upgrayedd

Hi, everyone.I post at under the same username.
I'm obviously new 'round here but wanted to pass this along to anyone that cares to listen.
My father just gifted me a BRAND new Browning X-Bolt rifle (7mm rem mag) 4 months ago and I got to go out and put here through the paces at distances topping out at 3oo-400 yards.
We shot FACTORY Hornady loads randing from 139, 154 and 169 gr weights.
At around 300 yds, the bullets began to "keyhole" on paper and some even went through sideways!!
My brother and a friend ALSO shot with the same results.
I put 4 boxes of ammo through this rifle over 2 days and the results were the same at the longer distances.
We checked the Crown, barrel and rifling in the barrel and all seemed to be in order.

I called Browning(after speaking with several people on several occasions) only to be told "...Browning can only gaurantee M.O.A. at 100 yds..."
Nor would they issue me a return authorization.

This is an insult to hunters and SHAMEFUL!!! A brand new product that doesnt WORK...one would think that a company like Browning, that enjoys alot of prestige in this industry, would Jump all over this, no questions asked??

Heck, Springfield Armory replaced the barrel, bushing and reparked my 5 year old mil-spec FOR FREE because I simply called to ask them about "scheduled maintenance" on the pistol!!!
THEN, SA ALSO offered to re-melonite my older XD40 because the finish wore off all over...FOR FREE!!!!

..too bad that SA doesnt make a 7mm rem mag bolt rifle, huh?

I shoulda bought a Remington.

BUYER BEWARE!!!

TRACKER

Surrprising since its a qualit made gun .
Glad I bought the ShorTrac .. No probems what so ever .
Hope you can get it figured out ..

Frank in the Laurels

Well, I can't say much for the x-bolt but I have two older stainless stalkers that will easily do those at those distances and with full power hunting loads...did you do any barrel breakat all??? 80 shots plus without any cleaning or maintance would be more than enough to mess things up.. especially if it's a barrel that coppers alot.. I'd start this all over again, slow down, CLEAN CLEAN THE COPPER OUT, get yourself some good cleaners and start over...That twist should be more than enough to stabalize the weights you mentioned... I know of no good excuse for tumbling in this cartridge and these bullet weights. Retighten everything, stock screws, bases, mounts.. what about your rest... what about your own shooting ability, what about the quality of the scope... this is always an issue to some extent... it could be shifting around and it deoesn't matter who makes it.. there's alot of variables with this type of issue.. I'd buy some other brands of ammo, get a variety.. stay with one weight.. say around 140-150 and try them.. I still have no reason why these bullet would tumble, hopefully it's not a slow twist barrel by mistake.. Make sure you clean that copper out before you start over.. three and 4 inch groups out of a factory rifles is no easy task... lots of variable, wind, mirage, bullet style, trigger pull and weight... I wonder how many factory rifles made by anyone could shoot 5 bullets inside a 3 inch circle at 300 yards with a low powered 9X scope,.. I suspect not many... good luck and calm down and try another approach...

Edcyclopedia

That's too bad, I've never had a problem with the many, many Browning's I own...

Keep in mind there is/can be lemons throughout anything you buy...
I bet you we could chat about vehicles, ATV, guns, electronics, machinery, etc. etc. etc.
and someone out there has had a problem that wasn't fixed to their liking.
Heck, have you ever made a mistake at work.
I know I've read about mistakes before

Guess you gotta read the fine print, however,
I'm sure if your level headed and send/bring, it back someone may take a look at it?

My buddy had a similar thing happen with his Winchester Model 70, but only out to the MOA of 100 yards...
He traded it in after messing around with it for two years.
Guess what????
He traded it in for a Browning and hasn't looked back.

Forrest Gump once said "POOP HAPPENS!"
Good luck and to the board

thndrchiken

Is the Hornady ammo all that you tried, the gun may just not like em. Try some Remington and blue box Federal. I had a Remington 700 in 257 that absolutely loved the 117 gr interlock load, my 98 mauser rebarreld with an ER Shaw barrel shoots patterns with them, put 1/2 a box of 120 gr Federal premiums Nosler Partition and groups inside of 1 1/2". Before you jump to conclusions, did you also verify that the action screws and scope base and ring screws are tight? Everyone I know that has an xbolt loves it after they get used to the minor design differences.

hometheaterman

I know this is going to sound stupid but have you tried other ammo's other than the Hornady? I've never shot Hornady ammo although usually I hear how great it is. However, I know the Browning BAR I had was very picky on ammo. It shot them all fine but it was not accurate with many. I found out it ended up liking the Federal Fusions best with the Federal Soft Points in second with groups a bit bigger. It was all over a 8" target with Winchester Ballistic Silvertips and with Remington Core Lokts. Not sure if other types of ammo will help or not.

Also like said what about cleaning? I know if you shot a box of shells through my BAR it would be super dirty in the barrel. I'm just not sure how it got soo dirty soo fast but it did. It was bad for that.

I have been unhappy with almost all the Remington Products I've owned or dealt with. I can think of one exception and that's a buddies 1100. However, the rest have had a lack of quality control and some of them have needed work right out of the box. Others worked but had parts that never should have made it past quality control.

The Browning I've had and the ones I've dealt with have all been of much higher quality and seemed pretty good. A buddy did have a problem with a Browning Gold though where his jammed all the time. Everyonce in a while you just get a lemon with anything.

superstrutter

I don't know about the X-Bolt, but I have an A-Bolt, and it has never let me down.

bugsNbows

I have a new X-Bolt in 300 WSM and it has not exhibited that. Granted, I've only shot it a bit (with Federal 130 gr. TTSX) but the magic 1 inch @ 100 yards is doable without issue. Sorry yours has been a problem.

driftrider

Did you tell them the rounds were keyholing and not just that it had bad accuracy? It sounds like a twist rate problem. Most 7mm barrels are 1 in 9" or 1 in 9.5", which is adequate to stabilize at least 160gr bullets. Is it showing keyholes with every shot, or just once in a while?

Mike

timbercruiser

I would get a competent gunsmith to go over the rifle and scope. Hard to believe a rifle like that would have a lemon barrel, but it happens sometimes I guess.....