Browning BAR - good, bad and the fugly

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JJ1979

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Recently picked up a Browning BAR in 3006. My uncle had one when I was a kid and I have wanted one for many years so I am overall happy with it. I have seen mixed reviews about them. When I told my uncle I got one he laughed - said he had me use it when I was a kid b/c it couldn't shoot well enough for him to trust it so he didnt care if I shot the crap out of it.
Looking to have it on hand primarily for deer/moose and some light plinking. I reload and have others in '06.
Any tips? good stories? bad experiences?
 
Only good experiences with mine, a Belgium made 30-06 open sights, 2 mags, better than moa with factory loads! It fit me well and the recoil is basically non existant! Could be hard to find parts for them….
 
JJ1979 said:
Recently picked up a Browning BAR in 3006. My uncle had one when I was a kid and I have wanted one for many years so I am overall happy with it. I have seen mixed reviews about them. When I told my uncle I got one he laughed - said he had me use it when I was a kid b/c it couldn't shoot well enough for him to trust it so he didnt care if I shot the crap out of it.
Looking to have it on hand primarily for deer/moose and some light plinking. I reload and have others in '06.
Any tips? good stories? bad experiences?
Click to expand...

Like every tool, learn to take care of it. Most semi-autos got bad reputations because the owners ignored the manual and common sense about keeping up with maintenance. The M1 Carbine, Mini 14, SKS and a handful of others are significantly more reliable and that is because they were designed with parts and systems that are a magnitude bigger and more foregiving.
 
I have one in 30-06 as well. I have developed many loads for it shooting less than 1 moa. Extremely accurate but a bit on the heavy side, which is not a problem when sitting in a tree stand.
 
Had a synthetic stock and a wooden stock both in 300 wsm (short trac alloy receiver) both average under 2 moa.

Almost give up on the platform until one day was talking to someone has more experience on these guns told me to find one with a steel receiver then finally found a Safari II for a reasonable price this one is a solid moa rifle with most load and some under moa.

Have to admit it's a bit on the heavy side but shoots as well if not better than many factory bolt guns still have it
 
I've all ways wanted a Mark II safari. Don't really feel the same way about the MK3 varieties. There was nothing wrong with the Safari's IMO and no need to change what's not broke.
 
Back in the late 70's a friend of my brothers came out to Alberta to hunt. He had BAR 300Win mag. It made a heavy, attractive, (depending on your opinion), and expensive single shot.
 
Had a dozen or so over the years, didn't get a bad one. Still have two, an older model and new short track, prefer the older for carrying..
 
When I was smithing i saw 1 for about every 10 remmy 74 family guns, and the issues were almost always the owner, like the guy who only use bear grease. That said I have owned a few personally, one had an internal flaw that once cleaned up turned it from a jamamatic to flawless. With reloading you will usually want to try sticking close to factory pressure curves. But that said on the older fixed gas guns you can still tweek the gas system. On the newer ones its an easy thing to adjust the gas system to suit your loads.
 
Mark III in 243 is my coyote medicine with 70 grn Noslers at about 3400 ft. Will touch a group of 3 at 100 yds all day long. Bit heavy but other than that its a keeper.
 
I had one in 308 - It was a good gun but I sold it and bought a Benelli R1 308 in wood and then a year later traded it and got a synthetic stocked one in 3006. I liked the Bar trigger much better than the Benelli trigger but found the Benelli easier to disassemble and clean. The BAR was also more
accurate then the benelli - at least my BAR was
 
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Here is the fugly....custom ordered Grade IV .243 1979 Belgium made..
and yes I hunt with it....with amazing results!

BAR .243 at range.jpg
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i have a bar 3006 for over 50 yrs now ...keep it clean ....mine likes hotter loadings rather than other more common offerings ,,,win rem etc ,,big ivory or brass front sight bead and williams peep......this gun shoots extremely well.....of late it carries a 2 moa red dot for older eyes...just a joy to carry...i paid $197.50 new at that time and at a local hardware store..don
 
I've had ....six over the years. Currently have a 1st Gen in 243, and a assembled in Portugal in 338wm. Every one I've had shot minimum 《 moa with little load development. Some a lot better. Yes they're a bit heavy. Last thing, some equate them with Rem 740/7400, complete different animal.
 
I've tried some BAR's over the years & they shot straight, but I never cotton'd up to them. Gas guns ain't friendly with cast boolits and I don't dig chasing brass.

T'would be fun to play with one in 458 Win though. ;)
BAR .458 Mag.jpg
 

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