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#1834917 11/30/07
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I have shot several BLR's and in general have been impressed with the accuracy. I'd be very grateful for anybody's report on accuracy in their BLR.


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Just had one, a BLR 81 in .308 with a Leupold M8 4X, that was in the early 80's. Used Speer 150 Spitzers and Hornady 150 SP's in it with Win 748 and IMR4895. I loaded the bullets to the 2800-2825 fps range, this was measured with an old octal readout Oehler Model 12. It would group five shots of most all loads in a consistent 1" to 1 1/4". I was quite impressed with it.


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Quote
It would group five shots of most all loads in a consistent 1" to 1 1/4". I was quite impressed with it.


I have an older steel frame, straight grip, M81 .308 with the skinny carbine 20" barrel. My dad has an identical twin to it. Both our guns will shoot just like the quote above with Hornady 165 gr. flatbase InterLock spitzers. The powder and charges vary between their two favorite loads, but once the best combo's were found for each, they have been extremely reliable shooters. Dad's BLR is his only "deer rifle" and he has used the heck out of it for many years. I have other rifles, but I also use mine quite often. In fact, I killed a nice plump doe on a bonus tag with mine this year and Pop hammered a little buck with his. We hunt the Ozark timber and brush country and there aren't many rifles better suited to our terrain and style of hunting.


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Had a .358 about 20 years ago. Shot one inch groups at 100 with factory Winchester and Norma stuff. Sold the gun due to mushy trigger and muzzle light feel. Finally got another .358 in a 99 Savage a couple years ago.

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Hi MD,

I have a BLR lightning with pistol grip stock in .270. Accuracy is quite good. With factory 130gr Powerpoints and a 3-9 Leupold in Warne Maxima QD's it would put 3 shots in well under 1 inch at 100 and 5 in 1.5 - 1.75 inches. Pretty damn fine for that skinny short (& loud) barrel.

Only started to develop handloads but couldn't really do much better than the factory load. (which shot better than the 130gr Supreme load BTW).

Never hunted with it cause it was so unreliable. For some reason it refused to go "Bang" each time you pulled the trigger. Wrote to Browning 2x and never even got a reply. Sent it to a very knowledgeble smith and he thought it needed a new cam which is why I wrote to Browning. Another smith reckons the problem is simpler and merely due to the 2 piece firing pin assembly. Still waiting for it to be fixed.

BTW when it does not fire, the hammer falls but there is not even an indentation on the primer.

If you know how to fix this let me know & also how to make the trigger pull better.

Regards,
JohnT

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I had a BLR in 7 MM Rem Mag. in the early 90's, long before I got into reloading. This BLR with Federal Premium 175 gr. Partitions would shoot a 1" group without a hitch. I sold this rifle because it weighed too much. I just recently bought a BLR Stainless in 325 WSM ( much lighter). I hope that this shoots just as well!!!

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I bought a new BLR about 3 years ago. I mounted a Leupold 2.5-8 scope on it and took to the range to check it out. The first load I tried was supposed to be just a familiarization thing, so just loaded some Speer 220 grain bullets at about 1 grain under the max according to the Speer manual. That load went into just under 1.5" for 3 shots. I stopped load development right there and don't see any reason to pursue it any further. That rifle will consistently put them between 1" and 1.5" when I do my part.

I picked up some Speer 250s at the time to try, but have yet to load them up. I'm not sure I want to take a chance to upset the juju magic of the other load.


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Originally Posted by Jayhawker
I bought a new BLR about 3 years ago. I mounted a Leupold 2.5-8 scope on it and took to the range to check it out. The first load I tried was supposed to be just a familiarization thing, so just loaded some Speer 220 grain bullets at about 1 grain under the max according to the Speer manual. That load went into just under 1.5" for 3 shots. I stopped load development right there and don't see any reason to pursue it any further. That rifle will consistently put them between 1" and 1.5" when I do my part.

I picked up some Speer 250s at the time to try, but have yet to load them up. I'm not sure I want to take a chance to upset the juju magic of the other load.



What caliber is this BLR in???

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Sounds like it would be a 358 Win.

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My BLR (.358 Winchester) shoots 250 grain Hornady Interlocks into 0.6 inch. It shoots 225 grain TSXs into 0.7 inch. It is surprisingly accurate for a lever action.


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It takes 200-300 rounds before the trigger and barrel on a BLR start to break in... then they tighten up.

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I have owned and shot Browning steel framed BLRs a lot for the last 15yrs or so. I have owned many other rifles, but the BLR has been more accurate then many of them including many boltactions. I have a .308 that will consistantly shoot inch and a half to two and a half inch groups at 200 yards with factory 180gr Slivertips. Since I have stocked up heavely on this factory load, I have seen little need to handload for this rifle.

My brother in law owns two of these steel framed BLRs in .308, but doesn't get to hunt with either one, and is now looking for a third, because his two boys have taken them over. I own a second BLR as a backup, just in case anything ever happens to my first one. We also own many boltactions, but frankly, my boltactions don't get out much, for deer hunting because the BLRs work too well for the hunting we do.

I used to own another BLR (older steel framed gun with the old rounded magazine that hung out the bottom in 358 Win. This gun would put 200gr roundnoses and 180gr speer points into the same spot at 200 yards. It was very accurate, with many groups around an inch and half to two inches at 200yds. Unfortunately, this gun was unreliable in feeding. I tried fixing it, even purchased another Magazine for it, but finally gave up, got rid of it. The older BLRs with the rounded Mag are not as reliable as the next generation that had the flat bottom Mag. While they usually work OK with .308s, the fatter necks of the .358 created problems, and the design of magazine feed lips was the problem. I really hated to part with that gun, but I can't stand an unreliable gun, no matter how accurate it is.

IMHO the best of the breed was what I call the second generation BLR which had the steel frame, non folding hammer, and flat mag housing. Personally, I think they went down hill after this generation, however next generation with the steel frame and folding hammer is a good gun, I just don't see any need for that stupid folding hammer. The BLRs were also best in the short action calibers. This configuration was the handiest, the newer lightweigh models feel too clubby to me.

So now we have another gun, that is not what it used to be, because some bean counter or engineer who probably never hunted in their life, decided to redesign it and it wasn't for the best.

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I've found that both the original style and the 81 steel receiver models shoot the best groups when the forearm bolt is tightened up just as tight as you can get it.
With their favored handloads they'll generally clover leaf 3 shots at 100yds, the next 2 rounds will open the group to 1.5 or 2 inches. Those whispy barrels heat up quick.
I've also been really happy that those 20 inch barrels, in 243 and 308 don't give up enough velocity to the longer barrels to worry about.


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Don't know why but I got much better groups when I changed my scope rings over to talley light weights. (intergral rings / mounts)

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I just put some Hornady 180 grn.'s through my 358 and I found the groups tightend up to an inch or a hair more for three shots.

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the only one i had that would not go under 1.5" was a 243.. all the rest (all the 08' based cartridges) all appreciated the horny sp's and above moderate velocities..

the 08' and the 358 were solid with just about anything.. the 7 took a wee bit.... i would dearly love one of the older 81's in 260 smile

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John,

I had a BLR in the mid-eighties in 22-250 when as a lefty I was casting about for a walk-about varminter. I don't know where in the BLR's existence this rifle fell or whether "steel" model or not but with factory ammo it failed my "varmint test" of less than 1.5" at 100 yds with anything tried. I did not have the knowledge or desire at that time to do any minor tinkering, so my description of its accuracy is as it was out of the box.

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JohnT,

Sorry, I have no idea why your rifle doesn't go bang. I have had that problem with some other individual rifles over the years (though not a BLR) and it is always depressing. I mean, a rifle that won't go bang is sort of like a bicycle without wheels. What's the point?

Thanks to everybody for the feedback. Am working on an essay about rifles OTHER than bolt actions, and am in general finding they shoot a lot better than most bolt-action addicts expect!


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I picked up a new pistol grip laminate stainless 308 and mounted a 1.75-6x32 elite 4200 on it and am not very happy with the accuracy. It seems to shoot the first 2 shots of a 3 shot group real tight but the 3rd shot seems to be a flier. I had my buds try it and it does the same thing when they shoot it. I must say the first 2 shots always sem to be within a half inch, and at 200 yards the first 2 shots were within a inch just that 3rd shot is always a flier. could the barrel be heating up or any other ideas or suggestions? I really like how the gun handles and hate to give up on it. Also it only has about 3 boxes of shells thru it so could it tighten up with use? Thanks for any insight.

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Sounds like someone took it apart and could not correctly adjust the timing when they assembled it.

Never hunted with it cause it was so unreliable. For some reason it refused to go "Bang" each time you pulled the trigger. Wrote to Browning 2x and never even got a reply. Sent it to a very knowledgeble smith and he thought it needed a new cam which is why I wrote to Browning. Another smith reckons the problem is simpler and merely due to the 2 piece firing pin assembly. Still waiting for it to be fixed.

BTW when it does not fire, the hammer falls but there is not even an indentation on the primer.

If you know how to fix this let me know & also how to make the trigger pull better.

Regards,
JohnT[/quote]

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