My Last Post on this Blog -

First of all, thank you to all the people who have taken the time to leave comments.

The X-Bolt is long gone, along with another Browning firearm that I owned, I will not be purchasing any more Browning anything.

What was so upsetting about this whole situation was that particular rifle was one of the most accurate rifles I've ever owned, I hated getting rid of it.  Browning left me no choice though, they just didn't care, and every time I would call them I got a different story.

I sent this rifle back to Browning for fixing, they claimed they did all this stuff to fix the problem - still would not eject.  I then took it to 2 different gunsmiths and told them "you have carte blanche" to fix this, whatever it takes is ok with me, and neither one of them came up with a solution, that's how bad I wanted to keep this particular firearm.

What surprised me the most was the response I got from a few of the major gun rags, or I guess I should say the lack of response.  I called and emailed, gave the links to this blog and my youtube channel, and got NOTHING, they wouldn't touch this.  Maybe they figured it's not that big an issue, not worth their time.  I'm thinking they know which side their bread is buttered on, and who's doing the buttering - enough said on that!

Thanks for nothing GUNS and GUNS AND AMMO, along with a couple other publications, I mention those 2 because I let my subscription to both lapse.

So that's about it, I'm leaving this post because someone said we need to get the word out about this - he just bought one and it's doing the exact same thing.  Check the dates on some of the previous posts, the word is out, one of these videos on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/azCHR1S has close to 40,000 views.  I've done what I can and now have moved on.  My new favorite rifle for hunting is a Ruger in 300 RCM, very accurate and pretty close ballistically to the 300 WSM.

Any questions or comments for me directly  -  chris@chris-1.com

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope it has helped in some way.

 

And Finally....

I sent this rifle back to browning and they returned it, claiming it was fixed, but it still did the exact same thing it did before I sent it to them.

Luckily I bought it thru Davidson's, so after viewing my videos they let me exchange it for a Remington in 338 win mag.

As far as the problem with the ejection, from all my phone calls, emails with other owners, and research I've come to the conclusion it's Browning's crummy extractor/ejector and new in-line magazine design not being able to handle the WSM's beltless rebated rim - see following -

"All of the WSM and SAUM cartridges use a .532-.534 inch rebated rim of standard (.375 H&H) Magnum diameter. So, like the earlier Remington short magnums, they mate with standard magnum-size bolt faces. But remember, their fat bodies have a head diameter immediately above the extractor groove of about .55 inch. So the body of the case is bigger around than the rim. This miracle of design is called a rebated rim, and it allows increased powder capacity compared to the earlier .350 Magnum case, at the price of decreased feed reliability and magazine capacity.With any rebated rim case, the face of the bolt has less overlap with the rim of the case as it attempts to slide it forward and out of the magazine lips. This can lead to feeding failures and over-ride jams. For this reason, cartridges with rebated rims are not regarded as a good choice for use in rifles that might be used on dangerous game. Magazine capacity may be reduced by one cartridge because the WSM and SAUM cases are so fat--another reason standard magnum cartridges are preferred for use on dangerous game. (An unnecessary reduction in firepower is clearly undesirable when hunting dangerous game.) Nor are their sharp 30-35 degree shoulders conducive to smooth and reliable feeding. In fact, one of the justifications for the extremely sloping 8.5 degree shoulders of the original .375 and .300 H&H Magnum cartridges was feed reliability because of their anticipated use on dangerous game."

I got this info from Chuck Hawks' website, talks mostly about feed reliability problems though, not ejection problems.

I never experienced any problems with feeding, just the ejection.

This whole ejector malfuntion is pretty minor to alot of shooters - i receive alot of emails saying "what's the big deal?" It's not a big deal, until you need to make a quick follow up shot and you're trying to chamber a fresh round with the empty case still sitting in the receiver. Then what??? Hmmmm, kinda of a pretty big deal then I bet.

Here is my (pretty informed by now) opinion on the whole problem -

When working the bolt in what would be considered a normal speed, as the case is being extracted from the chamber, it's fat case is sliding along the next round's fat case in the mag, (remember the new in-line feed magazine) and it's enough to either dis-engage it from the extractor, or deflect it just enough so it hits the inside of the receiver, instead of coming out the ejection port.

This explains why I only had problems with the FIRST round with 2 rounds still loaded in the magazine, spring tension pushing those 2 rounds up on the one being extracted was enough pressure to cause the malfunction, while just one round in the magazine was NOT enough, enabling it to weakly eject. Same with the 3rd round being ejected, it doesn't have any other rounds from the magazine pushing it off the extractor.

Just my opinion...

This is a Browning problem, not a caliber problem. All you diehard Browning fans can argue this all you want, but the FACT remains - prior to owning the X-Bolt, I owned a Tikka Hunter and a Remington Model 700 in 300 WSM. THEY BOTH FUNCTIONED PERFECTLY, the only reason I went with the Browning was the ambi safety, being a left handed shooter - boy do I regret not sticking with those other 2 rifles.

One Last Demo...

One day at lunch during hunting season I was playing around with the X-Bolt, trying to figure out the exact problem with the ejection, and while working the bolt slowly it functioned perfectly.

The following video demonstrates this.

Browning no longer has a leg to stand on, the round should eject no matter the speed at which the bolt is worked.

I'll be calling Browning to discuss this latest development and will post when I have something new to report.

My Live Fire Test

OK, here's the latest - I called Browning to discuss why their rifles have this problem with ejection, and how I managed to get the only 2 with this problem.

Here is the explanation I got -

We designed them to not eject a live round, but to be able to tell the difference in weight so they WILL eject an empty case. I then asked him why that's not stated anywhere in the owners manual that came with the firearm, guess what, he didn't know why.

OK, I'm a reasonable individual, so I went out and shot it, and as you can clearly see in the new video, an empty case is not ejected (maybe its internal scale needs to be re-calibrated)

My video of the malfuntion...

This is a video of the second Browning XBolt in 300 WSM that I received the other day after returning the 1st one to Davidson's out of Prescott.

The reason I returned the 1st one is because when I shot it, it would not eject the empty case with 2 rounds still in the mag.

So when I received this one, I checked, and sure enough, the same problem. When I called Browning, they insist no one else has had any problems. I find this hard to believe, unless I am unlucky enough to get the only 2 with this problem.

I plan on calling Browning again here shortly, and will probably ship it back to them to fix it.

I made this video, since I'm used to the "there is nothing wrong with it" you get from alot of companies when you return something.