Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Browning B78

I have an 1885 in 45-90 that seems to be a very fine rifle.
There is a trick to getting the trigger "right". My brother had one he used to shoot at the Quigley. I'm not sure if that is where he got the method of getting that trigger so nice, but he did the magic on mine.

S&K has them; their gloss rings look great on my B-78; 257 Wby mag

The DA has a crap load of them and 1885 in most calibers.

He has a 25-06 that i really like to shoot because it does a darn good job of being mostly a one hole rifle.

I have 2- 22-250,7mm,270 and and another 25-06 that has a really long barrel.

A Wyoming commemorative that has has some use.

Just shot it today and it too shows promise.

Some of them seem to be a tad heavier than what i thought they should.

They can shoot with the right load and the wood is fantastic.

I do have a Winchester 1885 in 17M2 that shoots nice.

They are made by the same company in Japan.

Just to add my $.02 on these rifles:

I bought an 1885 High Wall Hunter from Cabelas on sale around the 2009 time frame. .325WSM, 28" octagon barrel, straight grip, good looking wood. It's a looker, but certainly no light weight. Though, the market place has not been kind to it, the .325WSM is still a dandy elk round.

I had a heckofa time mounting a scope to it. After trying a few options, I finally settled on Burris Pos-Align rings on Weaver bases, with the front base shimmed up to get it close to level with the rear base. I then used the offset plastic inserts in the Burris rings to bring the scope into final alignment with no stress on the tube. What a kludge, and it looks like hell. But it works.

Despite the scope mounting difficulties, the gun is a shooter. I didn't hand load back then, so I was limited to factory rounds. It's been a long time since I shot it, but I remember it putting 5 shots into less than 3/4" with 200gn factory loads. That ugly abortion of a scope mount made me lose interest in it. And, except to cannibalize it for its scope, it has sat in the back of the safe untouched ever since.

It is my understanding that there are specific scope mounts now available for these guns. Mounting the scope properly, and some handloads with this rifle could be a lot of fun . . . .

Conetrol Mounts in Texas has them in Matte or gloss. I have bought two sets, one for a 25-06 & a 7mm mag. Both have octagon barrels, but I am pretty sure they have them for round barrel. You will be very pleased. Know what scope you will use when you order as they will need to know what ring height.

I tried Talley and they finally decided they didn't have an answer, now that may have changed in the last 2 years. I spoke to Leupold technical support and they don't have them.

I’ve had one in 25-06 for 30 years. Shoots great does flow brass bad. Un/tunable trigger

Send the trigger Lee Shaver Gunsmithing. He will furnish you with instructions on removal so you don't have to send the gun.

Good shootin' -Al

Interesting thread. Never had a B78 from all the trigger problems associated with them I never will own one. They don't make them anymore gee I wonder why.. carry on..mb

I have a Talley 1 piece base on my B78 and my Low Wall 22 hornet. I like them a lot.

Granted they had weird triggers with lots of creep but a fairly light let-off. Seriously, like a lot of things in life it's not something you can't get used to. I bounce around between a lot of rifles with wildly varying triggers, from double-set's and single-set's on vintage single shot target rifles to standard two-stage pulls on U.S. milsurps, and everything in between both light and hard. Not a one of them can't be managed, and I certainly wouldn't condemn any of them for their triggers not meeting a strict criteria.

The closest I’ve got to a Browning 78 is my 1885 45-90. I had a 280 in a Ruger #1 but sold it here on the Fire. Not sure why I did that.
I’m hoping for a Bison tag someday. I’d take that 45-90.

I always like the B-78. A friend brought one pronghorn hunting with us one year in 6mm Rem. If he would have mentioned that it was for sale, I would have come up with the money somehow!

All;
Good afternoon to all the folks interested in B78's out there, I hope that you're getting the weather you need this summer and that you and all who matter in your world are well.

Since this thread got resurrected I thought I'd add a couple of photos and the story behind "the box full of parts" that I mentioned to comerade.

Way back in the day a shooting mentor of mine - now gone as well - ended up with all the firearms when a neighbor of his who was somewhat of a gunsmith/gunmaker passed on. Part of what he got was a box full of B78 parts which included a cracked butt stock, the 26" octagon factory barrel in .22-250 with slightly buggered threads and most of the rest of the action and contents.

Here's one view of the action.



And another.



Missing from the box of parts was the hammer which apparently was never found, but otherwise I believe most of it's there, though the lever/trigger guard is broken and someone tried to weld it up unsuccessfully.

I should have taken a better photo of the front of the action because the threads aren't minty fresh on it. For the life of me I can't recall if the barrel was only loose or if it was blown off the front.

The fore end wood was too many pieces to salvage apparently.

Of course I suspect inquiring minds would be curious as to how this all took place and when buddy had asked the gunsmith about it, he said that his "best guess" was that he'd loaded a .250 round into it instead of a .22-250.

That's all I know, but other than being a mystery it's been a topic of conversation in my shop from time to time. Especially when someone comes in and proclaims that "you can't blow up a drop block single shot".

Honestly I wish I had photos of the blown up Husky that a buddy showed me, but he wasn't even keen on showing me, much less having photos taken. It held up better in some ways than the B78, but all we could salvage was the rear action screw and the safety as I recall. It was pretty much toast as well.

Thanks for looking and all the best.

Dwayne

My 78’ 6mm is one of my favorite rifles, looks, feels, shoots amazing. 👊🏻

I have a 78 in .243, it has a Canjar set trigger and has a Talley one piece scope base
I'm not smart enough to figure out how to post a photo of it here