I recently picked a Safari in 338. Date of manufacture is 1964, so it’s pre-salt wood but not super-early.


It’s kind of a beater, and it’s been glass-bedded from the tang to the barrel recoil lug, so it’s not original in any respect.


I know my way around the 98 Mauser and the Model 70, but not the Browning Safari. My questions concern a number of features that don’t seem to be standard, including the fact that it doesn’t seem to ever have had iron sights mounted on it--there is no rear sight and no screw holes where a rear sight would have been.


There’s also no front sight—the blue at the muzzle seems original, so it doesn’t look like Bubba pried the factory front sight off of it and touched it up with cold blue. I'm pretty sure that the barrel is 24". Is it possible that this rifle once had a 26" barrel and someone shortened it? I ask that because it weighs just under 9 pounds with a one-piece steel Redfield base, steel rings, and a fixed 4x Leupold, which strikes me as a little bit light.


It also has a checkered grip cap, which I haven’t seen on pictures of any other Safari. You can't see it very well in these pics, but the screw head is engraved in much the same manner as the crossbolts and it looks like someone may have tried to line up the slot with the barrel.


And I'm still trying to figure how tight to set the forward recoil-lug screw. On a Model 70, conventional wisdom says to take it out and leave it out, but I'm not sure that's wise on a rifle that kicks as hard as this one does.

Thoughts?

Thanks,



Okie John

Perhaps I can help a bit. I have the Eastman book on Brownings. He advises that the original barrel length was 24" and that Safari grades could be ordered without sights. On the Safari grade, the grip cap is likely an aftermarket add on.

Yours appears to have the long Mauser extractor. Later ones had a set up similar to Sako.

I have two of the small ring Mauser Safaris in ..243 and .308. I have had these rifles in all three grades: Safari, Medallion, and Olympian. My Olympian took twenty years, but it turned out to be a salt wood gun. One thing is for sure. Browning liked to sell stuff and therefore one never says never about those rifles. The reason that I say aftermarket for the grip cap is that it appears flat. The factory guns all had a radius on the bottom of the grip - all grades.

The ..338 with a long extractor is a desireable piece. I never had one. I did have a .300 and .375, both H&H. Most of mine went to pay for college for three daughters, a good investment.

Best wishes,

Jack

Is the barrel marked Browning w/the proof marks on the port side and the serial number on starboard?

Assume you dated it by the SN?

The grip cap is added, AFAIK.

Thanks. Yes, I dated it by the serial number. Also, the barrel has a bunch of Belgian proof marks, so I'm pretty sure it's original. Also pretty sure that the grip cap is not original, but wanted to check.


Okie John

I have owned three Browning Safari rifles, all long extractors and pre salt, they all shot exceedingly well, still have the old 458 Win Mag, it's a lightweight hot weather carrying basher for all African game.

I'll take it there someday, congrats on your rifle, hope it makes you a good one.

The 7mm & 338 mags that came and went here were 24" ...Nice, that it was ordered w/o sights

Weight is right for that contour

I'd tighten the screw w/o horsing it and leave it right where it was intended...go shoot stuff w/it.

I always liked the look of those two crossbolts in the mag calibers. Nice touch.

You've got a beautiful rifle there. Stop nitpicking it and enjoy your good fortune.

I agree that it's beautiful. I like it so much that I want to know more about it, especially the forend screw. That's because it shoots groups like this



at 100 yards with a cold barrel, but throws them all over the paper when it heats up, which happens after the fourth shot. Same thing happens if I use a shooting sling. Once the barrel cools down, it goes right back to stacking bullets on top of each other.

I've read a lot about bedding methods over the years. I'm pretty sure that this is a bedding issue, and that forend screw tension plays a major role in it. Barrel-mounted recoil lugs aren't as common as they were 30-50 years ago when this rifle was built, so I'm looking for people who have experience with them and who can help me tweak it to shoot its best no matter what temperature the barrel is--if groups open up like this when it's warm, then it won't be the best choice for Africa.

I'm 55 years old, and I figure I've got 10, maybe 15 years left to hunt. These will be my last 15 years hunting big game and I want to use this rifle for that time, so I'd like to learn more about it. If you can help me with that, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,


Okie John