Stripping Browning Buckmark for cleaning

you can tear it down right to the point of taking the barrel off. don't mess with that one if you can avoid it. and watch for the little plastic tab at the back of the recoil spring. once you take the top strap off. it likes to go flying into unknown corners of any room.

Yes, do not strip it down! I have a Buckmark and because I've always stripped my handguns down in the past I thought I could do it with the Buckmark. Parts went everywhere! I collected the parts and was on the way to a gunsmith when I remembered that the instructions to put it back together might be found on Rimfire Central.com I looked on that site and sure enough the instructions were there and I was able to put it back together. The best thing to do is to follow the Browning instructions and just clean without disassembly.

It's not that hard to take a Buckmark apart, and it is required over time. I once didn't disassemble mine for several years, and it became unreliable. When I took it apart I found a large rock of fouling sitting on top of the hammer, obstructing its motion.

All it takes is to remove the two screws that retain the bar the rear sight mounts by (or rail, if so equipped). You can then remove the slide, but you must be careful to trap the recoil spring and recoil buffer. It's really not that hard. Just search up a video on youtube. There's a lot of them:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=buckmark+disassembly

While there are guns that are truly difficult to re-assemble, I wouldn't rate the Buckmark as one of them.

DO NOT TAKE IT APART!!!!!
Every 3000-5000 rounds, or when the trigger gets "crunchy", I lock the slide back, spray clean liberally with SYNTHETIC SAFE gun cleaner, and then lube the wear points. I sometimes do a bit of detail cleaning with a q-tip, and if really ambitious I might run a bore snake down the barrel.
That's it.

milemaker13 said:

The manual says just clean it with out disassembling. . .

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jonnyc said:

DO NOT TAKE IT APART!!!!!

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Good heavens, it's a semi-auto pistol not a Swiss watch. If you can't learn to strip it to parts and reassemble it, you should switch to something simpler.

These days I would look for a YouTube disassembly video first, and a forum post here or elsewhere in particularly technical cases.

This reminds me of the article in the last Rifleman waxing long and glorious about how hard it was to reassemble a Ruger MkII. In reality it's trivial if you just follow the directions word-for-word. You don't even have to understand it if you can just read (although you should learn to understand it).

ray15 said:

All it takes is to remove the two screws that retain the bar the rear sight mounts by (or rail, if so equipped). You can then remove the slide, but you must be careful to trap the recoil spring and recoil buffer. It's really not that hard. Just search up a video on youtube.

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I don't do it every range session, but when the gun needs better cleaning and lube I do what you do. I don't remove the barrel, but I remove the top two screws of the "rail" and remove the slide.

The hammer cocking portion of the slide really needs to be cleaned off and smear of grease applied on occasion, IMO. Otherwise, it gets worn too quickly just like every other gun I've ever seen. Of course, while I'm in there I clean the rest as much as possible.

Sell it before you have to detail strip it.

I made that mistake with my Buckmark exactly once. Curse words were flowing out of my mouth like water over the Niagara Falls.

I think we need to clarify when people are saying not to strip it they mean don't take the grip apart. Taking the slide and barrel off is really pretty simple.
Having taken the grips off and taken all the internals out of mine a couple times, I can tell you that the average gunny doesn't want to do this. The parts have to go in in a specific order, and have to be rotated this way and that to even fit, you will need something to use as alignment pins to get things started as well, and it really isn't necessary for cleaning.
There are also parts like the trigger bar and mag safety that lay in channels under the grips and while it is quite obvious where they go, getting them to stay aligned while you slide the rubber grip back into place can be quite a challenge as the grip is the only thing holding them in place.

redneck said:

I think we need to clarify when people are saying not to strip it they mean don't take the grip apart. Taking the slide and barrel off is really pretty simple.
Having taken the grips off and taken all the internals out of mine a couple times, I can tell you that the average gunny doesn't want to do this. The parts have to go in in a specific order, and have to be rotated this way and that to even fit, you will need something to use as alignment pins to get things started as well, and it really isn't necessary for cleaning.
There are also parts like the trigger bar and mag safety that lay in channels under the grips and while it is quite obvious where they go, getting them to stay aligned while you slide the rubber grip back into place can be quite a challenge as the grip is the only thing holding them in place.

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AMEN brother!

I've taken mine apart once because I was having light strikes after about 66,000 rounds. Just took the buffer out and dropped the slide and its internal components into a sonic cleaner. Sprayed everything with WD40 than oiled it. Works good have put another 12 to 15000 rounds again without a hitch.

I basically oil it and clean the feed ramp because it get full of wax or lube from the bullets. But no solvent on the barrel just oil and a dry patch. If you clean the barrel out you could ruin the accuracy and would have to season the barrel again. I plan to replace the firing pin at about 100,000 rounds just to make sure it continues to shoot in case the firing pin begins to show sign of wear.

milemaker13 said:

What are the lube points? Do you have a chart link?

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I don't have a chart, but it's pretty much like any auto pistol made. Just with a rimfire style recoil spring, spring guide, and slide.

edwardware said it... it's not a Swiss watch. Those of you who are comfortable disassembling a challenging handgun already know who you are. The others who have less experience should have a back-up plan in case it's TOO challenging. If you have any doubts, just follow the advice in the Owner's Manual! (I found that it's not nearly as frustrating as a Browning BL-22 can be!)

I've never found it to be troublesome... just take your time and be careful. I take the barrel off so I can clean it from the breech, it's just a set screw. And what one of the other posters said is right... fouling likes to lodge up under the topstrap and recoil spring; you could get it out with a snort of gun scrubber, but it's better to just pull the top strap off and clean it correctly.

It ain't for SD, so it's nbd. When it starts malfunctioning I will use curse words, field strip it, and reassemble it, while using curse words. If you take the slide off inside a clear plastic bag no parts will fly anywhere, but have curse words handy, just in case.

I have a dandy Buckmark Camper model, got it cheap for $200. I later found out why it was so cheap, the dang thing was FILTHY! I mean, guns get dirty, but this had soot and carbon in places you couldn't imagine.

I found and printed out disassembly/reassembly instructions and tore into it. It was a challenge, but not impossible. Replaced the springs and some other little pieces too, new sights and a rail. It's a happy little Camper now!

It was obviously shot a lot but isn't close to worn out. Definitely a pistol that you need several extra mags for, and a speed loader for the mags is a big plus.

While it is true you don't need to go further than taking the slide off to do nearly any routine maintenance, a Buckmark is not a difficult gun to work on. I've blown mine apart to the last screw and spring more times than I can remember, made modifications, fitted custom parts and turned the gun into exactly what I desire. The only tricky part on re-assembly is the sear spring, which does require patience to master. But in the scope of semi-automatic handguns, it's really not bad at all. Most guns are more complicated than a Buckmark, including its direct competitor, the Ruger Mk 1-2-3. I believe Ruger has made changes to the Mk4 to address this concern (although I'm no expert on the Rugers).

Taking apart the stuff above the grip is pretty easy. Taking off and replacing the barrel is as simple as removing a hex-key-headed bolt. Nothing to it.

Take the grip panels off only with extreme caution. That's where the really fiddly, springy bits are.

IMHO just buy some Gun Scrubber and spray it down to clean off the carbon and fouling. Then spray it with Break Free.

Don’t do it, it isn’t worth it. You won’t get it much cleaner than a standard field strip. You might spend hours looking for a very small spring on your living room. Don’t ask me how I know.

jonnyc said:

DO NOT TAKE IT APART!!!!!
Every 3000-5000 rounds, or when the trigger gets "crunchy", I lock the slide back, spray clean liberally with SYNTHETIC SAFE gun cleaner, and then lube the wear points. I sometimes do a bit of detail cleaning with a q-tip, and if really ambitious I might run a bore snake down the barrel.
That's it.

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Also make sure you keep the grip screws tight. Under the right side panel are spring loaded parts that activate the trigger, if they get loose the trigger stops working. If you take the grip off to "look" some small parts go flying and would be very easy to lose -- glad I waited until I got home to take a look instead of trying at the range!

Its a great gun, but its very quirky in terms of takedown -- I suspect it was designed with the "reality" that most non-enthusiast gun owners rarely if ever clean their .22lr guns. Fortunately Brownells sells most of the parts if you should lose something.