I picked one of these up yesterday. It says made in Belgium. It is in very nice condition, no marks that I can find in the bluing or on the wood. It also has a 2.5-8 Bushnell scope on it. I will be replacing the scope at some point with a Leupold, as soon as I can swing it. Now a couple questions... I plan to use it for whitetails. I don't reload as of yet so I'm thinking of trying some different 100 grain factory loads till I find one that it likes.
Are these rifles known to be decently accurate? I have never owned a Browning or a 243 so I'm in uncharted territory. I have already been advised not to lose the magazine as they are quite pricey to replace.
Also I gave $400 for it, so I think I did pretty good.
Would welcome any thoughts or opinions. Thanks, Don

great price and yes, in general, they are known to be accurate. only issue i've ever had with an old school belgian straight-grip model is that it brained me with a short eye relief scope. you shouldnt have that issue with the .243.

I'd say you got a good deal. One thing I might add is if you got one of the scopechief 2.5-8 scopes I wouldn't be in too big of a hurry to replace it unless it's broken. Those scopes were really pretty nice scopes and I used one for years

my dad has that same rifle. i used it my first few years of hunting. very accurate with 80gr powerpoints. it has a fixed bushnell banner on it. i had planned to fix it up this year and get a new scope but found a deal on a remington 243. youll love the BLR

Sweet deal you got. Try the Hornady 100g load if you can find it.

That's the rifle my FIL and BIL always have used in pursuit of Sullivan county PA whitetails. The one was made in Belgium and the other Japan. They killed over fifty whitetails with the Federal blue box 100 grain ammo. You got yourself a great deal.

The local WalMart has the Federal blue box 100 grain ammo in stock so I picked up 2 boxes , I'm hoping it likes them. The couple people I talked to have said that's what their rifles like. As far as the scope it seems nice and clear. I don't know if it is a scopechief or not. It just says Bushnell on it, but it is definitely an older scope. I actually do kinda like it.
On a side note I think it will make a nice companion to my bear rifle, which is a marlin guide gun in 45/70 that I bought a couple years ago. Kinda funny as I have always been a bolt action guy. I bought the guide gun and then decided I had to have a marlin 30-30. I figured they would probably be the only none bolt action guns I would buy. But in the last six months I picked up a 22 pump,a 22 hornet break action single shot,a 44 magnum break action single shot and a semi automatic 22. Guess I am broadening my horizons a little bit.
But back to the Browning, this was one I kinda lucked into. I wasn't even looking to buy a lever action or a 243. I sold a couple guns at a yard sale on Saturday and had all intentions of buying a Voere 7mm magnum the local gun shop has. So I asked my buddy what he might have that he wanted to sell for about the same money. He pulled this Browning out. I looked at it for all of about 30 seconds and bought it. This guy sells quite a few guns on gunbroker and that's where this one was headed. I'm definitely glad I asked him before I went to the gunshop .Although I may still put the 7mm on layaway, but that will be for a different thread. Thanks for all the input, Don

The 95gr Fed Fusions shoot better than the blue box in my .243s.