i bought a used a-bolt in 7mm-08 this summer. got it for a great price, before gander mountain lost their pricing minds. i loaded up some speer 130gr with h4895. after sighting in at 100yds, i started to adj. the boss. i went from 1 1/2" groups to 3 rounds in a nickel. i moved it a total of 4 marks from the sweet spot. i know, i could have adj. my handloads to get there, but this was so easy! the muzzle brake did reduce the recoil, it was noticeable. but it was very loud. i put the standard end on, and the bullet impact did not change. i don't think browning is offering the boss anymore, but i would recommend it, especially in larger calibers. it does look ugly on the end of the rifle thoughhttp://shootersforum.com/newthread.htm?do=newthread&f=33#
big grin

The BOSS is still there. It is only on select models in select calibers among the A-bolts. There are some here (http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=001B&cat_id=035&type_id=008). What has changed since I got my A-bolt is the BOSS is now also available without the loud muzzle brake holes, and will still tune harmonic barrel vibration.

Tuning the barrel or tuning the round is not an either/or situation. Do both, and you will get even smaller groups. I'll be putting more up about why this is true at some future date, but in the meanwhile be advised that the national benchrest rules were changed for this year to allow barrel tuners, and those guys were already shooting tuned loads into single holes. It makes a difference to do both.

Why do you like the A-bolt?

The only A-Bolt I had was a .300 Win Mag with BOSS and I'll agree- It worked.
I shot a friend's .338 Win Mag A-Bolt and was impressed. I didn't need a magnum anything, but I kept my eyes open for a deal after that and found that .300 stainless.

It was a noisy thing if you stood in the right place while someone else was shooting, but it did reduce recoil. As I recall, it didn't bother me when shooting.

I played around with the adjustment some, and it did it's job. It was sorta like dialing in a group size.
I like to fiddle and adjust, so trying all the combinations of loads and BOSS settings could have driven me nuts. But for the most part, I stayed with one setting that shot my main loads really well instead of finding the ideal setting for each.

The Boss system works very well if you will put in the shooting time to find the particular load / Boss setting that works best. If you are lucky that can relatively quickly. If you aren't lucky, you can put a lot of bullets down range looking for perfection. If you won't do that it is either a cool looking thing on the end of your barrel or a crappy looking thing on the end of your barrel depending on your taste.

JWK

If you own the BOSS, use the setting for the load on their list of commercial rounds that comes closest to your own to do the initial set up. Saves time. I recommend looking at the Browning video of it being done. It shouldn't take any longer than firing strings for tuning a load (Audette ladder, Newberry round robin, etc.). I know of no way to tune a load or set a barrel tuner without investing some ammunition in it. I usually figure 21 rounds at a minimum.

Browning BOSS adjustment video is at the bottom of the left column of the video clip links on their video page here (http://www.browning.com/video/index.asp).