Baby Browning Help
- Thread starter emjimb
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Coltdriver
Member
A few years ago I picked up a rusted and ugly Browning Baby very cheap.
I took it home, detail stripped it, got the rust off (still badly pitted), re blued the slide and generally cleaned it up. I had to replace one part. By the way, don't ever detail strip yours as getting it back together is incredibly difficult.
The safety ONLY prevents you from pulling the trigger. If you have the pistol cocked there is a striker that is held by a notch that is probably less than one sixteenth of an inch deep. There is no striker block or any other mechanism to prevent an accidental discharge.
Under no terms should you ever carry the pistol cocked. If you drop it with the pistol cocked there is a high probability that it will go off. If you saw the striker arrangement you would have no confidence in carrying the pistol in your pocket cocked and ready to fire.
Mine is incredibly reliable and will shoot as fast as I can pull the trigger. But the utility of the pistol is diminished by the inability to carry it ready to fire.
I took it home, detail stripped it, got the rust off (still badly pitted), re blued the slide and generally cleaned it up. I had to replace one part. By the way, don't ever detail strip yours as getting it back together is incredibly difficult.
The safety ONLY prevents you from pulling the trigger. If you have the pistol cocked there is a striker that is held by a notch that is probably less than one sixteenth of an inch deep. There is no striker block or any other mechanism to prevent an accidental discharge.
Under no terms should you ever carry the pistol cocked. If you drop it with the pistol cocked there is a high probability that it will go off. If you saw the striker arrangement you would have no confidence in carrying the pistol in your pocket cocked and ready to fire.
Mine is incredibly reliable and will shoot as fast as I can pull the trigger. But the utility of the pistol is diminished by the inability to carry it ready to fire.
Gordon
Member
I carry my lightweight baby browning with mag full chamber empty but cocked. After the action is cocked it takes but a flick of slide to load , and adds a flourish of seriousness about your intentions!
Coltdriver
Member
If you have chambered a round by pulling back the slide and releasing it over a magazine of bullets it is cocked and ready to fire. You can tell that it is cocked because the back of the striker sticks out of the slide about one sixteenth of an inch. It is an early form of a loaded chamber indicator but it really only tells you that the gun is cocked.
The safety only blocks movement of the trigger.
Most modern pistols have multiple safety functions built in to the safety such as a firing pin block or an actual sear disengagement. The Browning Baby has none of these.
If you look at the striker and the striker release mechanism then you would realize that the only thing between you and a non intentional discharge is a very tiny indent that lets a retainer hold the striker from hitting the bullet. If you see this it would give you a shudder to think you had ever carried the pistol cocked and chambered.
However, you are correct in that if you have the pistol cocked and a round chambered and the safety is on that you need only flick the safety off and you can shoot it.
The safety only blocks movement of the trigger.
Most modern pistols have multiple safety functions built in to the safety such as a firing pin block or an actual sear disengagement. The Browning Baby has none of these.
If you look at the striker and the striker release mechanism then you would realize that the only thing between you and a non intentional discharge is a very tiny indent that lets a retainer hold the striker from hitting the bullet. If you see this it would give you a shudder to think you had ever carried the pistol cocked and chambered.
However, you are correct in that if you have the pistol cocked and a round chambered and the safety is on that you need only flick the safety off and you can shoot it.
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