Bolt action VS BLR?

The lockup I had with the BLR was when I was working up a load.
I brought the charge up one more grain and off to see the gunsmith.
Yes, my chamber is always clean as are the locking lug recesses.
I always keep a light skim of high pressure grease on the locking lug bearing surfaces.

A guy would be smart to run mid level loads in a BLR.

The design of the BLR makes you absorb more recoil than a bolt action with a modern stock. I had a BLR in 358Win and my late buddy had on in a bolt gun and the difference in shootability was night and day...Accuracy was night and day too!

All that aside, a BLR in 358Winchester is a great mid range hunting rifle...You just have to ignore some lumps along the way.
 
X-fan said:
The design of the BLR makes you absorb more recoil than a bolt action with a modern stock.
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my 30-06 would bruise the sh*t out of my shoulder , put put a muzzle brake on it ( big mistake ) and a huge over size recoil pad .

the muzzle brake did help , but will defen you while hunting so it got taken off .

the oversize recoil pad made a huge difference , even without the muzzle brake .
 
Guess it's just all subjective. I read guys saying they think blr's aren't good looking; I think they're by far the best looking lever gun out there, although a win94 is good looking too, and the marlins aren't bad looking, I just like blr's more. I've never had any problems, not one, although I've read from guys who had a problem that needed fixing, apparently the lever/bolt timing is run by a couple gears, and if they're out, it ain't gonna work. Guys talk about being able to "take them apart"; why? Buy a good quality gun and you'll never have a reason to take it apart. I just use Q tips for cleaning the internals, and I hunt deer in the sandhills.
Far as guys complaining about the trigger, I don't know, it's a hunting gun and works extremely well at that. Maybe if you want to do 1000yd competitions it'd make a difference, I don't know, but the trigger worked just fine for all the animals and targets I've shot, and let me tell you, it's been LOTS.

Recoil wise, I don't think they're bad, as I remember my original abolt 300wm kicking a lot more than my current blr 300winmag, but to be fair, my old abolt had No recoil pad, and I was a lot skinnier then. I started my wife last year on 30-30's, and she moved to a 375win(surprisingly nice calibre); I let her shoot the '06 with a 150gr hunting load(3000fps), and she was fine with it, although I wouldn't let her try the same with a 220gr moose load yet(2500fps).
I'm a real blr fan though, with my first new gun being a 243(about 40 yrs ago), and currently have them in: 30-06, 270, 300, and 450. The 450 did take me a couple hundred rounds to be completely comfortable(nonchalant) with the recoil but then if you want to push a 400gr lead at over 2000fps it's gonna push back, and it'll take some practice to be comfortable and accurate with it.
While we have/had win's and a marlin and both are nice guns, I personally just like the brownings more. While there are obviously other good choices for you my best advice is to visit a gunstore and throw one up to your shoulder. If it "just plain fits", you are now a blr fan. If not, well I guess there's a reason they make other guns, although I'm not certain why.:)
 
I have an older BLR that has killed a lot of moose and deer. It is not a tack driver but it gets the job done. The light barrel warms up fast and then groups open up.

Since the action is so tight they can get finicky if dirty and they are a pain to clean. Mine has also frozen shut, with the hammer cocked after just a bit of snow getting in the bolt and -10c weather. I now have bolt guns for winter hunting.

My current 308 BLR is one of my never sell guns. Would I buy another one now, probably not.
 
Max-4 said:
Maybe its an aquired taste but I dont think theres anything ugly about this:

My 1981 (steel) BLR in .308
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I like that BLR. nothing wrong with how it looks. What i dont like about marlins, winchesters, savage levers is that i pinch my damn fingers all the time when working the action.
 
Well I have a Win 94, a Marlin 336 and now have in possession my Late friend's BLR. Each have their pros and cons. In my opinion, it really depends on how much "reach" you need from a rifle.

The handiest and best balanced of the three is the Winchester. I have a scout mounted scope on it and it's great for close up work in the eastern hardwoods.

The Marlin is a little heavier, very scope friendly, easy to take apart for cleaning from the breach, and an ultra smooth and reliable action.

The BLR has more "umph" and range (.308 vs. .30-30 in the others), friendly for scope mounting, a little more kick but tolerable, and a clip fed mag.

There are some trigger and jamming complaints with some BLR's. The one I've used has an "ok" trigger that seemed to smooth out more when I sprayed in some WD40. It prefers Winchester brass over all others and works flawlesly with that brand. (Some older eastern european ammo I tried had a tendency to jam up some.)

In a nutshell, I'd take the Browning over the other two if I was looking for a lever that does it all (deer to moose). However, I would stick to a Marlin or Winchester if all I was ever hunting was deer or black bear in the hardwoods.
 
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