Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Browning BL 81 accuracy

I saw a 7 mm mag, mint condition at the gun shop today for $650 on consignment.

I read a few articles that noted how accurate they were.

Any comments or experiences.

I am thinking of a gun to take moose hunting and was looking at a bolt action, always liked the Browning lever.

Thank you.

I've had a .223, 7-08, and 450 marlin and all 3 were accurate.

I had a 7mag, and a 358Win. Both got less than 1in/100yds, and at least MOA on my bad shooting days.

I've had six in 308 and 358. They'd all shoot less than 2"/3 with factory loads, and varying degrees of 1.5" to sub-moa with handloads. I only used them for inside 300yds and in the eastern woods. I believe they can do better, but I never figured it was worth my time for a deer lever action to quibble over fractions of deer hair.

Good info, thanks.

I have a 358 that shoots around 2-3". Not stellar, but good enough.

I've had the trigger lightened, and tried a bunch of different load combinations, and havent been able to do much better than 2-3".

Have you checked for any high spots in the forend? Had one that wasn't shooting good, and seems clearance and band were interfering with things....but that was long ago.

I had a BLR 81 back in the early 1980's, a .308. Five shot groups usually ran around 1" to 1.25", that was with several different loads and using a fixed 4x scope. Didn't seem to matter what you fed it, 1 to 1 1/4" five shot groups were the result. So while it didn't achieve quite the precision we see from bolt actions it was very consistent and certainly accurate enough for any big game hunting use.