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FN Browning A-Bolt SSA

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One Piece Pivot Mounts

The History of Browning

Browning Arms Company was founded in 1880 by the American John Moses Browning, one of the most, if not the most prolific and influential firearm inventor of all time, with the help of his brothers, in Ogden, Utah. A large portion of John Browning's rifle designs have been acquired and produced by other big-name companies, like Winchester, Colt, Remington, Fabrique Nationale of Belgium, and Miroku. Among his most famous guns produced were the 1895 Colt Peacemaker machine gun, the Browning automatic rifle, the .45-caliber pistol, a variety of .30- and .50-caliber machine guns used in World War II; and the Browning Automatic-5 shotgun first introduced in 1902 and still produced to this day. Beside firearms, Browning is also a manufacturer of various other products, such as gun knives, shooting accessories, bicycles, and clothing. In 1977 the Belgian firearms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN) purchased the Browning Company. In 1987 the US Repeating Arms Company (Winchester) was purchased from its former owners. The Winchester brand (licensed from Olin Corporation) was acquired at the same time by FN. In 1990, Société Générale sold the FN company to GIAT Industries.

In 1997, the entire FN family of companies (including Browning and the Winchester) was bought from GIAT by the government of a Belgian region named Waloon and was renamed to Groupe Herstal.

Browning A-Bolt SSA Rifle Review

Browning A-Bolt is a centerfire bolt-action repeating rifle first introduced in 1984 as successor to the Browning BBR rifle model. The A-bolt series was upgraded in 1994 with the release of A-bolt II range. Some of the characteristics, including bolt and trigger mechanism, were modified, but the models retained their names. A-Bolt SSA is the version of the A-Bolt series with the shortest action.

The rifle consists of a bolt with a small extractor, plunger-style ejector and three locking lugs that lock into the front of the receiver. Its barrel is free-floating, and the recoil lug is glass-bedded. The two-position safety catch is located on the neck of the stock, just behind the bolt, and readies the rifle to fire when pushed forward. The rifle was made in 3 versions: A-Bolt, A-Bolt II, and A-Bolt III. While the first two versions are very similar and feature the same mounting surfaces, the A-Bolt III version is a slight redesign and features different mounting surfaces. Browning A-Bolt is available in five different mounting surfaces.

Browning A-Bolt SSA

Figure 1: Browning A-Bolt SSA. Source: https://www.browning.com/products/firearms/rifles/a-bolt/discontinued/a-bolt-ssa-mossy-oak-brush.html

Browning A-Bolt SSA Calibers

Browning A-Bolt SSA is chambered for the following calibers: *

  • .204 Ruger

  • .222 Rem.

  • .22-250 Rem.

  • .22 Hornet

  • .223 Rem.

  • .223 WSSM

  • .243 WSSM

  • .25 WSSM

  • .325 WSM

*Caliber choice depends on the variant 

Browning A-Bolt SSA Variants

Browning A-Bolt is available in the following variants:

  • Classic Hunter Stainless

  • Composite Stalker

  • Digital Green

  • Eclipse hunter with BOSS

  • Grade III Octagon

  • Hunter

  • Hunter FLD

  • Hunter, Left Hand

  • II Long Range Hunter Composite

  • II Long Range Hunter Gray Laminate

  • II Long Range Hunter Stainless Mossy Oak Brush

  • II Target/Varmint Suppressor Ready Mossy Oak Brush

  • M-1000 Eclipse

  • Medallion Grade V Octagon 25th Anniversary

  • Medallion, Left-Hand

  • Micro Hunter

  • Micro Hunter, Left-Hand

  • Mountain Ti

  • Mountain Ti Mossy Oak Brush

  • Mountain Ti, Mossy Oak Break-Up Infinity

  • Stainless Hunter

  • Stainless M-1000 Eclipse

  • Stainless Mossy Oak Brush

  • Stainless Stalker

  • Target

  • Target Stainless

  • TCT Varmint

  • Varmint Stalker

  • White Gold Medallion

  • Wildlife Conservation Collection

  • Special Hunter

  • White Gold

  • Medallion

Browning A-Bolt SSA features four holes on the receiver for mounting purposes.

browning a bolt ssa

Figure 2: The receiver of Browning A-Bolt SSA, chambered for .22-250 (Source: https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/rifles/browning-rifles---a-bolt/browning-a-bolt-22-250.cfm?gun_id=101506564)

Skica dimenzij

Figure 3: Browning A-Bolt SSA receiver

A: 21.84 mm

B: 76.65 mm

C: 14.22 mm

BHU: 0 mm

Ø: 6-48

R1: R34 (35.6)

R2: R34 (35.6)

Scopes Mounts Interchangeable With Browning A-Bolt SSA

Rifles That Have One-Piece Mounts Interchangeable With Browning A-Bolt SSA

The necessary condition for rifles to have one-piece mounts interchangeable is that the mounting surfaces of these rifles match in every dimension. Rifles that have one-piece mounts interchangeable with Browning A-Bolt SSA are the following:

  • none

Rifles That Have Two-Piece Mounts Interchangeable With Browning A-Bolt SSA

For two-piece mounts to be interchangeable the mounting surfaces of the rifles must match in every dimension except the B dimension which can vary. This is because the distance between the two pieces of the mount is not fixed. Rifles that have two-piece mounts interchangeable with Browning A-Bolt SSA are the following:

  • none

Best Scope Mounts For Browning A-Bolt SSA

Detachable Repeatable Mounts For Browning A-Bolt SSA

This Eramatic Swing Pivot mount is reliable and the most affordable on offer.

Picatinny Rails For Browning A-Bolt SSA

This Picatinny rail from EGW is the only Picatinny rail available for this rifle.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade

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VIDEO

Pivot mounts are a special kind of repeatable mounts that are especially popular in Europe and mainly produced by European manufacturers. Most notable among them are German Companies like EAW (Ernst Apel Wurzburg), Recknagel, Henneberger and MAK. These Companies were also among the first to produce mounts of this type. Non German companies like Rusan are also following this trend.

Main benefits of pivot mounts, or swing mounts as they are sometimes called are:

  • 100% repeatability,
  • very quick and easy detaching and reattaching,
  • extremely durable; most mounts of this kind are tested on 10000 or more reattachments,
  • size and weight; light and small, elegant.

There are also some minor weaknesses that such mounts posses and they are: they are usually more expensive than other types of mounts, the installation on the rifle should be done by a skilled gunsmith and most of these mounts are higher than 14 mm.

A distinct feature of pivot/swing mounts is the way the scope attaches to the rifle. The front foot of the mount on the scope is inserted in the front base under a 90 degrees angle to the barrel. Then the entire scope is pivoted around the front base until it is locked into position by the rear base.

Pivot mounts of all types enable windage correction on the rear base at the time of the mounts installation. There are three main types of pivot mounts which are distinguished by the type of the rear base:

  • EAW style rear base: produced by EAW and Rusan,
  • Dovetail rail base: produced by Recknagel, Henneberger, MAK and others.
  • Leupold type rear base