BLR questions/info needed/opinions solicited

Squamch

Squamch

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Republic of Vancouver Island
I was at work last thursday when I got a phone call from a friend of mine. I answered, and he got straight to the point "My buddy's house flooded and he's selling his guns to get money to fix it, want to buy them?"
"Well...probably. Whether I will or not depends on what he has though."

Well, one of the guns was a BLR in .308. That's what my dad has primarily hunted with for my whole life, and if there's 72 different things that make me want guns, nostalgia is one of them. So I expressed interest, and ended up meeting the guy at his work last weekend to buy it. Bonus to that, I can now say I've bought a gun on a street corner downtown.:runaway: Cue panicked urbanites.

So what I now own, for a very reasonable price, is a 1970 Belgian made BLR with some surface rust on the reciever and a couple tiny spots on the barrel, one magazine (HOLY *!%$ They are HOW MUCH to buy another one?!), and a nice shiny bore. Naturally I started researching about BLRs tonight, learned that I shouldn't disassemble it unless I give it a sand bath, and that it was built in 1970 based on the -K70 at the end of the serial number. Here's where I get confused though; everything I've read says that the early rifles has a flat top receiver, and this rifle definitely doesn't. Convex tops aren't supposed to start until '95 or '96.
This rifle has a 5 digit serial number followed by the K70 postfix, doesn't have a gold trigger, and has a round topped reciever. Is this some time warp rifle or what?

Now as to the finish-I've hit the rust with 0000 steel wool, and smoothed it out. I'm soaking it overnight in an oil soaked rag, and will brush it with a brass brush tomorrow to get the last vestiges out, then oil the ever loving snot out of it again. I hunt blacktail deer on southern vancouver island. It rains on me, probably 80% of the days I spend in the field, and if it's not raining, it probably did recently. Point being, it's gonna get wet and dirty, so what should I do to protect it? Just stay on the oil program? Birchwood Casey Perma Blue? Cerakote? I'm leaning towards the BC perma blue, but I'm not sure what kind of results I'll get with it.

Overall picture of it

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Reciever rust

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And the round top on the reciever

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I remember the first BLR that came into Barotto Sports where I was working... I think it was 1971... and I think it was a round top. I don't remember any flat tops. It was a 243 and shot 100 grain CIL ammo under an inch.
 
Not sure on this .. but be carefull of the brass brush

because if microsipic parts of the brass stay on the steel it might not blue as you want

Story
I am doing some Parkerizing on some gun parts and this one pc has been in 6-7 ultrasonic cycles 2 different soaps sand blasted 3 times and it was re Parkerized 2 times and still has what looks like a brass mark on it...... its staying that way .....could not see anything after sand blasting :(
 
I have no opinion on what you should do. I just wanted to show my respects to making a transaction on a street corner!
That's a beauty rifle too! I got a new blr for Christmas and I couldn't believe the price of mags either!
 
guntech said:
I remember the first BLR that came into Barotto Sports where I was working... I think it was 1971... and I think it was a round top. I don't remember any flat tops. It was a 243 and shot 100 grain CIL ammo under an inch.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, well, hard to believe, but I guess it's possible that the guy at the gun shop, and the internet were both wrong!
Thank!
 
Do not believe everything you read in print or online is gospel.
I have been finding misinformation on rifles, such as features of certain models, numbers produced and years of manufacture of late, even from reputable sources.
We are people, and we get things wrong all the time. We don't need to crucify anyone for it, but must be aware. Keep researching or contact the manufacturer if you want to get the correct info.

Nice find on your BLR!
Since you are thinking of refinishing it, you are apparently not worried about its potential collector status. That is OK, if that is what you want. It is your rifle.

My old BLR is not a Belgian and was in very rough shape when I got it, but could not pass on the price, or the 358. I had it tefloned. It covered the rifle well, protects it from rust, and adds lubricity to the action. After some light touch up on the stock with steel wool, I rubbed in some coats of oil. Made the rifle look like new! Also added a new recoil pad to increase length of pull for me. I mounted a Leupold Vari X III 1.5-5x20 in Leupold QR rings, in case Iever need to remove it in the field and use the iron sights. It has been providing good service for over 15 years now.

Tefloning is not really cheap at about $300 today, but over 15 years, that's only $20/year for protection of a well used rifle that still sees a lot of field time.
Cerakoting, as mentioned above, is another good option, and may be arguably more resistant to wear. Cost is about the same.
Over all, I think either of these two options may be a better choice than rebluing, in your wet and humid environment to prevent rusting over time.

And yes, those spare magazines are not cheap. But recommend getting one, cause if you lose or misplace yours, you won't be using the rifle for much. And what is that worth?
Also nice to have a spare magazine for quick reloads when the action gets fast and furious in the bush. You have some very large black bears on your island!

Hope you enjoy your BLR as much as I do mine!
 
Blackram- funny thing, the browning website lays out reading the serial numbers backward on these older BLRs, but the site where I found that info arranged in the correct order, is where the reciever misinformation came from!
I have no concern regarding collector status, I am the one collecting it! I believe that guns are for buying, not selling! I will admit I've sold a few, but not before I tried really hard to love them!
I will get my paws on a spare mag, but I'm going to try to find one for less than I paid for the rifle, I think! The only excitement I've had with our bears was during archery season a few years ago when we had a sow chase her cub up a tree, then escort us out of her neighbourhood huffing and clattering her teeth at us. I've never longed for my 870 so much in my life!
 
Squamch said:
Hmmm, well, hard to believe, but I guess it's possible that the guy at the gun shop, and the internet were both wrong!
Thank!
Click to expand...

If you Google images of "Belgium made BLR", you will see they are all rounded top/convex receivers. There has never been a BLR made with a receiver that is "flat" on the top, that I have ever seen, and I have researched the hell out of 'em,.. they are all rounded. However,.. the 70's BLR's may have the "flattest" top receiver between all the models. Weaver lists 3 different mounts for the BLR's,.. #54 for BLR Lightning,.. #25 for BLR,.. and #28 for BLR with flat top receiver (older models),..https://www.ableammo.com/catalog/ammo_charts/Weaver_Mount_Chart.pdf. I have 2 model 81 steel receivers (1985, 1987) and a newer alloy receiver PG model (2009), and I think they all take/have #54's on them.


Here is a pic to compare receivers to the pre 81's...

r8VikLCl.jpg


As for refinishing the rifle,.. if you don't care about collector value,.. Cerakote makes for a nice protective finish, or have it professionally hot blued,... but if it were me, with the rifle being a first year production, I would clean it up the best I could and leave it as is,.....just give it a good coat of oil before taking it out in bad weather.
 
I've had the opportunity to shoot 2 BLRs in .243 and 22LR. They are excellent rifles, and both had extremely smooth and satisfying actions. I took my first big game (mule deer buck) with the .243 BLR, and pest control (gophers) with the 22LR BLR. Both were very accurate and had me finding a great appreciation for lever action rifles.

Thumbs up on your new purchase!
 
I have a BLR with the same year of production as yours . Great rifle , reliable , handy and reasonably accurate . Mine is in about 90% shape and I bought a spare mag for it in the 1980's , they weren't cheap back then either . They're a classic little carbine ( 48 year old design , wow , I remember when they were introduced ) enjoy ......... but don't lose that mag .
 
I haven't seen in print if you took the wood off prior to oiling?
You will definitely want to do this so both the wood can dry and any trapped water/oil can be dealt with as well.
WD40 doesn't have many uses in the gun world but it does displace water.
 
I hunt with a 308 BLR on Vancouver Island as well and it does rain on me almost everytime I'm out. You will always be fighting rust even if you keep it in an oil bath, it's just the way it is here. I have coated a couple of my bolt guns with Brownels ceramacote or something similar and have had 0 rust issues with them even after a day in torential rains where my browning rain gear starts to fail. So personally if it was me I would look into some sort of coating for west coast hunting or sell/trade it and buy stainless.
 
Well, pretty cool end to this story.

I shot the rifle a bit, and decided it wasn't for me. I'm a bolt action guy. So I posted it for sale, and had 2 buddies interested. First guy decided against it, second guy bought it last night.
He wanted it because his dad hunted with one, it was the first center fire he'd ever shot, and his dad had sold it. So he came and picked it up last night and when he left, he laughed and said "My old man's gonna be just as stoked as I am, I wonder if he'll try to buy it from me!"
He texted me this morning, asking what I knew about it's history, and I told him all I knew. This is the text he sent me back:


Well Squamch, it's a small world. That rifle was purchased in 1971' by my grandfather and given to my father at 13 in Swift Current Saskatchewan. He had it until 1995'... 24 years he had it and 24 years later right back to whom should be the owner. Serial # matched the engraving in my dads safe. To say we are happy would be an understatement. It truly means the world to me. Thank you.



If you ask me, that's pretty damn cool.
 
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