I was looking through the new Browning catalog. Looks to me like most of the A-Bolts come with the BOSS. Does anyone know if you can still get them without the BOSS option?

I'd say "yes". I bought an A-Bolt at a local gun shop about 3 months ago for my grandson. No BOSS.

yea you can get them without the BOSS system. the BOSS is a upgrade/modification so its really not standard unless you pay for it. Its only like 40$ I think and I would recommend it. I have an A-bolt without it and it is a great gun. There are like 4 other guys in my hunting club that have that BOSS system on their A-bolts' and they love them and I have shot their guns and personally I think it made a difference. Not a huge diff but noticeable compared to shooting without it.

any reason why you want to NOT have the boss?

I bought an abolt in 264 Win Mag a couple months ago. Being as it already has a 26" barrel, wouldn't want the extra added length of the BOSS. My local shop ha several abolts on the shelf, none with BOSS. As a hanloader, I see no advantage.

I have a couple.

* They shoot just fine without that ugly chunk out there on the end of the barrel.

* That ugly chunk makes them look like a shotgun with a PolyChoke on the end of the barrel.

Reason for no BOSS.

As mentioned ... extra length, cosmetics, extra weight, not drop-dead necessary, costs extra.

Every A-Bolt I have ever shot has been a non-BOSS rifle and has grouped very well.

I don't have an A-bolt but do have 2 BARs in 338WM. One has the Boss system and the other doesn't. The Boss equipped rifle is a little bit longer. The biggest difference I and my hunting buddy noticed was the extra noise with the Boss. My buddy doesn't want to hunt near me when I have the rifle with the Boss and I also noticed it was louder. These days, I use the non-Boss BAR and it works just fine.

I have a 7mm mag with boss gun is a shootin fool!!! .5 MOA

+1. Ugly is right.