The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

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Turdyturdy
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Turdyturdy »

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the BLR/81 folks I will impart an experience we had at at my Vermont hunting camp last fall. One of the regulars showed up with a Henry Long Ranger 308 and out shot 2 BLR's and several bolt actions. Real nice wood, way better trigger than the Brownings. Appears to be somewhat of a clone of the Brownings??? We were kind of impressed considering the made in USA pedigree.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by JB »

The BLR is a beautiful rifle, but they can be a pain to pain in the rear to work on. It's a much toucher design than a 94 or 336.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by bryson »

I have a BLR 308 with a serial number that doesn't seem to make sense. It ends in "K57" but 1957 doesn't make sense. Does anyone have experience with this? Was it built in 1975 instead of 57 or something? Thank you!
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Tycer
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Tycer »

bryson wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 6:36 pm I have a BLR 308 with a serial number that doesn't seem to make sense. It ends in "K57" but 1957 doesn't make sense. Does anyone have experience with this? Was it built in 1975 instead of 57 or something? Thank you!
https://www.browning.com/support/date-y ... rifle.html
Kind regards,
Tycer
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bryson
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by bryson »

Tycer wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:00 pm
bryson wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 6:36 pm I have a BLR 308 with a serial number that doesn't seem to make sense. It ends in "K57" but 1957 doesn't make sense. Does anyone have experience with this? Was it built in 1975 instead of 57 or something? Thank you!
https://www.browning.com/support/date-y ... rifle.html
Right, but according to that and to Bruce, that would make the year of mfg 1957, which I'm assuming is far too early.
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Tycer
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Tycer »

bryson wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 3:07 pm
Tycer wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:00 pm
bryson wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 6:36 pm I have a BLR 308 with a serial number that doesn't seem to make sense. It ends in "K57" but 1957 doesn't make sense. Does anyone have experience with this? Was it built in 1975 instead of 57 or something? Thank you!
https://www.browning.com/support/date-y ... rifle.html
Right, but according to that and to Bruce, that would make the year of mfg 1957, which I'm assuming is far too early.
The number preceding the K are the year. Not the 57
Kind regards,
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Sevastopol »

Tycer wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:00 pm
bryson wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 6:36 pm I have a BLR 308 with a serial number that doesn't seem to make sense. It ends in "K57" but 1957 doesn't make sense. Does anyone have experience with this? Was it built in 1975 instead of 57 or something? Thank you!
https://www.browning.com/support/date-y ... rifle.html
Mine is a '73 made in Belgium. Go figure.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by bryson »

Tycer wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:51 pm The number preceding the K are the year. Not the 57
The serial number is 0737_K57, which doesn't match anything shown. I assume the 0737_ was the serial number, but then it doesn't make sense for 1957 to be the year. It also doesn't make sense for the year to be the middle two numbers in the series.

Not sure if this matters, but it also says made in Japan. I'm assuming it's pre-81 due to the "K" in the serial number, but I'm baffled with the rest of it. I guess it's not too important, since the biggest reason I started looking was because it's missing a magazine, but the more I started reading, the more I was just hoping to learn a little more about it.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by JOG »

Are the Belgium Browning's better than the Japanese made Browning's?
Does anyone know what year did the Belgium factory stop making Browning's
You don't see to many of the Belgium Browning's these days!
I recently passed up a left handed Belgium made 22 cal. bolt action.
I had the old salt stock on this little rimfire.
Lot's of rust near the steel where it meets the stock.
I think under that stock would just have been pure rust.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Tycer »

bryson wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 1:09 pm
Tycer wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:51 pm The number preceding the K are the year. Not the 57
The serial number is 0737_K57, which doesn't match anything shown. I assume the 0737_ was the serial number, but then it doesn't make sense for 1957 to be the year. It also doesn't make sense for the year to be the middle two numbers in the series.

Not sure if this matters, but it also says made in Japan. I'm assuming it's pre-81 due to the "K" in the serial number, but I'm baffled with the rest of it. I guess it's not too important, since the biggest reason I started looking was because it's missing a magazine, but the more I started reading, the more I was just hoping to learn a little more about it.
More curiosity. http://browningowners.com/forum/index.p ... lue.10471/
My guess it’s a’75. Mag extends well past receiver, steel frame.
Keep your eye out for a magazine. They’re unobtanium.
Kind regards,
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by bryson »

Thank you for that link! How crazy that the would swap the year like that. Yes, they are very hard to come by. Might just be a single shot for a while.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by pricedo »

I own 3 Miroku of Japan manufactured Browning BLR '81s.
2 x stainless finish takedown BLR '81s ... 1 in 308 Win (short action) and 1 in 300 Win Mag (long action)
1 x "blue" finish takedown BLR '81 in 308 Win.
I was going to sell the blue finish BLR because of redundancy but it is actually the more accurate of the 3 so it is still around by popular acclamation.

All 3 Miroku gold trigger BLRs are quite accurate and the of course the fit, finish, workmanship are superb.

The only minor disappointments in the BLRs are the "so-so" trigger and the lack of sling swivel eyes on the barrel bands and butt stocks ... a good trigger and installed sling swivel eyes are industry standard on rifles at this price point. I once questioned a Browning sales rep on the phone about the lackluster BLR trigger and he replied "the BLRs are hunting rifles not target rifles" ... I suppose that is true.
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Tycer »

pricedo wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:47 pm
The only minor disappointments in the BLRs are the "so-so" trigger and the lack of sling swivel eyes on the barrel bands and butt stocks ...
I installed a saddle ring on my blue takedown and use a Junior Doughty sling.
Kind regards,
Tycer
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pricedo
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by pricedo »

Tycer wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:01 pm
pricedo wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:47 pm
The only minor disappointments in the BLRs are the "so-so" trigger and the lack of sling swivel eyes on the barrel bands and butt stocks ...
I installed a saddle ring on my blue takedown and use a Junior Doughty sling.
I use a Quake Claw shotgun sling which requires no metal sling attachment on the for-end or a barrel band.
I installed a conventional sling eye & swivel on the butt stock of the BLR (which took all of 5 minutes) and the fabric loop wraps around the barrel.
The fabric loop won't fall off and doesn't interfere with barrel harmonics (accuracy) where a metal band on the barrel might.
I don't like saddle rings ... they can be noisy and I'd rather drill the wood rather than the metal when modifying a gun.
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Tycer
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Tycer »

pricedo wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:02 am
Tycer wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:01 pm
pricedo wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:47 pm
The only minor disappointments in the BLRs are the "so-so" trigger and the lack of sling swivel eyes on the barrel bands and butt stocks ...
I installed a saddle ring on my blue takedown and use a Junior Doughty sling.
I didn’t have to modify anything but the threads on the saddle ring. The hammer pivot is a Chicago screw.

I use a Quake Claw shotgun sling which requires no metal sling attachment on the for-end or a barrel band.
I installed a conventional sling eye & swivel on the butt stock of the BLR (which took all of 5 minutes) and the fabric loop wraps around the barrel.
The fabric loop won't fall off and doesn't interfere with barrel harmonics (accuracy) where a metal band on the barrel might.
I don't like saddle rings ... they can be noisy and I'd rather drill the wood rather than the metal when modifying a gun.
Kind regards,
Tycer
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Tycer
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Re: The Browning Lever Action Rifle (BLR) By: Bruce Hamlin

Post by Tycer »

pricedo wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:02 am
Tycer wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:01 pm
pricedo wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:47 pm
The only minor disappointments in the BLRs are the "so-so" trigger and the lack of sling swivel eyes on the barrel bands and butt stocks ...
I installed a saddle ring on my blue takedown and use a Junior Doughty sling.


I use a Quake Claw shotgun sling which requires no metal sling attachment on the for-end or a barrel band.
I installed a conventional sling eye & swivel on the butt stock of the BLR (which took all of 5 minutes) and the fabric loop wraps around the barrel.
The fabric loop won't fall off and doesn't interfere with barrel harmonics (accuracy) where a metal band on the barrel might.
I don't like saddle rings ... they can be noisy and I'd rather drill the wood rather than the metal when modifying a gun.
I didn’t have to modify anything but the threads on the saddle ring. The hammer pivot is a Chicago screw.
Kind regards,
Tycer
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