Okay, well I went to the SHOT show and all I can say is.....WOW! That was one huge show! I was walking all day from 9am to about 4:30pm and I still wasn't able to finish seeing all the booths! My friend of mine who is a dealer spent quite a bit of time on booths that were related to his business/interests, so my time was somewhat limited. However, I was able to spend some time looking at some of the Bolt Action Rifles. Of the top of my head, the manufacturers that I saw were Browning and Ruger (as requested), and then I spent some time on some other makes.
As for the Browning, they had a huge display. I asked for what was new and they showed me a Maxus? shotgun, but I wanted to mainly see the Bolt action rifles, and one rep showed me one of the most beautiful guns that I have ever seen. He said that it was an "X-bolt" which I think has been out for a little while, but this one was new for 2009. It was an X-Bolt that had beautiful deluxe wood and a stainless barrel and action. If I remember correctly, it was in .325 WSM. The fit and finish on this gun was amazing. I own a couple of original A-Bolts and asked for what the difference was between the X-Bolt and the A-Bolt IIs (they no longer make the original A-Bolts, although now since they have an X-Bolt, they now call the A-Bolt II simply A-Bolt.). The most notable feature of the X-Bolt is that it has a noticeably slimmer receiver and profile. Also, it has a safety feature whereby even if the safety is on, if you push a little button on the top of the receiver, then you can still cycle the bolt to remove a cartridge. Also, it has a very nice detachable magazine. At first, you think it's plastic, but when you take a closer look at it, you can see that it is some kind of a synthetic blend of materials. The rep called it poly-something. Anyhow, I loved the way it detached. Oh, and now Browning has a new trigger called Featherweight, or something like that. The rifle that I had in my hands had no creep or travel and was quite crisp with about 3 pounds of pull. Again, this was an absolutely beautiful gun with excellent balance and fit and fishing. The bolt was pretty smooth too. Not as smooth as my sakos and tikkas, but still pretty darn good. I think they called this gun the X-Bolt White Gold. I would rate this gun as a 8.5 out of 10.
Oh, BTW, while it seemed that every gun manufacturer was there, I didn't see Sako, Tikka, or CZ!
As for Ruger, all I can tell you is that I was very disappointed. I asked a rep what was new for 2009 and he showed me (if I remember correctly) a Hawkey Super light or Ultra light in .308. The fit and finish on this gun was very sub-par. There was a noticeable gap between the barrel and the wood on one side, while much smaller on the other side. Then, working the bolt caused me to look in disgust. Working the bolt was just so sloppy. It felt like the entire bolt was too small for the receiver, causing it to play alot from side to side. Now I know that there are a lot of Ruger fans out there, but all I can say is that the ONE particular Ruger that I felt in my hands will cause me to never even look at another Ruger for a long time. I would rate this gun about a 4.0 (below average.) Ruger fans....don't hate me. I was thinking about buying a Ruger, especially after quite a few good reviews from guests who own the Hawkeye, but the Hawkeye Super Light (or Ultra Light) that I saw just left a very bad taste in my mouth.
As for Winchester (yes Winchester is back in business) they have the new M70, which is the same M70. BTW, the rep for Browning was also the same rep for Winchester because they are both owned by the same parent company. I asked the rep how the quality of the new Winchester M70s were and he said 100 times better. Well, I went and looked at the M70s. I have a few M70s so I can make a good honest comparison. Out of the few M70s that I handled, I really can't say that the new M70s are noticeably better. To me, the older ones were good (at least mine are). Fit and finish was good, and working the bolt was fairly smooth. With 5 being average, I would rate the M70s that I saw about 7.0 (above average).
I also came across Ed Brown rifles. The quality of these rifles were extremely high. Fit and finish was excellent. The bolt action was smooth, and the trigger was out of this world. It's funny...I told my friend that the trigger on that one Ed Brown rifle was like the Jewell Trigger that I had a gunsmith install on one of my Remingtons, and the rep told me that it was a Jewell Trigger!!! Anyhow, I would rate this gun about 9.5, and with an MSRP of $5,995, it better be that high!
I also came across Kimber rifles. I already own a Kimber 8400 Montana in .300 WSM so I know that they are excellent rifles. The news are better and improved. In my gun, the bolt makes a little noise when no bullets are in the magazine. I was told by Kimber that was part of the second design in order to make the bolt work much more freely and smoother (apparently with the first designs, the gun had very high tolerances and it was generally hard to turn and work the bolt.) On this newer (3rd I guess) version, the tolerances are kinda tight, but yet the bolt cycles smoother without making any noises when no bullets are loaded. Again, the fit and finish on this gun is remarkable. I would rate this gun about 9.0, and given that it sells for about $1,100, I think it's a great deal for the quality that it has.
Let me know if anyone has any specific questions, whether it be about these rifles, other rifles, or optics (I looked at a few scopes too).
Zachary
