Beretta BRX1 Walnut

Beretta now offers the BRX1 straight-pull rifle with a classic walnut look for traditional hunters. The stock is similar to their market-leading shotguns, featuring attractively grained timber and a matte finish. It also includes a smoothly mounting recoil pad and crisply-cut chequering.

Classic contrast
The BRX1 shows a slim sporting barrel with a black finish and a 14x1 thread at the muzzle. This rifle is chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, but .308, .30-06 and .300-Win Mag are available too. The barrel, bolt head, and magazines are interchangeable. The scope is mounted reaching backwards on an extended Picatinny rail that hangs to the rear of the barrel, which incidentally, incorporates the locking lug abutments. The Pic rail has a deep profile to maintain stiffness, and although close to the bolt carrier, it doesn’t mechanically interact. The barrel is bolted to the aluminium bedding block within the walnut stock with twin Allen-headed fasteners below the breech. These make it easy to remove the barrel and perform a calibre swap.

The straight pull
The bolt is fitted within a carrier and has eight lugs on this Creedmoor (16 for the magnum calibres). It rotates to lock within abutments behind the cold hammer-forged barrel’s chamber. The bolt handle can be swapped from right to left. It does not pivot to unlock the action, as it’s fixed. When pulled back, it allows the bolt carrier to rotate the inner bolt as it reciprocates to reload the action. The carrier has grooves along its lower edge that run within the rails on the receiver, and although some people think it’s similar looking to a Blaser (the best-known straight pull), it’s a totally different mechanical design. As the bolt handle and carrier are drawn back, there is about 7mm of free rearward travel before the internal cam system rotates the bolt to unlock it from the barrel. This forms the pressure retention vessel in a similar way to an AR-15.

Action details
There is a sliding release catch on the left side of the carrier. When pressed, it allows the carrier/bolt to be drawn out of the rifle, and you can then split the bolt in half. If you want, you can slot it back together the opposite way around, making it a left side ejector to pair with the option to switch the operating handle to the left side too. All of this is covered in the supplied instruction manual, and you also get an oil bottle and extended Allen wrench for barrel changes.
With the carrier removed you can see the latch in the back of the action that allows you to remove the entire trigger unit. You can alter the trigger weight without tools by moving the black button into one of the three available positions. While inside, you may notice the hammer, which flicks up and out of the trigger group into the bolt carrier’s internals, striking the rear of the firing pin and forcing it through the bolt face and into the primer. Although well-made and neatly finished, the mechanism has a military, semi-auto rifle character.

Bright ideas
The five-round magazine system is bright orange for easy recognition. This is a fantastic idea, as it’s easier to see and harder to lose. You can also access it easily from either side and clearly see the remaining ammunition. It has twin release catches on either side of its base and it’s instinctively fast to operate and draw from the stock in one smooth movement. It is a two-column, staggered design, meaning you can load it in or out of the rifle.
The safety catch is just that, and although looking a bit like a de-cocker, it isn’t, it just locks the mechanism without relieving any hammer or striker spring pressure. It’s a large button on the rear of the carrier and it moves forward for fire and rear for safe, using a slight rocking motion with bolt locking and a mid-position for safe action opening. I would recommend thoroughly learning how the action works before you ever need to disassemble it in a hurry, as it is far more complicated than the typical turn bolt that most people are familiar with.

Accessories
I fitted the supplied Stalon moderator to the neatly crowned and screwcut barrel. There are front and rear sling studs, so I also attached a Harris bipod to the former. A 4-16x44 Steiner scope in Burris rings was also supplied, illustrating the careful compromise you need to make for correct scope mounting around the necessarily thick/high Picatinny rail that effectively extends a long way from your eye to the front of the action.

Clip-in
The magazine loads easily and clips in and out securely. The bolt carrier reciprocates smoothly, with clean feeding to the chamber. Firing the rifle showed a 95% crisp, consistent feel with a single-stage trigger pull. I left the trigger weight in the centre position, which I weighed at 862g. There is plenty of space in the trigger guard for gloved fingers in the winter, and overall, the stock delivers everything I need in a hunting tool.
The barrel fully free floats within the rigid, medium profile fore-end, and when shot from a tripod, the clamp didn’t affect zero. Including an optional spacer, the length of pull is generous at 368mm/14.5”. Chequering throughout ensures tactile grip, but like any fine walnut furniture, this probably isn’t the stock for harsh weather conditions. The recoil pad mounts smoothly into your shoulder, and it shows radiused edges and grips firmly in place, without being too spongy. The ambidextrous, modestly proportioned Monte-Carlo cheekpiece is as tall as it can be while remaining under the bolt carrier at full extension. The bolt carrier reciprocates 125mm, so be aware that you are probably going to have to lift your head off the stock to avoid contact with your face. Ejection is automatic and plentiful, regardless of bolt speed, and the action prefers to be snapped closed to ensure smooth chambering.

Good job
The barrel maintained zero from multiple shooting positions, and the point of impact remained consistent, even when the barrel got hot. Be aware, however, that if you get it very hot, primary extraction requires direct force on the bolt and becomes noticeably harder. Due to relative chamber pressures, brass metallurgy and tolerances, this was ammunition dependent, so is a factor to consider when choosing your fuel. You can operate the gun deliberately slowly when it’s cold, but it prefers to be run harder and faster when hot. This is likely for fast-fire, wild boar hunting, and it is supposedly these shooters that are the target audience. For the deer stalker, the gun is certainly accurate and dependable for precision cold-bore shots and a couple of follow-ups, but it isn’t the quietest mechanical operator. The carrier prefers to build and maintain a little momentum when closing but you will become accustomed to its timing preferences. I had no trouble zeroing the rifle, and it maintained this when handled realistically, including being carried around, slung over a shoulder, and used with bipods, bags and rests.
As always, the ammunition showed the rifle’s preferences and the best group was shot with 140gr Sako Gamehead Pro, which is a straightforward choice for most UK stalkers. However, all the ammunition types passed the MOA challenge for five shots, including the copper bullets.

Barrel change
I didn’t have any of the alternate calibre barrels but estimated a full change would take three to four minutes. The aluminium bedding block within the stock is an excellent design concept that avoids action stresses. The return to zero after disassembly and reassembly showed a 2cm point of impact shift, which is not unknown between different batches of ammunition anyway.

Conclusion
The BRX1 shoots accurately, and the barrel and action are without doubt capable performers, but you must accept some mechanical and related ergonomic compromises in terms of action dimensions, speed, and operating force required. It’s also important to select your optic carefully, as you need to balance out the objective lens size along with eye relief to ensure you can keep it as low as possible over the fundamentally deep/long Picatinny rail. The stock is graceful and impeccably finished, with attractive straight grain, and it transfers recoil smoothly without any resonance. I was also pleased to note the secure sling studs and the rigid fore-end with tactile finger grooves for natural pointability and a relaxed grip. I believe the BRX1 will be a highly polarising firearm, appealing to some due to its unique operating concept.