Browning BAR Safari VS Benelli R1

NorthernPF

NorthernPF

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Hey everyone!
I've recently found an attraction with having a semi-auto rifle chambered in either 300WM or 338WM. Seems like my options are either a Browning BAR Safari or the Benelli R1. With that being said I can't really find any new posts online that have reviews of these two rifles. I really like the detachable mag, recoil reduction system and the open sights of the R1 but many of the older posts speak to an almost disappointing level of accuracy.

On the other hand, with the Browning, we have a hinged floorplate detachable magazine (???) No open sights and a muzzle brake that turns gun powder into excessive noise but apparently it has much greater accuracy.

Can anyone who has seen or tried one of these rifles recently chime in and provide me with some insight??

Thanks!
 
Bar safari is a proven, reliable and robust design made of steel instead of aluminum. Some Bars have open sights...maybe just older ones? Benelli recoil reduction system? lol, some rubber chevrons on the stock that absorb "some" vibration.
 
I have an R1 in 300 Win Mag and it's a great gun. Mine is the wood version and it's very accurate, super reliable and fairly pleasant to shoot. It weighs 8lbs 7oz with a Leupold 3-9x40 on it which is around what the BAR would weigh without the scope. It's a very well designed gun and the early reports of problems may have been true but every new model of anything always has some bugs. I have no use for muzzle breaks so the BAR having one would be a deal breaker. I've owned about 4 BARs over the years and all were accurate and reliable, I just like the design of the R1 better and because the action spring is located in the buttstock it's a much more balanced gun than the BAR.

Patrick
 
Have owned several Bar, no Benelli. Bar are well built and accurate. Easy to take apart for a good cleaning. Perhaps the weakness's of them would be weight(but i still like the Safari over the Short/Longtrac) and a lack of camming force in cycling. Brass must be sized properly for cycling and any loads should be standard level, not max overloads.
 
If someone comes up with a cure for the hinge floor plate on the bare .Thy would do very well .this is the only thing about the ;
Bar that turns me off..never shot a r1 ..yet....Dutch
 
I have had a benelli R1 30-06 for the past 6 months. Found I needed to get a few rounds down the barrel for the accuracy to settle in, about 200. Happy with accuracy of the rifle for the hunting distances I am looking at. I like the recoil reduction of the synthetic model, not sure how would compare to bar or wooden version. In a bolt gun 180gr 308win loads make me flinch but in this setup 200gr 30-06 are no problem to shoot.

The biggest thing that made me get the R1 was the ease of which it could be taken apart. I was used to semi in the military and the biggest thing that made these reliable was the ability to strip them and do easy maintenance. Just have a look at the R1 manual online, the thing can be stripped with no tools, including bolt with ease. The BAR manual suggest you take it to a gunsmith. I had some lever actions for a bit of time but sold them for similar reasons, they are a pain to take apart and put back together.
 
delboybc said:
I have had a benelli R1 30-06 for the past 6 months. Found I needed to get a few rounds down the barrel for the accuracy to settle in, about 200. Happy with accuracy of the rifle for the hunting distances I am looking at. I like the recoil reduction of the synthetic model, not sure how would compare to bar or wooden version. In a bolt gun 180gr 308win loads make me flinch but in this setup 200gr 30-06 are no problem to shoot.

The biggest thing that made me get the R1 was the ease of which it could be taken apart. I was used to semi in the military and the biggest thing that made these reliable was the ability to strip them and do easy maintenance. Just have a look at the R1 manual online, the thing can be stripped with no tools, including bolt with ease. The BAR manual suggest you take it to a gunsmith. I had some lever actions for a bit of time but sold them for similar reasons, they are a pain to take apart and put back together.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. I was very surprised how far you can strip it down without tools.
 
The recoil reduction system is more than some lines on the stock, it actually works very well.

I like both. I think the r1's are nice guns but I don't like the way they look. I could say the same about the long and short trac I guess. The magazine on the BAR is also a little strange.

Considering its on the ARGO system of the m4 I would bet they are pretty sturdy.
 
The Browning BAR is only guaranteed to shoot 5" groups by Browning. That company is all marketing and snake oil these days.

The recoil reduction systems are just marketing. A quality recoil pad (XCoil, Limb saver, etc) will do the same thing. Gas operated semi-autos are softer shooters because they bleed off pressure.
 
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I've had both. All BARs were good shooters. My Benelli was a 300 Win mag and it was picky on bullet weight (loved 150's but didn't like 180's). I felt the Benelli was by far the better handling rifle. Also liked how easy it was to tear down. Trigger was better in the Benelli
I had a lightweight Stalker BAR in 30-06 which was a .75 with virtually anything you loaded it with.
Either way I don't think you can make a bad choice with either of these guns.
 
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