Browning's X-Bolt High Grade Hunter

Seems many firearms I write about these are sold through “Bro’ Marketing”. A very long time ago, boys played “war”. Essentially, they carried toy guns… or sticks if they had a vivid imagination, threw dirt filled soda can grenades and learned how to imitate the sound of an automatic weapon. Then they went about turning their friends into a pretend body count, argued about who was shot and who was not, and waited for their respective mom’s to call them in for dinner.

Much later, many joined the military, quickly learned the difference between pretend and the real thing and many never again heard a call to dinner. I know, within my small neighborhood, guys that returned couldn’t wait to shake military trappings, to let their hair grow out and to pick up hunting with walnut and blued sporting rifles they had left behind. They wanted to be home.

Our shop sells lots of AR type firearms, but they don’t go to ex-military. In some cases they go to those who like the appearance and function of intricate machines. In other cases they go to those who hope to either play “war” like children or perhaps live out a video game fantasy. Sometimes they go to young and old guys desperately in search of their masculinity.

The imagery that sells AR hardware is comical. Rifles in the hands of mud covered actors and male models with stubble beards and wearing Vietnam era like uniforms. Why would anyone want to deer hunt with a firearm from a company dubbed “Black Rain”? Or wear night vision gear and carry AR type rifles to hunt hogs at night? These folks are one step away from hunters repelling out of hovering helicopters and pigs that shoot back.

So I can only thank Browning for their willingness to produce sporting firearms, including this fancy walnut, rosewood, octagon barreled blued steel beauty. It plays well to my Western European sensibilities and it makes me feel at home.

Looking at the spec and handling the rifle, it is a little surprising that such a complete rifle made of traditional materials could be made so light, and remain so accurate, but a little look around makes the rifle’s accuracy understandable.

The barrel channel is relieved, from glass bedding to forend, no pressure pad at the end, so the barrel floats full length. The stock is poly sealed with an oil finish look to minimize dimensional changes with moving temperature and humidity.

The radiused receiver bottom is located at two fastening points to the stock. The stock is glass bedded to provide full support from forward of the rifle’s trigger to the action’s recoil lug; uniform pressure and surface contact between action and stock.

A couple more shots of the stock and trim work; the oil finish is actually a poly finish, with all of the total lifetime stock sealing that comes with modern poly finishes, but without the dipped in plastic or artificial grain look. The walnut has good figure, end to end, and it all flows properly making this a very nice piece of wood. I don’t know how many times I’ve picked up blanks or other companies’ triple A rated stocks only to find sensational grain on one side of a butt stock and straight grain elsewhere.

The X-Bolt Feather Trigger is set up for zero overtravel, as the trigger release ends with the trigger sear blocked from further travel and the nose of the trigger up against the trigger sear. Preload, pull and overtravel are all adjustable. The pull range is 3 to 5 lbs with a 3.5 pound factory preset.

The Feather Trigger is a three lever trigger design. The trigger, trigger sear and sear geometry provide a 2x mechanical advantage for a lighter range of pull resistance. A small spring under the trigger sear preloads the trigger and removes pretravel. All of the friction surfaces are polished and hard chromed which eliminates creep. Additionally, the hard surfaces are durable, so a good trigger feel does not go away with normal use like a trigger job that has been cut and stoned through a hard surface and into soft metal.

The X-Bolt Browning manages to integrate safety systems without breaking the lines of the rifle and without sticking weird hinged tabs through the trigger that look like an after thought. The tang safety is easy to operate without losing sight picture or grip. The cocked indicator is a good visual cue.

The Bolt Unlock Button gives three position safety from a simple slide safety. In the on position, the safety locks the bolt and blocks the sear. Depressing the Bolt Unlock Button permits cycling or removal of the bolt.

They are all controlled feed….

Labeling one system “controlled feed” and the other “push feed” intimates that the push version is out of control feed. What’s worse is that experienced folks make that assertion, when anyone watching a round move from magazine to chamber in a push feed would know better. In a controlled feed system, a case rim slips under the extractor’s claw and onto the bolt face as the bolt strips a round from the magazine.

With a push feed system, like the X-Bolt, as the bolt drives a magazine stowed cartridge forward, the rifle’s feed rails or magazine lips retain the round until it is well inside the rifle’s chamber. During the last bit of bolt travel, the extractor slips over the cartridge rim as the breech is fully closed. Neither feed systems have cartridges floating around and ready to spill out on the ground at any point in the cycle… even if the rifle is upside down. Push feed rifles tend to feel smoother in operation and present less resistance when feeding. Push feed firearms can also have a recessed bolt face to provide protection in the event of a failed cartridge case or primer where a controlled feed cannot.

The X-Bolt has a spring loaded plunger ejector, versus a fixed ejector that depends on bolt opening velocity to determine the force of ejection. As a cartridge is started into the chamber, it comes into alignment with the bolt face and compresses the spring loaded plunger. When the bolt is opened, the energy stored in the plunger spring pops out the cartridge or case as soon as it clears the ejection port. What about the whiners who insist they need to control ejection so they can catch brass? I just raise the finger tips of my left hand over the ejection port and let the brass pop into my hand.

I am not a fan of polymer. It is boring, inexpensive and a terrible final incarnation of a dinosaur. It is unnatural, within a natural setting of wood and steel, but then, I am a relic and heavily biased. On the plus side, magazines like this far outlast their metal counterparts, they don’t rust, they don’t yield and they don’t fail. In this case, they even center each round for positive feed assurance; they are, in fact, a superior design… and, in this case, it looks pretty good.

The X-Lock™ Scope Mounting System is an interesting design and one that is appropriate as optics grow larger and heavier and their mass works against scope rings and bases. The use of four fasteners per base spreads the contact footprint between base and receiver and adds additional resistance to torsional and longitudinal forces.

The 60º blot lift makes for low scope mounting even for scopes with large ocular lenses. In this case, my choice of a 50mm objective lens scope pushed the rings selection up to high.

Closing note….

It is easy to get hung up over price tags, however, context is everything. If budget is your major consideration, and the desire is only to purchase a low cost bolt action rifle, there are many including other models made by Browning. However, with a budget rifle mindset, the finer points of this rifle will not be meaningful, and it will be hard to understand the value.

On the other hand, if you are shopping for a nice rifle and appreciate accuracy, quality walnut, clean checkering, rosewood trim and fancy little touches like an octagon profile barrel, and a uniform matte finish that doesn’t look like it was applied with a spray can, this Browning X-Bolt High Grade Hunter is bargain. From Weatherby, a rifle of similar grade as the X-Bolt High Grade Hunter twice this price, from Kimber a $1,000 more, from Remington… custom shop product.  The Browning X-Bolt High Grade Hunter is one of the better ways to get to a legacy grade firearm without the exorbitant price tag. For further information, check out the Browning site.