Thanks for all the suggestions so far. To answer a couple of questions: Daggit: No, the loads were not hot. All my handloads were very middle of the road. The loads I had the most trouble with were generic Winchester 180 grains. It took true grit to open the lever when I fired those. Bruce: The rifl...

Have you slugged the bore? Is there any way the bolt locking lugs are getting hung up after being forced to the rear? Could you notch or turn the rim off a 308 to see if the bolt was still hard to open without the extractor attached to the case? It would take a rod to remove the case, but that's ea...

Howdy! Question about my Belgian BLR .308: has anyone ever run into a problem with difficult extraction on one of these? I've had the gun for a while, though never shot it a lot, and it always seemed like the lever was a little harder to work after firing than it should have been (never a problem wh...

The only thing I don't like about it is the trigger. I'm used to a light trigger on all my rifles, and years ago I took this BLR to a gunsmith for what I assumed would be a routine trigger job. Imagine my shock when I was told he couldn't do anything about triggers on BLR's! I was informed that I'd...

Thanks for most all the suggestions!

Howdy, Has anyone ever fitted a recoil pad to a Browning '86 carbine? Once you trim the stock flat, what pads will fit? It looks like most anything from Limbsaver or Pachmayr that has an insert wouldn't work, because you'd grind down into the insert. I know it won't look very traditional, but, well,...

Wow, lots of good pics and info, especially about the sights. SFRanger7GP, I VERY MUCH appreciate the offer on the tang sight, but I've never quite been able to like them. They always seem to be in the way of my thumb, or folded over, or bumping a hat bill, or something. Salvo, you mentioned that yo...

I have a new to me Browning `86 carbine, and I was hoping y'all could help me out with a couple of questions: 1) I've seen several discussions about lengthening the throat, and I've already noticed that a 405 grain cast bullet seated to the crimp groove will just chamber. Exactly how far do you typi...