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An oldie but a goodie,1971 Begium Browning BLR .308 Win

Bman940

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
439
Location
N. Texas
One of my favorite classic hunting rifles. My Father-In-Law stumbled on this rifle decades ago at a garage sale, still wrapped in butcher paper and cosmoline. He picked it up for a few hundred dollars (he gave them more than they asked) and gifted it to me. Little did I know, he did that, so I'd scope it and dial it in for him to use when we hunted together. This rifle shoots 1.25 MOA with good hunting ammo and is an absolute pleasure to shoot. My FIL took several deer with it when we hunted KS. Little did we know the rifle is only a shooter as long as the temp is over 30 deg! I did everything you would think of to fix the problem, even sent it back to Browning for a look after another failure to ignite a round happened again. We finally decided it was a warm weather rifle, not frigid winter weather. I swapped a fixed 6X for my Riton 1 Primal 4-12X50 Illuminated reticle and parallax adjustment. Just like using my .375 H&H for pigs, this rifle has proven to be an excellent warm weather predator rig.
 

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One of my favorite classic hunting rifles. My Father-In-Law stumbled on this rifle decades ago at a garage sale, still wrapped in butcher paper and cosmoline. He picked it up for a few hundred dollars (he gave them more than they asked) and gifted it to me. Little did I know, he did that, so I'd scope it and dial it in for him to use when we hunted together. This rifle shoots 1.25 MOA with good hunting ammo and is an absolute pleasure to shoot. My FIL took several deer with it when we hunted KS. Little did we know the rifle is only a shooter as long as the temp is over 30 deg! I did everything you would think of to fix the problem, even sent it back to Browning for a look after another failure to ignite a round happened again. We finally decided it was a warm weather rifle, not frigid winter weather. I swapped a fixed 6X for my Riton 1 Primal 4-12X50 Illuminated reticle and parallax adjustment. Just like using my .375 H&H for pigs, this rifle has proven to be an excellent warm weather predator rig.
I love those oldie goodie rifles. The older I get (I'm 31, not there yet 🤣)the more I'm really intrigued by guns like this, or even more so the things that aren't made anymore, or "ain't made like they used to be", or random oddball things you can't just go get at cabelas.

My "oldie but goodie" that compares to your rifle here is an old savage 99 from that same era in .243 Winchester. It has history. My great uncle gave it to me when I was 14 after he suffered a massive heart attack, survived, and decided he wanted to be closer to his whole family - I hadn't met the man once in the first 14 years of my life - hell of a way to introduce yourself haha. I was given one condition- don't sell it and make sure it stays in the family. Having four kids of my own now, it certainly will. There is an ugly, glaringly obvious vertical line in the buttstocj where the man straight up sawed a few inches off the back so the length of pull would be more natural for his 10 year old boy back in the day…as the boy grew into a man that piece of stock got epoxied back on. No issues. It's a character scar haha.

I stand to inherit my dads marlin 336 and my wife her fathers made in 1957 Winchester 94, both 30-30s of course, hopefully that doesn't happen for a long time for either of us. But sometime far ahead I do smile at the thought of my 3 sons each taking a family heirloom levergun into the bush during whitetail season. As for my daughter…she can make them all insecure and shoot the 300 win mag 🤣
 
Thank you. I always wanted a Savage Model 99 in .243 or .308. When I lived in Maine, a couple of my hunting buddies had them in .300 Savage. I have seen some rebuilt that are absolutely works of art. Awesome how your daughter isn't afraid of getting behind the mighty .300 Win. She probably realizes that all she is going to need is one well-placed shot and it's meat in the freezer. I had so many great times hunting with my son, hopefully he'll end up stateside in 2 years and we can pick up where we left off.
 
Thank you. I always wanted a Savage Model 99 in .243 or .308. When I lived in Maine, a couple of my hunting buddies had them in .300 Savage. I have seen some rebuilt that are absolutely works of art. Awesome how your daughter isn't afraid of getting behind the mighty .300 Win. She probably realizes that all she is going to need is one well-placed shot and it's meat in the freezer. I had so many great times hunting with my son, hopefully he'll end up stateside in 2 years and we can pick up where we left off.
Oh I have no idea if she'll be afraid of it or even want to hunt. She's 3 years old at the moment 🤣
 
Here's my "oldie but goodie" rifles that haven't been made for a good while now. They're special to me and priceless in a way in that if they got wrecked or stolen you couldn't just go get another one just like it that easily, if at all.

Savage 99 243 (note the cut line in the buttstock - call it the rifles butt crack if you want 🤣) made in Massachusetts.

BRNO ZG47, action made in 1956 in Czechoslovakia, rebarelled to .358 Norma magnum.

Husqvarna m98 sporter in 8x57 Mauser, made in Sweden.

Some cartridges i handload…243 with 75 grain Barnes X, 358 Norma formed from 300 win mag, 250 grain hornady interlock, 8x57 formed from 30-06, 196 grain ppu soft point.
 

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The cheap slip on recoil pad on the husky was out of necessity. I got that gun for cheap on auction (200 bucks Canadian), it had a decent size crack, and a chunk of the buttstock broken off but still with the rifle, and was missing the buttplate entirely. Some wood glue and 15 dollar recoil pad later and it's in good working order. I saved it! It was unwanted and neglected and just needed a loving home where it would be taken care of and given "another shot" 🤣

Because it's Swedish, my wife names that rifle "Sven"
 
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Yup, my first rifle iis a sporterized 03-A3 Smith Corona.

My other oldie is a Browning B-78 in 30-06. Shoots under a minute and much better than me....

I don't use them much anymore, I need to get them out.
 
Very nice rifle! Whatever you do, do not lose the magazine replacements are not hard to find but they are very expensive

And you said it right,it is a BLR,!!

No joke about the magazines. Funny story, my FIL and I both found 1 on E-Bay and thought we'd buy it for the other for Christmas. Needless to say, I got it up to over $100 before he bowed out and I won! Sheesh.........

Great reading about everyone's oldies but goodies.
 
Very nice rifle! Whatever you do, do not lose the magazine replacements are not hard to find but they are very expensive

And you said it right,it is a BLR,!!

No joke about the magazines. Funny story, my FIL and I both found 1 on E-Bay and thought we'd buy it for the other for Christmas. Needless to say, I got it up to over $100 before he bowed out and I won! Sheesh.........

Great reading about everyone's oldies but goodies.
Hahahaha that's a good one. Congrats on the "win" 😁

I recently discovered that I "won" some .properly head stamped 257 weatherby brass on auction…and had been in a bidding war with my shooting buddy. It's an online auction…what are the odds? Had we known what the other was doing we would have just split the cost and the brass and got it much cheaper 🤦🏻
 
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