Browning X-Bolt 2 Speed Rifle: Tangible Innovation and Legacy

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I often say the shots are easy at our Timber Trails whitetail hunts in Kansas. They are usually close, and all the stands provide a firm rest; even our treestands have padded rails. My friend John Sonne was on such a stand in December 2025 when he saw two bucks come down off a ridge, straight toward him. Both were shooters, a no-brainer ten-point, trailed by a big eight-point with a similar frame. John got the rifle up while they were in brush and let them come on. They stopped at 40 yards, sparring while he waited for a clear shot.

Then the smaller buck thought better, turned away and headed out, the bigger buck speeding him along. Nobody likes a going-away shot, but there are times and places to take one if you have enough gun and you’re sure of your shot. Sonne was shooting a .308 Winchester with a 180-grain bullet. Despite shooting offhand, at 50 yards, he was sure. He was shooting down, the buck headed uphill. His bullet smashed the spine above the base of the tail and exited the neck. The deer went down on the spot.

So much for our easy shots. Offhand in the woods at a moving deer in thick trees isn’t easy. I was on a stand a mile away when I got John’s text that he needed a hand. That day we were both carrying Browning X-Bolt 2 Speed rifles. Mine, a 6.8 Western, is a test gun that still belongs to Browning. His is my .308, received as a test gun. It shot and handled so well that I bought it—even though it’s a right-hand bolt. There’s always a spot for a good .308 on the Kansas farm.

John Sonne doesn’t get excited, but when I got to him, he was animated. I looked to the right, up the ridge, and could see his deer down. Lots of antler showing. Big buck. He told me the story, then said, “When those deer turned and headed out I almost panicked.” Then he added, “This Browning of yours handles well.”

From A to X to 2

For years a Browning A-Bolt .270 was our much-used Kansas camp rifle. It accounted for a lot of whitetails. In numerous hunters’ hands, I don’t think it ever missed. Named for the A-Frame profile of the action and triangular bolt body, the A-Bolt was Browning’s centerfire bolt-gun for 25 years, introduced in 1984 and replaced by the X-Bolt in 2008. Both are mechanically similar using a three-lug bolt with short uplift, but the X-Bolt has a different bolt and receiver. It also added a detachable polymer rotary magazine, plus a bolt unlock button at the bolt handle root.

Cosmetically, the X-Bolt was a modernized upgrade. It takes its name from a small important feature: The X-Bolt is drilled and tapped for four scope-mount screws on each receiver ring. Depending on how you look at it, the four screw holes make an X, the total of eight screws offering a very secure scope-mounting system.

Introduced in 2024, the X-Bolt 2 is a second-generation X-Bolt that is upgraded with a different bolt and heavier receiver with increased bolt guidance surface. It also adds a new trigger, termed DLX, that is crisp, clean and wonderfully simple to adjust.

Browning is always generous in chamberings and variations. Both the A-Bolt and X-Bolt were offered in a wide variety of chamberings, stock styles and materials. Though just a year old, the X-Bolt 2 already comes in some three dozen variations and a wide array of chambering options. The X-Bolt 2 Speed family was new in 2025. My .308 is a basic X-Bolt 2 Speed. Slim, fluted 22-inch barrel, metal in attractive smoked bronze Cerakote, composite stock in Browning’s versatile Ovix camo. Not just a composite stock; it’s called Vari-Tech, enabling adjustable height of comb and inserts to change length of pull and grip angle.

Variations For All

The Speed in 6.8 Western is almost identical. Except: It’s the X-Bolt 2 Speed SPR. It features a barrel four inches shorter by cartridge, for handier use with a suppressor. In 6.8 Western, Browning’s standard barrel length is 24 inches. The SPR version removes four inches, so the barrel length on that rifle is 20 inches. With the added length of a suppressor, I love the reduced length. But you must accept that some velocity will be lost. The Browning 175-grain Sierra Tipped GameKing load I used is rated at 2,835 feet per second (fps). In the shorter barrel with a Banish 30 suppressor, actual velocity was just under 2,700 fps. Price paid for shorter barrels, but much handier for suppressor use.

That’s not a big deal as there is still plenty of speed and power. With the equipment we have today, velocity is just a number, but it’s enough of a difference to throw ballistics charts into disarray. I put a Leupold VX-6 3-18x44 on it and did my homework. First use would be on an elk hunt in New Mexico. Using Ballistic Coefficient (BC), chronographed velocity, plus guesstimated altitude and temperature, I printed a ballistics chart and verified it on steel. Then I went elk hunting.

In the event, I dialed the range on the turret and dropped a nice bull at 460 yards. From what I read (but don’t necessarily believe), that’s not considered a long shot today. It is my longest shot on a bull elk. He didn’t seem to know I was missing 150 fps from advertised velocity.

Speed Shooting

With its slim fluted barrel, the Speed is intended to be quick and light. The .308 with its 22-inch barrel weighs 6 pounds, 10 ounces without optic. Not a flyweight, but to my thinking about right for smooth handling in the field. I started it with an older VX-6 3-18x44 scope in Browning mounts. That brought complete weight up to just over eight pounds. No longer a lightweight, still a good weight to carry, and about right to steady quickly in field positions.

The Vari-Tech stock allows adjustment to get height of comb and length of pull exactly right. To some extent this is lost on me; I’m average Joe in size, and standard stock dimensions tend to fit me well. That VX-6 scope isn’t huge, certainly not by today’s standards, but the objective did require a higher mount. Using the supplied hex wrench, I went into the upper hole in the recoil pad and raised the comb a couple notches. Voila, now the cheek weld was perfect. This rifle felt good, quick and lively.

Out of the box, I felt the DLX trigger on the .308 was set a bit heavy. I did the unmanly thing and read the directions. Took the barreled action out of the stock, grabbed the proper size hex wrench, and took it down a couple of notches. This adjustment brought it down to a crisp and clean 2.5 pounds.

I received the .308 in the spring of ’25, was short on factory ammo, so I whomped up some handloads with my favorite recipes with several different bullets. Common with slender barrels, asking for tight five-shot groups was a bit much; as the barrel heated, the last couple of shots started to wander, opening my groups toward the 1.75-inch range. Three-shot groups were much tighter. Of four handloads tested, the average for five, three-shot groups at 100 yards was .995-inch. Pretty impressive from that slender barrel.

Accuracy and Performance

Some barrels shoot homogenous-alloy bullets well, and some barrels shoot better with lead-core bullets. Best of my four handloads was 41.5 grains of IMR 3031 behind a 165-grain Barnes TSX, averaging .825-inch for five, three-shot groups. That suited me just fine because I had the rifle in California, where we must hunt with unleaded projectiles. It was now late spring, the barley was up and pigs were in the fields. I took it out to friend Tony Lombardo’s ranch, and in the late afternoon we caught a group of hogs laying waste to a barley field. Quick rest over sticks, nice hog down. There’s not much better for hogs than an accurate .308.

Eventually I had some factory ammo, so I tried Hornady’s Precision Hunter with 178-grain ELD-X. This .308 Speed liked that load. It also liked Federal Premium’s Gold Medal Match loaded with a 168-grain Sierra. Embarrassingly, in this rifle, both loads beat the pants off my handloads, shrinking five-shot groups to just over one MOA.

Fast forward to Kansas deer season. I needed that Leupold on something else, so I switched it out for a new Redfield Reveal 3-18x44, which features impressive medium-priced glass. With the 44mm objective, the scope was similar in size, so no further comb adjustment necessary. I knew John Sonne would be joining me for our December rifle season. Although disgustingly slimmer, John and I are about the same size, so the rifle also fit him perfectly. A few days before the season, I checked zero with the 178-grain ELD-X load. Perfect. When John arrived, we went to the range where he verified zero and took a couple shots to get used to the action and trigger.

A few days later we were standing over his heavy-antlered mature buck. Almost a perfect ten-pointer except for a split G2 point that made it an 11-point. Not quite the best buck of our 2025 season, but close. Taken thanks to straight shooting and an X-Bolt 2 Speed rifle.

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