Update to this thread. I bought one of these rifles in .300 WM. I'll give MY OPINION, and what I have found with this particular rifle.
It sucks.
Starting at the muzzle working back, it has a removable brake and came with a thread protector. I never fired it without a brake, so I can't say how much the factory brake cut back on recoil. But, I did change the brake to 2 others in my quest to get it to shoot, one was a cheap Brake/comp from an AR the other was a JP "tank" recoil eliminator. Both of mine cut the recoil considerably more. Also the factory brake is terrible for shooting prone, especially if you're in a sandy/dusty environment.
The barrel: The barrel is 26" fluted grey matte stainless. Can't say much about it other than I'm ALREADY replacing it with a Bartlein. I don't own a bore scope so I can't give much detail on it.
The stock: the stock Has some very nice features, adjustable LOP and comb, I Added the "medium" spaced and the rifle fit me well. The stock is also "flimsyer" than I'd like to see on a "long range rifle" but it will probably work fine. As it sits the barrel is free floating in the stock but I can see where it could easily make contact if you heavily load a bipod or if perhaps shooting at high angle or goofy positions. I might try to address this in the near future.
Trigger: sucks. Forget about trying to shoot with any accuracy with this thing. This trigger is the heaviest trigger I've ever felt on a factory bolt gun. It has near Zero creep or overtravel. But stupid heavy. I did NOT put a gauge on it. I put a mcarbo spring in it which helped tremendously. BUT this will be getting a Timney sooner than later.
Action/receiver: pretty smooth. You can unload the rifle without needing to put rifle on fire, typical x bolt system.
Performance: EXTREMELY POOR! I fired a total of 354 rounds through this rifle. I did manage to get some decent (3/4") groups at 100 and 175 yards. But any load that would give me decent results close would absolutely fall apart at distance. Most of my longer shots were at 475 however I did take it to 600 a couple times. The best I could come up with at 475 was right around 2moa. These are 3 shot groups. I tried 212ELD-X and 215 hybrids, I tried about 8-9 powders as well.
I bought this rifle specifically for elk hunting this fall and in the future. So with such terrible results I contacted browning to see what could be done, and what their "acceptable" accuracy was. 1.5 MOA is acceptable for browning!! So they offered to send me a shipping label to return the rifle for inspection, but they said it would be a minimum of 8 weeks once they get it and could be significantly longer depending on the issue!! Figuring 1 week travel each way that puts the rifle getting back to me beginning of sept! Unacceptable, especially considering 1.5 moa being "OK" by them. All that said, I'm sending the rifle off to a smith who claims to be able to spin up a Bartlein to the same contour, chamber/thread/install and have it done in 3 weeks.
So if I could do it again, I would have saved the $600 worth of components, $1200 for the rifle and shipping, and the charge for the custom barrel and just bought a custom rifle. This will be my last NEW browning, or factory rifle I buy.!!
If anyone has any Q's about it please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.
