VET, good recommendations on the X-bolt safety. Makes good sense.
If one can just develop that habit, it sounds reasonable.
__________
Re: quality of A's & W's. Even though I was reading in several threads (bookmarked somewhere in my enormous bookmark list) that there was no workmanship differences among A, C & W, that there were only cosmetic differences, I still had a nagging little suspicion that there may be some workmanship differences.
I bought an A anyway, because I specifically wanted the birch stock instead of walnut, and the fore end cap instead of bands (reasons for both stated elsewhere in this thread).
Even after a lot of levering (though of course, not enough yet), the action is still pretty stiff, and the lever doesn't always lock up tight against the bottom of the stock at the end of a cycle without an extra "squeeze". It's like it hits something and bounces back unless I'm working the lever really hard (which is more difficult when the rifle is shouldered), so I have to take the extra step to squeeze it into a locked position.
That and an infrequent jam when a new cartridge is moving into the chamber make me think that the rifle needed just another hour or two on the assembly line before getting boxed up.
So, I'm thinking about selling it an buying a Winchester ...
Just kidding!
I'm thinking about taking it down to my smith and have him do some finishing work on the action. I'll bet he could probably make it smooth as butter for not too much money.
I might be able to do it myself, but I'm not even close to being a smith (I'm a biologist, and biologists are even dangerous with hammers, let alone gun tools
), and I've honestly got more money than time right now. I'd probably just rather have it done right and not risk damage because I don't really know what I'm doing.
Nem