I own 2 Browning Stainless Stalkers - one in .270 Winchester, and the other in 7mm Rem Mag, but mine are the Original A-Bolts, not the A-Bolt IIs or the newer X-Bolt. I have to say, my A-Bolts are extremely accurate, especially my .270 Win. Additionally, they were pretty much extremely accurate out of the box too. I remember when I first got my .270 and took it to the range (back in 1989 or 1990), I had a Nikon 3.5x-10x-50mm mounted on it and I was shooting Federal Premium 130 grain Sierra Boat-tails. I was able to shoot 2 shots in the same hole at 100 yards, and the third shot made a ragged hole. The guy next to me was looking at my target through his scope and he was just amazed. In fact, I remember that he offered me $1,000 to buy my gun right there on the spot, and I said no because it almost cost me about that much. The gun back then cost $499, the scope was $299, I forget how much the rings and mounts costs, and I got a 10% discount + tax (which was about 7% or so if I remember correctly). So it cost me about $800 or so, and I wasn't going to sell a shooter just to make $200 bucks or less. Then he went back to shooting and was irate because he couldn't shoot any groups tighter than about 2" or so. He then asked if he could shoot my gun, and I let him. He shot 2 shots and both of them were touching. Then he started cussing up a storm and REALLY wanted to buy my gun (keep in mind this was RIGHT before deer hunting season in Texas), and he wanted to offer me more money. I told him that it was not for sale. To this day, I still have that gun (as well as in the 7mm Rem Mag version). In fact, I am looking at it right now. I also got a Vais muzzle brake on it when George Vais in Houston still owned it (now he sold his company and I think Lazzeroni has his brakes on their guns), and it has virtually no recoil. It's loud as heck and I don't like muzzle brakes any more because of it, but I gotta admit that recoil is really reduced. Interestingly, accuracy is still the same...great...just like it was out of the box.
I gotta tell ya, I went to the SHOT show in Orlando this year, and I fell in love with a Browning X-Bolt that had a stainless barrel and action in beautiful wood. It was in .325WSM. I just loved that rifle. Again, I have no hands on experience with the X-Bolts, but many who have owned both the Original A-Bolts, and even the A-Bolt IIs, have commented on excellent out-of-the-box accuracy. I don't know what, if anything, is wrong with yours. Breaking in MIGHT be the problem, but I really don't think so because, with all of my guns (and this is just me), the accuracy didn't get much better after break-in. With me, accuracy has always been excellent.
I should say this...on a few occasions, when I was younger, I used to put in a lot of cleaners and/or lubricants in the barrel during "break-in." This greatly ADVERSELY affects accuracy. Make sure that the barrel is completely dry inside when you shoot. Otherwise, you can (like I did) get crazy groups. However, when I cleaned out all of the stuff in the barrel (even on brand new rifles) my groups got very tight. Try to not OVER-clean or lubricate your barrel too much between shots. Again, try and shoot it dry. Just put patches through many times and see what happens.
Another thing that you might want to think about is....check the scope mounts and make sure that they are indeed tight. Use blue loctite. I once got crazy groups and found out that was because my mounts were a bit loose.
Hope this helps.
Zachary
