Browning SA-22

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axemaster8

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Ive been salivating over this little beauty for a while. But before I make the purchase I would like to hear what people have to say about them who have them or shot them often. Id like to hear experiences with the newer made ones from Japan as well as the older ones from FN. How accurate, reliable the action and feeding is, and the general workings of the rifle. When I have seen them, they were always pretty comparable price wise.
 
The Japanese ones are every bit as good as any...

The take down feature affects accuracy and point of impact when a scope is employed, depending on the scope mount used... I have found after it has been taken down and then put back together, if you let the bolt slam forward a half a dozen times, point of impact and group size settles in... if you just reassemble and start shooting it will take 5 or 6 shots to settle in.

It's a puzzle - take it apart! DON'T...unless you know what you are doing. Invariably many owners don't know the dangers of removing the forend wood and lose little parts and springs with their clumsiness and ignorance... the same inside the action... real easy to lose a small part critical to the operation of the magazine.
 
Had a few, first was shorts only. Shot great, fast, and quite accurate. Careful with hand placement, bottom eject right down long sleeve :). Buy one and injoy. Look at new prices (Del Selin I think had some) as some list used ones here too much. It does not matter where they were made, all work well. This is of course JMHO AJ.
 
Random thought Norco makes a knock off that has from what I've heard been reliably as accurate as the browning, a little cheaper as well.
 
I have one of the Norincos - fantastic gun. The consensus (among people who have both the Browning and the Norinco) seems to be that the Norinco is as accurate, or more accurate, than the Browning. Finishing is not as nice (although still pretty good!), and the Norinco is such a faithful copy that the SA-22 parts fit directly. I purposely tried to see if I could get a misfeed, misfire, FTE, FTF, etc. by filling the tube with a mix-'n-match grab bag of old, loose, beat-up .22's out of the bottom of my range box (steel tool box). Despite doing this several times, I couldn't generate a failure of any kind. It just keeps shooting. Accuracy was good enough that it got...boring. The takedown latch was gritty on mine, so I bought Browning parts for it (at Wes****rn Gun Supplies). They dropped right in, no fitting, and it's nice and slick now.

IIRC, I bought my Norc a year or two ago, brand new from a dealer, for $139. Hard to find even a beater Browning for that price...
 
I had one of the older Belgian made ones. Very comparable to the newer Japanese version ... only plus for the older one was a much better rear sight ... "wheel" adjuster for elevation !
Very reliable and certainly accurate enough for plinking. The takedown feature also made it a dream to clean the bore ! Also much prefered the tube magazine in the stock ... dislike
magazines !
 
i have the Norinco knock off,and after I disassembled it ,cleaned it and put it back together,there's no way I will take it down agsin...as gun tech says, too easy to lose spring and small parts...not worth it...
 
They pop up on the EE for around $400 which is pretty fair for a classic .22 takedown.
I couldn't say no when Can Am was blowing out the Norinco copies last fall... like any Norinco they are a bit hit and miss and might require a bit of tuning. The takedown lever was very sharp and stiff but a little file work too care of that, I also ordered some replacement parts from Brownells when I first got it but after doing a bit of work on it's acceptable for my purposes. The Brownings are way nicer and for only a few hundred dollars more used and well worth it.

These guns will actually cycle CCI quiets which is pretty cool as most semi's won't.
 
I have a couple of the old FN top loaders, two Belgin Browning SA22's and had a couple of the Norinco (sold one) and I'll tell you right now that the Norinco are nowhere near the same quality steel or fit and finish as the Browning are and the wood is low quality and soft. This is to be expected at the price point they are, I took my Norincos completely down when I got them and cleaned filed all the burs and worked them both over, they function good after a bit of a break in and shoot straight, but will never compare.

With that being said if you want a takedown semi that doesn't matter if it gets beat up a bit while using and have a limited budget look for a Norinco, but if you have the cash and want something with no sharp edges a nicer trigger pull, way way better wood and will last to be passed down when you are gone, get a Browning and don't look back.

As far as the Japan made go they are every bit as good as the older ones, main difference being the older wood had a different look and finish to it.
 
I love the look of the Browning as well and have been tempted for a while... What kind of accuracy can be expected from the SA22 at 50 yd using decent target ammo?
Thanks

Kody
 
Kody said:
I love the look of the Browning as well and have been tempted for a while... What kind of accuracy can be expected from the SA22 at 50 yd using decent target ammo?
Thanks

Kody
Click to expand...

Accuracy is generally good, reliability is generally excellent for a semi.
The iron sights are bead up front with a flip up micro adjustable notched blade at the rear. Depending on your eyesight and talent on the trigger accuracy will not be an issue for it's intended use as a field and fun gun.
 
I've had a few of the older ones.
They make neat noises.
I gave them up as open sights are getting pretty tuff for me.
May have to get a newer drilled receiver style one day and put
on a scope.
 
I have a 1958 and a 1963 Belgium. I also have a Norinco. They all function flawlessly. I keep them clean and oiled. The wood on the 58 is the nicest. As mentioned get used to the little parts. They are fairly cheap if you lose a spring or plunger. I keep a couple of extras around but haven't needed any. (Fingers crossed). The Belgium guns are very nice. The JW20 shoots and functions as good though (so far).
 
I had a vintage Browning mount and rings so got a scope to go with and ended up mounting it on my Norinco.



Rest of the group I left open sights, although the one Belgin has dovetails and I do have a vintage Weaver for it that dad had on it many years ago.

 
I have a Japanese Browning and the fit/finish/quality is top notch. The new ones have the scope mount attach to the barrel so I've had no issues returning to zero after take down. The odd stoppage quit happening after about 300 shots so I guess that was the break in period. Head shots on rats to 25 yards no problems. I find the design pretty simple so I've not encountered any issues in detail stripping it the many times I have. A quality plinker that will be passed down many generations I hope...
 
The only downside I've found is they like to dump empties down your shirt sleeve. Aside from that it's becoming my favourite .22, nudging out my Gevarm. I've removed the trigger group from mine several times for cleaning without losing any parts, so as long as you take a reasonable amount of care there should be no problems.
 
I've had one of the Japanese versions for 30 years. Fit and finish is as good as any that I've ever seen. A wonderful little thing to carry around and it's been the demise of many bunnies over the years. It's finicky about ammo and doesn't like truncated cone designs. Mine wears a Burris 2-7 mini and although it's not an Anschutz, it shoots minute-of-rabbit all day long. It's the family favorite for plinking because it's fun, easy to use and is as kind to the left-handers as it is to the right-handers. As far as the take-down and cleaning goes - mine has been apart dozens of times. The scope mount is attached to the barrel and I've never found the barrel's removal and replacement to affect the accuracy. The trigger group is easily removed and the mechanism is not very complex compared to the majority of the semi-auto rifles I've handled over the years. If you want a sweet little hunting .22, these are top notch.
 
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MrSharp said:
I had a vintage Browning mount and rings so got a scope to go with and ended up mounting it on my Norinco.



Rest of the group I left open sights, although the one Belgin has dovetails and I do have a vintage Weaver for it that dad had on it many years ago.

Click to expand...

Love my ancient model 1914 top feed. Always makes it to the cabin.
Accurate as I would ever ask for and just as reliable. Best $100 I ever spent!
 
One minor thing is the feeding path is a bit hard to observe in that you have to flip the gun upside down and cycle the action looking for the end of the plunger to see if there are any shells left in the magazine.
 
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