Beretta BRX1 Straight-Pull Rifle Review: Fast Follow Ups

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Traditional bolt-action rifles are as American as baseball and apple pie, but our friends on the far side of the Atlantic prefer straight-pull designs. In places like Germany and Finland, where driven hunts are common, the straight pull has become the rifle of choice.

We’re seeing more straight pulls show up in the States every year, though. Companies like Blaser, Heym and Merkel have been importing a limited number of straight-pull rifles for years. Savage introduced the first American-made centerfire straight pull, the Impulse, in 2021, and most recently Beretta began offering its BRX1 straight-pull rifle in the U.S.

The BRX1 has been available in Europe for a few years, so while it’s not technically a “new” rifle, it is a recent arrival on American gun store shelves. In concept the BRX1 is very similar to other European straight pulls like the Blaser R8, in that cycling the action simply requires a straight back-and-forth pull on the bolt handle. However, the Beretta’s operation is very different than most other straight pulls.

With a traditional bolt-action rifle, the shooter locks the lugs by rotating the bolt handle down into the firing position. The trick with straight pulls is to design a mechanical system in which the lugs lock every time to ensure safe and reliable function. With guns like the Savage and the Blaser, the bolt handle actually rotates as the lugs lock and unlock.

Straight-Pull

The BRX1’s bolt handle doesn’t rotate during cycling, which was confounding for a guy like me who was familiar with the Blaser and Savage designs. Instead, the BRX1’s system uses a bolt lockup that’s similar in concept to the familiar AR-15.

When the bolt is shoved forward, the lugs—eight for standard calibers, 16 for magnums—rotate and lock in position in the steel barrel extension. Unlike AR-15s, which use gas pressure to unlock the lugs, the BRX1 relies on the force applied by pulling the bolt rearward to unlock the bolt. The bolt handle stays in the same position relative to the bolt body, which confused me at first. Shouldn’t it move when the lugs lock? Nope, not with this design.

Another similarity between the BRX1 and the AR-15 is the concept of an upper and lower receiver, although on the Beretta the bolt constitutes the entire upper receiver portion.

The “lower” consists of the aluminum chassis, and the fore-end and buttstock are separate. There’s a barrel and barrel extension into which the lugs lock, and two screws that are accessible through the bottom of the fore-end hold the whole works together. The 20.1-inch cold-hammer-forged barrel is free-floated and features a 1:10 twist. It also comes with a 5/8x24 threaded muzzle and a thread protector. Like other European rifles, the BRX1 bears the proof house marks to indicate it has passed pressure testing protocol.

Current Chamberings

The Beretta BRX1 is currently available in 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Win., and .300 Win. Mag. You may be piecing together that the design is modular, and that’s correct. You can remove the barrel and, if necessary, swap out the bolt head and magazines to switch calibers. In addition, a Picatinny rail is attached to the barrel extension, so the scope remains attached to the barrel—reducing or eliminating the need to re-zero the rifle if you change it to a different chambering.

Bolt stroke is just a bit under five inches and therefore long enough to operate with magnum-length calibers, although it’s a bit more space than is needed for short actions like the .308 Win. I tested.

It’s easy to switch calibers with the BRX1, but it’s also very easy to swap between right- and left-handed operation. Remove the bolt from the rifle, press a detent, and the bolt handle can be swapped from the right to the left side.

But wait, there’s more. You can also remove the bolt head and rotate it 180 degrees so the gun ejects spent cartridges to the left. Or if you decide you want the empty cases to eject to the left so they land on the bench top while you’re shooting with a right-handed bolt configuration, you can do that, too. And the whole process requires neither special tools nor a master’s degree in mechanical engineering to complete.

Safety

The tang-mounted safety is ambidextrous, but it’s a very European design. At its rearmost position the rifle is completely in the Safe position and the bolt cannot be unlocked. Slide it forward one position and a white bar appears, indicating the gun is on Safe but the bolt is unlocked. Pressing to the forwardmost position, indicated by a visible red bar, disengages the safety for firing.

The process requires noticeably more force than most traditional bolt-action safeties, and it may take some time to become familiar with safety operation. There’s a lever on the top of the safety that must be depressed to move the safety catch forward, but if you press down on the lever without applying forward pressure, the safety moves backward. However, once you’re familiar with the process it’s simple and intuitive as well as safe.

BRX1 rifles come equipped with double-stack magazines that are bright orange, so if you drop one you won’t have trouble finding it. When the magazine is in position, two orange tabs are visible on either side of the magazine base. Simply pinch these and the polymer magazine drops into your hand.

Since the tabs are on both sides of the magazine, operation is once again ambidextrous, and whether or not you like the looks of the bright orange tabs—which are always visible on the rifle—they make it very easy to determine whether or not a magazine is in place, even when the gun is leaning in a rack across the campfire.

Custom Fitting

The buttstock can be modified to fit the shooter. The included pistol grip is removable and can be replaced by a more vertical target-style grip that is available through Beretta.

You can also adjust length of pull. The stock comes with a half-inch spacer installed, producing a length of pull of 14.5 inches. Remove it to shorten length of pull by half an inch.

The BRX1 stock has a negative comb, which means it slopes down from rear to front. This allows for some adjustment front and back to accommodate for scope height. The rifle’s rail sits fairly high, so if you’re a person who likes to bury your face against the comb like you’re shooting quail with a shotgun, you might find that a comb pad is in order.

The rifle includes front and rear sling studs, and the mostly rounded fore-end is somewhat flat on the bottom so it’s not prone to wobbling on horizontal surfaces.

Trigger

The trigger assembly is housed in a cassette that can be easily removed using a flathead screwdriver. The assembly houses not only the trigger but the hammer, and on the left side of the trigger assembly is the trigger adjustment button. By swapping the button to the top, middle or bottom positions you can change trigger pull from around 2.1 pounds to roughly 3.25 pounds.

Removing the bolt simply requires lifting up on the lever on the left side of the gun.

Straight-pull rifles are rarely lightweight since they are biased toward fast, accurate shooting; their weight and the associated reduction in recoil are benefits for this. The .308 BRX1 I tested weighed right at 7.5 pounds unloaded, and with a scope and a full magazine you can expect the gun to weigh more than nine pounds.

A BRX1 version with a carbon-fiber-wrapped barrel is available if you want to shave a few ounces, but this rifle is built for a specific mission, and hiking for sheep at thin-air altitudes is not the name of the game.

Recoil and Function

I topped the Beretta BRX1 with a Leupold VX-5HD 3-15x44 optic and tested it with three different .308 loads. Recoil is scant with this setup, and once I stopped trying to lift the bolt handle I found I could run the action very quickly. The round bolt knob is easy to operate, but it’s removable if you prefer a different design.

I did notice, however, that the bolt comes precariously close to the shooter’s nose with every cycle of the action. The odds of making contact between the rear of the bolt and your nose vary with how you position your face on the stock (as well as the size of your nose, I suppose). I never got punched, but I did get in the habit of rotating my head slightly away from the stock with each shot.

Since the BRX1’s bolt runs on rails it’s extremely smooth, and the prodigious opening left when the bolt is retracted offers numerous reloading options. You can, of course, feed cartridges from the magazine, but the large gap allows you to single-load a round into the chamber or top-load the magazine if you’d like.

I actually tried to jam the gun, tossing loose cartridges into the action atop the mag and then driving the bolt forward. But the BRX1 wasn’t having it, feeding the cartridge into the chamber with every push of the bolt handle. I never had an issue with reliability, save one instance when I forgot to seat the mag fully and it dropped free after the first shot.

Accuracy

That really was my fault because this is a no-fuss magazine that loads easily and functions reliably. I had no issues stuffing the promised five rounds in the magazine, and the cartridges seated naturally. The magazine is, as mentioned, very bright. You’re not likely to lose it unless it falls into a pile of traffic cones.

The trigger is light, breaking at just 2.1 pounds without modification. There’s a bit of movement initially, but it’s manageable and the trigger break is very predictable.

Accuracy was good. Beretta backs the BRX1 with a sub-m.o.a. accuracy promise. While I did get a few three-shot groups under an inch at 100 yards, most three-shot groups were around 1.2 inches at that distance.

As I said, I grew up a traditional bolt-action fan, but guns like the Beretta make a compelling case for straight pulls. With a flick of the wrist you can cycle the action and have a fresh round ready to fire.

Final Thoughts

The safety is a bit odd if you aren’t familiar with the European design, but it is easy to operate and functions well. However, I will point out that a scope with a large eyepiece mounted low to the receiver might make the safety difficult to access.

The relatively short barrel will work wonderfully with suppressors like my Silencer Central Banish Backcountry. And because the rifle is modular it allows you to swap calibers.

Another advantage of the design is you can transport the gun disassembled, allowing it to fit in a shorter case that isn’t so obviously designed for a rifle. That makes travel much simpler and safer. Lifelong bolt-action fans will find the receiver proportions are odd, but you can’t argue that this rifle offers a lot. It’s also relatively affordable for a European straight pull at $1,599, which is thousands less than a comparable Merkel, Blaser or Heym.

Will the BRX1 win over the masses in America? It’s hard to say, but I’m a fan. When I finish evaluations on a hunting rifle I always ask myself two questions: Would I enjoy owning this gun and, after my range session, would I be comfortable taking the rifle on a personal hunt? The answer to both in this case is a resounding yes.

Beretta BRX1 Specs

• Type: straight-pull centerfire
• Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Win. (tested), .300 Win. Mag.
• Capacity: 5
• Barrel: matte blue 20.1 in. cold-hammer-forged, 1:10 twist; threaded 5/8x24
• Overall Length: 40.75 in.
• Weight: 7 lb., 8 oz.
• Stock: black polymer, interchangeable length-of-pull spacers, interchangeable pistol grip
• Finish: anodized black
• Trigger: adjustable; 2 lb., 1 oz. pull (measured, as received)
• Safety: three-position tang
• Sights: none; Picatinny rail
• MSRP: $1,599
• Manufacturer: Beretta, BerettaUSA.com

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