Two parter, Browning X Bolt and Round Choice

[need4sneed]

Here's my advise after four years with an x-bolt gen 1 speed in 28 nosler:

Speed stock has bad ergonomics and needs a lot of weight added to it for a magnum caliber. Barrel channel was also very tight and I opened it up - as stated in the xbolt threads here. Very little offerings to swap speed stock out.

Trigger works, not a lot of great things to say about it after that.

weird threadings were annoying but the Recoil Hawg MB I chose to buy actually performs really well. I would Opt for traditional threading and shorter barrels and simplify all of the options available to you at muzzle.

I would choose a selection of bullets you would be happy to work with of those two calibers and pick the CHEAPEST and most readily available of the two chamberings. The more I shoot, the less any of the small differences in comparable chamberings matter to me. Building the next gun is inevitable and will be more about the fun of the next gun anyways.

My 2cents:
If you want a factory gun - go down in recoil. If you want a magnum - save your money and build one out. so much of recoil mitigation is custom to the shooter and building one is almost cost effective. Or at least pick a 700 clone so you have the options down the line. Personally, I drank the koolaid and went tikka and 6.5 - accuracy wise I'm happy as a clam (limited terminal experience but so far so good) and only going further down the rabbit hole in 0-600 open shooting.

 

[Kurts86]

If I had to buy an X-bolt in either 7mm prc or 300 win mag it would be A McMillan Suppressor ready 7mm PRC.

300 win mag is a dumb cartridge in an xbolt because the magazine length will limit bullet selection to 200 gr class at which point 180 gr 7mm PRC is a much better option. 30 cal magnums are overkill in most cases and their BC values don’t really approach interesting until 215-225 gr weights. If you so desire a 30 magnum in an xbolt go to 300 prc so you can get the extra long action and a modern cartridge design.

As so many have said I’d really consider a smaller caliber round even if it’s only stepping down to 6.5 prc or 6.5 creedmoor. 6mm and .223 have substantial merits but intermediate steps are good too. I don’t shoot my 7mm rem mag anymore once I figured out I could in fact kill elk with a 6.5 creedmoor.