Story & Photos by Stan Trzoniec
A variant of the Browning Long Trac, the SXR is the latest in the parade of new autoloaders.
Photo: Note the SXR's clean lines. It's available in .270 WSM, .300 WSM, .300 Win Mag, and .30-06 calibers.
The explosion of flat-shooting magnum cartridges in recent years has brought about another, albeit lesser, trend in the shooting industry -- the resurgence of the semiautomatic hunting rifle. Magnum cartridges kick hard. Semiautos help tame some of that fury.
Among the new self-loaders are Remington's Model 750 Woodsmaster, Browning's Shorttrac and Longtrac BAR, Benelli's R-1, and the Winchester Super X Rifle (SXR).
Photo: The author found the autoloader a pleasure to shoot and looks forward to using it this fall in the deer woods.
Winchester got into the semiauto hunting rifle business over a century ago, with the Model 1905 chambered in .32 and .35 Win. The Model 1907 followed and continued, remarkably, until 1957. The Model 100, introduced four years later, stayed on the market until 1973 with more than a quarter-million guns sold. Winchester's latest autoloader, the SXR, is a variant of the Browning Longtrac and was introduced as part of the package of imports that also includes bolt-action rimfires.
While the Browning and Winchester semiautos are very similar inside, changes on the exterior distinguish them. The characteristic Browning hump is at the rear of the former gun's receiver. The SXR's receiver is rounded, and the stock includes a point pattern and a fore-end tip.
There is no high comb or a cheekpiece. The pistol grip has a graduated sweep that makes it comfortable in the hand. A generous amount of checkering is included. It looks like Winchester began with diamonds, then went back over the pattern with a diagonal line. While this might sound bizarre, it is a very handsome design.
Photo: Workmanship is first class with the receiver, barrel and related parts polished and blued. Wood to metal fit is excellent, the wood finished in a satin, weather-resistant urethane coating that is suitable for the most demanding hunting conditions.
The gun is devoid of a pistol-grip cap, but a Winchester "W" has been inserted into the base. Our test gun featured a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad, but upgraded models allow users to make easy length-of-pull adjustments with aluminum spacers. The standard length of pull is 14 inches. This might be a tad long for hunters wearing heavy jackets, but the spacers allow changing the stock length a quarter-inch in either direction.
The forearm features generous checkering, a black fore-end tip and a sling swivel stud. The wood grade on mine far surpassed my expectations and included some handsome fiddleback grain. A tough satin-urethane finish on the wood should last the life of the rifle under normal field use.
Winchester did an amazing job of inletting, considering the number of curves around the receiver, trigger guard, forward of the magazine and other places.
The action is the heart of any rifle. This one features a detachable box magazine. It's somewhat bulky, so allow some extra room in your hunting jacket if you opt to take a spare. Magazines will hold four .30-06 rounds or three .300 Win Mag, .270 or .300 WSM cartridges.
Photo: Left: You can see the detail in the triangular checking pattern here and the flying "W" that is laser-cut into the pistol-grip cap. Right: While the wood on this gun is certainly outstanding, being a Grade II suggests there will be other guns that carry the same kind of figuring.
Magazine removal is done by pulling back on the lever in front of the trigger guard. Installing it is a simple matter of hooking the front part into the gun, then bringing the rear up and into the magazine release.
The receiver is aluminum and, like the barrel, is handsomely polished and blued. Sights are not furnished; the receiver is drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Winchester wisely chose to match the mounting holes to common one- or two-piece BLR or BAR bases. I added Burris high-gloss rings and a 3-9x Fullfield II scope, which perfectly matched the gun's bluing.
The bolt has multi-locking lugs that mate to surfaces within the barrel extension. By utilizing an aluminum receiver with this extension, Winchester has managed to keep the gun weight to 7 1/4 pounds.
A red dot located behind the operating lever shows when the bolt is fully closed. One of the SXR's negatives is that it lacks bolt release. When the last round is fired, the bolt stays open, held by the magazine follower. Remove the magazine, however, and the bolt closes ¡ª not a desirable feature.
Like traditional gas-operated guns, firing a cartridge sets off a chain of events that includes the motion necessary to operate the rifle. It starts by bleeding off a small percentage of gas from the cartridge. The gas is fed into a tiny orifice, which moves the twin action bars and the bolt to the rear. With this rearward movement, the spent cartridge is ejected and a new one is picked up from the magazine and sent into the breech.
Our test gun's trigger broke at 5 1/2 pounds, which is typical for rifles of this type. The magazine/floorplate assembly and the trigger guard are made of a tough polymer molding. Behind the trigger is a cross-bolt safety that's is typical in operation. Pushing it to the right sets the gun on safe; pushing it to the left allows the gun to be fired.
At the range, our test gun shot groups averaging around 2 inches with Remington, Winchester, and Federal ammunition. With time and persistence at the bench, I look forward to shooting tighter three-shot groups.
--Stan Trzoniec
GunHunter Magazine -- November 2007
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