Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Browning Challenger

I came across a very high condition early Belgium made piece today selling for less than than any other "new" semi-auto 22 RF in the case. Are there any owners here that can comment on the piece, reliability, accuracy and magazine availability?

How cheap is cheap? Condition? If it’s REALLY clean and under $450, I’d snatch it up. Box? Mags? Just like the older Buckmarks, Rugers, or High Standard autos, they were very well made pistols.

Ed..have a challenger and like it quite a bit. One of the earlier .22’s I ever purchased

Don’t recall ever having a feed/function issue. Nice trigger and just fine in the accuracy dept

Great. I picked it up yesterday. It appears to be little used. I'm hoping to shoot it tomorrow.

The early Belgium made Challengers are fantastic pistols with great triggers. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Post some pics. Did you look it up to see what year?

We have one for over 30 years , Great gun.
Mags are expensive if you can find them.

We have one for over 30 years , Great gun. Manufacture 1982
Mags are expensive if you can find them.

I'd jump on one if I found it.
Especially at the price and condition you found that one

I'm struggling not to buy the Woodsman on Fugate's page.

Your gun is the Challenger II. I believe 1982 was the last year for the II model before they started the Challenger III.

Mine dates to 1967 I believe, XXXXU7 serial number? The trigger is indeed very nice.

Nice Pickup, EdM

I'd fall hard for something like that on a shelf. And at the price of a new rimfire pistol today, say $500-650 or so, it's a better value than when it was new

I gave asking price, $450 out the door. Crazy with "equivalent" Ruger's and Browning's next to it for more. I'm traveling so will not take it shooting for another week or two. I own both Ruger's and a Browning that I am pleased with but this piece wreaks of old school weather "better" or not.

Looks to be in great shape. Congrats.

That's a great deal now. I bought a Challenger and a Medalist at the same time from a seller a few years back for $500 for the pair. Sold the Challenger for $400 the next week. The Medalist is a favorite of mine. Should have kept the Challenger too.

Here's mine. Purchased new my father in 1969. It's got a light coat of RIG grease, so that the "gooey" stuff you can see in a few spots.

I have one just like that. I also have the factory 4½" barrel for it. It was mfg'd in 1968. About a year after I bought it, I was in a gun store in Encino, Calif., The Pony Express Gun Store, and they carried Browning guns and accessories. I bought two Browning Belgian factory magazines for the Challenger, which at that time were about $8.00 each. I still have the original box and papers.

I love to shoot it and I taught my late wife how to shoot handguns with that Challenger. Over a period of time, she became a very good shot.

L.W.

Very nice. It appears they did the front sight design change early on.

Better days.. Better ways...

Forgive the thread derail, and forgive my ignorance, but it looks to me that the Buckmark and the Challenger are mechanically identical. Was the Challenger mostly made of steel? I'll admit to ignoring Browning handguns for a long time, and the Buckmark was likely around for a decade or more before I noticed it wasn't the older Browning .22 pistol of the Gun Digest type rags.

Seems to me that if you wanted something different in the Challenger that you had a choice of barrel lengths. The Buckmark seems to spawn a new variation in sights, barrel, finish, or grip contour/composition about every week or so.
The Buckmark is only obviously the descendant of the Challenger. Was the change between the two initiated when production of the Challenger ceased in Belgium?
IIRC the earlier Buckmarks resembled the Challenger's look. And that's probably partly why I didn't notice the "new" pistol on the market. Were all the Buckmark variations always available, or when did that begin?

The Buckmark and Challenger aren't exactly mechanically identical. There are even differences in the various Challengers. The Challenger was made of steel. That started changing with the replacement models. The Challenger was made in Belgium. It was replaced with the Japanese made Challenger II, then the III. Finally the III was replaced in 1985 or so with the Buckmark.