Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Browning A-Bolt I or II?

What is the difference? How can you distinguish between them?

The smell.................(grin)

The A-Bolt has a fluted bolt, the A-Bolt II does not.

Ohhhh..the difference from eachother? I thought he meant the crowd................(GRIN)

Yeah, yeah, and a Remington sounds like a cash register when ya lift the bolt handle...

Thanx jog

Any negatives about the A-I as opposed to the A-II?

JOG,

I love it. Now THAT is funny!..................

POP,

Negatives? That depends...

A-Bolts are nice looking (in my opinion) and accurate rifles, and are generally lighter in weight when comparing apples to apples. I don't think the differences between the two A-Bolt versions amount to much, but the fluted bolt is kinda cool.

If you want to wring the most out of an action as a donor or a custom the A-Bolt is a poor choice - the options landscape is bleak.

I'll stick my neck out and say the A-Bolt is a better out-of-the-box rifle than many - but at a premium price. If you bought a Remington, for example, and put the money you saved back into the rifle you would probably end up ahead.

Same here JOG. Never had one that would not shoot accurately.



This is the whole deal. My buddy loves Brownings and he has been looking for one in a 375 HH for a long time. I found one on the i-net but I am not sure if:



1. It is a A1 or A2? (this is why I asked about the positives/negatives between the two and how to tell them apart).



2. If the price is good?



Here is the link what do you think?



http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=14669991

POP,

That's an A-Bolt II.

The price seems a little high. The "cheapest" Browning dealer around here has the same rifle for $679.99.

Reed's

You're talking about the Medallion right? What the heck is the diff with the medallion and non-medallion anyway. Just the engraved receiver?

I had an A-bolt II, Stainless Stalker .338WinMag. It had the fluted, round bolt body.

I don't know for sure, but I've heard the Abolt II improvements were a rotating piece that keeps the ammo in the magazine from touching the bolt body, and an improved trigger mechanism that included a chromed sear. My Abolt II did have both of these features.

MM

POP,

DOF (Degree of Flossy) is the only difference. The Medallions have nicer wood and bluing.

[quote]Same here JOG. Never had one that would not shoot accurately.

This is the whole deal. My buddy loves Brownings and he has been looking for one in a 375 HH for a long time. I found one on the i-net but I am not sure if:

1. It is a A1 or A2? (this is why I asked about the positives/negatives between the two and how to tell them apart).
[color:"blue"] It looks to be a A-Bolt I, which doesn't have the newer anti bind bolt, and an improved trigger system added in 1994. The one pictured is "medalion" grade [/color]
2. If the price is good?
[color:"blue"] NIB is $525 according to SCF 2003 a $200 premium is added for .300 and .338 mag, but nothing is mentioned about .375 H&H, apparently this guy applied the $200 anyways, then knocked off $5 cuz its the Holiday's <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> [/color]


[color:"blue"] Every one I know has never had a complaint with their accuracy, but the A-Bolts seem to hold a disfiguring position with most 'Smiths. A Bear to work on/with from what I've heard/read? I would imagine parts for a gun out of production at least 10 years would be that much more difficult to obtain.
[/color]

MontanaMarine,

The attached photo was the best one I could steal off the 'net. The A-Bolt is the one on the right, and is what I mean by "fluted".

If your A-Bolt II has this type of bolt, then I stand corrected and apologize for the confusion.

PS: The other bolts are a Weatherby and a M700.

Hey Pop:

I am not sure if this will help you, but I bought one of the very first long-action Mediallion A-bolts to come into Canada. At that time there was the:

*A-Bolt Medallion: (shown in your pic) with gloss wood and a gold trigger.

*A-Bolt Hunter: Flat wood finish and blued trigger (Cheaper model)

This was the case in about 1985 or so. At that time I believe there was $100.00 Canadian difference in value between them.

As you can figure I have had my A-Bolt for about 17 years and it is still my favorite weapon to hunt with.

It speaks with authority at the squeeze of the trigger!

JOG, that's the bolt that was in mine.

MM

MontanaMarine,

Thanks for the correction. I'm wondering if there was a transition period to the new style bolts, and I'll hit the books.

That said, the link POP posted looks like a non-fluted bolt. While my confidence is shot <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />, I'm guessing the non-fluted bolts are A-Bolt II only.

JOG,

I can't figure it out either.

I've never seen a short action with the round fluted bolt.

It seems like the long actions I've seen lately are the round fluted bolt.

MM

Just wanted to add to this thread. if the rifle is a new in the box rifle 9 times out of ten it is the a-bolt II. if it is used it could be the older model a-bolt. also wanted to point out that while there are better choices for a custom rifle, the a-bolt II will also work if you are looking for something other than a remmington or a winchester. i have 2 a-bolts II rifles that have been fully customized and the smith i use said he had zero problems working on either. just food for thought...