How hard can you swing the BLR's lever?

[CoRoMo]

At one end of its travel, the bolt lugs lock up and that's as far as you can go.

• At the other end, what is stopping the bolt?

I would hope and assume that the last tooth in these gears is not what the system is running hard against, when it stops its travel in that direction. Otherwise there'd be quite a few known issues of breaking a tooth off, and the thing is then out of time. Are there?

You can really rack the slide of a Wingmaster hard, and you aren't likely to break it, ever. At least I think that's what I've picked up here from Mr. McCracken and Mr. Lapin. I don't own a WM anymore.

But can you swing the BLR's lever good, fast, and hard? Or is that bad for your teeth? ← see the teeth?

 

[rcmodel]

It is pretty safe to assume Browning never sold a gun you can break through normal operation.
The reason for a lever-gun is being able to operate it quick & hard for fast follow-up shots.

I would not worry about it.

Still not convenced?
See part #14.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=0/sid=390/schematicsdetail/BLR_Lightning#14

rc

 

[CoRoMo]

Hmmmmm!!

I'm convinced. I just knew that there had to be something other than these small gears' teeth to stop that motion. I can't hardly see a whole lot in there though, of course.

Your answer is identical to the first person that I actually verbalized this one to... "Browning wouldn't have made it fragile like that".

Thanks.

The reason for a lever-gun is being able to operate it quick & hard for fast follow-up shots.

[Light bulb moment here]

 

[Smokey in PHX]

Never heard of a lever breaking on any rifle. I have a bunch of lever rifles that have had a lot of hard use and no problems

 

[CoRoMo]

True.

In my line of work, we see gears having broken a tooth or stripped completely clean of 'em through hard use. So when I took a gander inside my first BLR, I see all these tiny little teeth in the R&P system and the question about what stops the travel was born. I was just picturing those teeth slamming into the last notch on the bolt or the gear rack, and eventually the tooth that hits that last notch gives way.

Whew!

 

[MMCSRET]

One thing that does happen, usually thru misuse by an inexperienced operator is to bend or twist the lever. I have never seen it on a Browning but I did see a teenager bend the lever on a 44 magnum Marlin. He short stroked, jammed and forced, bent the lever, we tried to straighten it but it was easier to buy a new one and install it. My BLR81 is not easy to do that with, as it is a completely different system, as you know. I did learn the hard way how difficult it is to time the Browning system. I took it apart for cleaning, I got a serious learning experience. I have timed Caterpillar sleeve metering fuel injection systems in less time and with fewer trials than the Browning.

 

[rolandedwinjohnson]

I guess it depends on whether you are trying to load the gun or beat a snake to death with it.