I got my new T-bolt a few weeks ago, but only managed to get some scope bases for it yesterday. Today was my first chance to shoot it. For those who are looking to scope theirs, but don't like the matte-finished bases that Browning apparently wants you to buy for this nice gloss-finished gun, a set of Leupold bases for a Rem 541 (#50028) fit perfectly and match the gun's finish nicely.
This is a really nice-handling, lightweight rifle. It has a few plastic parts (triggerguard, magazine well, magazine clip) but still projects a feeling of quality. I scoped it with an old B&L Balfor four power, a very compact scope that sits well on this gun. No adjustable objective, parallax set for centerfire rifles, blah, blah, blah. Sue me.
The only ammo I had on hand was Remington Subsonics, Winchester Powerpoints, and Remington Thunderbolts. All three shot into 3/4 inch @ 50 yards, the Subsonics maybe slightly tighter than the others. This was off an old kitchen table set up behind the barn, with sandbags. The trigger is very crisp, no slop at all, but a tad on the heavy side. It's gold-coloured in typical Browning fashion. The adjustment screw located forward of the trigger makes very little difference to the pull. This is my one major peeve with this gun.
The magazine is plastic, a very complicated-looking affair. It has a cool little thumbwheel doohickey that allows you to preload the spring so that cartridges just drop right in with no tension. It's easy to load the standard way as well, pushing each cartridge in against spring tension. The magazine seems to be well built and has none of the cheap, flimsy feel of some plastic clips. I hope that it holds up over time, and I don't think that spares will be inexpensive. It releases and re-inserts easily. Pushing a loaded mag into the mag well when the bolt is closed requires a bit of effort.
The action is huge fun to play with. I never had one of the original T-bolts but always wanted one. I must have cycled this thing several hundred times while waiting for the scope bases to arrive. I still get a kick out of watching it work. It started a bit stiff, but very smooth and superfast to operate.
The wood on mine has a fair bit of figure in it, but several that I looked at were quite plain. It seems to be worthwhile to look at a few to find a good-looking one. The stock is very comfortable to use, at least for me.
I have a couple of Brno's and a Sako Finnfire that will outshoot this gun so far, and several others that have no trouble matching it, but I expect that a little experimentation with different ammo will improve its accuracy a bit. Even if it doesn't, I am quite happy with it as is. It is a classy little rifle that I would recomment highly.
I also see that Browning is apparently bringing out a heavy-barrel version with a Monte Carlo stock this year. Maybe more accurate, but certainly less elegant.
John