Federal ammo at the time. I believe his rifle was in a 300 WBY. He couldn't figure out the BOSS for the life of him and the rifle was sold within a year.

This topic comes up quite a bit. I have an Abolt with one. Yes its accurate , yes its ugly, yes its load, yes you can get the CR , yes its still ugly . I like the ABolt but its a safe queen as I cant get over it. I cant bring myself to chop off the threads. I wish i could find a sleeve same diamiter as the barrel. Mine shoots as good as I can without the Boss on at all. The gun was a gift so I have zero in it.

Exactly... Which is why most owners just got rid of 'em..

I help my elderly friend (88) with his two A-bolts with the BOSS. The BOSS works.

The 223 uses bulk 223 ammo cans he gets at gunshows. I have been able to tune the rifle to the load everytime!

The 300 WSM is quite light so in addition to tuning the load the integral brake tames the recoil on this 7.5 lb rifle.

Do you have to cut them off? I thought they were threaded on 9/16x24?

I have one on the wife's Model 70 243. It works and I have to say as far as accuracy goes it works pretty good. I just set it where they said in the "long been lost" manual and was surprised. Mine has the holes in it and the muzzle blast kills it. I understand completely why people get rid if it. Bottom line is, you can tune ammo or you can tune the rifle. If you reload why put up with the horrendous blast??? I guess you can still get the solid one from Browning???
One thing I would add, it only works as good as the bullet/ammo you are shooting. When it comes to 223 bullets I don't know what they are doing these days, but I have not seen a FMJ bullet made since the early 90's that would group better than 2" or so, no matter what rifle fired it. If anyone has a line on some decent, accurate FMJ 224 bullets I would definitely love to hear about them!!! Fur friendly bullets are hard to find. Hornady's 224 FMJ's are some of the worse I have tried. I guess the point is, unless someone has very recently started to make good FMJ bullets.....I wouldn't count on the Boss device to enable good groups with them.

Military .224" FMJ are only specced to 3 MOA, for the M193 bullets anyway. Dunno about the newer stuff, but the old stuff wasn't specced for better. Hornady should be better than that, but like anyone else, they've got bills to pay, and have to make stuff to a price point. I've used some of their bulk 55 SPs and they shot like crap in the rifles I was trying them in. LIkewise with some 50gr. SPs I bought from Midsouth or Midway (don't remember which vendor, but I gave them away to a buddy with an AR and open sights)


I never liked the BOSS system, though I know they work, if you put in the time and trouble to monkey with them. Making a barrel longer (and shorter) at the same time, doesn't make sense to me, from a practical standpoint. (To keep the length manageable, they have to use a shorter barrel when you add 4" of BOSS. It just doesn't make good sense for me.

But that's why they made 'em, some folks will go for it, and some won't. I like a good clean barrel of moderate length, without stuff hanging off it.