Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles R1 Benelli or Browning long trac?

After about a year of checking and of course advise from the 24 hr crowd went and purchased the Bar longtrac in 300 win mag topped with a Zeiss Conquest Duralyt 2-8x42 illuminated matte scope. Benelli have some bad press, although the R1 hold 1 more round and has the ability to change barrels. Haven't purchased rings yet, not sure how high I want the Zeiss to sit on the Bar but since their are no sights on it i'll set it low as possible.
Yeah I know bolt rifles are more accurate but I like the ability of getting back on target quickly and in a brush environment multiple shots in very quick sucession. The package has cost about 2900 dollars Canadian so far. Any suggestions on bullets and loads for this unit. Thanks in advance.

I would look for some Talley rings for it and try some Vor Tx ammo for it....165 TTSX...... Those bullets will flatten even your big whitetails..... Good luck.

I was just looking at the 150 TTSX. You figure 165 would be better, Not that much diff. I have the Remington auto in 30-06 and it likes the 150 TTSX -Actually best acuracy achieved so far.
Killed an elk cow with them and she went down pretty fast.

I have a New set of the 1 inch Talley Aluminum one piece rings & base for a Browning BAR/BPR/BLR also fits the Benelli R-1 and Winchester Super X Rifle. These are Med Height. # 940711. $25 TYD

An R1 Benelli is a 1/4 pound lighter and a Browning is 2 pounds heavier. Accuracy is difficult to attain in either models.

What bad press are you reading on the Benelli?

I have two Benelli R1's (my rifle and my son's), both carbine 30-06. They have been shot a lot, never a malfunction in either rifle. Both of mine have been very accurate. Very soft shooting, easy to clean, easy to maintain.

David

I will dispense with the long version of my BAR experience. I have owned one or more of every caliber made in the first version or as it is known among Browning fans, Type 1. The only caliber that ever gave me trouble shooting at least in the 1 1/4" range for three shots was two in 7mm. I had one .270 that routinely cut 1/2" to 3/4" groups. Many others came real close to 1". I loaded for them just like you and I do for bolt guns. The only magnum that I still have is an inherited 7mm Gd IV that does shoot 150 Remington into 1 1/4" or just a tiny bit better. I have never loaded for it. I even had one rebored to .338/06. it shot 1 18" to 1 1/4" with 200 Speer, 210 Nosler, and 250 Swift. I never tried to tweak those loads as they were fine for the intended purposes right out of the book.

It is my opinion that most semi-automatic fans do not load for them, therefore the rap on accuracy. Not every rifle - any brand, most calibers - digest all loads with equal accuracy. Many are a bit picky on what they like. I have a .30-30 that likes 170 CoreLokt and NOTHING else. Some bolt guns prefer one brand/bullet/weight to the exclusion of all others. Same can happen with semi-autos.

Once upon a time, one of my qualified snipers took me to his favorite range to let the "boss" vent some frustrations by burning some gunpowder. He had a custom 700, that had a ton of custom features including a high end frozen bull barrel. It may have been pressure, but he lost dinner to the said BAR .270. I did a bit better than 1/2" and he did about 5/8". He conceded without a ruler.

They are not lightweight rifles and the magnums are heavy. The triggers can be helped. Three rounds magnum and four standard plus one up is plenty for me. Once upon a time while waiting for a nice buck, I was invaded by a herd of javalina (sp?). After trying for some time to run them off, I finally opened up and killed five for five one morning. Mistake. By the next afternoon I had to abandon the stand because of the stench. IIRC, that is the only time I ever used more than two shots from a BAR.

No experience with the Benelli. As I recall, the two .300Ws both handled factory W-W 180 pretty good. Best wishes, jack

Thanks for jumping in jt402 with your experience on the BAR. I,ve heard similiar stories. 1/2 inch groups must have taken a lot of time at the range with many different reloads to attain. Impressive. What i've heard it is difficult to get less than 1 inch groups with the magnum calibers. No problem for me since the kill zone on big animals is large, and the BAR wouldn,t be used for long range hunting anyway.

I have a MOBU BAR ShortTrack in 308 wearing a VX-III 1.75x6x32 that will shoot 1" or better. I carry it when I'm hunting in big hardwood bottoms here in Alabama. It's great when the bucks are chasing does too. I have a few custom rifles but I've always liked hunting with my BARs.

I have a BAR 338WM and it was a 3 inch gun

So it sat in the safe...

Fast forward 8 years (or more) and I shipped it back to Browning ands ask them to fix it.

They replaced the stock with a Beautiful one and $300.00 and 3 months later they ship me back a repaired rifle with 3 targets with less than 1MOA!

I was so happy so I took it out and shot it and now it was a two inch gun� WTF

I was very Unhappy

I tried my hand loads and they were no better.

I considered selling it but someone here suggested I change powders.

I did and now it IS a 1 MOA gun (at least when my youngest son shoots it)�

But

I have never really warmed up to it� too much bad Karma

I would never get another one.

Snake

I have no knowledge of Benelli's so have no comment on them. Back in the '70s for several years I used a Browning Gr. II in .270 Win. The only problem I had with it was because I went more than twice the recommended time between cleanings of the gas system. This caused it to fail to eject reliably. As soon as I started cleaning it annually this was no longer a problem. Accuracy was from good to adequate. I used it out to 300 yards and it did the job.

Rem. 742 Woodmasters are some of the original Remington semi-autos and had a poor reputation from the time they came out. From what others have told me they are now much improved.

Having said all that I must admit my preference since about 1980 has been for bolt action rifles. If I did much hunting for deer in the forested areas where ranges are short my preference would be for a pump action Remington. I used these for years before I acquired the Browning auto and was quite happy with them.

Jim

I have both 742 and the newer model, Remmy they do the job like you say, kill lots of critters with them. 168 gr BTSP hornady was the best they had in them days. My birthday coming up and I just felt like having another auto especially in the new 300WSM model. Many a bouncing deer met their Waterloo with the semi-auto but with the bolt -not much chance of those quick sucession shots especially in brush county.

I have also come more around to bolt actions as they are somewhat lighter. I am down to just two BARs. The previously mentioned Gd IV 7mm and a Gd III .30-06 from 1970 (for old times sake, I suppose).

Actually, I stumbled into the load for the tight shooting .270 rather quickly and quite by accident. A near max book recipe just worked! Better lucky than good.

I kind of have the itch for a light weight short trac BAR in .308. jack

The Benelli is 7 lbs and the BAR is 9 lbs. Bolts are good for one first shot, you usually don't get that second shot. We hunt wild boars and they usually are in large groups, so the opportunity is there for multiple targets. How many times you been hunting and by the time you realize there was game there, it is has seen or smelt you already and is on the run.