Browning BAR MkII Safari - The last ALL Steel Rifle - About to disappear

[Ilove12gshotguns]

Good day,

I'm in the market for nice Semi 308 Win suitable for hunting, I went and checked out the new Browning BAR on their website. I was surprised to find they still produce and make the all steel MkII Safari edition. I was more surprised to see they have discontinued almost every calibre, one would reasonably go hunting with. Well, i seen they still make the MkII in 308 Win so I headed to my LGS and put a deposit down on one. The Browning BAR was, and still is an affordable, well built, and accurate rifle. The new short/long track system with its aluminum receiver seems to be less accurate and less reliable then the steel Safari models. It was also interesting to see that there is NONE available in the entirety of North America, so i put my order and decided to wait anyway as there's no big rush. I'm hoping it will come in the next 5 months or so.

Browning website has over 6 models of the BAR listed all of the Long / Short track aluminum, with plastic furniture. This all seems to be the trend with most of Browning firearms these days. The writing is clearly on the wall, the MkII is on the way out.

My point is... I am a little sad to see the last all metal / wood semi on the market go. If you are thinking of piking up a Browning BAR MkII Safari get one now, they're like white rhino's and wont be around much longer.

 

[rascal1]

Have had 2 in the recent past and kick my self for ever selling them.

 

[kamlooky]

Good info as I was thinking of selling my old BAR in .308win.
Back in the corner it goes.

 

[conor_90]

Always liked the look of these but was concerned with reports of poor accuracy

 

[rascal1]

Always liked the look of these but was concerned with reports of poor accuracy

Minute of deer..

 

[Ilove12gshotguns]

Minute of deer..

Ive read about guys reporting both,

Its no bolt action for sure, but i think acheiving 1" - 1.5" groups can be done easily if you reload. Which i do, so this is right up my alley.

I always find that if a gun wont shoot right, or it jams, or it has particularly poor accuracy many people immediately blame the gun. You always have to try different brands of ammo, different bullet weights, make sure you don't have copper fouling issue's (which almost EVERY gun that is 10yrs + has ), and do a proper cleaning. Man-O-Man I could tell you some horror stories from when I worked Part-time at LGS, and from what I've seen most people don't even realize that you have too re-zero your scope to a different brand's of ammo. I don't put too much stock into what i read on the internet when someone says "This damn rifle cant hit ####"

Most of the time if you sit down with a person, explain some basic concepts and educate them properly, and have them shoot 4 different brand of ammo off a decent rest , that "garbage" rifle will be shooting pretty straight.

Didn't mean to rant but there you have it.

When i pick the BAR Safari up, i will do a full range report. I will give honest reports on 1. Fit and Finish 2. Reliability 3. Accuracy with target picture

 

[flashman2]

It was also interesting to see that there is NONE available in the entirety of North America, so i put my order and decided to wait anyway as there's no big rush. I'm hoping it will come in the next 5 months or so.

Al's has them in stock in .308, .30-06 and .270 Win.

https://www.alflahertys.com/collect...-safari-without-boss-31001x?variant=394742225

They're also not all steel - trigger guard and trigger are alloy.

 

[Hitzy]

Bolt locks up in the steel barrel extension, the receiver could be made out of plastic for all that matters. Look at AR15's and AR10's, same idea.
That said, when I was looking for a semi 308 hunter, the biggest turn off for me about the BAR was difficulty in stripping for cleaning. I jumped on a 308 Benelli R1 that Coastal Outdoors was selling for $999. Can't say I'm disappointed with that decision.