Bolt hold on an older BAR

I

ILoveBigRacks

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Took possession this afternoon of an older Belgian Browning BAR .30-06. The fellow i got it from has had it since new but at 80 yrs old has decided he no longer will be going hunting.

So, once I give the rifle a good cleaning and going over I'll be posting it for sale.

In the meantime, I've got a couple of small questions. I went online and found the owner's manual but it shows a bold hold switch on the side of the receiver - no such switch on this rifle. According to the manual, if the mag is inserted, the bolt will auto-hold when pulled back (haven't tried this yet) but it refers to the hold switch if trying to lock the bolt open with the mag removed for cleaning purposes. How do I manually lock the bolt open with the mag removed if there isn't a bolt hold switch? Might be staring me right in the face but I just can't seem to figure it out.

Also, the serial number date listing for the Browning site lists the pre-75 BARs as having serial numbers that start with the 2-digit year of mfg, followed by the code "M" for BAR, and then the serial number. My serial number appears to be backwards (the site didn't mention this) in that it has a 5 digit number (serial I gather), then the "M", and THEN the 2-digit number which is 70 (mfg 1970 I take it). Anyone ever heard of them stamping any of these with backwards coded serial numbers?

Thanks in advance,
ILBR:)
 
I believe you have a pre-93 BAR so you should use the older manual that indicates that there is not a bolt hold switch. I have the .308 BAR with the same description. It is the Mark 1 I believe. Hope this helps a little.
 
Thanks, that helps. I was just looking at the online manual from the Browning site and didn't realize they had made major changes to the rifle over the years. The rifle was mfg in 1970 so it stands to reason that the new manual wouldn't indicate the lack of the bolt hold.

Is there a way of holding the bolt back without the mag in it that you know of?



308BAR said:
I believe you have a pre-93 BAR so you should use the older manual that indicates that there is not a bolt hold switch. I have the .308 BAR with the same description. It is the Mark 1 I believe. Hope this helps a little.
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no, the bolt is held back by the follower in the mag, trip the mag release and the bolt comes forward- western gun parts in edmonton might still have a manual- i got the service manual from them years back and it was 15 bucks then - you will also want to get a spare mag and they're different as well- i'd scan mine, but no scanner- your bolt head is also different - these went through a complete re-design in 92 or so- presumably to better handle the magnums, but who knows- mine's in 338 win mag
 
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