Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Browning FN High Power Safari question..257 Roberts and .284

I see where Browning did make some of these in .257 Roberts and .284. Appears in the gun guides that less than a couple hundred were made in .284. However can't find any info on the .257 Roberts as far as numbers, although it commands the highest price as far as all the calibers are concerned.

Any Browning FN experts here that can shed some light?

Appreciate any information.

I am not really an expert, but Matt Eastman is, and I have his book. The .257 Roberts (and .25-06) was made as a special order for one year only - 1968. Sorry, but he does not give production numbers, but there were not many. In the mid '70s, early '80s I had kids in college and I bought and sold lots of Brownings and Winchesters to supplement the income. I have had some "hard to find" items come through my hands. I have never seen a .257. Eastman believes that there were 100 or 150 units made for a distributor in that caliber. Found this info in the footnotes.

Eastman advises that there were 348 units sold in .284, a standard production item. BEWARE OF SALT WOOD. jack

Thanks...appreciate the info. Have found out that the best info so far suggests only 25 were made in .257 Roberts during the Safari production years. Browning historical records can only account for three...one in 1965 and two in 1969, but that does not mean there were not more. I doubt after talking with Browning that 100 or so were made for a particular distributor.

In .284 they made less than 200. I just recently fell into a 69' Safari in .257 Roberts in mint shape. That's why I was asking for information. Again....thanks.

Re read the foot notes. Eastman says the 100 or 150 rifles were for the Hollywood Gun Shop in Los Angeles. The special order was for a combined production in .257, 7x57, and 25-06. The numbers are not broken down except that ONLY nine were for the .25-06. None of these were catalog items. I do NOT know if the full order was produced. I would have doubted three until I saw the nine in .25-06. Those days, the makers still tried to please customers. Also, the .243 and 6mm were in the process of killing the Grand Roberts. These were from 1968, so there were obviously more ('65 & '69). You have a rare rifle, enjoy, jack

Thanks again....appreciate the information. Every little bit of the puzzle helps.

Back to the .284. Eastman thinks there may have been many more than the 348, reported by Browning. He based his opinion on the number of adds and offerings seen at gun/collector shows. Browning says they shipped the last few from inventory in 1978.

Only ONE 6mm is reported to have been made? There were also many metric guns, not normally encountered here, sold world wide. I suspect many of these wore the FN banner. I have a beautiful FN banner .30-06 that wears an English looking stock and a rust blue finish.

There were lots of gaps in Browning serial numbers from year to year - sometimes a few - sometimes many. Never say never with Browning. I bought a new Superposed in '74. It was equipped with a manual single trigger, rather than the recoil reset type. A dealer friend said that live pigeon shooters preferred them. Somehow it got into my 26.5" field gun. I also have a Gd IV BAR from 77. It should have etched engraving for the outside scroll work, then the animal scene should be done by a master engraver. If the entire engraving is not hand done, you could fool me and a couple of engravers whom have looked at it???

.264 were reported as a short production gun, less than 800 total, yet I have owned several - one of which had a short lightweight barrel. Neat to carry, but LOUD.

The .300 H & H is thought by some to be a short supply gun even though cataloged for many years. I have had one that I bought and sold as an speculative piece. I do not consider myself a collector. I did buy and sell LOTS of Brownings and Winchesters in the late '70s-early "80, to help pay for the daughters' college education. (We never realized that the government would pay, if we didn't want to.) Aside from the .30-06, the only others that I just had to keep were a pair (.243 and .308) built on small ring Mausers w/pencil barrels. They both shoot! jack

I walked into a sweet deal this year and bought an FN Browning Safari Grade in 257 Roberts. On an FN Mauser sporter action. It has a twice stepped down svelte barrel and no open sights. It weighs about seven pounds. Maybe a little less... And it shoots nice too! No evidence of Salt Wood on it.It has an 8L serial number for 1968(?). The is wood lighter colored than most Browning Safari's. The checkering is nicely done. There isn't enough figure in the wood to brag about.