The DIY Hunter

Mounting the Scope on my X-Bolt

Browning X-Bolt Four Screw Per Base Scope Mounting System

View of the four screw per base scope mounting system on the Browning X-Bolt.

 

One Piece Alloy Bases and Rings, R-Rear, F-Front

The one piece alloy bases and rings manufactured by Talley for Browning have a F-Front and a R-Rear base.

 

X-Bolt One Piece Alloy Bases and Rings on X-Bolt

Top view of the bottom piece of the one piece alloy bases and rings on my X-Bolt.

 

Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope with lens cloth and fog eliminator.

Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope comes with cleaning lens cloth, fog eliminator, and some pretty nice lens caps.

 

Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC rifle scope lens caps block bolt's movement with the standard low bases.

The scope comes with some pretty good flip-up lens caps however the lens caps block the bolt's movement with the standard low bases I'm using. I'll use a neoprene scope cover and clearance won't be a problem.

Tuesday while lying in bed sick with fevers from what I later learned was Strep Throat, I decided I wasn't as happy as I wanted to be with the Bushnell Elite 6500 scope on my X-Bolt. Fevers weren't going to stop me from getting the scope I wanted and I was able to navigate midwayusa.com with my little N810 pocket computer and get a Nikon Monarch 4-16x42SF BDC rifle scope ordered. I had been studying various scopes, features, prices and comparing in hand different scopes pretty extensively over the past week and decided that the Nikon Monarch 4-16x42SF BDC was the rifle scope I wanted for my X-Bolt and the big country I would be hunting with this rifle.

After being completely down for only a few days thanks to a shot from the doc, I made it out to purchase some new bases and rings at the employee store on Thursday. I opted to go with the standard height (low), matte finish set of the lightweight one piece Browning bases and rings that are manufactured by Talley. The scope had also arrived Thursday and I spent some time that night getting the rifle setup to shoot on Saturday.

Friday evening I spent a couple of hours working on mapping where I wanted to sight-in the zero distance of my rifle and achieve the desirable yardages for the additional aiming points in the BDC reticle. I laugh now but I set my rifle up on a table and set out a target through my garage and into the back yard at 50 yards so I could measure the distances between the aiming points in the reticle. I had the aiming points pretty well mapped out calculating the hold over distances and I had drawn up the cross-hair in Illustrator on the computer so I could print it out and place it on my rifle, when I found Nikon's Spot On ballistics program. What an awesome program! Kudos Nikon!

Using Spot On I was quickly able to load my bullet's information and print out various hold over charts and information. I can laugh now but I spent a good couple of hours fiddling with manually figuring out what Nikon has made a breeze. Now in my defense I hadn't really spent any time looking at Nikon's ads or website or I would have already noticed the Spot On information. I had made up my mind to purchase this particular Nikon BDC scope based on looking through one that's in the office for a photo prop.

I decided to sight my rifle in with a 200 yard zero. I normally go with a 300 yard zero, with a two and a half inch point of impact at 100 yards. With the 200 yard zero giving only a one inch high point of impact at 100 yards the fourth aiming circle in the BDC reticle is still an amazing 724 yards at 8,000 ft in elevation, with this flat shooting load.

After setting up my X-Bolt with this Nikon scope I found that it caused problems with shell ejection that took some tinkering to fix

For a few years now I have enjoyed using this scope on my X-Bolt. In 2013 I decided I wanted a change and passed down the Nikon Monarch to Dallen's A-Bolt 223 Rem. I am now using a X-Bolt 20 MOA Picatinny Rail and Vortex Viper HS LR Rifle Scope on my X-Bolt and love it.

Related Journal Entries

  • 2010 Oklahoma Whitetail Hunt — Hunting with 243 WSSM & 270 WSM Rifles
  • 2010 Elk Hunt — 5x5 Bull with X-Bolt 270 WSM
  • 2010 Mule Deer — Last Day Busted G2 Buck with X-Bolt 270 WSM
  • 270 WSM 140g Nosler Accubond handload
  • X-Bolt Photos and Comparison to A-Bolt
  • X-Bolt Accuracy at 300 Yards
  • X-Bolt Shell Ejection Problems - Solved

At the Range

Michelle Shooting my Marlin 39A Octagon Barrel 22 Rifle

Michelle (My wife) shooting my old Marlin 39A octagon barrel 22 rifle while I was sighting in my X-Bolt. This was my first rifle I purchase as a young kid. I earned money mowing my grandparents lawn to get the rifle. It's had many a thousand rounds through it over the years.

 

Adjustable Objective on the Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope

Adjustable Objective on the Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope. One of the main reasons I chose this scope was the generous amount of adjust-ability this scope offers to be able to fine tune the parallax of the range I am shooting at.

 

Adjustable Objective on the Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope

View of the side focus adjustable objective knob and the one piece bases and rings.

 

Windage and Elevation Turrets on the Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope

Caps off the windage and elevation adjustment turrets on the Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC rifle scope.

 

Browning X-Bolt with the Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC Rifle Scope

Nikon Monarch 4-16xSF BDC on my Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker at the range.

 

Nikon SpotOn Holdover Chart

Nikon SpotOn Ballistic Chart of my X-Bolt 270 WSM, shooting 140g Nosler Accubond handloads, with a 200 yard zero, at 8,000 ft. above sea level.