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I want to like them but they just never feel right to me.

Did all of the steel receivers have the protruding magazine? I’m looking at a BLR for sale online right now, manufactured 1981, flush mount magazine that the seller claims has a steel receiver. Judging by the pics I believe him. It appears to be blued steel, not the painted aluminum finish on later BLR ‘s.

The last thing you want in a woods gun when most of your shots will be taken off hand while hunting on your feet is a muzzle light rifle with a bad trigger.

I had a steel receiver BLR that I bought in 1981(I believe) and wish I had never sold the darn thing. I cannot warm up to the aluminum receiver models at all. I had a 358 aluminum and a takedown and they are both down the road.

Starting in '81, they had steel receivers and flush magazines. The lightweight receivers came along mid-'90s or so.

After acquiring a Lightweight in 358Win, I now have the urge for a Lightweight stainless. No need, but they look cool

And yet my BIL kills the hell out of deer with his 243 BLR. My late FIL used a 243 BLR and a guy from our camp uses a 308 BLR. A guy from a nearby camp has done quite well with his 308 BLR so maybe it's just me? I could only be tempted by a BLR in 358

Are they stand hunters or still hunters and trackers ? Lots of people succeed in spite of less than optimum equipment. If they hunt on their feet, who knows how much better they might shoot if they chose a rifle better suited.. Nowhere is a good trigger and weight forward balance more advantageous or a lousy trigger and butt heavy balance more of a hindrance than when shooting off hand without a rest.

Black heart you may need to learn how to shoot something other than your mouth.

Primarily they were drive hunters. We mostly drove deer and bear but also stand hunting. But yeah, even on drives the success mostly comes from the stand hunters

People who can shoot know these things to be true. People who can't, such as yourself, will never learn.

.... I have 2 BLR '81 straight stock takedowns in 308 Win ... one is synthetic & stainless & the other walnut & "blue" ... love them both ... lower power variable Leupolds on QD mounts ... they're both very accurate ... the POI in either gun doesn't change 1/4 MOA from takedown (including scope) to reassembly ... very easy to pack in luggage to transport ... when checking in to accommodations you don't have some hare-brain asking "you gotta gun in there?"

... in the new BLR the locking lugs lock into the barrel leaving the receiver unstressed ... a superior design ... the receiver could be made of toy plastic and the gun would still work as NO force is transmitted through the receiver ... whatever material the receiver is made of is irrelevant to the strength of this design so why make the gun unnecessarily heavy by making the receiver of steel?

Mine has served me well and is very accurate

... the BLRs biggest fault is that its complex gear driven action does not lend itself in any way shape or form to field maintenance ... I've seen good gunsmiths who have been in the business for years shrink from a BLR presented to them for repair like vampires from a crucifix ... I love my BLRs but would not pick one for a SHTF gun because it's almost impossible for a layperson without special training and tools to field strip and repair one ... my SHTF choice would be a Marlin 336/1895 because a hung over moron could take it apart and have a good chance on getting it back together again with tools that most people have on hand ... simple is good in regards to survival tools ... simple can save your life

Ive owned two. Both 81’s. 257 Roberts an a 7 mag. Sold the 7 mag, never could warm up to it. It shot well but it seemed like the lever had to move a mile and was clunky not smooth. Maybe I was just used to the short action. It took a lot of powder and bullets to find something the 257 liked. The sierra 120 grain hollow point game king is the ticket. I still have an 1&1/4” 200 yard 3 shot group target. It doesn’t have a good trigger but I was to frugal to send it to a pro so I just learned to live with it. You can learn a lot of trigger control with a [bleep] one.
The thing that bugs me is Browning put the lowest comb of any of their guns on the blr’s. Even lower than any of their shotguns. I finally found a glue on cheek riser at Brownells that made a huge difference. I bought it used for $400 with a Leupold 4x in the late 80’s. Sure do like it calling coyotes. Almost as quick as an ar and hits a lot harder and is way more intuitive for me.

I don't understand. What you described isn't the BLR at all. The balance point on the '81 LW and the curved-grip LW is exactly where its supposed to be. On these rifles, it's precisely in the middle of the magazine with my scopes. It's a 50/50 balance. Perfect for shooting off hand without a rest. It makes for an extremely well handling rifle. It makes carrying these rifles very easy. Without the scopes, or with scopes with larger objectives, the weight distribution would be slightly more forward than it is with the scopes mine are wearing.

As far as the trigger goes, it's not as light as many quality bolt actions, but it's far from bad. In fact, it's actually pretty good. I stand and still hunt with shotguns, some that have outstanding triggers for shotguns. And the BLR trigger is better. It also better than many traditional lever actions I've owned.

'81 LW .308


LW .358

Mid point/neutral balance is not perfect for off hand shooting. Never has been, never will be. Butt heavy is the worst. Weight forward best.

Weight forward is definitely best

I have a 1985 steel receiver 257 Roberts that isn't terrible with anything I shot in it. 100 gr Speers with IMR 4350 will generally go under an inch. 115 Partitions hang real close with the same powder. Trigger sucks. Been meaning to polish it up as you can get to them without getting into the action mechanism, but didn't get to it yet. Doing that will make it a different gun for me.

Have a newer light weight 358 Win that's still in the box, never shot it yet. Little bit I tested the trigger it is much better than the older Roberts. I dislike the glossy stocks. I wont touch the 257 because of what it is, but if I ever get to using the 358 as a carry gun, that gloss will have to go.