Rifle Question - BOSS

Boss

The Boss system allows you to tune your rifle to a particular load. If you change loads you may have to readjust the Boss. Normally the boss tightens up your grouping if you use it correctly. Be aware the boss is loud as all get out. I personally don't like it for that reason.
 
I am familar with the purpose of the BOSS and the different settings for different loads. The noise issue associated with the version with the integrated muzzle-brake but they also have one without the brake which is what I would install. It has a CR designation for "Conventional Recoil".

I am hoping to get a first hand opinion of whether the BOSS provides a marked improvement in accuracy.

I am not a big bench rest shooter but long range shots (+200yds) come up when in country with limited cover. My Remington 700 (30-06) would be fine in most conditions but I like the 270 for the longer shots.

The fact this rifle is a featherweight is my primary concern. The barrels on these are lighter than regular Model 70s. I have never grouped a featherwieght before and would like info on normal grouping at 100, 150, 200 with factory loads.
 
You are looking at one fine rifle. It's one of my top choices. I have had several rifles with the BOSS. They can and will shoot very well. Your not going to banging away shot after shot heating up your barrel in any hunting situation. No rifle besides a target weight will put up with that. The straight stock design of the model 70 FWT and the weight of the rifle to add to a bit more recoil to the shooter. You wouldn't have to ask me twice. I would buy that gun in a minute. THE RIFLEMAN'S RIFLE
 
With or without Boss it will be a great rifle. You would be able to tweak your group sizes down with the Boss. I personally don't like the looks of the Boss or similar devices, and would stay well away from anyone shooting a loud muzzle brake or open Boss. I have used another way to accomplish the same effect, using a Limbsaver deresonator rubber "doinker" which sells for $18 and is removable. I found a position that certainly did tighten up group sizes on my .300 and .338, different locations for each. The doinker is also not attractive but I can take it off. Even though I'm a handloader and should be able to tweak the load itself to be most accurate, I think it's less time consuming and cheaper in the long run to find a load that performs decent and then optimize the accuracy with the doinker.
 
Houston54 said:
The fact this rifle is a featherweight is my primary concern. The barrels on these are lighter than regular Model 70s. I have never grouped a featherwieght before and would like info on normal grouping at 100, 150, 200 with factory loads.
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That's a fine make and model rifle in an excellent caliber.

But nobody will be able to tell you what your rifle will do at 100-200 yards with ??????? factory ammo or handloads accuracywise. Their rifle might do XXXX and yours will do YYYY. The old addage YMMV surely applies here. Rifles, even with consecutive serial #s are not peas in a pod

I would avoid the gizmos attached to the end of the barrel like the bubonic plague. And who need a muzzle break on a .270 Win anyhoooo.....

Just sayin.........

NB

NB
 
Natty Bumpo said:
That's a fine make and model rifle in an excellent caliber.

But nobody will be able to tell you what your rifle will do at 100-200 yards with ??????? factory ammo or handloads accuracywise. Their rifle might do XXXX and yours will do YYYY. The old addage YMMV surely applies here. Rifles, even with consecutive serial #s are not peas in a pod

I would avoid the gizmos attached to the end of the barrel like the bubonic plague. And who need a muzzle break on a .270 Win anyhoooo.....

Just sayin.........

NB

NB
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NB, well said. the only way to find out what a rifle will do at any range and with any ammo is to put said ammo through the weapon at said ranges. I am not familiar with this boss system/muzzle break. I have a 270 win with a bull barrel. I do not have a muzzle break on it. It shoots just fine out to 300 yds. However, I have a Kimber Montana in 300 short mag, that I did put a muzzel break on. This gun does not have a bull barrel, is extremely light, and the muzzel break made it loud as heck. However it was necessary because of the light weight gun to tame the recoil which was unbelievably uncomfortable. Cannot wait for somebody with more information on this boss system and I am going to look into it more. That's my two cents.:)
 
Jmac,

I know a Montana elk guide who is now deaf in one ear bc/ a client cut loose with a muzzle break before he was ready, right next to him. Quite a few outfitters/big game guides will not allow clients to hunt with breaks on their rifles nowadays.

Other guys sight in their rifles with breaks on and then go hunting with the breaks taken off. Do you think their rifles still shoot in the same place?? Most dont bc/ you have radically altered the barrel harmonics. If yours does, you are very, very lucky.

NB
 
nb, you are correct. they will not shoot the same with the muzzle break taken off. I hear you. however, earprotection is something I wear at all times when hunting. I dont use guides for big game hunting in wyoming. i can understand why the guide you mentioned fills that way about the subject.:)
 
As I noted previously there are two models of the BOSS attachment. One has the muzzle brake and the other does not. Both have the same function of tuning the barrel to the load.

For the sake of this thread please disregard the muzzle brake issue. I am planning to use the solid/non-ported version of the BOSS. While it is threaded on neither version is considered to be removable.

To my understanding only Browning currently offers the BOSS on their rifles. In fact they may not do so at this time. I am not a fan of Browning rifles. Winchesters used them for a short period while Olin Corp owned both companies.

As for different rifles grouping differently that is a given however the FWT model does have a lighter barrel and I am trying to get a determination of its accuracy. Standard weight and bull barrels typically provide consistent grouping. From what I have read the lighter weight barrels tend to offer a more dynamic. If somone could offer their specific experience with a featherweight and a factory load of their choosing it would help me come to a decision on this rifle.
 
I had a 25/06 with the BOSS. I found it easier to tune the rifle by adjusting the handloads instead of turning the Boss. Even with the BOSS you can not get every load to shoot well. I think there is a reason why no one else decided to make one.
 
I had a chance to play with the new Winchester FWT 270 this past weekend while in west Texas. Tried three different factory loads in it at 100yds. I set the BOSS to the factory recommendation for 140 grain loads to start. I had changed the BOSS attachment out to one without the muzzle brake since sighting the rifle in a couple of weeks back.

The first ammo used was some Monarch 150 grain loads which were not very consistent. The lower grouping shown in the first pic is the best I could get those loads to hold. I may have been able to bring these in by tweaking the BOSS settings but I wanted to keep a consistent baseline for all the loads.

The second loads were Winchester 130 grain Power Points. The top grouping in the first pic was average for these rounds. More than acceptable with quarter size groups.

The third load used were Federal 130 grain "Power Shok". These rounds produced quarter to dime size groups consistently as shown in the second pic. While 100yds is pretty short for some people I rarely take shots longer than 100-150 yds in the field.

I tossed some rounds out to some steel swingers at 300yds and the Federals dinged with a 12" hold over. I think I need to stock up on these Federal loads.

Although I am not sure how much of this can be attributed directly to the BOSS I can say this little rifle is pretty darn accurate. This one will stay in the collection. I will have a chance to try it out on some pigs and axis in the next few weeks. Looking forward to that.
 
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The Win FWT with the BOSS is a fantastic rifle. Your post shows that. Enjoy. I will be adding a 270 FWT to my collection soon
 
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speaking of noise with the Boss-

I have a Browning Gold Medalion A Bolt .338 Win Mag with the Boss

I wanted to use WW Fail Safe- set it at the recomended sweet spot- 100 yards it did ok- moved it 5 marks one way- it got worse- moved it back then 5 marks the other way- tightened up nicely- moved it 2 marks- better- moved it 1/2 mark- shot almost same hole- so I sighted in dead on at 200 yards- got my neighbor to come with me to try some long range shooting in a farmers field-

we set up a target- I made a cross of 2" black duct tape on a 11X8 piece of paper and leveled the cross-

we measured off 300 yards- I set up the sand bags and layed the rifle in them- neighbor asked it I thought I could hit the paper-

fired three shots- we drove down
I got him to shoot three although he didn't want to
he did better- 1.75" spread 6 and 1/4 inches low

found out a couple years ago they no longer make the Fail Safe-

right now I'm dialing in for Hornady Superformance 225gr SST
and will check the GMX

once you get it close, slight movement either way is a must-
you can't just use their recomendation and expect great accuary- it's a starting point is all

I can say for sure the Boss lessens the recoil and muzzle jump
when I did shoot at a range I let the range master know

funny thing- after the first shot most were looking my way
 
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hatchingquail001.jpg


reasonably calm today- we measured off 275 yards
set the target in the plowed field
set up with the Cadwell Lead Sled
using the new Hornady Superformance 225 grain SST
Browning A-Bolt .338 Winchester Magnum Boss
Leupold Vari-XII 3X9

surprised as it's sighted in 4" high at 100 yards

going to do some slight movement of the Boss-
but coyotes out there 1/4 mile best not stand arround
 
moellermd said:
I had a 25/06 with the BOSS. I found it easier to tune the rifle by adjusting the handloads instead of turning the Boss. Even with the BOSS you can not get every load to shoot well. I think there is a reason why no one else decided to make one.
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I have to ask you- did you try to move the Boss

you can see my test results at 275 yards with the new Hornady Superperformance 225 gr SST- Boss setting at 4.9

this morning I again set up at 275 yards- with two targets side by side moved the Boss to 4.8 shot three- group was smaller and 1/2" to the right
just for kicks- I got out my box of Hornady Custom 225 grain
and the WW Fail Safe 230 grain they no longer make

surprise- the Fail Safe 230 gr and the Hornady Custom 225 gr shot in the same place-

so- fiddling with the Boss at where I thought it was shooting pretty good- and only slightly moving I have it so I can shoot three different factory loads that print just about the same

the Boss works- excect for someone who doesn't expend the time or shoot enough amo- as in my case it's $1.88 every time I pull the trigger
if I wanted to go the premium amo it's $3.12 every trigger pull

lets see someone pull a factory gun and without any customer gun shop work without the Boss get what I am getting with three different amo-

don't downgrade the Boss- you didn't try it
 
moellermd said:
I had a 25/06 with the BOSS. I found it easier to tune the rifle by adjusting the handloads instead of turning the Boss. Even with the BOSS you can not get every load to shoot well. I think there is a reason why no one else decided to make one.
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ok- son and his sweatheart came and spent the weekend-
played arround a bit- riding the John Deer- shooting the shotguns, 22 rifles and pistols- they both did pretty good- so I suggested a bit of long range shooting

first three shots at 275 yards were prety good- not where I thought they should be- but I had moved the BOSS a bit-

we brought the target in to 175 yards- she shot one, son shot two, I squeezed off three

I'm going to play with the BOSS a bit but I think the gun is shooting real good-
tell me the BOSS doesn't work- 3 factory loads and I can get them all to print respectibly

I'm quite pleased- ordered three more boxes of the factory amo

total shots to get it shooting where I thought it should- a whole lot less than you playing with your reloader

shootingthebiggun003.jpg
 
Shadow I am glad the BOSS worked out for. Even without a boss if you try enough ammo most guns will find an ammo they like. I wonder why you don't see BOSS in bench rest competitions and everyone hand loads?
 
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