Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

I'm on the highway to...

charliebravo77

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2014
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219
Location
Chicago Area
Hell....'s Canyon.

So over the past decade I've been fighting with a Remington 700 SPS trying to make it into an accurate, lightweight, all-weather hunting rifle and it's just been an endless circle of spending money and fits of rage. Its current state is a .30-06 Remington 700 SPS barreled action with a Timney 510 Trigger, Bell & Carlson Alaskan Ti stock, Badger Ordnance bolt knob, Vortex Viper HS-LR 4-16x44 scope, Magpul DBM and a few layers of Krylon Fusion which actually do a fair job at preventing rust and corrosion. It's a decent enough gun but it is a bit clunky, not super accurate, real picky on ammo and just kind of a cobbled together amalgamation of parts trying to improve upon what was never that great in the first place. I've always lamented that I should have just spent $1k on a better gun in the first place rather than the ~$2k over the years adding and changing parts out to get where it is today. So I bought the better gun.

After a couple years of researching, playing with rifles in stores and shooting a couple other models I had narrowed down my list of "perfect" purpose built hunting rifles to a Sako Finnlight/Finnlight 2, Sako A7 Roughtech, Kimber Hunter, Kimber Mountain Ascent, Tikka T3x Superlite, and the Browning Hell's Canyon Speed. I think based on the thread title you can figure out which one I finally settled on.

I started out dead set on the Sako Finnlight, but something about it just didn't sit right with me. I still can't exactly put my finger on it - maybe it's the super lightweight stock but it just felt 'off.' The A7 was too heavy for the calibers I was waffling on, I couldn't get past the wing safety on the Kimbers and the T3x didn't have enough of the features I wanted.

Ultimately my "wants" list were the following: Composite stock, short action, stainless or Cera/Durakoted finish, lightweight action and barrel, bolt lock/release and tang or traditional safety.

For caliber, I wanted something capable of hunting all but the largest (moose/brown bear) of North American game in a short action with great bullet selection and less recoil than .30-06. I shot a friend's Sako A7 Roughtech in 7mm Mag and was blown away by how soft it shot, but I didn't want the heavier rifle to offset the recoil so I was looking at .260 Rem, 6.5 Creedmoor or 7mm-08 Rem. The ballistics of all three are very close, and all are capable of taking pronghorn, deer and elk so rifle availability and bullet/load selection were the main driving factors. The slightly heavier bullets available in 7mm-08 ultimately tipped me in that direction, as I'd like to be able to use this rifle on elk and the heavier the bullet the better. 7mm-08 offers great BCs and SDs with premium hunting bullets such as the Hornady ELD-X, Barnes TSX and others.

With that, a box appears.

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Enter the Browning X-Bolt Hell's Canyon Speed in 7mm-08 Rem.

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This particular model features a 22" barreled action that's been Cerakoted in Burnt Bronze and set in a composite stock finished with Dura-Touch A-TACS AU (Arid/Urban) camo which should blend in pretty well with the western states' terrain that I hunt a lot.

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The rifle comes with a fluted barrel and factory threaded with a radially ported brake, which will be nice for the range as well as a thread protector for hunting with since I don't often wear ear pro while hunting even though I should.

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The X-Bolt series gets its name from the 4 hole pattern the scope bases use, which form an X. I don't think the T-Bolt or A-Bolt share a similar naming convention.

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I stuck a Vortex Viper HS 2.5-10x44 scope on it, which is maybe the perfect 'cheap' hunting scope. I will likely order a Kenton Industries custom elevation turret for this once I get a load picked out.

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One of the main things I was looking for in a new rifle was a bolt that is able to be locked/unlocked either via the safety or a dedicated button. This is particularly handy for traipsing through the brush so you don't accidentally knock the bolt open and eject a round and also so that you can unload the chamber without taking the rifle off safe. The rifle also features a 3 lug bolt with a 60 degree throw which is very fast and allows ample clearance of optics.

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A tasteful tramp stamp. Pretty much the only place the Browning logo is actually present.

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I'm looking forward to shooting this cartridge and rifle compared to the old .30-06

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I've even got a pile of premium food to feed it and see what it likes best.

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Old and new.

This now means I won't draw a lottery/limited entry hunting tag for 2018. Range report to come this weekend.
 
A friend has one of those. Unfortunately, after firing it a few weeks ago, the bolt locked down and cannot be lifted. He is looking for a gunsmith. Good luck!
 
Nice rifle! Congrats on the new rifle and hope it shoots great. I'd bet on the precision hunter ammo.
 
Should be fun as heck to shoot with the brake. IMO, it looks better with the longer barrel look of having the brake attached. Good luck, fine looking set up.
 
Congrats on the rifle purchase. You'll like that cartridge. I love mine. It's a pleasure to shoot, as well.

You had a good platform with the Remington. You just veered off course along the way. I'd load that joker with 57.0 grains of IMR4350 and a 165 grain Accubond set at about 3.320" COAL.
 
Aside from opinions on cosmetics, how exactly is it messed up? It shoots consistently 1 MOA with good loads and has produced repeatable hits on a 12" plate at 600 yards.
 
Aside from opinions on cosmetics, how exactly is it messed up? It shoots consistently 1 MOA with good loads and has produced repeatable hits on a 12" plate at 600 yards.

Since you mentioned lightweight, the scope, mounts, bolt knob, DBM, and bipod all seemed to go against the grain to me.

What do both rifles weigh?
 
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That's fair, though thanks to the lightweight stock the whole 700 package weighs under 10 pounds unloaded which isn't ultralight but still lighter than a lot of options. The mag was a bit of a necessity since I couldn't get the internal mag to feed more than 2 rounds before jamming.
 
That's fair, though thanks to the lightweight stock the whole 700 package weighs under 10 pounds unloaded which isn't ultralight but still lighter than a lot of options. The mag was a bit of a necessity since I couldn't get the internal mag to feed more than 2 rounds before jamming.

I bought my Dad a Remington CDL in 30-06 about 5 years ago. His would stack 3 on top of each other with the load I mentioned above (Nosler's most accurate load).

I recently bought a 7-08 in a Remington Model Seven SS with a 20" barrel. You're gonna love shooting that cartridge.

Keep us posted how it turns out.
 
The 700 in its current form unloaded without bipod or sling is 8lbs 11.3oz and the Browning is 7lb 11.7oz unloaded no sling or bipod. Not dramatically different, but the Browning feels much handier and well balanced.

Thanks for the info. If it feels better to you, you'll definitely be grabbing it more often. Congrats and good luck at the range.
 
Got out to the range today.

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It was windy as hell, 18-20 mph primarily from about 160-180 degrees behind but enough that it was blowing me around a bit. At 100 yards everything performed adequately off a bench and solid rest. Of the 4 ammo types I tried, Nosler E-Tip, Hornady Precision Hunter and Browning BXR grouped 1.2-1.5 MOA which was likely more the wind and my shooting than the gun. Best group of them all was Barnes VOR-TX 120gr TTSX which did .785 MOA.

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I need to shoot again on a day with better conditions, but I'm perfectly pleased with the setup. It's lightweight but recoil is very tame thanks to the brake and cartridge.
 
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Looks good. Great review. Let us know how you like hunting with it. There's nothing like a new gun to motivate a guy to go out and hunt.
 
That is great gun porn right there. We were debating on rebuilding a Ruger M77 Mark 2 in a .280 but we are having a hell of a time getting a replacement stock, tried the Hogue but cannot even get a confirmation from them. We may very well pull the trigger on a x-Bolt Hells Caynon Speed, cartridge to be determined. It will be topped with a Leupold VariX3 3.5 - 10 -50.
 
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