Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Browning Buck Mark Gold Target - Field Test

About two weeks ago I came across a used but mint condition Browning Buck Mark Gold Target pistol.
I am an admirer of the Browning Buck Mark pistol line and was kind of taken with the strange looks and heavy barrel on this model.
The pistol has a gold anodized frame and the full length sighting rib is also gold anodized.
It has a very heavy 5 1/2" barrel with a gold plated trigger.
The nifty little pistol came with a Burris 2 power pistol scope that has a Du-Plex type reticle.
I took several brands of ammunition to the range with me last week with the hopes that this pistol would "like" the Federal bulk pack hollow-points that I have so much of.
It was the first ammo I tried and it shot (grouped) so well off the sand bags that I settled on that ammo for my Varminting uses and did not try anything else.
The trigger on this pistol is nothing short of outstanding - in fact if I had my druthers I would increase the pull weight by 4 or 6 ounces.
The trigger was crisp and I am guessing right at 24 ounces pull weight.
I did not get any information on trigger modifications from the original owner so I am not sure if this wonderful trigger is factory stock or not.
The functioning there at the range was flawless and I ran at least 50 rounds through the gun.
Yesterday I had occassion to take the Buck Mark on its first Hunt.
It was not long until it had racked up 10 Ground Squirrels at ranges out to 50 yards or so - and it came within a couple of ounces of trigger pull of harvesting a huge Jack Rabbit that was sitting in the shade of a rock over hang.
I decided NOT to take that Jack as he was out a ways from my rancher friends crops.
I have one other Browning Buck Mark pistol, but it has a 4 1/2" heavy barrel (and is finished in electroless nickel). As well as that pistol shoots its not quite as accurate as this new to me, Gold Target!
I am very happy with this Browning Gold Target and highly recommend this model to anyone looking for an accurate yet somewhat compact 22 pistol.
The looks are a bit different from what I normally go for but the performance has been wonderful so far.
Unfortunately the pistol only came with one magazine and my preliminary searches have rendered no additional magazines.
Keep up the good work Browning!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I too love the buckmarks. I bought a ruger target that was supposed to be "even more of a good thing" than my buckmark. Not sure if I got a great buckmark or we just get along really well, but I always shoot it well in comparison to the ruger.

I got tired of waiting on Buckmarks and caved in to the Ruger 22/45 Lite. The newer version with black fluted barrel.

I did a ton of research and the Buckmark Contour was my choice due to having the integral rail on the rib. I think you have to lose the read sight or ability to easily swap between open and optic with any other models. The Ruger includes a rail mount that fits snugly between the front and rear sight. That-and the weight to backpack this pistol.

But I would still love to try a Buckmark some day. I can tell you my Ruger trigger would not leave one wanting to increase it any.....

With the shortage of .22 I don't see myself scratching that Buckmark itch for some time.