Browning Love?

[HookMeUpII]

My scoped .338 WINCHESTER MAGNUM Browning A Bolt weighs 8.5lbs. My unscoped .375 HOLLAND and HOLLAND MAGNUM and .458 WINCHESTER MAGNUM CZ550s weighs 9.3lbs each. All are very shootable for ME just as they are. The X Bolts are 6.10-7.0lbs, same as the A Bolts. My .338WM's felt recoil to ME is even a little more "snappier" than the slightly heavier .375 CZ550. I haven't shot MY .375 Medallion yet as it has no sights and I'm deciding on a scope for it. I think at 8.5lbs scoped it will be fine. I believe Browning/FN produced their African models in .458WM in the '60s and early '70s? I think the earlier ones had CRF actions too? Maybe somebody here with knowledge of the earlier Brownings could chime in.

I shot the 375HH Medallion this morning. Recoil isn't awful, but not great either. The gun without the scope is about 7 lbs 12 oz. With the scope, which is 1 lb, clocks it in at 8lbs 12oz which is a tad on the light side.

The problem I am seeing with this gun is the ability to make follow up shots with the recoil. I shot about 8 rounds from the shoulder today while breaking the gun in. Shoulder feels fine but it's very jumpy. Being able to place a quick follow up shot is going to be a challenge.

My plan is to explore a recoil reducer to try and get this to mid 9 lbs., scoped. Something like 11-12 oz would probably be fine. I am not fully set on this yet, but will strongly consider going this direction.

So far, other than that, I am relatively happy with the gun. The Patrol 6HD is a great scope. Thrilled with the quality of that for the price.

 

[375er]

I shot the 375HH Medallion this morning. Recoil isn't awful, but not great either. The gun without the scope is about 7 lbs 12 oz. With the scope, which is 1 lb, clocks it in at 8lbs 12oz which is a tad on the light side.

The problem I am seeing with this gun is the ability to make follow up shots with the recoil. I shot about 8 rounds from the shoulder today while breaking the gun in. Shoulder feels fine but it's very jumpy. Being able to place a quick follow up shot is going to be a challenge.

My plan is to explore a recoil reducer to try and get this to mid 9 lbs., scoped. Something like 11-12 oz would probably be fine. I am not fully set on this yet, but will strongly consider going this direction.

So far, other than that, I am relatively happy with the gun. The Patrol 6HD is a great scope. Thrilled with the quality of that for the price.

What does it have on it for a recoil pad at the moment?

 

[CoElkHunter]

I shot the 375HH Medallion this morning. Recoil isn't awful, but not great either. The gun without the scope is about 7 lbs 12 oz. With the scope, which is 1 lb, clocks it in at 8lbs 12oz which is a tad on the light side.

The problem I am seeing with this gun is the ability to make follow up shots with the recoil. I shot about 8 rounds from the shoulder today while breaking the gun in. Shoulder feels fine but it's very jumpy. Being able to place a quick follow up shot is going to be a challenge.

My plan is to explore a recoil reducer to try and get this to mid 9 lbs., scoped. Something like 11-12 oz would probably be fine. I am not fully set on this yet, but will strongly consider going this direction.

So far, other than that, I am relatively happy with the gun. The Patrol 6HD is a great scope. Thrilled with the quality of that for the price.

Reed’s recently posted another 10 of these for sale on GB for $1199. I don’t know how many more they might have for sale in their store. They must have had Browning make a bunch of them. I’m still working on getting mine scoped.

 

[HookMeUpII]

What does it have on it for a recoil pad at the moment?

Stock. But, it is rather thick and has a lot of padding. Seems like Browning puts this style on all their larger calibers.

 

[BonUm16]

I shot the 375HH Medallion this morning. Recoil isn't awful, but not great either. The gun without the scope is about 7 lbs 12 oz. With the scope, which is 1 lb, clocks it in at 8lbs 12oz which is a tad on the light side.

The problem I am seeing with this gun is the ability to make follow up shots with the recoil. I shot about 8 rounds from the shoulder today while breaking the gun in. Shoulder feels fine but it's very jumpy. Being able to place a quick follow up shot is going to be a challenge.

My plan is to explore a recoil reducer to try and get this to mid 9 lbs., scoped. Something like 11-12 oz would probably be fine. I am not fully set on this yet, but will strongly consider going this direction.

So far, other than that, I am relatively happy with the gun. The Patrol 6HD is a great scope. Thrilled with the quality of that for the price.

What load are you using?

 

[375er]

Stock. But, it is rather thick and has a lot of padding. Seems like Browning puts this style on all their larger calibers.

Ok, in the old days they were pretty hard rubber so I swapped it out for Pachmyer Decelerator and have had no complaints. I personally would shoot it more before you start messing with it. The stock weight is nice to carry and when shooting at game you won't even notice when it goes off.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Ok, in the old days they were pretty hard rubber so I swapped it out for Pachmyer Decelerator and have had no complaints. I personally would shoot it more before you start messing with it. The stock weight is nice to carry and when shooting at game you won't even notice when it goes off.

I'm going to give it more time and see how it goes. As mentioned, the recoil doesn't bother me other than a second shot, rapidly, might be tough.

I have yet to really practice with it. It might be something I can get used to.

What load are you using?

Very unexciting Remington 270gr SP's for the moment. I bought something lower end, but decent, to break the barrel in. With that being said, I imagine recoil will probably not be any better with good, 300gr ammo, like A-Frames or TSX.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Ok, in the old days they were pretty hard rubber so I swapped it out for Pachmyer Decelerator and have had no complaints. I personally would shoot it more before you start messing with it. The stock weight is nice to carry and when shooting at game you won't even notice when it goes off.

+1. Yes, don’t let the recoil from sighting in from the bench discourage you from hunting with it as is. My 8.5lb scoped .338 A Bolt is a little snappy on the bench but the recoil is very manageable otherwise. I have a slip on Decelerator pad over the factory pad and leave it on when hunting as I need the longer LOP anyway. I have slip on Limbsavers on my CZs for the same reason.

 

[HookMeUpII]

+1. Yes, don’t let the recoil from sighting in from the bench discourage you from hunting with it as is. My 8.5lb scoped .338 A Bolt is a little snappy on the bench but the recoil is very manageable otherwise.

I only shot one from the bench today to get it on paper. The other 8 were from the shoulder. I know everyone has different thoughts on whether breaking in barrels is necessary. I personally, do it on all my rifles.

It's like watching grass grow.

 

[BonUm16]

Very unexciting Remington 270gr SP's for the moment. I bought something lower end, but decent, to break the barrel in. With that being said, I imagine recoil will probably not be any better with good, 300gr ammo, like A-Frames or TSX.

Going from 8.75lbs to 9.5lbs doesn’t even net you a 10% reduction in recoil.

Federal’s TBBC loading is probably the most commonly available “mild” offering (300gr @ 2400fps). Recoil specs are very similar to what you’re getting with that REM load. Might be a good place to start if looking for a proper hunting round.

 

[Rafiki]

I shot the 375HH Medallion this morning. Recoil isn't awful, but not great either. The gun without the scope is about 7 lbs 12 oz. With the scope, which is 1 lb, clocks it in at 8lbs 12oz which is a tad on the light side.

The problem I am seeing with this gun is the ability to make follow up shots with the recoil. I shot about 8 rounds from the shoulder today while breaking the gun in. Shoulder feels fine but it's very jumpy. Being able to place a quick follow up shot is going to be a challenge.

My plan is to explore a recoil reducer to try and get this to mid 9 lbs., scoped. Something like 11-12 oz would probably be fine. I am not fully set on this yet, but will strongly consider going this direction.

So far, other than that, I am relatively happy with the gun. The Patrol 6HD is a great scope. Thrilled with the quality of that for the price.

Followups are just a matter of technique. A lot of people do followup shots with a bolt action without taking the rifle off their shoulder. I have never had much luck doing that especially with a scope.

My preferred method is to dismount the rifle, work the bolt and snap it back to my shoulder. I shoot mostly iron sights so maybe the difference is there since I don't have to reacquire the target through a scope. The target never leaves my sight while cycling the bolt.

The A-Bolt is a fine rifle, I have one and love it. Almost bought a 375 A-Bolt just a few weeks ago but wasn't fast enough to get the deal. Personally I would hesitate to modify it in any way but then I'm not particularly recoil sensitive.

 

[MS 9x56]

The trick to working the action from the shoulder is lots and lots of practice.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I only shot one from the bench today to get it on paper. The other 8 were from the shoulder. I know everyone has different thoughts on whether breaking in barrels is necessary. I personally, do it on all my rifles.

It's like watching grass grow.

I never have really broken in a barrel other than swabbing it when I first get it. I do fire a couple of fouling rounds with standard copper/lead core bullets at the range before shooting monometal bullets. Although, I forgot to once with my .375 Ruger shooting 250gr GMX (pre CX) bullets. After maybe twelve shots I found NO copper fouling in the barrel when cleaning it.