Browning Short-trac Long-trac auto autoloader semi-auto Winchester sxr

[Syncerus]

Well, I can't believe that I did it, as I thought my auto owning days were long since gone.

I was at a local Gander Mountain and handled a used Browning Short-trac purely out of curiosity. I really liked how it felt, as the ergonomics were much better than those of any other auto that I've handled. I checked out the Remington 750, but it just felt lousy to me (no reflection on the rifle; just didn't seem to fit me) and the BAR. The BAR felt pretty nice, but I just couldn't get emotional about it. For whatever reason, the Short-trac just felt right.

GM wanted full retail for the new rifles and the used rifle was about $100 high to my mind, so I found a deal on Gunbroker. There's actually very little reliable information about the rifle out on the web, so I guess that I get to be the guinea pig. All the advertising propaganda stresses the accuracy of the rifle. Personally, I find reliability more important than extreme accuracy in an auto, but we'll see what we see. If nothing else, the 7mm WSM should terminate coyotes with extreme prejudice.

Many seem to dislike the styling of the new rifles. Personally, I think the Brownings look much better than the Winchesters, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Brownings are also priced higher. FWIW, I bought a camo version of the rifle; I assume the stock is synthetic rather than wood, but I haven't seen it in person.

Anyway, the purpose of this thread isn't to tell everyone that I bought a new rifle (you're more interested in YOUR new rifle!), but to gather information about the new Browning Short-trac, Long-trac and Winchester SXR rifles.

Please post any experiences with these rifles, good, bad or indifferent.

[JTD305]

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,162932.0.html

The Browning should serve you well.

[Syncerus]

Well, the rifle is finally on the way. I bought some small-base dies, some rings and mounts, and some brass. With luck I'll be able to shoot the rifle next weekend.

[JTD305]

Which rifle did you purchase?

[Syncerus]

I got the Camo Browning Short-trac in 7mm WSM. I hope to take it out next weekend.

[Syncerus]

Update: well, I finally made it to the range, last weekend and yesterday. Last week, I tried 160 gr Speer Grand Slams and a reasonable load of Varget. The good news is that the rifle was quite accurate, all things considered. My eyes are iffy, and I use a full-on target scope when I'm doing serious testing for accuracy; I've only rarely gotten Grand Slams to shoot really well and tend to try other bullets for serious accuracy. So, with a 3-9x hunting scope, I was shooting groups of about 1.5" at 100 yards. The bad news is that the loads were too mild for the rifle and wouldn't completely cycle the action.



So I shot up all the Varget loads, and figured I'd try a slower burning powder, since that's what the factory is using. I loaded up some 160 gr Accubond seconds and a stout (but under max) load of MagPro, which is significantly slower than the Varget. Accuracy was about the same with the new loads, but there were no failures to function. I might put a target scope on the rifle to test potential, as I'm sure the limiting factor is probably my vision, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll try to shoot at 200 the next time I'm at the range, if the wind is low.

Anyway, it was hardly a major test, but everything seems to work correctly and the rifle is quite light and comfortable. So far, so good. All I need now is a couple of boar to zap.

[Syncerus]

I fired two shots at the 200 yard session. They were dead on within about 2.5 inches of each other. The scope I was using was a 3-9 Pentax Lightseeker, which is a great scope, but has a fairly coarse crosshair. The rifle itself might well be more accurate than I've demonstrated; at some point I might stick a 36x target scope on just to see what's possible. Anyway, so far I'm very happy with the results.