Browning BLR

If it's the older pre 81 it will have a steel receiver and after that the receiver is alum. Mags. for the pre 81 models are scarce as hens teeth and costly. I don't know about the gold trigger and I don't think it's a deal breaker.

Encoreman said:

Hi guys and you gals also. I have an opportunity to purchase a Browning BLR .308 that looks great in the pics, the guy is going to send me the serial number so I can research the age. He did say it was Made in Japan, and I noticed something I am questioning. This gun doesn't have a gold trigger, about every Browning I have seen has a gold trigger, any concerns or could it be the year it was made? Thanks for the replies, he inherited it from his late father and said he had it for 10-15 years. Anything I should look for on this gun?

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You can look up the serial number of your Model 81 here:
https://www.browning.com/support/date-your-firearm.html

I really like my BLR’81 in .358. It’s an early’80’s gun. Removing and replacing the original butt pad with a fitted 1/2” Boyd’s pad reduced weight by nearly 1/2lb and vastly improved handling. My only lingering complaints are that trigger is atrocious, and it’s too pretty to hunt with. Accuracy is good, power excellent, functions well.
Trigger work by a qualified gunsmith is prohibitive. Mine is a safe queen. It came with 4 mags!!!

I have a Belgium made '71 BLR in .243. Crappy trigger but good rifle overall. I have heard good things about the Japanese BLRs.

GooseGestapo said:

I really like my BLR’81 in .358

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Me too.

In early production ones like my '71, which was first year of production, the first two digits in the serial number were the year of manufacture. The first two years were made in Belgium, everything after that in Japan.

After '75, they used a two letter code to delineate year produced, the code varied over the years.

I find mine in .308 to be a great woods gun, short, light, and powerful.

I know a number of people who’ve used this guy for their BLR triggers and swear by him.
http://www.neiljones.com/html/gunsmithing.html

Add two way shipping and you are close to $200!
Like I said, prohibitive cost.

Owning a rifle with a truly crappy trigger is prohibitive: prohibits hitting with it from field positions. I say either sell it or fix it. I've got a recently acquired BLR that's headed to Mr. Jones shortly. I joked to the old friend I bought it from that I sprained my finger on the trigger the first time I shot it.Fixing a nice rifle for the cost of a decently functional scope? Cheap enough to me.

Hang on a second. Let’s make sure we’re managing our expectations here.

I own a BLR with no trigger job and it has been a serial deer slayer for me for more than 30 years

Is it ever going to be a bench rest gun? Will it ever shoot a 5 shot wallet group at 200 yards? Of course not but what lever gun would?

It is a handy light carbine hunting rifle well suited for the task it was designed for, trigger and all.

GooseGestapo said:

Add two way shipping and you are close to $200!
Like I said, prohibitive cost.

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In this case prohibitive cost is a relative term. $200.00 isn’t prohibitive to me to get a good trigger. And I hate crappy triggers.
I paid $100.00 for a Happy Trigger I installed on a new 336 that cost me $400.00 ten years ago. Eight years ago I spent $200.00 for a Timney I put in my new AR I’d just spent $800.00 on. I paid my gunsmith to do a trigger job on my CZ 512 and have had him work on two shotgun triggers. Many years ago I paid to have my Remington 700 trigger worked on. Eight years ago I got one of Arrowdodger’s first Model 60 triggers.

It’s all relative. If I get a BLR it’s going to get a trigger job.

GooseGestapo said:

I really like my BLR’81 in .358.

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And I like my Savage Model 99 "Brush" rifle, chambered in .358 Winchester, as well. One advantage the Model 99 generally has over the BLR (and the Winchester Model 88 as well) is it comes with a "decent" trigger from the factory. Better than any of them in my experience, though, are the Winchester Models 1886 and 71 when it comes to comparing trigger pulls on "big-bore" lever-action rifles. I've never tripped the trigger on a Sako "Finnwolf" but I've always wondered how it compares.

cdb1 said:

In this case prohibitive cost is a relative term. $200.00 isn’t prohibitive to me to get a good trigger. And I hate crappy triggers.

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You should be aware though that no amount of gunsmithing on some rifle trigger designs will ever result in a "decent" pull. I don't know if the BLR qualifies for the "forever mediocre trigger syndrome" or not but the Winchester Model 88 and Savage Model 24 rifles in my experience are examples of those that certainly do.

I’m very aware. Neil Jones can make a BLR trigger pretty decent for a hunting rifle.

I have never considered my BLR trigger a problem, it's much better than what came on my newer Mini-14.

For its intended purpose, a hard hitting lever action hunting rifle, I find the BLR to be perfect.

The trigger on the BLR I just bought is truly awful. About 7lbs and more creep than a Halloween movie. I suspect, as with all things mass produced, that some are much better than this one. For reference, I'm fine with the stock triggers on Ruger tang-safetys. I don't even like very light triggers on a hunting rifle: too much opportunity for adrenaline to break a shot before its right. But when it take two hands to to make it go bang, off to Pennsylvania it goes

I can manage a heavier trigger on a hunting rifle. I shot a Remington 742 for years and it's trigger is a lot worse.

I actually prefer a heaver trigger on a hunting rifle or a sd handgun. What I don't like is creep.

I have a Japanese Model 81 in .243 Winchester manufactured in 1990. I just fired a couple of rounds to see if the scope was zeroed (it was) when I got it and did not notice a particularly bad trigger pull, so I had to pull it out of the gun safe and try it. It is maybe a little heavy, but it has a crisp break with no creep. Maybe because most of my rifle firing has been with military issue (I went through basic with an M1 Garand) I found it quite acceptable. BTW, the trigger is gold colored.

351 WINCHESTER said:

I actually prefer a heaver trigger on a hunting rifle or a sd handgun. What I don't like is creep.

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Same

I want 2.5-3 pounds on a rifle and 3.5-4.5 pounds on a shotgun.