There can simply be no disputing how awesome the BAR is in the realm of sporting rifles. That said Browning just loves to screw up a good thing, including the BAR. Over the years they seemed hell bent to make it the blingy autoloader, with scroll work, gold inlay, and the worst magazine system in the world, but what can you do.
I wanted a 300wm gas gun to pound the hell out of, and the BAR seemed the only obvious choice. I originally planned to attempt a magazine conversion to a 10/5 magazine system, a la Armstech in the US, but unfortunately they will not convert guns (or sell parts) for customers outside of the US. I promptly sank a few hundred dollars in to various mags for bolt guns in an attempt to see if I could do the conversion myself, but the BARs mag/triggerguard system made it far to much work, and so I was left with a BAR I got off the EE with a few issues, and in need of some work.
The gun had been a solid bargain, about 600$, when most people think a Rem 710 is worth about 10 grand. It had some damage, but when I got it I was surprised at the amazing mechanical condition, it looked as though it had barely seen a box of shells.
As I tore it down I soon suspected it may have been a jam-o-matic though, there were several places of very clear rub wear, and obvious Browning had built it on a Monday, what with the damaged spacer, which had pushed on the action bar above it, wearing well into it; and a dent in the bolt head sleeve base that made the bolt hard to rotate in the bolt body. A little sanding, some 2000grit polishing, and suddenly the bolt was slicker than slick, and the spacer came out well as well.
I didn’t want the old sights on the gun, so had the soldered front sight taken off, dumped the rear sight, and decided I would try a ‘proof of concept’ for the rifle. In particular I wanted a nice long rail, because it makes me happy. Regrettably I couldn’t find anyone making one for BARs (though there is one for Rem 76-74 series guns), and so decided I would slap one together. The rail was easily obtained from EGW in the US for an extra 30$ (3 ft piece of it), and then unfortunately I had to have a buddy weld up the ring bracket on the front. That unfortunately was not a precision weld, nor square, but alas it is what it is.
In truth, the long rail is likely to be cut back to a receiver length rail, but only after some testing of it.
This gun is the epitome of something I really hate though, the BS spewed all the time about ‘you can build it for next to nothing’. I had to pull in favours from a number of people to keep this thing to about 1200$!! I was quoted ridiculous numbers to have a length of rail done here in Canada (70$ from EGW), and I wont even mention the other quotes I had for other work I had wanted.
I had wanted to go with a Parkerizing finish, in an homage to the original BAR, and these early BARs would look good parked, but the prices again were ridiculous, especially since guncoating the aluminum mag plate was an extra cost. As a result I turned to Striker to green up yet another gun for me, which with the wood I still think looks good.
Next, maybe original BAR sights, and flash suppressor…..
The damage on the forend doesn't show up well, but the tip of the handguard was badly chewed up, truck gun damage at a guess.
The damage to the sides of the grip cap area meant maintaining a reasonable profile was hard, the damage was quite deep.
People can fawn over old 70s Browning quality all they want, but this BAR left a lot to be desired, the only thing it was missing was some salt wood....
The spacer was misaligning the action bar, tilting it, grinding it into the barrel.
Trigger group freshly done. All cleaned up this trigger is very impressive, short pull and reasonable weight.
Brace yourself... last step before adding the 'Fudd Repellant'...
You want Bear defence, there ya go. The far mounted reddots are popular in some parts of Europe for moving/driven game, here just for looks.
The one good thing about using Striker to redo guns is he does as he is asked, in this case everything is green. Some moly on the trigger, but that will wipe off.
Pick your sights... great thing about rails, whatever you want.
Just for perspective, the Howa is sporting a 14inch barrel. The BIG BAR is big, the barrel really needs to be shorter, and a BPR would be a better choice (IMHO) with a clipped barrel. Swinging the big Bar around feels like manoeuvering a battleship, while the Howa is like a canoe. I can see why a lot of folks would take a shorter AR style platform, but the BAR has class up the wazoo.
I wanted a 300wm gas gun to pound the hell out of, and the BAR seemed the only obvious choice. I originally planned to attempt a magazine conversion to a 10/5 magazine system, a la Armstech in the US, but unfortunately they will not convert guns (or sell parts) for customers outside of the US. I promptly sank a few hundred dollars in to various mags for bolt guns in an attempt to see if I could do the conversion myself, but the BARs mag/triggerguard system made it far to much work, and so I was left with a BAR I got off the EE with a few issues, and in need of some work.
The gun had been a solid bargain, about 600$, when most people think a Rem 710 is worth about 10 grand. It had some damage, but when I got it I was surprised at the amazing mechanical condition, it looked as though it had barely seen a box of shells.
As I tore it down I soon suspected it may have been a jam-o-matic though, there were several places of very clear rub wear, and obvious Browning had built it on a Monday, what with the damaged spacer, which had pushed on the action bar above it, wearing well into it; and a dent in the bolt head sleeve base that made the bolt hard to rotate in the bolt body. A little sanding, some 2000grit polishing, and suddenly the bolt was slicker than slick, and the spacer came out well as well.
I didn’t want the old sights on the gun, so had the soldered front sight taken off, dumped the rear sight, and decided I would try a ‘proof of concept’ for the rifle. In particular I wanted a nice long rail, because it makes me happy. Regrettably I couldn’t find anyone making one for BARs (though there is one for Rem 76-74 series guns), and so decided I would slap one together. The rail was easily obtained from EGW in the US for an extra 30$ (3 ft piece of it), and then unfortunately I had to have a buddy weld up the ring bracket on the front. That unfortunately was not a precision weld, nor square, but alas it is what it is.
In truth, the long rail is likely to be cut back to a receiver length rail, but only after some testing of it.
This gun is the epitome of something I really hate though, the BS spewed all the time about ‘you can build it for next to nothing’. I had to pull in favours from a number of people to keep this thing to about 1200$!! I was quoted ridiculous numbers to have a length of rail done here in Canada (70$ from EGW), and I wont even mention the other quotes I had for other work I had wanted.
I had wanted to go with a Parkerizing finish, in an homage to the original BAR, and these early BARs would look good parked, but the prices again were ridiculous, especially since guncoating the aluminum mag plate was an extra cost. As a result I turned to Striker to green up yet another gun for me, which with the wood I still think looks good.
Next, maybe original BAR sights, and flash suppressor…..
The damage on the forend doesn't show up well, but the tip of the handguard was badly chewed up, truck gun damage at a guess.
The damage to the sides of the grip cap area meant maintaining a reasonable profile was hard, the damage was quite deep.
People can fawn over old 70s Browning quality all they want, but this BAR left a lot to be desired, the only thing it was missing was some salt wood....
The spacer was misaligning the action bar, tilting it, grinding it into the barrel.
Trigger group freshly done. All cleaned up this trigger is very impressive, short pull and reasonable weight.
Brace yourself... last step before adding the 'Fudd Repellant'...
You want Bear defence, there ya go. The far mounted reddots are popular in some parts of Europe for moving/driven game, here just for looks.
The one good thing about using Striker to redo guns is he does as he is asked, in this case everything is green. Some moly on the trigger, but that will wipe off.
Pick your sights... great thing about rails, whatever you want.
Just for perspective, the Howa is sporting a 14inch barrel. The BIG BAR is big, the barrel really needs to be shorter, and a BPR would be a better choice (IMHO) with a clipped barrel. Swinging the big Bar around feels like manoeuvering a battleship, while the Howa is like a canoe. I can see why a lot of folks would take a shorter AR style platform, but the BAR has class up the wazoo.
