Getting the most Browning Hunter X-Bolt 30-06

[Darryle]

Trigger spring and re-bed the rifle

My 30'06 Stalker had the duratouch, was a solid 1 1/4" rifle at 100yds all day with premium factory loads, the duratouch went south, sent it to Browning and it came back with a plain vanilla black stock and typical Browning bedding. The first time out after remounting the scope it shot 3/4". I played with it, trimmed the spring still a 3/4" gun. I bedded the rifle with Marine Tex and had the stainless barrel recrowned, went to a solid 5/8" gun. I have since ordered bushing dies and a VLD seating stem, plan on playing with it some more this spring. It's still acceptable for my intended use.

 

[Tac-O]

Have you tried a different scope on the gun?

 

[choprzrul]

Browning X-Bolt 30-06 that started life as a composite stalker with with a medium sporter barrel. Had it cut down to 22" and put the brake on it. Boyd's At-One stock, MCarbo trigger spring, bedded, floated, and did load developement with Speer 168gr Gold Dot bonded bullets over RL16. 2842fps average and shoots 0.68" average.

Did the trick last year during deer season. 161 0/8" gross 4x4:

 

[gopherslayer]

Check to see if your trigger guard/BM is binding due to bedding. My HCS bedding was making the action screws bind. I took a rat tail file to the holes and the binding went away. They don't bed the rifles using the action that will go in them so it's not perfect.

 

[QuietTexan]

I did a McMillan stock and Timney trigger to mine, that plus Hammers got it running great.

 

[GetNorth]

Lots of good ideas here, thanks guys. Definitely gonna look into the trigger and bedding change. Easy and relatively cheap.

As I look at the stuff that I could do it I've also considered rebarreling, mainly because the sporter on my gun is sooo thin and heats up really quickly. But once I start down that path + stock or bedding + trigger + maybe new scope, I'm already most of the way to a new gun. I wouldn't mind building off the xbolt action if there were more options for aftermarket stuff available.

 

[QuietTexan]

I'm already most of the way to a new gun.

I bought my X-Bolt during the shortages and lockdowns because I wanted another 6.5 CM since I had tons of components for it. Normally I wouldn't buy a factory rifle for exactly what you described - by the time you replace the stock, trigger, and barrel, the entire cost of the complete rifle is essentially what you paid for the action. So just buy a good action up front, do all the work to it instead. Defiance Tenacity is less than a grand, and even top-tier actions are around $1500-1800, which is less expensive than an X-Bolt Pro, CA, Waypoint or any of the fancy $2000+ factory hunting rifles that still need triggers and bedding and potentially barrels.

There's nothing out of reach about building a rifle, especially if you're starting with a complete factory gun.

 

[Darryle]

How often while hunting do you fire more than 3 shots? Don't worry about the barrel diameter, worry about bullet construction to get the job done with the first one.

 

[GetNorth]

@Darryle - it's a good point but I'm not worried about follow up shots when hunting. I'm More concerned with getting good practice in when at the range. My cold bore zero is right on, and then it walks about 1" right and 1.5" high. Makes it tough to grow my skills when it's hard to tell if it's the gun or me.

 

[GetNorth]

@QuietTexan - I had all the components picked out over thanksgiving to do exactly that. Would have come in at right around 3k after the gunsmithing. Got laid off from a struggling tech startup right before thanksgiving so had to make the "wise" decision and wait. So still want to shoot in the meantime and get the most out of what I already own.

 

[choprzrul]

@QuietTexan - I had all the components picked out over thanksgiving to do exactly that. Would have come in at right around 3k after the gunsmithing. Got laid off from a struggling tech startup right before thanksgiving so had to make the "wise" decision and wait. So still want to shoot in the meantime and get the most out of what I already own.

Bed it, Mcarbo trigger spring, get an inch lb torque wrench and the correct sockets to match your action bolts so you can accurately and repeatably set the torque, and then go have fun. Some of that walking when heated might go away with the bedding and playing with action bolt torque?

 

[GetNorth]

I've got the torque wrench already so the bedding and spring seem to be a no brainer. Thanks.

 

[FEENIX]

Lots of good ideas here, thanks guys. Definitely gonna look into the trigger and bedding change. Easy and relatively cheap.

As I look at the stuff that I could do it I've also considered rebarreling, mainly because the sporter on my gun is sooo thin and heats up really quickly. But once I start down that path + stock or bedding + trigger + maybe new scope, I'm already most of the way to a new gun. I wouldn't mind building off the xbolt action if there were more options for aftermarket stuff available.

... and "IF" you want more OOMPH out of the venerable .30-06, you can always have it re-chambered to an improved version. Not Browning, but I have my Kimber 84L in .30-06 re-chambered to .30 Gibbs.

I am propelling the 190 Berger VLD at 2806 FPS out of 24" with room for more powder.

 

[Darryle]

Buy a cheap 22lr or 223 for practice. I am all for buying or building a rifle, but use your money wisely and you'll get more enjoyment and have more confidence in your current platform. I bought 2 X-Bolt 6.5 Creedmoor rifles for cheap practice over the 280 Ackley rifles I currently have.

Buy yourself a rechargeable mattress pump and convert it into a barrel cooler for the '06. All you need is some soft flexible 3/8" and 7/16" hose about 18" long each. It doesn't take long to cool down a barrel.