Rifle: Browning A-bolt, reviews, opinions?

[HankBuck]

A friend of mine wants to buy A-bolt rifle by Browning.
Cal. 30-06, general purpose hunting rifle, for average hunting distances (up to 200 m)

I have no experience with it. He is fresh certified hunter, first hunting rifle, he has no hunting experience, just high expectations. Choice of rifle he makes by brand reputation, overall looks, and retail price.

What do you guys say about this rifle?
Do you have experiences with this rifle or some other informative comments?

Any info appreciated, to know what is he getting himself into!

Later edit:
African perspective.

I am working on him to take him one day in the future to Africa. He is biting the bait!
So, this rifle can one day go for safari. Any shortcomings for African plains game?

@mark-hunter - Great caliber (.30-06) and good rifle. I have several ABolts in .270 and .243, the action is push feed and very smooth plus it is a very short rotation bolt so quick to cycle another round. Accuracy has been good on both of mine - sub MOA and holds out to 200 yrds. I also find these rifles light weight and easy to carry, both my Ruger and Sako in .25-06 were slightly heavier. No complaints and I believe they are also a good value. I prefer wood stocks but others like composit….

 

[HankBuck]

I hate to be the voice of dissent, but the Browning A Bolts, at least the earlier ones, are more prone to misfiring than most bolt rifles. I attribute this to the short bolt lift which necessitates compromises to be made with cocking (cock on open like most all modern bolt rifles). The striker has less energy than most bolt rifles. To make up for reduced striker force, the firing pin is smaller diameter than other bolt actions such as Mausers, Winchesters, or Remingtons. I personally know of three different A-Bolt rifles that misfired with factory ammo causing their owners to lose opportunities at deer. I am sure some will object, and it sounds like some here have used them successfully for dangerous game, but I would not use them for any hunting of importance.

@roklok - I can’t think of any rifle brand with a reputation for “mis fires” other then the Remington 700 model and years ago I believe they had to make a change to their trigger system because of the problem (15-20 years ago?). I know two Remington 700 owners - a .270 & .30-06 - but neither ever mentioned any problems with their personal Remington rifles. Same goes from my Browning ABolts and the couple hunters I know that own one — never a problem. Any real evidence of a problem (with ANY rifle manufacturer) would have to be corrected and involve a “recall” for liability purposes. If you know three (3) different people that had Browning ABolt misfires from 3 different rifles —- that is astounding.

 

[HankBuck]

Too bad someone couldn't make a CRF action with a 60 degree bolt throw? Probably not possible but it is an interesting concept?

@CoElkHunter - AGREE, the slow feed and time required to get your 2nd shot cycled out weighs any “extra reliability”provided by the CRF action —- just my personal preference and opinion.

 

[HankBuck]

@NIGHTHAWK
Please DON'T. At least start the poor kid off with something that will actually work. Something like the new 6.5 sweede aka 6.5 creed more.
At least he will have a soft recoiling rifle that will actually work on game.
Don't be a mean bastard and give him a 243. Get him a 6.5 creed at least.
Bob

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen - we can just SKIP any consideration of a .243 for a Kid only because I don’t want YOU to vomit while typing your response….but what about a .260 Rem or a 7m 08 ? Soft shooting, slightly larger diameter & heavier bullet (bigger hole) and available in a variety of rifles — including older used rifles sometimes found at a bargain price.
While it can’t match the legendary and versatile .35 Whelen (that kills elephants to squirrels) it might be adequate for a kids first deer rifle?? Do we really want to support the sale of another 6.5 NEEDmore, buymore, ??

 

[BigSteve57]

That’s it thanks. Couldn’t jog the memory.

The BOSS product may have been mentioned here:

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/rifle-browning-a-bolt-reviews-opinions.87298/post-1318713

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Anyone remember the muzzzle break the A-bolts had in the 90s that had a little weight you could move to tune the barrel harmonics? Can’t remember what it was called. I assume it didn’t work as I haven’t seen one in a while.

@Russ16
It was called the BOSS, Browning optimising system. Every time you changed loads you had to retune it. If you only used one load it worked well.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen - we can just SKIP any consideration of a .243 for a Kid only because I don’t want YOU to vomit while typing your response….but what about a .260 Rem or a 7m 08 ? Soft shooting, slightly larger diameter & heavier bullet (bigger hole) and available in a variety of rifles — including older used rifles sometimes found at a bargain price.
While it can’t match the legendary and versatile .35 Whelen (that kills elephants to squirrels) it might be adequate for a kids first deer rifle?? Do we really want to support the sale of another 6.5 NEEDmore, buymore, ??

@HankBuck
No I don't want to support the sake of another creedmore but it's better than the 243.
Either the 260 or 7-08 would be fine.
Personally I'd opt for the 7-08 more versatile and can be loaded with 120 for soft recoil or a nice 139 gn SST for general use for deer.
When the time comes ge can load some nice 169gn accubonds or Woodleighs for bigger stuff and plains game.
Just saying
Bob