Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General My new (to me) Browning BLR (pic's)

I'm a lefty and was raised on my Dad's mod 94 and Marlin 336. I own Winchester, Marlin, Savage and Henry lever guns. I have coveted a Browning BLR for some time and finally found one at a gun show a couple weeks ago in .308. It looked like new but the guy said his grandson hunted with it but wanted to change to a bolt action. He was asking $650.00 but ended up taking $600. He didn't have an extra clip but said I could get one for $50....I ordered on line and with shipping paid $72.00

I had an old Redfield 2 3/4 power with a post reticle and put it on and bore sighted the gun. At the range I was amazed that my first two shots from 50yds were low right in the 3" bull. I tried 3 different ammo brands and ALL of them grouped tight in the bull.

I can hardly wait until deer season my only worry is my other levers will end up gathering dust

i do not know if they are still made the same as the 70s guns . my cuzz stripped the gear drive out of his 243 twice shooting at nice bucks being run with hounds in the late 70s . he is a big feller grew up with a 1886 in 4590 so he prob. jacked it hard . I don't fault the gun just something that stuck in my brain when I was young

That's a beautiful BLR, Longhunter. Congratulations.

I bought a 308 in 1989. I shot more deer with that gun than any gun I ever owned.

My son has it now and he has shot many head of game with it, including deer, antelope, axis deer and bear.

Action is smooth and strong, they are well made and tough, not sure how you could strip the action out of one without hitting the lever with a 3 lb hammer...?

The old BLR and BLR 81 are fine rifles. I've owned a BLR 81 .308 for so long I'm not sure when I bought it. Shot it one heck of a lot. It is accurate, reliable, slim and fast handling.

mmm...mmm...mmm !

I have that exact one except in a .358 Win. Great shooting and handling rifle.

I think any magazine base on these cartridges with work in you rifle. These are all based on the .308.


.243 Winchester
.260 Remington
7mm-08 Remington
.338 Federal
.358 Winchester

BLR`S are a great lever rifle and very accurate too,probably the most over looked lever made.have a great time using this fine rifle. Pete53

Nice gun!

You are probably right your other rifles will get jealous. I have a hard time leaving my 358 in the gun cabinet when taking my Mannlicher Schoenauer 1906 in 9x 56 out. I had the trigger worked as when I bought it it was pulling 9 pounds, now down to 3 lbs even and breaks like glass. Will shoot .75 to 1" groups all day with 200 grain FTX bullets. Use and enjoy it.

I found one in .284W, mighty proud of it.

Have had a couple three, .223, 7mm-08, 450 Marlin. Liked them all and all were accurate.

Looked long and hard at one of those a few years back and never bought it. Of course, I wished I would've.

FB mentioned one in .450 Marlin. That would be a heckuva thumper!

Longhunter, nice rifle you got there.

I have several Miroku BLR's , one in the .450 Marlin. I like the detachable clip magazine. I carry it quite often.

I have two for sale on the fire.

i own 3 ,308 Win. ,300 Win.mag,7mm Rem.mag all 3 are excellent rifles and accurate ,i also have on order a new 7mm-08.

I have the 358 takedown model that continues to impress me. Shoot a 1" group, take it apart, put it back together and increase it to a 6 shot group. It doesn't change POI. Can store in a 20" case not much bigger than a briefcase. Awesome travel gun.

Congratulations
Very NICE looking rifle.

Currently only have a 308 BLR in the safe, but in the past have owned a 7-08 and a 243. I find great joy in owning lever guns and actually have a single safe dedicated to centerfire levers.
I have very accurate Marlin and Winchesters, but I believe the Brownings tend to hold a slight edge in accuracy, at least in my experience with those I have fired.

I have applied a light coat of polishing kg-2 compound to the chambers of my savage 99, blr and browning 1895.

Often hiking around wind blown silt, which gets in everything, im always interested in extractors that work.

After drying for a few days, here's the results after firing a full power hunting load:

The cheesy savage 99 extractor failed and slipped over the stuck case.

The slightly less cheesy extractor on my browning 1895 failed once, but extracted once.

The BLR was locked up so tight, I had to leverage the butt stock off my thigh, pulling on the lever for all i was worth. The BLR yanked that stuck case like a boss.

For all the hoopla about the gearing system, don't belive it. Those are heat treated, strengthened gears and extractor. If they weren't, I would've stripped them, and extractor.

The worst:
My 375 ruger with "claw" extractor. Clean out of the box with factory hornady ammo, I had a stuck case. Lift the bolt, that "claw" extractor slipped right off that rim. It went back to ruger for a visit.

After that, no more mauser rip offs for me. Action gotta say: Waffenfabrik oberndorf mauser. I don't care how rusty or beat up the original mauser is.

I have the other one Browning made in 284 Winchester. Great rifle!

I have owned 7 BLR's including 2 laminated/ stainless takedown models, every one have been excellent rifles, I had a .308 Win with Monte Carlo stock That was My favorite.....Enjoy your BLR....Hb

To me they are one of the most underrated rifles. My friend hunts with one and it has a smooth as glass action and is as accurate as any factory bolt gun I've shot. This is no exaggeration.

Nice. I'm trying to talk a friend out of one just like it. I'll put another bug in his ear today.

You will love it. I own four BLRs. Three steel receiver models which includes a first year Belgium model. The fourth one is a laminated stainless steel BLR Lightweight. All have been very reliable and accurate. So well balanced and a joy to carry. You got a great rifle there.

I have a really nice BLR made in Belgium in 1972, steel receiver, chambered in .308 up for sale in the classifieds. Check it out.

Very nice looking rifle.

If the quality of the BLR is anything like the BL-22 I have, you'll be happy.

Late to the conversation but I have to agree they’re great little rifles. I have 3 of the older steel receiver japan models. One 358, a 308, and one I rebarreled to 250 Savage for a youth rifle for my daughter as she’s left eye dominant. The 308 is a barreled action, no stock that I haven’t decided the caliber, but I’ll rebarrel that one some day and make a stock for it. Maybe a 22-250 would be about right then I’d have everything from varmints to elk and moose covered.

I have always admired Browning's BLR for its good looks and modern action. But seems like every time I've saved up to buy one, something always comes up. Car repairs, house repairs, appliance repairs, daughter's wedding, etc. So it goes.

Sherwood

I have found with the alloy recieved model you don’t need a 358 marked magazine. Any of the 308 family 260,243 will work just fine. Lately they are getting pricy.

I've got a steel receiver BLR in .308 and a new model in .284

I don't even remember if mine is steel or not but I bought a 358 Winchester rebored from 243 by JES. Shoots great. I cleaned the gears and added some synthetic gun grease. Will look in on it in a couple of years of shooting and see if the grease is still working. I like the way this gun carries. I bought a spare mag to have more than one loaded on me during a hunt. You just never know if you will need that extra shot. Be Well, RZ.

i was lucky in my business i picked up a few more BLR`S 7mm-08,6.5 Creedmoor and a 30-06 takedown for my use. of the 6 BLRs i own now my favorite is the 30-06 takedown S.S. laminated stock.

How did you clean the gears? Did you take it apart?

Thank you.