Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Browning B78

Yes, The receiver ring has two holes (assumedly) for 6-48 threads about 5/8" apart.....I do have some aluminum here and can make a rail for it....

Thanks for the feedback

comerade;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the day out east in your part of the world was as nice and sunny as it was here and this finds you well.

Back in the day, I worked with two different B78 rifles, one for a longer time in .25-06 and briefly with a .30-06.

As others have mentioned, one absolutely wants to make sure that the trigger has not been messed with or they're quite vexing to get back in working order. The .30-06 was brought to my shop not working and I must say it wasn't a quick job for me having never done one previously to get it functioning properly again.

The .25-06 was the 26" octagon barrel and I've never seen them in any other configuration, though some of them were a round barrel for sure.

It shot best with the fore end not touching the front of the receiver or the barrel, so what we ended up doing was that I made another slightly beefier fore end up that was bedded onto the tang which runs forward of the receiver.

We also installed a trigger shoe on it to mitigate the pull feel somewhat and the owner and I felt it was an improvement.

His had the factory two piece Redfield type mounts and while they get some poor reviews, we had no issues with them as far as I can recall.

It shot everything from 75gr HP to 117gr Spires extremely well.

Hopefully that was somewhat useful information for you or someone out there tonight.

All the best to you all whichever way you decide.

Dwayne

I looked at it, nice, but no way worth $2500 to me. No temptation for me, none.

Tom

Thanks Dwayne, lots of useful info, I added trigger shoes to my Browning BLR's with success. I also found shooting these off the reciever beneficial.
Warm and dry here today , we are hoping to get going on our haying this week. Earlier ,we were in your country to see a Kelowna Doc and saw a bit of black hay around- poor guys, hope our luck is better. Doing a bit of tire kicking on 70 ish hp tractors to pass the time, also
Hey Dwayne , I have never seen so many tattoos anywhere. I think Kelowna might lead the pack in this category. Cheers

My father-in-law had one. His son has it now. Got to play around with it about 25yrs ago. 100gr NBT, 52gr IMR4350, F210 match primer yielded back-to-back-to-back 3/4" groups. Not much you can't do with that.

comerade;
Thanks for the reply sir, I appreciate it.

Indeed tattoos seem to be the place to spend money for many of the younger set.

While I can appreciate the art involved, when my kids asked me if I'd ever considered one and I replied, "No because if you ever have to disappear it's one more thing to worry about" is something they still bring up! As you can well imagine, having me as a father was "interesting" for our girls on many days I'm certain!

If you end up with a B78, I have a box full of parts for one, including an action actually, but the falling block part is damaged as I recall. Long story from another time and place with more parts that I inherited. Anyways should you need parts, give me a shout as I might have it?

My buddy and hunting partner who owned the .25-06 still talks about regretting selling it back then and it was really not a bad arm at all.

The only thing I didn't like about it as opposed to a No. 1 is that the falling block is narrower, so when one is reloading it, one can "thumb" the round in with a No. 1, but with the B78 one has to push the round home with a thinner digit, say your index finger as the thumb sorta doesn't fit well.

We both liked the fact it could be safely carried loaded with the hammer down, which made it a better horse hunting rifle in many ways than the No. 1 that I used for years.

Again I hope that made some sense and was useful sir.

Dwayne

He came down. Also, he's local to me, so that would simplify things. But, I'm full up right now, and my efforts to thin things out haven't gone anywhere. Guess everyone is busy buying anti-riot stuff.

Here is the answer to the trigger issue - I have had him do a couple for me. He is inexpensive, quicak turn around and it only requires removing the butt stock and trigger and mailing it to him. -about a 10 minute job.

http://stores.leeshavergunsmithing.com/

http://www.bpcr1885.net/trigger-work/

Both mine came back right at a consistent 2 lbs.

drover

I bought a used B78 in 270 Win several years ago.I bought it on GB.The trigger had been worked on by someone that knew what they were doing as it broke at 2 1/2 pounds.The wood had been stripped and refinished in a satin oil finish.It had super wood.A Vias muzzle brake was also installed.I sold it to someone here.I forget who.That is one I regret having sold.

The trigger on the B78 is absolutely the WORST trigger design I have ever seen. The Colt Sauer was awful but worlds better than the B78. With the B78, you can adjust it to be three ways. It can be light and mushy, heavy and mushy, or non-functional. A real good B78 trigger, if it was on a model 70 Winchester would be called crap. The Canjar trigger, which eliminated half of the parts in the factory effort, could be an excellent trigger but it was the only trigger canjar produced which included instructions for honing to achieve a decent pull. Because the trigger is located in a housing which is stressed and distorted when the stock through bolt is tightened, one could set the trigger with the stock removed and then, when the stock was replaced, the trigger would not function or would exhibit creep. Still, if one can find one of the Canjar triggers, he should snap it up; it is the only way to achieve a real good trigger. I installed a half-dozen of them and felt they were a great option. When it comes to trigger design, less is more and fewer parts equals a better design.
Apart from the trigger, the B78 was a nicely made rifle. metal finish was pretty good for a mass produced rifle; at least as good as the Ruger of the same vintage. I didn't think the stock was as good in design or execution as the Ruger. GD

I have the B-78 round barrel in 30-06. Accuracy is more than acceptably, .75" with Winchester 180 gr. Power points. The trigger is OK at best once you get used to it and me being ham fisted as hell decided I'l leave it be and not mess with it.
I have two complaints. One is clearance between the hammer and a scope. No way you can safely lower that hammer in cold weather with gloves on. It's difficult enough in hot weather. The second is that shiny finish. I've had three Browning with that finish, a T bolt years ago that I regret like hell ever selling and currently the B-78 and BLR in .358 Win. Look closely at the stock and over time the finish cracks along the grain lines. The fancier the wood the more noticeable the cracks. I've also seem those cracks on other brownings that I considered buying. I don't know what they use for that finish but it's one hell of a job getting it off to redo the the stock. I learned that on the T bolt.
These days I just use the B-78 as a cast bullet shooter. It does real well running 220 gr. cast for fun and games..
Paul B.

I never felt handicapped by the hammer on mine. I suppose it has more to do with the size of the ocular bell itself than with the design. I bought mine back before Hubble telescopes became all the rage with riflemen- the old Weaver 3-9 certainly wasn't in the way of my manipulating the hammer (and it served me well the whole time I campaigned the gun).

The Europeans have sold American riflemen on the ocular lens/power adjustment mechanism that is the size of a 12oz beer can. Even with the 70mm objective bell that beer can is in the way, bigly.

I bought a .45/70 the Monday before Thanksgiving in 1976 and hunted with it until about 3 years ago when I sold it. The Friday after Thanksgiving I killed a little buck with it and that was the last time I used factory ammo for game. I set up to shoot only cast bullet loads in it then progressed to paper patch bullets and killed more pounds of meat with it than any other rifle I had. Deer and elk just taste better when killed with a home made bullet. The trigger on mine was mushy but, I learned to live with it and I mounted a Burris 2 3/4 power scope on it so there wasn't much interference with the hammer.

My son shoots a 6MM B78, left to him by his grandpa. It has a full bull barrel and it is a shooter. He won the Prairie Dog shoot with factory ammo a couple of years ago at the Armijo Springs Campfire get together. For a single shot, its heavy, but not any heavier than other rifles. The only complaint is setting the trigger..... its a pain in the wahoo. Also if you take it down, be sure to not lose or break the pin behind the trigger mechanism. They are almost impossible to find and putting the thing back together, without the tools made by the gentlemen in Ca., is almost impossible.

Beautiful rifles!!

Coming home from the service in 1977 (after all my guns had been stolen), I bought a B78 .25-06 octagon barrel as the very first rifle toward a new collection. Caliber choice was toward "Mice to Moose", and the gun has served well in that range ever since. I considered a Ruger #1 (Dad hunted with one), but I liked the smaller action and trimmer lines of the Browning.

Deadly accurate, and with the 26" barrel (there was a Wyoming edition with a 28!), handload velocities nip at the heels of factory .257 Weatherby.

My only regret is not investing in a Canjar trigger when they were available. The trigger is "learnable", but not crisp. I put mine in a very reputable shop for that and got little improvement.

Such was not enough of a "turn-off" to keep me away from buying a fat-barreled .22-250, then a .45-70 (new in the box and I sold it to a friend still new in the box 15 years later with the agreement that I got to shoot it first). Quality of wood in each gun is phenomenal. Original scope I bought for the .25 was a Leupold 3x-9x. More recently a 6.5-20x was installed and the gun can use it.

There are a number of methods for these guns (and the Ruger #1) to increase accuracy by hanging the forearm in a different fashion. I have reprints of an article that outlines these methods, and picked a simpler method out of those offered with noticeable improvement in the .25-06 and the .22-250.

Thanks everyone for the feedback..
Meanwhile the arrangement I had on this particular rifle fell through. I will keep looking.Cheers

That's unfortunate, but if you keep looking you will run across another one. The .25-06 seems to be the most common. If you run into an 1885, you might be happy with it. The stock is different and the trigger is generally better. A little safer too since you can't lower the hammer past the half cock.


Jerry

My friend has a B-78 in 45/70. It's pretty accurate for such a hard kicking SOB.

Ugly lever