Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles NEED Info about the Browning BAR Shooting Good

HI Guys

I hope I am in the right place to post this!!! If not please advise.. Thanks

I have a couple of Browning BARs One is a 30-06 and the other is a 7MM Mag. They are the older model NOT the Mark II I love to shoot both of these guns the recoil is so mild on my bad shoulder..

I am a reloader and have been for many years. (Close to 40)I have tried everything I know to get these guns to shoot good, and haven't got it yet... (Different Bullets and Powder combinations)

Anyone know any tricks on getting them more accurate ?? For what they cost they should shoot very well, the AR's do!!!

Any Ideas????

Thank you!!

Alan ><>

If they are BOSS equipped they will shoot sub MOA.

If not, make sure the bores are REALLY clean, then try them with several brand of PREMIUM ammo. That will give you a baseline.

Every non BOSS BAR I have seen will do at least 1.5 MOA (3 shots) which is plenty good enough to kill anything you would hunt with an 06' or 7mag at ethical hunting ranges.

I can suggest and easy "fix" tongue in cheek, sell em' both and Buy a Benelli R-1
in 300 Winmag. It will replace them both, kick even less with the sythentic stock and will do sub MOA with many loads.

I am a "wood nut" so mine is rather nice wood, it also kills thing very well with the Nightforce 2.5-10x32.

I had a BAR in 338 wm. It was the synthetic model. I never got it to shoot no matter what I tried over 5 years and many reloads. I wanted this gun to shoot. Sent it back to the factory twice. Finally go disgusted and sold it at a gunshow. Good riddance. Their standards for accuracy are not very high. For the 338wm they said a 3 shot group in 4 inches was acceptable.

In the half dozen examples I have experience with I've yet to see a bad shooting BAR. All have done at least 1 1/2" at 100 yards and some of them considerably less than that.

The BOSS was the real saving grace for the BAR IMHO. Properly tuned, the one my wife had (30-06) would shoot any factory load from 150-220gr, 3 shots 1" or less.
The synthetic BOSS 338 I bought to get rebored to .411 ( .411-338) would shoot any three old cheap cup and core 338 factory ammo into 1" or less.

The project went south when the gunsmith got worried about a .411 hole where the gas post feeds, so I sold it. It has been an Elk every year rifle for the new owner who throws it in his pickup while he's out on his VERY large ranch. Ugly but deadly (the rifle not the rancher).

have you had someone else who is a good shot, shoot them ? Tried different setups off the bench ? made sure the stock bolt is tight and for end free floated ?

As for browning saying 3-4" groups were acceptable...Remington say the same thing about 700s. Actually a 4" group would kill the kind of game (Elk) most folks use a 338 for out to 300. The average in WY/MT/ID is under 150 yards so......

If you want to keep them, try the factory premium ammo test. I would suggest Federal Premium Ballistic tips as they are almost always very accurate. Not an Elk, Moose or Bear bullet, given the other options, but they do shot very well.

This an old USAF buddy who finally drew a WY tag last year for speed goats. (He's from Kaliradio). He dropped this nice 14.5" buck (good for WY) at 250 long paces from a fencepost rest with a bone stock 20 year old BAR 06' (BOSS), Leupy VX III 3-9 and the 165gr Federal Premium Ballistic Tips. "bang, flop".

I have a 1969 308 BAR Grade II that can shoot 1/2" 3 shot groups or 4" groups. It depends on how much forearm wood is touching the barrel and how tight the forearm screw is. No forearm wood touching the barrel and forearm screw tightened untill groups get smaller worked wonders for my pee shooter. Very easy fix. I also installed the newer recoil piston, recoil spring, and nylon buffers. Browning is very easy to deal with and have alot of parts for these great guns. Don't load them hot as I broke my bolt and replaced it, not fun.

The short version of the considerable experience that I have had with BARs is this: All shot around 1.25" except three. One .270 was a consistent sub inch gun. Two 7mm Rem.s had trouble meeting two inches. Age put me into lighter guns. Then I inherited a Grade IV 7mag. a few years ago. It shoots Rem. factory 150 between 1.25 and 1.12 inches. Best 7 mag. in that ilk by far that I ever tried. I received a new to me Grade III from 1970 in .30-06, just a couple of days ago. I have high hopes that it will do between 1 and 1.25 or better with someones factory load. If it doesn't, I will load for it. No bosses were available for these guns (and I do not want one.) The .308 is the single caliber that I never had.

I may have been lucky, but I never needed small base dies for any of mine. A re-bored .338-06 did have a tight chamber. IIRC, I used mostly IMR 4350 with 150 bullets in the 06. I am going to start out with Nosler 150-165 BT or Accubonds if I have to hand load for the new purchase. I have a lot of Super-X 150 factories on hand to try. best wishes, jack.

PS: These were all 100% Belgium Type 1 rifles. jt

Intertherm, I do not want to get into a whizzing contest with you or anyone else, but the Benelli photo is straight out of Benelli's marketing. I recently compared it, The Merkel, and the Browning Zenith in view of a somewhat specialized rifle, then stumbled across the Grade III, and blew my stash on it.

Plus 1 on Dusty's post. That would be the first thing to check.

I've owned 3 and my Dad has a couple. None were boss equipped, but you could get around 1.5" @ 100 with the worst of them.

To be honest, I've had friends that complained theirs would not shoot good groups on a consistent basis and these guys could shoot.

Other things to check for besides excessive or tight forearm contact is :

One had an assed up crown. We corrected that-Problem solved.

The other screwed with us for awhile until I tried single loading into the chamber. Groups tightened up. It seems my buddy's reloads were at fault. The bullets were being pushed into the case during recoil.

Re crown even if u think it's fine.
Clean your barrel and get at least 5 thru it before going for groups.
Try ballistic tips.

I've also seen the triggers on these rifles give people problems on the bench.

Good luck,

JM

I own three, an 06, 308 and a 300 Winchester Mag all shoot an inch or less, all are full Belgium Brownings. My father had four, two 06's, a 7mm Mag and a 338 (all Belgium), they all shot pretty good buckshot patterns, could never figure it out. My 06 really likes the old they don't make it anymore factory Remington ammo with 165 grain Nosler Ballistic tips. My 308 loved the 150 grain Winchester Silvertips, it now shoots federal Premium in any grain bullet (150, 165 or 180) and my 300 likes the cheapo 180 Federal Blue box. As suggested try a lot of ammo. Due to costs, I've gotten away from the really expensive premium ammo (tried anyway)and have been shooting the WallyWorld Federal, Remington and Winchester ammo, shoots pretty good. Good Luck.

I have a BAR 270 Belgium/Portugal. It shoots well below MOA with Winchester Supreme 130 Moly's. Core loks and some others are more like 2 MOA. It shot the Supreme XP3's well to. I plan on finding a hand load that it and the A-Bolt like. The A-Bolt loves 150 Fusion's (I don't think I tried the Fusions in the BAR yet).

JT, I want to be sure I understand your post. Are you saying the photo of my rifle, with the Nightforce scope and the S&K rings and bases is from Benelli advertising ?
Is that what you are saying ? Of so please provide the link to the Benelli website photo.

Hint, then I'll show you a picture of the other side.............

My exact experience as well. A buddy had a well worn 7REM Mag that was scary accurate. The Benelli R1 has a spotty reputation for accuracy and are about as [bleep] ugly as a gun can get, and I OWN benelli shotguns and love them.

Intertherm, when I am wrong, I admit it. Apologies sent. I still think I have seen that striking wood before. Perhaps you posted it before. No matter.......

I also agree Oldelkhunter, that in spite of the wood, the design is just too ugly for me, Your money, your rifle. jack

Cheap blue box Federals 308 shot as good as my reloads FWIW. I bought them down the street from my friends house at the Anglers Rooost in Hamilton MT. after being so frustrated with my reloads and got my antelope. I do way over think this stuff. My buddy laughed like hell as he knows I've been reloading for this gun forever. Now I need to get the gun back as I lent it to another buddy and he disappeared with it. Nice gun for sure, kicks like a 22-250.

If you don't like modern Italian design, then you don't like modern Italian design.

As for the claims of "spotty accuracy", need to see that documented to accept it, this being the third one I have owned, 308, 30-06 and this 300 WinMag.

Wish I could get the barrel, bolthead and magazine for the 9.3x62 version available in Europe.

The ARGO gas sytem is good enough for the USMC, it's just fine with me.


Wonder what the old Elk hunter uses ? (Probably younger than me)

Here's the other side:

I once upon a time bought a pencil barreled Browning Safari on the small ring Mauser in .308. The stock was too short with a pad and the barrel channel looked to have been floated with a camp ax. I had visions of a custom .270 or .280 on the standard length action. But, what the heck, I bought a box of the cheapest Federal 150s and shot it. If I held steady, it shot 3 well under an inch again and again. I went back to the large store and bought many boxes (all they had) of that cheap ammo and over 20 years later it is still performing the same way. My supply is just about gone, so I am glad to hear the stuff still shoots. I do hand load, but up to now, why? By the way, the inch short stock has been no problem, I just mount the scope a little forward and with a hunting coat, it works. So does it's twin sister in .243 (no butcher job on that one.) best wishes, jack

First - let's eliminate a variable.. Obtain two different boxes of factory ammo (NOT nickel-plated crap) and try those for accuracy.. If you get 1.5" or less, then you'll know where the problems lie..

I have read that BAR's are finicky about how much torque is used to tighten the forend screw. Supposedly, 65 INCH pounds is the magic number. I'm planning to get a torque wrench and try it on mine one of these days.

Thanks Guys for your input on this !!! You have given me some ideas to try when the weather gets good enough to shoot, I'll try these ideas at the range..

For those who reload for the BAR in 30-06 & 7MM Mag. what Powders do you use???

Thanks !!

Alan ><>