Rifle review: putting the Browning X-Bolt rifle through its paces

I bought a new rifle back in September of 2019, and I thought I would write about how I got on with it. Perhaps you’re wondering why I’m writing in May about a rifle I bought nearly 10 months ago? I don’t know whether it’s just me, but whenever I buy a new piece of shooting kit, I have to wait an unusually long period of time before I’m able to actually put it to use. That can certainly be said of my new Browning X-Bolt. Surely, I would have had ample opportunity to put the new rifle through its paces before now? Let me explain…

 

I collected the rifle from Grahams of Inverness whilst fishing The Conon for a week. I had planned a visit to a friend’s ground to get onto a Sika stag if possible one morning that week. Having zeroed in the new .30-06 1” high at 100m I was ready to get out onto the hill and wait for sunrise as the stags were likely to head back in from the heather moorland to the plantations for cover. The first half an hour was spent waiting for the sun to cast enough light for me to see as I lay in position with a good viewing point. As the light grew, I spotted a hind and a calf making their way along a gully to the plantation – a lovely sight!

 

As the sun rose, I made my way along the treeline stopping every 20 yards or so to look through the trees and spot any movement – it was not to be. So far so good though – having grown up shooting my father’s .243, the .30-06 was a big step up in terms of size. I was keen to find a rifle light enough as the vast majority of my stalking is done on foot. The Dura Touch Composite stock feels warm to touch on a cold morning and has just the right 'grippiness' to it. The Kite Optics sight is a perfect piece of kit for me; again light, not too expensive, and with good enough magnification for my purposes - I would have to wait for my first opportunity to fire the rifle aside from a range to really start to get comfortable with it though.

 

Due to the game shooting season, other than a couple of unsuccessful and very casual wanders round the farm at home hoping to bump into a roe doe, the rifle remained largely locked away until March. I even mounted my night vision set-up (£165!) for ratting and rabbiting onto the rifle to see if I could squeak in a fox… as I said above – you’re often made to wait longer than usual to use a new piece of kit.

Stalking Norfolk red stags and muntjac in March

As March came round, I joined a friend of mine on his shoot in Norfolk for a day helping him out on his game farm bitting and clipping his laying hens. That morning we managed to get out with the rifle again after muntjac and one particular red stag he had been wanting to cull for a while due to its misshaped right antler. Having waited nearly half a year, my first opportunity with the new rifle came within 5 minutes as we spotted a muntjac buck laying up under a thorn tree from 120 yards. With a nice rest and good backdrop I managed to place the shot well as the buck stood up – a great deal of satisfaction to have one for the freezer and to know that the rifle does actually work - why it wouldn’t I have no idea, but you always wonder!

Shortly after this, sure enough, we found the stag we were after along with two other absolute monsters. You could just see the tips of the antlers above the rushes as they disappeared into the salt marsh, the misshapen antler visible and clearly potentially dangerous during the rut. Unfortunately, despite circling round them, there was no way we were going to be able to get to the animal if we shot it, so we had to leave it for another day – it was great to be able to watch them though.

A fox and another muntjac buck later we called it a day and got to work as the hens arrived on the game farm. All in all, a great day out, and very nice to use the new rifle which is beginning to feel more and more comfortable with every use.

I was looking for a rifle that I could use for stalking with friends and for filling the freezer, nothing too special or fancy, and the X-Bolt has proven to be the perfect piece of the kit for the job. The Kite scope is an ideal piece of optics for the X-Bolt. Added to that, it was great value and I've already recouped the cost in venison, based on the prices London butchers charge! Despite being great value, its still a quality piece of kit, so its a rifle that I can use - and rely on- for decades.